Butler, Dylan
10:14 p.m. on Saturday, February 25, 2023
St. Louis CITY SC, welcome to Major League Soccer.
The expansion team created history on Saturday night, defeating Austin FC 3-2 at Q2 Stadium in their first encounter.
The first chapter of the book St. Louis is authoring in its MLS infancy was a resounding, if somewhat unexpected, success.
“Very proud of this group,” said St. Louis CITY SC head coach Bradley Carnell. “Coming here and leaving with three points.” “I don’t believe there are many greater things.”
Q2 Stadium was a cauldron of noise, an atmosphere that St. Louis CITY SC forward Joo Klauss has missed since joining the team as its first Designated Player in March 2022.
Klauss, who was clearly weary by the end of the game, scored the game-winning goal four minutes from time.
“It was one of the important games in my career, it was the first one in MLS as well,” stated Klauss. “Starting with a win and a goal was perfect.”
“What we did today was unbelievable,” remarked the Brazilian.
The visitors struck first, with centre defender Tim Parker heading in Eduard Löwen’s corner kick for the club’s historic first goal. It was the veteran’s third goal in the MLS regular season and his first since 2018.
“It’s an incredible feeling.” I don’t score a lot of goals. So it’s sort of ironic that I scored in the manner that I did tonight,” Parker remarked. “I’m just really, really happy.” I believe it was a mix of all of our hard work and me being in the right place at the right time.”
Austin responded with back-to-back goals, including a remarkable first-half stoppage time equaliser by Sebastian Driussi and the game-winning goal by Jon Gallagher in the 72nd minute.
Six minutes later, St. Louis CITY SC earned the most unexpected of equalisers from Jared Stroud, who was set up by an erroneous back ball by Austin defender Kipp Keller.
Carnell believes an away draw against a team that placed second in the Western Conference a year ago would have been beneficial. But getting all three points was a dream come true.
“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,” Klauss stated. “It’s football and everything.”
It’s the moment St. Louis CITY SC fans have been waiting for for 1,286 days, and now it’s on to the next chapter: the inauguration of CITYPARK for the expansion team’s home opener against Charlotte FC on March 4 (8:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
“Austin is going to be a total blast.” “And then, if we can play well and get a result here, we’re going to have an absolute riot waiting for us in St. Louis next week,” Parker said of the talk in the week leading up to the club’s season opener.
“Adrenaline levels are obviously extremely high.” Everyone is in a good mood in the locker room, but we need to refocus this week and recreate that vibe and buzz in training.”
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