Not the MLS new kid anymore
Charlotte FC heads to St. Louis for inaugural MLS game there, addressing home opener kinks from overcrowding in supporters section to no 'Volare,' new striker Copetti is a new father, and more
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Meet me in St. Louis: Two newest MLS teams face off
St. Louis’ new soccer-specific stadium Citypark, with a view of the Arch in the distance. (Photo courtesy of St. Louis City SC.)
Tables are turning for Charlotte FC Saturday night, when the team travels to St. Louis to play the role of older-timers when the newest MLS expansion team opens its new home stadium.
These two clubs will christen Citypark, a brand new soccer-specific stadium in the western part of downtown St. Louis. The stadium is part of a campus that includes a training facility, practice fields and headquarters all in the same area — the convenience of which Charlotte has to envy. (Charlotte FC is still waiting on construction to be completed at its new training facility at McAlpines Center, which is located 11 miles from where the team plays at Bank of America Stadium.)
The picturesque open-air Citypark was built 40 feet into the ground, giving it a unique feel because it draws fans that much closer to the action. Every seat is within 120 feet of the field, and the closest is just 15 feet. The fan energy will be palpable, but it might not be as loud as some of the crowds Charlotte has played in front of in its biggest games. Citypark’s capacity is only 22,500. Charlotte FC set an MLS record at its inaugural home game last year, drawing 74,479 fans to Bank of America Stadium, which it shares with the Carolina Panthers. Charlotte FC played in front of 69,345 Saturday night in a 1-0 loss to New England.
Meanwhile, St. Louis City SC gave the first clue last Saturday that this might not be your typical expansion franchise scrambling to put pieces together. City SC came from 2-1 behind to win 3-2 at Austin FC, a team that advanced to the Western Conference playoffs a year ago. While some analysts suggest it was more what Austin FC didn’t do than was St. Louis did, the result certainly opened eyes around Major League Soccer. Charlotte FC needed three games to score its first goal last year and four games to claim its first victory.
One area where City SC would seem to have a clear advantage is that it got to field a team last season in MLS Next Pro, the new upper-level minor league that MLS introduced last year. That gave some of its players cohesion Charlotte didn’t have.
“I expect a very dynamic team,” said Pablo Sisniega, who has claimed the starting role at goalkeeper for Charlotte while Kristijan Kahlina recovers from back surgery. “It’s a very direct team that likes to press us high (on the field), so it's going to be definitely a tough game. They’re going to obviously have the energy and intensity of that home opener, so it’s going to be a tough environment, but I think we're going to go in there prepared and ready to compete.”
Charlotte FC struggled on the road most of last season, going just 3-12-2 away from home, compared to 10-6-1 at Bank of America Stadium. But after losing on a last-minute goal from New England, coach Christian Lattanzio suggested sometimes his team tries to do too much at home, trying to please the home crowd. He reiterated that feeling in his press conference Thursday:
We have to focus more on the game and less on the event. … I don’t really like the idea of there being an event that we get fired up for. I think that we have to be fired up every time, and we need to be very focused and very committed and very clear about what we’re going to do and execute home and away. … All this excitement for one game is not for me. We need to grow into that, to become a consistent team that can execute our game plan, whether we are home or are away.
(Editor’s note: St. Louis City SC refers to itself as “St. Louis CITY SC” and to its stadium as “CITYPARK,” but we generally don’t allow organizations to use all capital letters in their names just because they want to for branding purposes. Fútbol Friday will call the team “St. Louis City SC,” or “City SC,” and the stadium “Citypark.”)
Debriefing Saturday’s fan experience: What went right, what went wrong at season opener
The tifo queen wasn’t the only new addition in the supporters section on Saturday night; fans sneaked in from other areas of the stadium. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
The bad: A new season and nearly 70,000 fans to the first game brought its share of hitches to Bank of America Stadium, and most notably to the supporters section. (It’s either that or because fans who are the most vocal during games are also the most vocal on social media!) Here were the two main issues that came up and feedback from Charlotte FC chief fan officer Shawn McIntosh about what the team is doing to address them:
Overcrowding in the supporters section: The general admission fan section behind the East Goal is always the rowdiest and looks like the most fun at Bank of America Stadium, so it’s no wonder people who weren’t ticketed to sit there wanted to sneak into it for the opener against New England. But it created a problem for fans who were used to having their seats saved in section 121 during the fan march from the tailgate lot. And many also complained that the uninvited fans separated those who knew the chants best, so there wasn’t as cohesive and loud a vibe as there normally is.
After facing similar problems last year, the team decided to color code the nearly 4,000 digital tickets to the general admission supporters section to help cue staff and security who is allowed to sit there. Apparently that wasn’t enough last Saturday.
McIntosh, who regularly meets with members of the Royal Family — a council made of leaders from the five main supporters groups — has been working with team officials this week to figure out solutions. He said everything from using paper tickets, to wristbands, to increasing staffing are ideas that are on the table. The team is hoping to have the issues ironed out by the time Charlotte FC plays its next home match against Atlanta on March 11.
“We’re trying to create processes that make it easier for that staff checking tickets,” McIntosh said. “Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough on Saturday. … We’re working on our end to try and ensure that never happens again.”
What happened to ‘Volare’? The new song fans are planning to sing after games this season — “Volare” — was not played on the stadium sound system after Saturday’s game, so fans had nothing to sing along to and didn’t. (For the sentimental back story about why “Volare” is special to the team and its fans, read about it in last week’s Futbol Friday.)
Granted, the postgame mood was somber after New England’s last-minute goal, and the song might have seemed mistimed for the stadium operations crew. But McIntosh said it was a “miscommunication internally” and will be corrected for the Atlanta game and going forward.
“It will be (played) win, draw or loss,” McIntosh said. “Everybody is on the same page now.”
Many of the problems fans encountered, like long waits in food lines and beer cans being thrown from the upper deck (which can lead to fans being ejected from games if seen by stadium officials) are ones that are exacerbated by bigger crowds that come when the upper deck is open. Charlotte FC opened the upper deck four times last season (for the opener vs. L.A. Galaxy, the Chelsea exhibition, Nashville and Columbus). The team is expected to open the upper deck somewhere around four games this season as well but hasn’t yet determined which ones.
Bonus points for creativity with the LED-lit No. 5 on the tifo in honor or Anton Walkes. (Photo courtesy of Charlotte FC.)
The good: The people came. The team set a goal of reaching 70,000 fans for the second straight home opener and fell just 655 shy, which wasn’t bad for a drizzly weather day. Also, the pre-game tributes to Anton Walkes, the Charlotte FC defender who died tragically in a January boating accident, were moving and meaningful.
The pre-game ceremony featured such fitting touches in honor of Walkes, whether it was the team walking out in black shirts with “AW” on the back or owner David Tepper and his wife, Nicole, placing a crown on the “throne” in Walkes’ honor, during a pregame “coronation” normally reserved for members of the community. The real show-stopper, though, was the tifo — the tapestry of artwork created by fans in the supporters groups. Not only did they unfurl a queen wearing an AW5 armband and bordered by a “For Anton Forever” banner, she lit up in his jersey No. 5 once the stadium lights went down.
The team wore black AW5 patches on the front of their jerseys, which they will do all season. Those same patches are on sale at the team store for $10, with all proceeds going to the Walkes family fund.
Attendance record: With Charlotte FC drawing 69,345 for New England and Atlanta United bringing in 67,538 for its victory over San Jose — at two stadiums shared with their NFL counterparts — it marked the first time in MLS history that two games featured an attendance of 65,000 or higher on the same day.
For new Charlotte FC midfielder Ashley Westwood, who spent 10 years playing in the English Premier League, the atmosphere at Bank of America was electric.
“To play in this stadium is mind-blowing,” Westwood said afterward. “It’s incredible. I’d say it’s one of the best I’ve ever played in. That’s a testament to this football club and what they’ve done.”
It’s a girl for Copettis!
Congratulations y felicidades to Charlotte FC striker Enzo Copetti and his wife, Araceli, who gave birth to a baby girl this week, Mia Guadalupe. The moment was made all the more poignant for Charlotte’s newest designated player given the fact that his wife lost their first pregnancy a year ago, something he was very open about in an interview with the Charlotte FC media team recently, saying he nearly decided to quit soccer.
I got a chance to meet Araceli and her mom after the opening game Saturday night, and they were beaming with excitement for the baby’s arrival. Despite my lack of Spanish and their lack of English, Araceli was still able to communicate that the baby was coming Wednesday.
I had no idea how to ask if she was going to be induced or have a scheduled C-section in Spanish, but the baby came right on time. The Copetti family announced Mia’s birth Wednesday morning on their Instagram accounts. They wrote what I’m sure sounded even lovelier before Google translate came up with this: “Thank you life for this blessing. We can’t explain with words what we feel. God and the Virgin made our dream come true. …”
Meet Mia Guadalupe Copetti, born Wednesday in Charlotte. (Photo courtesy of Copetti’s Instagram account.)
Up Next: Charlotte FC (0-1-0) at St. Louis City SC (1-0-0)
When/Where: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Citypark, St. Louis.
How to watch: Apple TV. For information on how to sign up, click here.
How to listen: The English broadcast is on WFNZ 92.7 FM and in Spanish WOLS 106.1 FM.
Notable:
Charlotte FC hits the road for the first time this season after going only 3-12-2 away from Bank of America last season.
After scoring three goals in each of its final two preseason exhibitions, Charlotte FC was shut out by New England. Charlotte made 37 crosses in the game but only managed four shots on target.
Winger Kerwin Vargas and Andre Shinyashiki, who has been playing an attacking midfield role this year, were both bright spots off the bench Saturday. Those two, especially Vargas — who doesn’t have designated player Karol Swiderski playing in front of him — are candidates to see more playing time in St. Louis.
St. Louis won 3-2 in Austin, becoming the first MLS expansion team to win its opener since Los Angeles FC in 2018. City SC has already built a reputation for playing a counterattacking style, not worrying so much about possessing the ball as pressing teams into mistakes and capitalizing, and playing deep balls.
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Correction
An article in last week’s Fútbol Friday newsletter misstated the title of Charlotte FC’s Zoran Krneta. He is the team’s sporting director. (Apologies.)
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now cutting her teeth on soccer and the Charlotte FC just as fans in Charlotte do. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
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