St Louis City FC introduced themselves in the Major League Soccer’s new season after beating Austin FC 3-2 in their home.
The expansion team won their first game at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night, rallying to defeat Austin FC, 3-2.
The first chapter of the book St. Louis is authoring during the early stages of the MLS was a resounding, if not somewhat surprising.
“Very proud of this group”, Bradley Carnell, head coach of St. Louis City SC, remarked.
“To come here and leave with three points. I don’t think there’s many greater things.”
Joo Klauss, a striker for St. Louis City SC, says he has missed the roar at Q2 Stadium after becoming the team’s first Designated Player in March 2022.
Four minutes before the end of the game, Klauss scored the winning goal despite clearly being worn out.
“It was one of the important games in my career, it was the first one in MLS as well,” Klauss stated. “Starting with a win and a goal was perfect.”
“What we did today was unbelievable,” the Brazilian chipped in.
The first goal in club history was scored by the visitors when center back Tim Parker headed in a corner kick from Eduard Löwen. It was the veteran’s first goal in MLS play since 2018, and his third overall.
“It’s an amazing feeling. I don’t score that many goals. So it’s kind of ironic that I scored tonight, in the way that I did,” Parker said, happily.
“I’m just really, really, really happy. I think it’s a combination of all the hard work that we put in and I was just in the right place at the right time.”
Adversity struck in the shape of back-to-back Austin goals, including a remarkable equalizer by Sebastian Driussi in first-half stoppage time and the game-winning goal by Jon Gallagher in the 72nd.
Nevertheless, Jared Stroud of St. Louis CITY SC scored the most unexpected of equalizers six minutes later, gifted on an unwise back ball by Austin defender Kipp Keller.
Carnell claimed that an away tie with a team that placed second in the Western Conference the previous season would have been beneficial. Yet it was a dream to win all three points.
“This is a perfect game to grow the team, to grow the mentality of the players, to show that we have the belief to the last minute.”
“This is soccer and everything can happen and I’m so proud of the team today,” Klauss concluded.
St. Louis CITY SC have been waiting 1,286 days for this day, and now comes chapter two: CITYPARK will open on March 4 in time for the expansion team’s home debut against Charlotte FC (8:30 pm ET).
St Louis City
St. Louis City SC, sometimes known as St. Louis CITY SC, is a St. Louis, Missouri-based professional men’s soccer team.
They joined Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2023 as an expansion team and now play as a member of the Western Conference.
The team was founded in 2019 and holds home games in the Citypark, a brand-new soccer-specific stadium in Downtown St. Louis.
