MLS: There are no growing pains for St. Louis City SC, as the MLS newcomers make an impact on and off the field.
There are no growing pains for St. Louis City SC, as the MLS newcomers make an impact on and off the field.
Photo: St. Louis City SC vs. FC Cincinnati at CityPark. (Cornfield948)
St. Louis finally have their MLS team, and the outlandish new kids on the block have wasted no time introducing themselves to the Western Conference veterans.
After handing San Jose Earthquakes their first home loss of
the season, last weekend, St. Louis City SC returned to the top spot of the
division, and have left Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and LAFC all having
to play catch up.
Those three teams have all been in City’s position,
embarking on a first MLS season whilst also trying to mingle with the OGS of
American soccer, but during their infancy, all learnt some harsh lessons.
St. Louis haven’t. The Missouri-based side have been ripping up
the rule book, and breaking records, as they skip the crawling and walking stage, to sprint towards a playoff spot in their maiden season.
But football within Mound City isn’t a new phenomenon, in
fact, it has been a hotbed for footballing talent within the USA for over a
century, whether that be birthing national team
heroes or creating new competitions.
When the USA beat England in the 1950 World Cup, five players
that starred in the 1-0 win hailed from The Hill neighbourhood, only four miles
west of City’s home ground, CITYPARK.
And 43 years prior to ‘The Miracle on Grass’, the first
professional soccer division was founded in Saint Louis, with the St Leo’s dominating
the early period of the league.
Fast forward to the present day, and the city has seen NASL,
MISL, NPSL, WPS, USL and MLS Next Pro all play in their city, and now after
multiple rejections and nearly seeing Real Salt Lake FC relocate to their city,
they have a local MLS team, unique to them.
Justin Horneker, a writer for St. Louis Magazine, said, “When it got announced we were all excited, because there have been a lot of false starts, and ever since the league started, we were always the city that were dangled out there as the future expansion club.
“Although it never lined up properly and there was never an ownership group that had the money to fund a new stadium or to build a team up.
"So when
it got announced we thought it was about damn time we had a team to cheer
for because it is a soccer-mad city.”
Despite the rich footballing talent throughout the city’s past, it
has been a German and South African who have been instrumental to St. Louis' rapid start, that has seen them break the record for the most points achieved, by an expansion team, at this point in an MLS season.
Lutz Pfannenstiel was bought in from Fortuna Dusseldorf to
become St. Louis’ sporting director in 2020, a role that he previously
fulfilled twice throughout his well-travelled career, and quickly got to work.
One of the vital decisions he had to make was who to appoint as his
first manager and he dipped into another MLS team’s resources, to pick the
former interim manager of the New York Red Bulls.
Along with being NYRB’s interim manager, Bradley Carnell had also been an
assistant for four years, and travelled to Missouri a year in advance of their
inaugural MLS season, to aid Pfannenstiel in creating a competitive set of players.
Within the squad-building process, they managed to
encapsulate the hard-working spirit that lies within St. Louis but also
managed to blend that mentality with some German footballing philosophy.
The South African, along with his sporting director, had
both spent large parts of their playing careers in Germany and had connected
with the high-pressing game that was often seen in their domestic game.
And with the play style decided, Pfannenstiel, who is the
only player to have played in all six of FIFA’s confederation, went to work, persuading players to join their project.
The 50-year-old used his vast experience to recruit players from around the world, with all of his new signings bringing different experiences to the roster.
Despite recruiting players from South Africa and Sweden, the German found many of his "star" players from the Bundesliga.
Although the quality in these signings have been clear, with City struggling whilst Löwen has been injured, the approach wasn’t just about
getting the biggest name, a trap that many expansion franchises have fallen for
before, but instead getting players that have the right mindset to match the
talent.
On the transfer policy, Honeker said, “St Louis have done
very well when looking for players that will fit the system and getting players who are looking to prove themselves.
“They don't spend a ton of money, but they have spent it
wisely, bringing in the players before the team was even authorised
to play, just so the players could settle themselves in the city and within the
squad.”
This is just one segment of the meticulous preparation that
has gone on behind the scenes to create a healthy working environment for the
players and staff, that can be carried onto the pitch.
And away from the football, CEO and club president, Carolyn
Kindle is part of a nine-strong majority female ownership group that paid a
reported $200 million in expansion fees.
Kindle, who was born in St. Louis, and her team have also
set up multiple initiatives to give back to her home city.
Honeker said, “It is nice to have a group that is committed
to bringing the whole city into the club, and you see that on gameday, where it
is just an incredible environment to be in.”
CITYPARK is yet to fall below its maximum capacity
attendance for any home game this season, and it looks like the St.
Louisans aren’t going to take their new MLS team for granted, because, after years
of watching the MLS from the outside, they have smashed through the window and
are now leading the party.
The cover image for this post was sourced from Wikimedia Commons under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence
(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Louis_City_SC_vs._FC_Cincinnati_at_CityPark_%2820230416094709-02%29.jpg), and is attributed to the author, Cornfield948. It was retrieved by me on the 26th June 2023.
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