8:30 PM – World Wide Technology Soccer Park
Match Officials, as assigned by PRO:
REF: Mr. Nima Saghafi
AR1: Mr. Mark Boyko
AR2: Mr. George Gansner
4TH: Mr. Elvis Mahmutovic
Riverhounds Yellow Card Watch (5 cautions to a match ban)
Anthony Arena – 2
Danny Earls – 2
Has everyone calmed down from last weekend? Good, because tonight the Riverhounds face a wholly different challenge when they walk into Fenton, Missouri and attempt to play spoiler to Saint Louis FC’s inaugural home opener. The stadium is sold out and the locals have been waiting for this one for quite some time. They won’t be taking it easy on the visitors. Mark Steffens has to have the squad ready to be focused from the opening kick to the final whistle.
The big news from the week has been that Canadian defender Tyler Pasher has (finally) received his international clearances and is available for selection into the team. How Pasher goes into the XI and what other changes will be made as a result could be an interesting dynamic to Saturday night. Also interesting is the use of Miro Cabrillo and Vini Dantas up front with the pair splitting time in each of the first two matches.
For Saint Louis, there hasn’t been much to make of their first two contests of the season, a road loss at Louisville followed by a victory in Tulsa (a team Pittsburgh would only face in a US Open Cup tie or the USL championship game). A look at the team minutes shows that head coach, Dale Schilly, isn’t afraid to use the roster depth early in the season, with 14 players having already seen over 70 minutes of action in only two games. Goalkeeper Mark Pais came up big for Saint Louis, last week, with a couple of brilliant saves to help preserve the club’s first victory. The team’s defense has shown it can be vulnerable and needs to be tested early. A quick goal might help quite the crowd down and let the Hounds dictate how the balance of the contest plays out.
For the soccer fans of St. Louis, tonight is a big night. The club may have been formally announced last May, but there hasn’t been professional soccer in town in five years. The local supporters group, the St. Louigans, have kept operations going in all that time, waiting for another club to cling to, and tonight that perseverance pays off. Make no mistake, the sports loving residents of St. Louis and its metropolitan are are some of the worst this country has to offer. Pirates fans have known that years, and the rest of the world saw that on display at Busch Stadium and the Edward Jones Dome in the past year. But, you loyal St. Louigans, go crazy tonight, you’ve earned it. You’ll just have the better soccer team quite you down by the half.
Watch Party
It’s the first watch party of the season! We’re going to properly break in (or just break) the renovated bistro bar at Highmark Stadium. Drink the booze, eat the tots, make some noise. It’ll be a good time, you should join us. The bar opens at 7 for the 8:30 kick-off, but some of us may start hanging out in the parking lot before that. Word on the street is that the team store will also be open if you’ve been too ‘distracted’ to make any purchases the past two weekend.
It’s a big road test for the Hounds. A victory and everything feels good and it’ll be easier to discard last week and keep looking forward. Suffer a loss and the thoughts of terrible early starts will inevitably start creeping back in. I’d rather keep thinking happy thoughts, how bout yinz?
#UNLEASH
