After the first-ever win in the first-ever game, St Louis City SC president and CEO Carolyn Kindle shared a story.
Right before the Major League Soccer season began, some media sites published predictions. This included The Athletic, which had seven soccer journalists pick City to finish last in the Western Conference. One writer said City would win only four games. And an executive from a different MLS team was anonymously quoted: “It will be a miracle if they finish anywhere other than last place.”
Kindle recalled that day. And in reference to City’s offices in the Clayton area, she said: “When we were ranked 14th, I’m surprised Clayton didn’t blow up, actually. But it really gave Lutz (Pfannenstiel, City’s sporting director) I think that last bit to go to our guys and say: ‘This is unacceptable — we need to prove them wrong.’ I think that’s probably more passionate than any kind of pick-up speech. And truthfully, I think it helped us win in Austin.”
And against Charlotte. And at Portland. And against San Jose. Picked to finish last, St. Louis currently is first.
It’s an amazing sports story — City SC is the first MLS expansion team to win its first four games. And some of it is fueled by the doubters.
That, really, is an interesting thing because, well, where did City expect to be picked? The team had no precedent — and most other expansion teams started poorly — so why wouldn’t St. Louis also start behind the pack? Still, it sure got to these guys. In postgame interviews after the most-recent win, Pfannenstiel, coach Bradley Carnell and striker Klauss all made references to the prognostications.
“The boys were confident from Day One — the boys were angry from Day One that no one believed in them,” Carnell said. “Yes, we have the chip on the shoulder. We had the chip on the shoulder and now we’ve shown it’s not just about having the chip on the shoulder. We can dominate and take control and we can execute. We have shown a lot of things over the sort of snapshot, what the league has seen right now. For us it’s a mission to carry on, and to reset it every single time. Yeah, we have challenges. We’ll never be sort of too comfortable.”
It’s become a rallying cry of sorts. The team’s mindset seemed to be — and still seems to be — St. Louis vs. the world. After all, City installed a newer style of soccer (continuous pressing) along with some players new to MLS, mixed with many MLS guys who hadn’t started for their previous team. Thus, there was so much to prove — even from the get-go, let alone after some people publicly doubted them.
And so, it’s as if this brand new season of “Ted Lasso” is playing out in the real world. On the show, the fictional soccer team Richmond was picked last in England’s Premier League (even though Richmond had been relegated and was in its first year back in the league). And in that first episode, everyone with Richmond was extremely insulted about being picked last (here’s guessing that neither the fictional team in England nor the real team in St. Louis will finish last).
“Lots of people thought we’d win four games all season — now we’ve won four in the first month, basically,” said Pfannenstiel, the architect of the club, which plays Saturday night at Salt Lake (1-2 this season) “So we are in pretty good shape there, I would say. But we won’t change — we want to play things from week to week and really focus on our principles.
“I mean, it sounds boring — ‘focus on our principles’ — but that’s really what we’re doing. And I think that’s the only way how we can succeed. We don’t have individual superstars — we are a good group of human beings where the character and being a group is the most important thing. You can feel that. … There’s a good chemistry between all the players.”
As for the longtime sports fans in St. Louis, this start probably feels a lot like the Rams’ first season here. No, they weren’t an expansion team. But they were this new entity with new fans — and wouldn’t you know, those 1995 Rams won their first four games. The city was in a football frenzy. The Rams then became 5-1. Could that team make the playoffs? Win in the playoffs? Win … the Super Bowl?
Alas, the Rams finished 7-9.
But, yeah, with City right now, your imagination surely wanders. The guys have passed some tests, right? They accomplished road victories against Austin and Portland, two notoriously tough venues in which to win. They have instantly created an amazing home atmosphere. They play a rare style that seems to be hard for which to prepare. And with a couple of bench players starting as defenders in the most-recent game, City shut out its opponent.
Will it lose a game?
Yes.
Will it make the playoffs?
Gosh, at this point, it’s hard to say “no.”
