Final 2024 St. Louis CITY Home Matches

St. Louis CITY SC's second Major League Soccer campaign ends next Saturday (19 October) at Minnesota United. It was disappointing overall, compared to the year before, but the second half showed signs that point to a brighter future.

On 28 September, I picked up Julie and we headed to the St. Louligans' Pre-Match Party by the Schlafly Tap Room. We grabbed dinner from the Five Aces Smokestaq Lighting food truck and shopped at the St. Louligans' yard sale of scarves and jerseys donated by members. I bought two items--a Forward Madison scarf and a Sao Paulo FC jersey--with proceeds from the sale going to the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

Julie and I then joined into the march into CITYPARK for the match against Sporting Kansas City. The home side won 3-1, which was great in beating our cross-state rivals. It was a happy night for Julie and me.

After a 1-nil loss away to Los Angeles FC, CITY hosted Houston Dynamo in the final home match of the 2024 campaign last Saturday (5 October). Julie and I were at the St. Louligans party, enjoying dinner from the Mr. Gonzo's Tacos food truck. My friend Jim Kavanaugh, minority owner of CITY SC, came to the party. It was great seeing him there.

We marched into CITYPARK after the party and settled in our places for the match. The supporters unveiled a tifo honoring goalkeeper Roman Burki as the match began. It looked like a tough night ahead, as Houston was fifth in the MLS Western Conference with a playoff berth clinched. However, CITY took charge early and often, coming away 3-nil victors. After the match, CITY players and coaches walked around the pitch to salute their supporters. They stopped in front of the Supporter Section in the north end to especially thank us. 

This was followed by a fireworks display at CITYPARK, which lasted nearly 10 minutes. It was the club's way to thank their fans for their support this season.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)

Schlafly Tap Room: Schlafly

Forward Madison FC: Forward Madison FC

Sao Paulo FC: Home - SPFC | The Most Beloved (saopaulofc.net)

Five Aces Smokestaq Lighting: Smokestaq Lightning (fiveacesbbq.com)

Sporting Kansas City: Sporting Kansas City (sportingkc.com)

Mr. Gonzo's Tacos: Best Food Trucks | Mr. Gonzo's Tacos - menu

Houston Dynamo FC: Houston Dynamo FC

Leap Day with MPC and St. Louligans

Yesterday morning (29 February) found me driving to the St. Louis Artists' Guild (https://www.stlouisartistsguild.org/) for the February meeting of Missouri Professional Communicators (MPC) (https://www.facebook.com/MissouriProfessionalCommunicators/). Lawyer and community activist Denise Lieberman was the featured speaker. A long-time voting rights activist, she coordinates the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, a group of organizations, and is also director of the Power & Democracy Program for Advancement Project, a Washington, DC-based civil rights and racial justice organization.

Lieberman spoke on how the media can help or hinder voter equality, and on voter suppression efforts in recent years. She also talked about how she and other attorneys are working at for protect voting rights at this year's primary and general elections. It was quite a fascinating program, highly relative with the Missouri presidential preference primary coming up next week, the main primary election in August, and the general election in November.

After coming home to change clothes and eat lunch, I went early that afternoon to World Wide Technology Soccer Park for Saint Louis FC's (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) final 2020 preseason match. They were hosting Forward Madison FC (https://www.forwardmadisonfc.com/) of USL League 1 (https://www.uslsoccer.com/usl-league-one), which is one level below USL Championship (https://www.uslsoccer.com/usl-championship).

Before the match, I joined others from the St. Louligans (https://stlouligans.com/) in a joint tailgate with The Flock (https://fwdflock.com/), a supporter group backing Forward Madison. We chatted with each other, drank beer, and participated in a raffle whose proceeds went to the Disabled Athlete Sports Association (https://www.dasasports.org/).

We then walked into West Community Stadium for the match. Forward Madison took an early lead with a 6th minute goal. Saint Louis had a penalty kick just before halftime; however, Madison's goalkeeper stopped the shot. Saint Louis scored twice late in the match--a penalty kick in the 80th minute and another tally at the death--to run out 2-1 winners.

After the match, the St. Louligans and The Flock returned to the parking lot to drink and socialize a bit more before leaving. I got some cans of beer that The Flock brought down with them--beers I have yet to try.

Saint Louis FC opens the regular season at home this Saturday night (7 March) with a 7:00 pm match against The Miami FC. Before that, the St. Louligans will be at 2nd Shift Brewing (http://www.2ndshiftbrewing.com/?age-verified=f79a9b4611) in south St. Louis for a season kickoff event. Should be fun!

Later.