ST. LOUIS — As the St. Louis City SC supporters rounded the corner, a club employee tried to keep the ever-growing mass of people in their designated area. The march to the match was to take place on sidewalks, not the street.
He had no chance.
Saturday night, the streets of St. Louis belonged to the supporters. At each block, the numbers of fans singing and chanting only grew until the city block could no longer contain them all. By the end, even the security worker just gave in. “Let ’em hear you!” he yelled as group members finally reached the destination, preparing to enter the gleaming new CityPark for the first MLS match there.
And they did. After all, some of these fans had been waiting decades for this moment, while cheering teams in lower leagues or indoor. Others have heard story after story of the half-dozen players from “the Lou” who helped the U.S. beat England in the 1950 World Cup or the teams of the St. Louis Soccer League taking all comers in the late 1910s in what would become the U.S. Open Cup.
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St. Louis has always been a soccer city. Now it’s an MLS city, too.
Whether ancient or modern, St. Louis may have the most storied soccer history of any city in the country. The list of current and former U.S. internationals is long, ranging from active standouts like U.S. men’s defender Tim Ream, U.S. women’s defender Becky Sauerbrunn and men’s forward Josh Sargent to that 1950 team.
“When I would describe my soccer experience, no one else would have that,” said Taylor Twellman, a St. Louis native and former U.S. international who now works on Apple’s MLS broadcasts. “I’m asked all the time how to describe St. Louis players, and the one word I come back to, both on the men’s and women’s side, is ‘competitive.'”
That competitive nature extends to…
