Wins & Losses from STL vs COL

by Annamaria Lu

Last night, St. Louis CITY SC faced the Colorado Rapids and ended in a draw. While the score may have been tied, there were some wins and losses between the pregame and game that are worth mentioning. 

1. Loss: As they panned to the Supporters' March into the stadium, the presenter talking about the march made the comment that Energizer Park was as "charged as a battery!" It was so cringey and corny, and unfortunately I doubt it's the last time we'll hear battery puns connected to our soccer team.
2. Win: The pregame light show with the whole stadium was dazzling. I hope we see more of that in the future.
3. Loss: The pregame light show was set to Coldplay. While I have no personal issue with Coldplay, it was a downshift from Muse's Uprising and was not a hype song. I would have loved to see a more creative risk with the music for the light show.
4. Win: The hype video music choice of Start a Riot by Duckwrth and Shaboozey is fantastic. It carries absolutely the right energy for game day.
5. Loss: The referees for the game made some interesting calls and noncalls. For example, a corner kick was not awarded to CITY SC in the eighth minute that looked like ours. It felt in the first half the referee, Jon Freemon, was more laissez-faire in letting the players generally be a little rougher with each other without calling fouls or issuing cautions. By the second half, this had changed resulting in two yellow cards in quick succession to Akil Watts and Rapids player Wayne Frederick.
6. Win: A goal was retracted for being offsides, but what happened right before it was a CITY SC win. Simon Becher exchanged some words with Rapids goalkeeper Zack Steffen. When asked about it at the postgame presser, Becher said, "I was just trying to get in his head a little bit, you know, he's trying to set the wall and, you know, make sure that it was set properly, so we couldn't curve it around it. So as far as I know, I can stand wherever I want. If that's in front of him, that's in front of him. So, yeah, you know, just a little bit of gamesmanship and trying to get in his head. And unfortunately, the goal right after was called off, but I think, yeah, it would have worked." Gamesmanship can be an important skill in any sport.
7. Loss: Speaking of gamesmanship, Colorado Rapids player #10, Djordje Mihailovic, was injured right next to our goal and the referee Freemon did not notice. Roman Bürki could be seen talking to him and checking in on him, and time was passing without him getting up. You could see Bürki grow more concerned and try to flag down Freemon to get him to stop play. Bürki left the goal to go get the referee, making it all the way to the center...and of course, that's the moment Mihailovic chose to get back up and run into play.
8. Win: The Supporters Section subsequently booed Mihailovic every single time he touched the ball. It was ominous, it was loud, and the whole experience reminded me of our 2023 Inaugural Home Opener against Charlotte FC, where Charlotte player Enzo Copetti pulled a similar stunt and received the same treatment from the Supporters Section.
9. Win: While the game ended in a tie, CITY massively outshot the Colorado Rapids 18-2. The team played great defense and the Rapids barely ever made it close to Bürki. While CITY could not convert those shots into goals, this felt like a good tie instead of a bad one. Last season, many of times that we tied, the draw felt like we had just barely scraped by to not lose. This one felt like CITY was so close to scoring and was simply a little unlucky in converting. Even though the team only walked away with 1 point, they showed a lot of promise for our next games.

Next Saturday, CITY SC travels to California for San Diego FC's Inaugural Home Opener. San Diego just beat LA Galaxy today in their first-ever game 2-0. I am particularly hoping for a CITY win for the selfish reason that I want our inaugural season record to remain intact. It's a late start game for us Midwesterners, but I'll be avidly watching and cheering on CITY SC.