In many ways, St. Louis CITY SC were the talk of Major League Soccer after their Matchday 1 debut. A 3-2 win over Austin FC fueled that reaction, shocking a reigning Western Conference finalist on the road.
But humility is essential, head coach Bradley Carnell stressed as St. Louis ready for their first-ever MLS match at CITYPARK. That arrives Saturday night against Charlotte FC (8:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass), pitting the last two expansion clubs against each other.
“We've played one match and again, that's all we've done, is play one match,” Carnell said in his preview press conference. “So we can dream and forecast and predict and plan, but there's 34 games in this season. There's Open Cup, there's Leagues Cup.
“There's a lot of opportunities for us to get it right and wrong. But after one matchday, we feel very confident that we're on the right track.”
The path has St. Louisans buzzing around the chance to, after a three-and-a-half-year wait, see their new team perform in the flesh. St. Louis was awarded an expansion team in August 2019, and now an expected capacity crowd of 22,500 awaits to formally welcome top-flight soccer to one of America’s most historic, talent-rich hotbeds.
That support drives midfielder Eduard Löwen, whose two assists at Austin placed him on 2023's first Team of the Matchday presented by Audi.
“It's just incredible, it's amazing – the support when you are just out in the grocery store, out for a walk and people are telling you how excited they are and they are supporting you,” the Designated Player and German Bundesliga veteran said. “So that means a lot for us, that means a lot that the city is behind us. It will be very important on Saturday as well.”
While those forces encourage St. Louis, Charlotte hope to play spoiler in pursuit of their first win of the 2023 campaign. In particular, Carnell highlighted DP striker Enzo Copetti’s runs in behind and DP forward Karol Swiderski’s playmaking abilities as areas the newcomers must be mindful of.
Most of all, Carnell is wary of his squad falling victim to the moment and not relying on their press-driven tactics and principles of play.
“You don't get caught up in that moment because if you do, the moment will swallow you up and you'll forget about playing soccer,” Carnell said. “ … We'll let that party happen around the field, because it's going to be a celebration, it's going to be a party. But for us, it's almost business as usual.”
If CITY SC deliver another crucial three points, more heads will turn around the league. Goalkeeper and captain Roman Bürki said that’s a motivator going into Matchday 2.
“We had a pretty good game in Austin, we won,” said the former Borussia Dortmund standout. “Of course now the expectations are a little bit higher than before. Before the game in Austin, nobody expected anything from us. Now, like I said, we won against a good team and now expectations are higher from the outside.”
Löwen, much like Carnell, is maintaining a long view on what St. Louis’ home debut represents.
“Everybody underrated us. Now everybody knows that we can keep up with everybody and that we can compete,” Löwen said. “But at the end of the day, as I say always, it doesn't matter how much quality we have, it doesn't matter how good we played in Austin.
“It's a very long season. We have 10 more months, or even longer. So we have to keep going, we have to keep going and stay humble, work hard to keep our mentality high and also to stick with our principles.”
