Two Weekends: Soccer, Sickness, and Cold

One week ago yesterday (6 January), I was at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton for the annual Winter Classic. This is a soccer match pitting the St. Louligans against the American Outlaws St. Louis. I suited up for the St. Louligans and came ready to play. I also came with six cans of food that were donated to the St. Louis Area Foodback, which was receiving donations from both supporter groups.

There was a dusting of snow on the ground to greet us that day. Fortunately, the pitch we were playing on has artificial turf; still, we had to deal with some snow during warmups and early on the match. We came to play.

(Photo by Sarah Robertson.)

The match was the usual 45-minute halves with free substitutions. I played two shifts in each half at defender. During the match, I had two touches of the ball. I don't think Tim Parker has anything to fear from me!

"Sports drinks" were provided to the participants from 2nd Shift Brewing and Urban Chestnut Brewing Company. They were much appreciated.

In the final five minute of the match, the rules were tweaked to have several balls on the pitch at the same time. It all added to the silliness of this event.

At full time, the score was (I believe) St. Louligans 4 American Outlaws STL 3. The real winner was the St. Louis Area Foodbank for the food and cash donated to help the food insecure in our area at this time.

I got home to get warmed up and relaxed the rest of the day. That evening, I wasn't feeling so well. Sunday morning, I was down with stomach flu, and it was resting up for the day and night.

The next morning, I was well enough to go into work, though I was a bit slower than usual. My supervisors understood and all worked out well at the branch. However, I was down with diarrhea on Wednesday (10 January). If it's not one thing, it's another. I was able to go to work the next day and got the job done.

I ran a few errands yesterday (13 January) that included finding out I will need to replace the catalytic converter on my Corolla so I can pass the emissions inspection due next month. Ugh.

Today was too cold to be out, with a low of -7 degrees F (-22 C) and a high of only 2 F (-17 C). Wind chills were even lower. This cold spell is here through this Tuesday.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

World Wide Technology Soccer Park: St. Louis Scott Gallagher — Club Soccer in Saint Louis (slsgsoccer.com)

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

American Outlaws--St. Louis:  (7) Facebook

St. Louis Area Foodbank: St. Louis Area Foodbank – Member of Feeding America (stlfoodbank.org)

2nd Shift Brewing: 2nd Shift Brewing

Urban Chestnut Brewing Company: Urban Chestnut Brewing Company

USA and Republic of Ireland Women at CITYPARK

Last Tuesday night (11 April), I got off early from work to get to Downtown West St. Louis for a women's soccer friendly. The defending FIFA Women's World Cup Champion USA was hosting the Republic of Ireland at CITYPARK in the second of two matches. Both teams played the previous Saturday, with the Americans winning 2-0.

After finding a street parking area about four blocks from the stadium, I raced to get to CITYPARK. As I entered the stadium, both teams came out for the match. USA honored defender and captain Becky Sauerbrunn, a native of Ladue, Missouri, for her recent 200th international appearance. I saw much of this ceremony on the video monitors along the corridors. The national anthems of Ireland and USA followed this ceremony.

I found my seat in the south end of CITYPARK, a change of pace from the usual north end standing location for St. Louis CITY SC matches. The American Outlaws were in force in the supporter section.

The match began and the Americans asserted themselves early with some good possession and scoring chances. Sauerbrunn nearly scored in the 3rd minute from a header just inside the penalty area, but it hit the crossbar. It would have been quite a goal, especially as she hadn't scored in any international appearances. Sauerbrunn was substituted in the 29th minute to a standing ovation from the 22,294 fans in attendance.

The Irish responded well and asserted themselves more as the match went on. In the 43rd minute, USA defender Alana Cook--who turned 26 that day--scored her first international goal with a long ball some 40 yards (36.6 m) out that sailed over the Irish goalkeeper and into the net.

USA made several substitutions at halftime and their defense held the Irish back. At full time it was 1-0 to the hosts, with Casey Murphy earning the shutout in goal. The teams acknowledged their supporters right after the match. Both USA and Republic of Ireland will be at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this June and July.

I walked out of CITYPARK happy after seeing this match--the first international match and first women's match played at that venue.

Later.

Links to Entities Mentioned in this Post:

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

US Women's National Team: USWNT | World Cup Champions | U.S. Soccer Official Site (ussoccer.com)

Republic of Ireland Women's National Team: Football Association of Ireland (fai.ie)

American Outlaws: American Outlaws (theamericanoutlaws.com)

FIFA Women's World Cup: FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™

Kicking it with St. Louligans vs AOSTL

Yesterday morning (8 January), I and others braved the chilly weather to come to World Wide Technology Soccer Park. It was time for the annual Winter Classic Charity Soccer Match between the St. Louligans (a local soccer supporter group I am in) and the St. Louis Chapter of the American Outlaws (supporter group for US National teams).

Arriving at the Soccer Park, I first gave young volunteers some canned food I bought at Schnucks this past week. They were being donated to the St. Louis Area Foodbank, which helps food insecure people in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. After parking my car, I then entered the lobby to get warm.

As more of us participants gathered, I headed onto the field to begin warming up. It was approximately 25 degrees F (-4 degrees C) at kick off time. After jogging a bit and kicking the ball around with several fellow St. Louligans, I stretched my legs muscles. With that, I was ready to play.

We were playing 30-minute halves, with free substitutions. I was not a starter (good!) but came in for two shifts in each half at a defender. The players were refreshed with beer donated by Urban Chestnut Brewing Company. I had a can each of Big Shark Grapefruit Radler and Thrales, a Russian Imperial Stout. It was my first time with both beers, and I liked them quite a bit.

I didn't get any touches of the ball with my feet while on the pitch but got a touch each with my forehead and my rear end, blocking American Outlaws shots towards the St. Louligans goal. Not having done much running in recent weeks made me rather winded in a hurry. Still, it was fun to be out there.

(Sarah Robertson of the St. Louligans took the four above action shots of yours truly. These were downloaded from the St. Louligans Public Group Page on Facebook.)

The match ended up a 3-3 draw, but the real winner was the St. Louis Area Foodbank. We raised enough food and household supplies to fill 17 barrels to overflowing and an eighteenth was about half full. Additionally, over $3100 of money was raised by the St. Louligans and American Outlaws for the foodbank. A cold, but fun time was had by all. I even took some home extra Urban Chestnut beers after the game.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

World Wide Technology Soccer Park: St. Louis Scott Gallagher — Club Soccer in Saint Louis (slsgsoccer.com)

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

The American Outlaws: American Outlaws (theamericanoutlaws.com)

St. Louis Area Foodbank: St. Louis Area Foodbank | Member of Feeding America (stlfoodbank.org)

Urban Chestnut Brewing Company: Urban Chestnut Brewing Company

Games For a Cause

The Saturday after Christmas (28 December), I drove to the Immacolata Catholic Church (https://www.immacolata.org/index.cfm) in Richmond Heights, for the 11th Annual Mary McDermott 3rd Grade Basketball Tournament. This tournament for Catholic Youth Council (https://playcyc.org/) boys and girls teams is a fundraiser for SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital (https://www.ssmhealth.com/locations/cardinal-glennon-childrens-hospital). Specifically, for a hybrid cardiac catheterization suite named in memory of Mary McDermott, an Immacolata parish member who died at age 24 in 2008.

After paying my admission, I entered the gymnasium to watch some of the games that day. I also met with my friend, graphic designer and soccer commentator Bill McDermott--Mary's father. I gave him my Season's Greetings and best wishes for this tournament. Bill served as the public address announcer for the event, which ran for three days and included eight boys and eight girls teams playing in a double-elimination format.

I got lunch from the concession stand--a hot dog and a soda--and watched three games during my time there. Before leaving the gymnasium, I looked over the silent auction items in the lobby, which included autographed sports jerseys and tickets to sporting events. I didn't bid for them--the cost was too high for my budget--but was glad for the parties who donated to this effort.

Yesterday (4 January), I was at Worldwide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton to join with my fellow St. Louligans (https://stlouligans.com/). We were playing the St. Louis Chapter of American Outlaws (https://www.theamericanoutlaws.com/chapters/missouri) in our annual game. It was a fun game, played at West Technology Stadium--home ground of Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/). Urban Chestnut Brewing Company (http://urbanchestnut.com/) donated cans of its Zwickel and American Underdog lagers to the event, and I took advantage of this to get two cans during the day.

Before the game, we took in the club's introduction of Steve Trittschuh as its new head coach. He replaces Anthony Pulis, who is now assistant coach of the Miami club in Major League Soccer. After this announcement, we got to the pitch and played. It had free substitutions during the match, and I came in and out a few times for St. Louligans. I did get a few touches of the ball playing as a defender and midfielder. American Outlaws won by a big amount, but the real winner on the day was the St. Louis Area Foodbank (https://stlfoodbank.org/), which will get much food donated by the game's players and spectators.

I hadn't run like that for quite a while and I was concerned about how my recently sore knees would hold up, but I came off the pitch with no ill effects.

Later.

On the Pitch as a Player

After a quiet New Year's Eve and New Year's Day at home and some busy days at work, I very much looked forward to being at World Wide Technology Soccer Park (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/SOCCERPARK) for the annual soccer match between the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/)--supporter group for Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/)--and the St. Louis Chapter of the American Outlaws (https://www.theamericanoutlaws.com/chapters/missouri)--a supporter group for US national teams.

Admission for all participants was in the form of food and personal care item donations, which will go to the St. Louis Area Foodbank (https://stlfoodbank.org/). In my case, I brought some toilet paper, protein bars, and a can of peaches. We went to one of the fields there for the match.

I was originally thinking of just watching this match, but this past week decided to play. So, I dressed the part, wearing a green St. Louligans supporter jersey. Quite a change of pace for someone who normally is on the pitch to referee a match. I got in a bit of warm up with the other players before the match began. All of us had plenty of refreshment, thanks for cans of beer donated by Urban Chestnut Brewing Company (http://urbanchestnut.com/).

The match was played in 30-minute halves, with free substitutions. I came in about midway in the first half and played about two minutes before asking to be replaced. I came on again late in that half, and ended up on my back trying to defend against an American Outlaws forward. Fortunately, I wasn't really hurt and I got back up and into the match.

I played two shifts in the second half, but in the entire match, I did not get one touch of the ball. Maybe that was a good thing. I was happy at the final whistle as St. Louligans won the match, 3-2. We were all a tired, but happy bunch of players who posed for pictures after the match. It was a lot of fun, nobody was hurt, and some hungry people in Metro St. Louis will get help.

(Team pictures courtesy of St. Louligans.)

I then went to the refreshment stand for lunch. I had a bratwurst, then had turkey chili. I had drunk three cans of beer, and it showed. I took it easy before going home, which I made safely.

Later.