SLU Men's Soccer Thread

[Wendelprof]

Talk about happy accidents.  My wife and I hiked the Camino de Santiago in Spain last summer.  We enjoyed it so much, we decided to hike a portion of the French Camino this summer.  We made our plans months ago, making sure we stayed away from the hassles of Paris and the Olympics.  The French Camino starts in a little town, Le Puy, France.  We decided to start our hike August 2nd (the day after my wife's birthday).  We thought we'd spend a few days in Lyon before heading to Le Puy.  We just realized tonight that the final group stage game for the US men's soccer team is in Saint Etienne, a small town about halfway between Lyon and Le Puy.  After spending some time on the internet canceling hotel reservations and making new ones, we bought two tickets to the game Tuesday night.  Any other Billikens going to be there?

[Lord Elrond]

Simon Becher in the starting lineup for St Louis City tonight, along with Hartel and Teuchert. John Klein is on the bench. Looks like the new signings are on display.

[Lord Elrond]

Klein comes in for Teuchert in the 68th minute 

[slufanskip]

Becher earns a PK to give City a go ahead goal. Imo it shouldn’t have been a penalty but that’s the way the game is played now. Don’t try and make a play, try and get a call by going down. Pretty typical in MLS. 

Overall Becher played well 76 min. Worked hard, was disruptive with the press at times and got himself into dangerous positions numerous times. Had at least 1, I’m sure he’d like back, but a nice 1st game. 

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

13 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

Becher earns a PK to give City a go ahead goal. Imo it shouldn’t have been a penalty but that’s the way the game is played now. Don’t try and make a play, try and get a call by going down. Pretty typical in MLS. 

Overall Becher played well 76 min. Worked hard, was disruptive with the press at times and got himself into dangerous positions numerous times. Had at least 1, I’m sure he’d like back, but a nice 1st game. 

Lame. That happens everywhere

[slufanskip]

9 minutes ago, RiseOfTheBillikens said:

Lame. That happens 

 

 I said it’s the way the game is played now. However, it’s much more prevalent throughout the Americas. Watching the Euro cup and Copa was like watching 2 different games and it’s really bad in MLS. MLS is difficult to watch. If St Louis didn’t have a team, I’d never watch a game. 

[Lord Elrond]

It’s worse in the South American area. You can see more guys diving in some soccer games than guys diving in a Jacque Cousteau TV special.

[slufanskip]

3 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

It’s worse in the South American area. You can see more guys diving in some soccer games than guys diving in a Jacque Cousteau TV special.

Truth

I am admittedly an old fart though who longs for the days when going down was weak. it’s why LeBron can never be better than Jordan and why Messi can’t be the best player ever. The best player would never dive. 

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

14 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

19 minutes ago, RiseOfTheBillikens said:

Lame. That happens 

 

 I said it’s the way the game is played now. However, it’s much more prevalent throughout the Americas. Watching the Euro cup and Copa was like watching 2 different games and it’s really bad in MLS. MLS is difficult to watch. If St Louis didn’t have a team, I’d never watch a game. 

Disagree. Happens in Europe as well. South America is much worse than MLS hence the Copa issue.

Becher beat him to the ball and defender went through the back of his legs cause he was caught out of position. 

 

And LeBron is better than Jordan. 

[slufanskip]

9 minutes ago, RiseOfTheBillikens said:

Disagree. Happens in Europe as well. South America is much worse than MLS hence the Copa issue.

Becher beat him to the ball and defender went through the back of his legs cause he was caught out of position. 

 

And LeBron is better than Jordan. 

Put down the crack pipe. 
 

Becher easily could have stayed up and attempted to make a play. He went down easy looking for a call. It’s weak soccer

[Pistol]

We can quibble over individual plays but there's no question in my mind that MLS keeps getting better as an on-field product. This league has made big strides. It's worth watching, even if it still has a long way to go.

I split FC Cincinnati season tickets with a friend and watch as many City games as I can.

And my interest keeps going up now that City has two Billikens on the roster (and FCC has one in Kipp Keller).

[MusicCityBilliken]

7 hours ago, Pistol said:

We can quibble over individual plays but there's no question in my mind that MLS keeps getting better as an on-field product. This league has made big strides. It's worth watching, even if it still has a long way to go.

I split FC Cincinnati season tickets with a friend and watch as many City games as I can.

And my interest keeps going up now that City has two Billikens on the roster (and FCC has one in Kipp Keller).

I make about 4-5 Nashville SC games a season. Even though they s**k this year they are a lot of fun to watch. The stadium, Geodis Park, is soccer specific & only 3 years old, seats 30,000 and the amenities are nice. Amazingly they pack it usually at capacity for each match.

The MLS has a good strong franchise here in Nashville.  

[HoosierPal]

33 minutes ago, MusicCityBilliken said:

I make about 4-5 Nashville SC games a season. Even though they s**k this year they are a lot of fun to watch. The stadium, Geodis Park, is soccer specific & only 3 years old, seats 30,000 and the amenities are nice. Amazingly they pack it usually at capacity for each match.

The MLS has a good strong franchise here in Nashville.  

We attended the City game last season in Nashville. I agree the stadium is top notch, but the parking certainly isn’t. Reminded me of parking in a field at a State Fair. I can’t imagine the mess there would be if the fields had been muddy. Egress was a pain too. 

[MusicCityBilliken]

3 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

We attended the City game last season in Nashville. I agree the stadium is top notch, but the parking certainly isn’t. Reminded me of parking in a field at a State Fair. I can’t imagine the mess there would be if the fields had been muddy. Egress was a pain too. 

You are correct, the parking blows. Found out the hard way 2 years ago when we parked on the speedway track. Took over an hour to get out the Fairgrounds Speedway. Plus the parking cost me more then the game tickets. 

After that we park in a AMC Movie Theater lot and uber in. It's about 2 miles from the stadium. Problem is to get a uber to pick you up might take anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour with all the post game congestion. Many times waited in Santa's Pub which is across the street from the Stadium. When we went to the Inter-Miami game a few weeks ago we walked it back rather than wait for an uber, took maybe 35 minutes.  

BTW: I also was at that St Louis game last year, you all had a nice turn-out.

[Bills By 40]

On 7/28/2024 at 8:05 AM, MusicCityBilliken said:

You are correct, the parking blows. Found out the hard way 2 years ago when we parked on the speedway track. Took over an hour to get out the Fairgrounds Speedway. Plus the parking cost me more then the game tickets. 

After that we park in a AMC Movie Theater lot and uber in. It's about 2 miles from the stadium. Problem is to get a uber to pick you up might take anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour with all the post game congestion. Many times waited in Santa's Pub which is across the street from the Stadium. When we went to the Inter-Miami game a few weeks ago we walked it back rather than wait for an uber, took maybe 35 minutes.  

BTW: I also was at that St Louis game last year, you all had a nice turn-out.

I was also at that Nashville-St. Louis game last year, we had a family and friends group of almost 20. I've traveled to 5 different MLS stadiums that weren't St. Louis and your stadium was the nicest of any of them (Dallas, Nashville, Orlando, KC, Denver) but I echo the parking issue. Besides Orlando it was the closest to the city it represents, which is a nice touch - I hate how far away Dallas and KC are and Denver was similar but not quite as distant. St. Louis remains far and away the best location and nicest stadium I've seen so far but much of that has to do with its age and maybe a bit of it has to do with bias. 

Fun Nashville SC story - I too parked in the Speedway and around the 80th minute of the match I got a call from Nashville PD to tell me my truck had been broken into during the game. Nothing seemed taken or damaged but it was a good excuse to leave that sh!t game early and investigate. 

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

On 7/27/2024 at 10:46 PM, slufanskip said:

Put down the crack pipe. 
 

Becher easily could have stayed up and attempted to make a play. He went down easy looking for a call. It’s weak soccer

He went down cause he was fouled and knew he would be awarded a PK. It's smart football. 

[Wendelprof]

Small world.  We went out to the stadium early to get the full Olympic experience.  There were a number of food trucks and restaurants in the area.  One of the volunteers told us the best place to eat around the stadium was the gift shop/restaurant for the St. Etienne soccer team (right next to one end of the stadium).  There were lots of picnic tables around the shop where you could sit, and eat and drink, whatever you ordered.  We found an open one and sat down for dinner.  5 minutes into it, we realized the table next to us was the Schulte clan.  Met his father and countless relatives.  They couldn't have been nicer.  What great ambassadors for St. Louis University, St. Louis, and the USA.  The father had great memories of the Billikens blog.

Go Bills, Go USA.

[TheA_Bomb]

15 minutes ago, Wendelprof said:

Small world.  We went out to the stadium early to get the full Olympic experience.  There were a number of food trucks and restaurants in the area.  One of the volunteers told us the best place to eat around the stadium was the gift shop/restaurant for the St. Etienne soccer team (right next to one end of the stadium).  There were lots of picnic tables around the shop where you could sit, and eat and drink, whatever you ordered.  We found an open one and sat down for dinner.  5 minutes into it, we realized the table next to us was the Schulte clan.  Met his father and countless relatives.  They couldn't have been nicer.  What great ambassadors for St. Louis University, St. Louis, and the USA.  The father had great memories of the Billikens blog.

Go Bills, Go USA.

Awesome attending the Olympics is so much fun. I did Atlanta 96, just walking around you'd see someone with a Olympic lanyard and know they were an athlete. So I'd usually ask them their country and sport. They were always happy to tell you.  It's similar at the NCAA track and field national championship, all the athletes, families coaches and fans walking around watching together. 

The venues at this Olympic are legendary Musee d' Orsay for fencing and Versailles for equestrian have been stunning viewing.  If you haven't been go to Versailles, rent the bike to ride out to the little palace and village.  It's fun and cool seeing the equestrian in the same place. 

[Lord Elrond]

Simon Becher gets another start tonight for City, John Klein on the substitute list. Tonight’s opponent: FC Juarez from Liga MX in the Leagues Cup.

[Lord Elrond]

Simon Becher scored his 1st City goal, off a corner from Lowen

[slufanskip]

52 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Simon Becher scored his 1st City goal, off a corner from Lowen

I believe Vassilev took the corner. Lowen sets a screen and Becher cuts to the near post and one times a low driving corner just inside the post

[billikenfan05]

10 hours ago, slufanskip said:

I believe Vassilev took the corner. Lowen sets a screen and Becher cuts to the near post and one times a low driving corner just inside the post

This feels like a spiritual cousin to his first goal. He was on the back stick on that one. I could have sworn it was a front post redirection. 

[HoosierPal]

11 hours ago, slufanskip said:

I believe Vassilev took the corner. Lowen sets a screen and Becher cuts to the near post and one times a low driving corner just inside the post

Lowen took the corner.  Hartel on the pick, which was pretty special and made the play work.  Brilliant play all around.  This link only take you to the MLS scores page.  Click on the highlights tab for the City game.  Becher's goal is the 4th clip.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/schedule/scores#competition=all&club=all&date=2024-08-04

[OkieBilliken]

ESPN reporting Tim Ream to Charlotte on loan.   This is a bit surprising.   Everything he said prior to the WC was that he wanted to play a couple of more years in the EPL before retiring.     Wish him the best in Charlotte.     Not too far a drive for me, maybe I will go see him play.     Saw him play at Fulham at in 2018

[Lord Elrond]

32 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

ESPN reporting Tim Ream to Charlotte on loan.   This is a bit surprising.   Everything he said prior to the WC was that he wanted to play a couple of more years in the EPL before retiring.     Wish him the best in Charlotte.     Not too far a drive for me, maybe I will go see him play.     Saw him play at Fulham at in 2018

I’m not sure being on some European team and not playing helps a players career as much as playing somewhere, despite how much it helped a players bank account.  With the rise of MLS, and MLS starting to pay more, the money gap has become less, so maybe American players playing more in the US instead of heading overseas will happen more and more?