Matchday 14 / Matchday 15

CITY vs. SKC

May 26, 2023

Good morning and welcome to the first edition of The Capital Letter!

Thanks for subscribing. It sounds like we’ll be Klauss-less again this week, so let’s just move on to the happy stuff.

What a week! Am I surprised we beat SKC? Absolutely not. Am I relieved we beat the Kansans? Hell yes.

Let’s discuss . . .

🙏 We’re St. Louis CITY. Who are you?

I was nervous going into Saturday night. I’d put all of my mental-health eggs into the CITYPARK basket. A loss would’ve felt personal. But the boys came through. We looked like our old selves—just a bunch of hungry dudes pressing other dudes and cranking out goals. My throat still hurts from the guttural screams.

It seems like Carnell might’ve found a non-Klauss formation that works pretty well.

❝

I watched a lot of soccer this weekend. That was the best crowd I saw in the entire freaking world.

Matt Doyle, Extratime

And my lord, what a vibe! That was the best sporting event I’ve experienced in my life. The red. THE DRUMS. I had chills for a solid three minutes. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was refreshing and made me optimistic for the rest of the season.

Speaking of . . .

Our next two matches are at home. Let’s make it weird.

  • CITY vs. Vancouver (7th in the West) | May 27, 2023 @ 7:30pm. Betting odds here.

  • CITY vs. Houston (10th in the West) | June 3, 2023 @ 7:30pm

☹️ What SKC fans are saying

I dipped my toes into SKC’s subreddit on Sunday and it did not disappoint. I know it’s not our forum and I respect that. I definitely don’t think we should post in another team’s private spaces. BUT I still might creep a little. You can inject their sadness directly into my veins. Here are some highlights:

🗞️ What everyone else is saying

Let’s start with podcasts.

I have a long commute and love me some podcasts, but two of my favorites—Extratime and Total Soccer Show—are longer than SKC’s bus ride home last Saturday. So let me save you some time. Here’s when each show talks about CITY:

  • EXTRATIME - May 22, 2023 @ 11:05 (← also available on MLS Season Pass)

  • TSS - May 23, 2023 @ 40:00

You're welcome.

Of course, we should support local. There are a number of great CITY-specific options out there: Flyover Footy, Ball Watching, River City Ramble (you know, the one SKC threatened to sue), and The City SC Report. If there are others I’ve missed, let me know.

🎵 He’s in your head 🎵

Turns out Burki is really good. Not sure why people are surprised by this. Jonathan Sigal (@jonathansigal) over at MLSsoccer.com gets it: Bürki, Gauld & O'Brien: 10 MLS players who deserve more hype.

Tom Bogert with The Athletic also gets it:

Here are some other things I’m reading this week:

That’s it for now. Warmest regards.

Newsy McNewslettersonman