At the end of the night, once the singing had stopped and the supporters’ drumbeat had dropped away, St. Louis CITY SC head coach Bradley Carnell walked through a hallway in the emptying innards of CITYPARK, sat down at a table, and began to process one of the biggest days in St. Louis sports history. “I think today, the result was always going to be secondary,” Carnell said. It was March 4, and CITY had just defeated Charlotte FC, 3-1, in its first home game. For weeks, as he drove to the club’s 30-acre compound in Downtown West, Carnell had noticed all of the CITY-branded flags flying along his route to the training facility. He knew, of course, that excitement for soccer in St. Louis had been building to an all-time high. But even Carnell found himself in awe of the chanting, cheering, flag-waving crowd. It was electric. ¶ The first-year head coach helped the club christen its new $458 million home with a come-from-behind victory. After the game, a mob of red- and blue-clad supporters bobbed up and down, buzzing with the thrill of victory, as CITY’s players and staff walked the perimeter of the field to salute them. Many in the sell-out crowd of 22,423 stayed long after the final whistle. No one, it seemed, wanted the night to end.
“Before kickoff, I was sitting in the booth and looking around. There were tears in my eyes. There was also this sense of validation. I’ve been so vocal about the history of soccer in St. Louis, what my family experienced, and how this sport was always at the heartbeat of the city. I felt validation that I wasn’t completely full of it when talking about the city that I grew up in. That moment before kickoff, I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life.” —TAYLOR TWELLMAN, APPLE TV
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“Our home opener was an amazing and surreal experience for numerous reasons. First and foremost, my love and passion for the game and the honor of being a founder and member of the ownership group, but also the impact this team has had on St. Louis so far and getting to experience all of this with my family and friends. It was also uniquely memorable to see the iconic Maggie O’Brien’s newly painted in bright green paint. My dad was a bricklayer and business manager for the Bricklayers Union when they bought the building Maggie O’Brien’s first started in back in the late 1970s. As a young kid I remember pulling weeds and shoveling rock in the parking lot when the bricklayers first moved in, and my dad worked out of that building in the corner office on the second floor for over 20 years. My sister Peggy and I took this photo on the day of the home opener to remember this amazing experience and share with our parents.” —JIM KAVANAUGH, WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY CEO AND CO-FOUNDER
“You have to come together fast. For the young guys, it’s all about adjusting quickly. For the older guys, it’s about creating a culture that basically starts from nothing, which is not an easy thing to do.” —JARED STROUD, CITY MIDFIELDER
“The one thing I will remember was Eduard Löwen slamming home that penalty kick. I knew they were not going to give up that lead based on how they were playing and the emotion of the night. I knew that was going to be the game winner right there.” —JOEY ZANABONI, ST. LOUIS CITY SC RADIO PLAY-BY-PLAY
“When you get to play in front of these crazy fans and all of the love that is coming from outside, I cannot tell you how good I’m feeling,” Klauss said after the game. “I feel I am home.” —JOÃO KLAUSS, CITY STRIKER
“As our team took the pitch for our first-ever home match, I was overcome with emotion—happiness for what our region was experiencing in that moment, pride in what this incredible team had accomplished in making this dream a reality, and enthusiasm for what lies ahead for our city and our club. But the biggest emotion of all was gratitude. Gratitude for everyone, especially our fans, who supported us along the way. We could not have done it without our fans and they are truly what helped make this possible.” — CAROLYN KINDLE, ST. LOUIS CITY SC PRESIDENT AND CEO
“Everybody in the stadium is standing. That’s just awesome. It’s everything we could have hoped for.” —DON GARBER, MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER COMMISSIONER
“Seeing the full stadium tifo was an emotional moment for me. It was emotional to live that moment, and be on the sideline [and think] how privileged I am and how privileged we were as players and coaches to experience that moment with the rest of St. Louis.”
BRADLEY CARNELL, ST. LOUIS CITY SC HEAD COACH
