It will be a historic night for St. Louis City SC Saturday with the team playing its inaugural home opener.
Winning the game against Charlotte FC would make it extra special.
Already, there are good feelings for St. Louis City, thanks to beginning the season with a 3-2 comeback victory on the road last Saturday against Austin FC.
“To start off the season with three points is extremely humbling,” coach Bradley Carnell said.
Now the team’s objective is to repeat that thrilling result. St. Louis City (1-0-0, 3 points) tallied two goals late in the second half of that game (Jared Stroud in 78th minute, Joao Klauss in 86th minute), so maintaining that momentum will be among the priorities this weekend.
“We have to regroup this week and recreate that feeling and that buzz again,” said St. Louis defender Tim Parker, who netted the team’s first-ever goal in the 24th minute.
A year ago, Charlotte FC (0-1-0, 0 points) was in its inaugural season, making them an ideal first home opponent for St. Louis City.
Charlotte began this season with a 1-0 loss to the New England Revolution before more than 69,000 fans at home.
“There are lessons to be learned that every ball is important, every moment is important,” Charlotte FC coach Christian Lattanzio said.
Goalkeeper Pablo Sisniegna had a shutout in the works until the 89th minute, when New England’s Henry Kessler scored the only goal of the match, leading to additional anguish for Charlotte.
“It’s the beginning of the journey, and we have 33 more,” Lattanzio said.
Karol Swiderski led Charlotte FC with 10 goals last season. He produced four of the team’s 15 shots in last weekend’s season opener.
There figures to be a capacity crowd of 22,500 for the game at new CityPark, a downtown stadium in St. Louis.
For St. Louis City, there’s so much newness around the team that sustained success is bound to be a challenge. Nine players made their MLS debuts in the opener.
Last season, Charlotte FC didn’t win until its fourth game.
–Field Level Media
