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St. Louis Waited Decades for Major League Soccer. It’s Finally Here | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

3 years ago

March 6, 2023

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click to enlarge St. Louis CITY SC fans stood and cheered all night on Saturday.

It was 6:20 p.m., and the St. Louis CITY SC fans were ready to march. Just one block from CITYPARK stadium, hundreds of fans packed into an alley next to Schlafly Tap Room on Saturday. They snaked around the corner, standing shoulder to shoulder, bumping into each other’s beers and flagpoles.

There was just one problem: The fans couldn’t march. The parade wasn’t supposed to start until 6:40 p.m.

So they waited for 20 minutes behind the supporters’ drumline group, Fleur de Noise, which organized the event. But as the minutes passed, it seemed as though the fans might run over the snare drums and blow horns. They slowly pushed the frontline farther and farther down the alley, growing louder and louder with each minute, as if they could start marching at any moment –– until the time reached 6:40 p.m. and finally, they let it all out.

The fans of St. Louis CITY SC stormed through the streets to CITYPARK stadium. They chanted “St. Louis Is Wonderful!” and “Vamos, Vamos St. Louis.” They pounded drums. They waved CITY SC flags, wore flamingo hats, raised their hands in the air and flexed their muscles. People videotaped from the sidewalk and honked their horns. Onlookers hung out of their apartment windows and cheered from their roofs.

When Andrew Gai settled into his seat in the second row of the supporter’s section, he looked down on the pitch like a proud father. He wore a red CITY SC jersey under a cut-off jean jacket with a Saint Louis City Punks patch. With a soft smile and watery eyes, he thought back to the video game, FIFA98, when he used to play as the Columbus Crew because they had one player with St. Louis ties.

“I’ve been waiting,” he said, “for 25 years.”

Many had waited longer. Long before St. Louis had a professional team, residents described this city as a soccer city. For decades. Since 1907, when St. Louis had the only professional soccer league in America. Since 1920, when St. Louis held the “greatest soccer game ever witnessed” in front of a 10,000 person crowd. Since 1950, when five St. Louis natives went to the World Cup and upset England. Since the countless soccer teams that came through the city from the St. Louis Ambush to the Saint Louis FC. Since the countless players that called St. Louis home, including Taylor Twellman, Steve Ralston and Becky Sauerbrunn. Since the day the MLS was finally announced in 2018, and fans had to wait through stadium construction, delayed start dates and a friendly match to pass the time.

On Saturday, it happened. No more waiting. A true MLS match.

CITY SC hosted its first home game against Charlotte FC in front of a sold-out, 22,423-person crowd.

“Today, the result was always going to be secondary,” head coach Bradley Carnell said in the postgame press conference. “We’re fighting with the emotions of 70 years of history.”

click to enlarge Forward Joao Klauss dribbles by a Charlotte FC defender.

And from the moment people stepped foot in the stadium, you could feel the crowd itching to burst. Not just make noise, but really unleash everything –– unleash the years and years of anticipation, love, St. Louis pride and noise that they had held in because they didn’t have an MLS team.

You could feel it when the tifo banner covered the supporter section, and the fans pounded the banner until chips of paint came off. Inside the tifo was hot, sweaty and full of life. You could feel it in each fan who refused to sit down throughout the game, from the lowest levels to the top deck. You could feel it when the match got chippy, and goalie Roman Bürki went eye-to-eye with Charlotte FC forward Enzo Copetti, ready to fight, and a guy in the front row of the supporter section yelled, “Wanker!” and threw up both middle fingers at Copetti. You could feel it during those first 20 minutes when CITY SC dominated with its suffocating attack style and fired five quick shots, eliciting a wave of cheers.

click to enlarge CITY SC fans unveiled a huge tifo over the supporter’s section before the beginning of the team’s first-ever home game on Saturday.

Then Charlotte SC scored.

Twenty-five minutes into the first half, Charlotte hung a cross in the air that landed right in front of an unmarked Copetti. Copetti easily sent it into the goal. He turned to the crowd, rocked a baby and pretended to take out a pacifier. The crowd showered him with boos.

In many ways, though, CITY SC has adopted the underdog identity of its host city. Picked to finish last in the MLS by many preseason polls, the team battled back from a 2-1 deficit against Austin to win its first away game on February 25. And at home, trailing for the second time this season, with the drums banging and the fans standing, the team came back again.

Forty minutes into the game, just before halftime, CITY SC defender Jakob Nerwinski floated a cross into the Charlotte box. Charlotte defender Bill Tuiloma tried to head the ball safely out of danger. Instead, it popped off of Tuiloma’s head, over his own goalie and into the net –– the first CITY SC goal in CITYPARK history.

The crowd erupted into a tsunami of cheers. Red smoke burst into the sky. Fans screamed at the top of their lungs, howled at the sky and smacked each other’s hands. They banged the railings and stomped the ground until it shook. Popcorn flew in the air, and beer rained down on the crowd.

The score was tied 1-1, but that was all CITY SC needed. Five minutes later, midfielder Eduard Löwen scored on a penalty kick. In the 71st minute, the hero from week one, Brazilian forward Joao Klauss, fired in a goal to extend the lead to 3-1.

Despite an exciting comeback, it was the experience of playing in their first home game that players emphasized. Löwen, who has played in Germany’s top league, said the stadium was unlike anything he had ever witnessed.

“I never played in a stadium with so much excitement and euphoria,” Löwen said after the game.

click to enlarge St. Louis CITY SC players and staff walked the edge of the pitch thanking the crowd after the game.

With a comfortable 3-1 lead, in most stadiums, fans would leave early, beat the traffic and get a head-start on their evenings. But when the final whistles rang out on Saturday evening, and CITY defender Kyle Hiebert kicked the ball up in the air and pumped his fist, triggering red smoke and a wave of STL cheers, every seat was filled. No one had even sat down.

After the game, the CITY SC players and staff walked to the edge of the field. They stopped at each section. They waved to fans, clasped their hands in prayer and basked in the sound of soccer in St. Louis.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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