St. Louis CITY SC Home Opener

Midday last Saturday (4 March), I drove to Julie's house. After lunch and some wonderful conversation, we made our way to Downtown West in St. Louis. This was the long-awaited day of St. Louis CITY SC's home opener at CITYPARK.

Before arriving at the pre-match party at Schlafly Tap Room, I had to park my car on Locust two blocks from the party site. Julie and I then walked to the street in front of the Tap Room where the party took place. Our mates from the St. Louligans were there, along with The Thieves, Fleur de Noise, St. Louis City Punks, and the Riot Grrrls. Julie and I contributed to the St. Louligans' Charity du Jour, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in St. Louis. I also bought a St. Louligans' scarf and a button from Fleur de Noise, the latter of which I added to my cap.

Julie and I enjoyed beer from Schlafly, and later ate an early dinner from Locoz Tacoz's food truck set up by the Tap Room. We also chatted with others in the crowd and took in the scene. Hundreds of CITY SC supporters thronged the party area, plus a few supporters of the match's opponent, Charlotte FC, were there.

Nearly two hours before kickoff, Julie and I marched with the hundreds of supporters around the block north of CITYPARK, led by the drums of Fleur de Noise. Many of the bystanders along the streets and looking out from the buildings along our route cheered us. After about 20 minutes, our group arrived at CITYPARK and made our way to the Supporter Section in the stadium's north end.

Both of us found our places to stand in the Supporter Section as the teams warmed up on the pitch. The stadium was packed, a sellout of 22,423 spectators. The excitement reached a fever pitch as the starting elevens of both teams walked out the tunnel onto the pitch. Julie and I were ready, along with everyone else.

The St. Louligans unveiled a huge tifo while the rest of the seating areas displayed colored cards to welcome everyone to this first home match. St. Louis CITY SC kicked off the match and the cheering never stopped. Fleur de Noise's drummers set the beat and the capos led the chants throughout the match.

Charlotte FC scored the opening goal 25 minutes in, but CITY SC kept up the pressure. An errant back pass by a Charlotte player became an own goal in the 41st minute. Just into stoppage time, a hand ball in the Charlotte penalty area led to a penalty goal for CITY SC. The home side was up 2-1 at halftime.

CITY SC made a few scoring attempts in the second half, finally connecting in the 71st minute in front of the Supporter Section. We all went into maximum pandemonium at that point.

The final whistle left CITY SC 3-1 winners, and nobody left their seats. The players came over towards the Supporter Section to applaud us before moving around the stadium to give the other spectators their thanks. All of us (except for Charlotte FC and their supporters) left CITYPARK very happy. Julie and I walked to my car and we returned to her home.

The next morning, we had breakfast before watching some Serie A matches on TV. I then had to leave to get ready for refereeing youth soccer later that day, but Julie and I will have some special time next weekend.

Later.

Websites of Entiries Mentioned in This Post:

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

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

Schlafly Tap Room: Tap Room Brewpub - Schlafly Beer

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

The Thieves: Home | Up the Thieves! (stlouligans.com)

Fleur de Noise: Fleur De Noise

St. Louis City Punks: SLCP Home (slcitypunks.com)

Riot Grrls: SLCP Home - About Riot Grrrls (slcitypunks.com)

Locoz Tacoz: Authentic Mexican Food Truck in St. Louis | Locoz Tacoz

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: Lower Plains | Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (lls.org)

 

STLFC Midweek Match Before My Trip

Much of last week was vacation time for me. After working on Monday (5 August), I was off for some serious me time. I spent that Tuesday preparing for my trip, as well as cheering on Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) in its match against Memphis 901 FC. (This match was originally scheduled for 1 June; however, lightning just before kick off and lingering storms postponed the match to this month.) It ended a 0-0 tie. Such a disappointment, as Saint Louis had opportunities to score and win, but could not. Before the match, I took in the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) tailgate. There was no food buffet that night, so I bought dinner--street tacos and Mexican fries--from the Locoz Tacoz (https://www.locoztacoz.com/) food truck parked at the stadium.

The next morning, I was off to Chattanooga. More on that in my next post.

Later.

Another Soccer Weekend, and a Business Meeting

After another week of working hard at the car rental branch, I was at World Wide Technology Soccer Park (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/SOCCERPARK) Saturday night (22 September) for the Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) match against San Antonio FC. I arrived in the parking lot for the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) tailgate, which featured Mexican food and music (the latter by a DJ). After enjoying two freshly made tacos and a beer, I joined the St. Louligans in marching into Toyota Stadium for the match.

The home side had the run of play, but it was two goals late in the match that made Saint Louis FC 2-0 winners. It was a big win for us, and that means we need only four points in the final three matches of the season to clinch a berth in the USL (https://www.uslsoccer.com/) playoffs. During the second half, I had two more tacos, this time from the Locoz Tacoz (https://twitter.com/LocozTacoz?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) truck at the atadium.

The next morning, I was back at World Wide Technology Soccer Park, this time to run line on two St. Louis Youth Soccer Association (https://www.slysa.org/) matches. They went very well, with no real issues.

I put in two full days of work at the car rental branch. After work yesterday (25 September), I headed to The Muddled Pig Gastropub (http://themuddledpig.com/) in Maplewood. There, Marion Morris hosted this month's IPMS/Gateway (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) business meeting. After a bit of left over business from our Invitational earlier this month, we discussed proposals for improving club operations. There was good discussion by the board members in attendance, and good food. For me, it was their house burger, a can of 4 Hands Brewing Co. (http://4handsbrewery.com/) City Wide ale, and a shot of bourbon. I found it most satisfying.

By the way, this past weekend, I submitted my Member Spotlight article for IPMS/Gateway's website, where it now can be found: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aiMSumLlS2SFwGlXOCCXy3xhnEO3v8Dh/view

Off work today, I mowed the front and back lawns at home, did my laundry, and got my hair cut at Great Clips (https://www.greatclips.com/). I then treated myself to a beverage from Saint Louis Bread Co. (https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html) and shopped for personal care items at Walgreens (https://www.walgreens.com/).

Later.