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New Game in St. Louis City Has Community excited Soccer once again
A History of St. Louis Soccer Reflected
in St. Louis City Soccer Club 3-0 Start
By Tom Anselm
There’s a new ‘game’ in town. Well, actually, two new games, although one has been here and gone and been here and gone, with this latest edition back again in the form of the XFL St. Louis Battlehawks. But today’s story is about that other one. St. Louis City Soccer Club.
After several false starts, soccer at the highest professional level in these here United States of America has finally become a fixture in a city that has a long and storied history in the game. A history that includes many collegiate championships, strong amateur programs, and a youth system that set the bar for decades.
And now, here comes the first honest-to-goodness top pro team since the1977 St. Louis Stars to carry on the love affair this Greater St. Louis region has had with soccer since the game was played on grass-bare fields all over various neighborhoods and playgrounds by the many immigrants who filled our streets since the late 1800s.
Our boys, and more recently, girls, have been strong contributing members of national and Olympic teams throughout the years. One hallmark of this presence was the 1950 World Cup team that defeated the mighty English side 1-0 in Brazil. This match is well-depicted in the movie The Game of Their Lives. You can find this online on the Tubi channel… a good story. There were no less than 6 St. Louis kids on that famous roster. Their beating England would be akin to a local high school team knocking off Argentina in today’s world.
Many of you may be wondering why we in the US call the game ‘soccer’ while the rest of the known world refers to it as ‘football.’ Well, most sources blame not the Americans, but the very originators of the game themselves… the Brits.
It seems that in the mid 1800s, a group of aristocrats from Oxford University decided to form an ‘Association,’ with rules that differentiated the game from rugby. They called it– not very cleverly in my opinion– ‘The Football Association.’ And being jaunty Brits, they gave it a nickname… ‘Assoc.’ Then taking it a step further according to the sport slang of the day, one who played said game was called ‘assocer’, as in ‘rugger for a rugby player. And then, simply ‘soccer.’
Regardless of how one chooses to name it, the game is in first-class first-year mode here in our fair city. I had the distinct opportunity, thanks to the generosity of a daughter and her husband, to attend the inaugural match recently at the stunning stadium in Downtown West called Citypark. This night greeted the eyes and ears and all senses with amazing beauty of colors and architecture.
The overflow 23,000-plus crowd pulsed with energy and the ‘assocer mates’ sporting their home ‘kits’ (soccer-lingo for ‘uniforms’) of vibrant reddish-pink with yellow trim put on quite the display of what fans of this area have been known to practice and love.
The boys did themselves proud with a pressing, hardnosed defense matched with a fast-breaking, energetic and sometimes wildly-frenetic play to come-from-behind and send the lads from Charlotte to defeat with a 3-1 final result.
Quite a start, I must say, and those around the Major Soccer League are taking notice, for sure
Then, remarkably, a week later, City stunned the well-established Portland Timbers, with another scrappy victory, 2-1, on Portland own home pitch (soccer-lingo for ‘field’), to get off to a 3-win start in this rookie campaign. Posting up 8 goals in three games, this group of determined young men have taken great strides to establish a style of soccer that belies the naysayers who say, ‘nay, soccer is boring.’ Far from it, at least as far as we have seen… thus far.
Their skills may not match the highest level of Premier League quality that is displayed across Europe, but there can be no denying the entertainment and excitement that one will get for 90-plus minutes at a St. Louis City Soccer Club fixture… okay, ‘game.’
I for one look forward to seeing how far this gang of rowdies can push the envelope of fun and frolic on the green grasses of the MLS.
As the ‘Diego Maradona-look-alike’ Dani Rojas on the hit Peacock series ‘Ted Lasso’ would say… ‘Football Is Life!’
And for St. Louis soccer fans, ‘So Is Soccer!” . Can’t wait for this Saturday’s game at Citypark. The games air on Apple TV for an extra charge.
