The big names get the praise.
And with the way players like Marcel Hartel, Cedric Teuchert, and Simon Becher have impacted St. Louis CITY SC since joining the club this summer, it’s rightfully so. But there’s another member of St. Louis’ group of summer acquisitions who seems to be finding his niche in the CITY lineup.
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Jake Girdwood-Reich was never expected to have the immediate impact of the club’s newest attackers, yet his matchday involvement is already exceeding expectations.
The defensive midfielder—and occasional center back—has already enjoyed 186 minutes across all competitions, and has only failed to appear in two matches since arriving from his native Australia. Although the transition to MLS hasn’t always been the easiest for the 20-year-old, Girdwood-Reich is beginning to make his presence felt as he adjusts to a very different life in the Midwest.
“It is a little bit different in terms of, for example, I’m driving on the other side of the road now,” Girdwood-Reich says, joking about cultural differences between the U.S. and Australia. “When I go to a restaurant, there’s tips. There’s no such thing as tips in Australia. If I go get groceries, there’s tax on those groceries. So, there’s things like that are different. I lived by the beach—I saw the ocean all my life—so I don’t have that here. But there’s also a lot of pluses to living in America. I’m really enjoying it.”
Adjusting off the pitch is one thing. The jump from Australia’s A-League to MLS is another.
Girdwood-Reich broke through the starting ranks for Sydney FC last season, playing 30 matches of top-flight soccer. MLS is a different animal though, especially for a defensive-minded player.
“The amount of games, that’s one thing,” Girdwood-Reich says. “I think just the pace and the physicality of the league is a bit higher. I’m excited for what is to come for me.”
CITY interim head coach John Hackworth has been impressed by what he’s seen from the Aussie this season, relying on Girdwood-Reich to start next to Eduard Löwen during last week’s tough matchup at LAFC.
“He’s a young player and he needs these kinds of opportunities in order to grow,” Hackworth said. “So I’m hoping that [the LAFC game] can be a really good catalyst for him to get the experience that he needs, and then take that next step in his own development.”
Whether that means more time at center back or midfield remains to be seen. Although there’s only one regular season match remaining, Hackworth would like to see more of Girdwood-Reich at both positions.
His physical maturity was on full display against a very tough LAFC. Girdwood-Reich led the team in tackles during his 69-minute appearance, completing 88 percent of his passes, including five passes into LAFC’s final third, along with his 100 percent tackling rate and two recoveries.
St. Louis brass has to like what they’ve observed as Girdwood-Reich seizes opportunities heading into 2025. With the season winding down, Girdwood-Reich looks at these moments as crucial to his adjustment to the league.
“I was really happy to make my first MLS start against, arguably, one of the strongest squads in MLS,” he said. “It was a really good experience for me, and I was just happy to kind of tick that off the list.”
Growth is the name of the game with any young player, especially as the competition for opportunities forces them to deal with adversity. Overcoming those moments with the right mentality is crucial. It already appears that Girdwood-Reich has a mentality that fits Hackworth’s “growth mindset” approach to navigating the season.
And with that, it might not be long before Girdwood-Reich is mentioned in the same breath as the rest of CITY’s high-impact newcomers.
