St. Louis Waited Decades for Major League Soccer. It's Finally Here

It was 6:20 p.m., and the St. Louis CITY SC fans were ready to march. Just one block from CITYPARK stadium, hundreds of fans packed into an alley next to Schlafly Tap Room on Saturday. They snaked around the corner, standing shoulder to shoulder, bumping into each other’s beers and flagpoles.

There was just one problem: The fans couldn’t march. The parade wasn’t supposed to start until 6:40 p.m. 

So they waited for 20 minutes behind the supporters’ drumline group, Fleur de Noise, which organized the event. But as the minutes passed, it seemed as though the fans might run over the snare drums and blow horns. They slowly pushed the frontline farther and farther down the alley, growing louder and louder with each minute, as if they could start marching at any moment –– until the time reached 6:40 p.m. and finally, they let it all out.

The fans of St. Louis CITY SC stormed through the streets to CITYPARK stadium. They chanted “St. Louis Is Wonderful!” and “Vamos, Vamos St. Louis.” They pounded drums. They waved CITY SC flags, wore flamingo hats, raised their hands in the air and flexed their muscles. People videotaped from the sidewalk and honked their horns. Onlookers hung out of their apartment windows and cheered from their roofs. 

When Andrew Gai settled into his seat in the second row of the supporter’s section, he looked down on the pitch like a proud father. He wore a red CITY SC jersey under a cut-off jean jacket with a Saint Louis City Punks patch. With a soft smile and watery eyes, he thought back to the video game, FIFA98, when he used to play as the Columbus Crew because they had one player with St. Louis ties.

“I’ve been waiting,” he said, “for 25 years.”

Many had waited longer. Long before St. Louis had a professional team, residents described this city as a soccer city. For decades. Since 1907, when St. Louis had the only professional soccer league in America. Since 1920, when St. Louis held the “greatest soccer game ever witnessed” in front of a 10,000 person crowd. Since 1950, when five St. Louis natives went to the World Cup and upset England. Since the countless soccer teams that came through the city from the St. Louis Ambush to the Saint Louis FC. Since the countless players that called St. Louis home, including Taylor Twellman, Steve Ralston and Becky Sauerbrunn. Since the day the MLS was finally announced in 2018, and fans had to wait through stadium construction, delayed start dates and a friendly match to pass the time.

On Saturday, it happened. No more waiting. A true MLS match.

CITY SC hosted its first home game against Charlotte FC in front of a sold-out, 22,423-person crowd.

“Today, the result was always going to be secondary,” head coach Bradley Carnell said in the postgame press conference. “We’re fighting with the emotions of 70 years of history.”

And from the moment people stepped foot in the stadium, you could feel the crowd itching to burst. Not just make noise, but really unleash everything –– unleash the years and years of anticipation, love, St. Louis pride and noise that they had held in because they didn’t have an MLS team. 

Then Charlotte SC scored. 

Twenty-five minutes into the first half, Charlotte hung a cross in the air that landed right in front of an unmarked Copetti. Copetti easily sent it into the goal. He turned to the crowd, rocked a baby and pretended to take out a pacifier. The crowd showered him with boos. 

In many ways, though, CITY SC has adopted the underdog identity of its host city. Picked to finish last in the MLS by many preseason polls, the team battled back from a 2-1 deficit against Austin to win its first away game on February 25. And at home, trailing for the second time this season, with the drums banging and the fans standing, the team came back again.

Forty minutes into the game, just before halftime, CITY SC defender Jakob Nerwinski floated a cross into the Charlotte box. Charlotte defender Bill Tuiloma tried to head the ball safely out of danger. Instead, it popped off of Tuiloma’s head, over his own goalie and into the net –– the first CITY SC goal in CITYPARK history.

The crowd erupted into a tsunami of cheers. Red smoke burst into the sky. Fans screamed at the top of their lungs, howled at the sky and smacked each other’s hands. They banged the railings and stomped the ground until it shook. Popcorn flew in the air, and beer rained down on the crowd.

The score was tied 1-1, but that was all CITY SC needed. Five minutes later, midfielder Eduard Löwen scored on a penalty kick. In the 71st minute, the hero from week one, Brazilian forward Joao Klauss, fired in a goal to extend the lead to 3-1. 

Despite an exciting comeback, it was the experience of playing in their first home game that players emphasized. Löwen, who has played in Germany’s top league, said the stadium was unlike anything he had ever witnessed.

“I never played in a stadium with so much excitement and euphoria,” Löwen said after the game.

With a comfortable 3-1 lead, in most stadiums, fans would leave early, beat the traffic and get a head-start on their evenings. But when the final whistles rang out on Saturday evening, and CITY defender Kyle Hiebert kicked the ball up in the air and pumped his fist, triggering red smoke and a wave of STL cheers, every seat was filled. No one had even sat down. 

After the game, the CITY SC players and staff walked to the edge of the field. They stopped at each section. They waved to fans, clasped their hands in prayer and basked in the sound of soccer in St. Louis.

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