St. Louis City was not given much of a chance in its first ever MLS game, facing a daunting trip to Western Conference power Austin FC.
But thanks in part to one of the strangest mistakes we’ll ever see on an MLS field, the expansion club shocked Austin FC in a 3-2 win on Saturday night.
After St. Louis took the lead through Tim Parker in the first half, order appeared to be restored after goals from Sebastián Driussi and Jon Gallagher gave Austin a 2-1 advantage in the second half.
But in the 78th minute, Austin FC defender Kipp Keller had possession and turned towards his goal. Right in front of him was Jared Stroud.
Now if this were last season, Keller passing the ball to Stroud would have made perfect sense, as Stroud played for Austin FC. But Stroud is now a member of St. Louis City, which is decidedly not the team that Keller plays for.
And yet.
Stroud back in Austin 😏 pic.twitter.com/uRlAQNE7ch
— St Louis CITY SC (@stlCITYsc) February 26, 2023
We’ve seen defenders inadvertently pass backwards to an opponent plenty of times, but it’s usually a blind pass. Here, Keller seems to have simply forgot that Stroud wasn’t his teammate anymore.
Speaking to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after the game, Stroud clearly felt for his buddy Keller.
“Kipp’s a good friend of mine,” Stroud said, his voice confirming how bad he felt for Keller. Stroud said Keller looked at him twice – “maybe he recognized me,” he said – and then without looking played it to him. “I feel bad for him. But I was happy to score. It was like, ‘Shoot it.’ I didn’t think twice.” He knew what to do. “I played against that goalie for two years,” he said.
Stroud’s goal was only the beginning of the comeback, with João Klauss scoring a late winner for St. Louis to secure the shock of the early MLS season.
It’s only week one, but we may not see a more surprising result all season long. We almost certainly won’t see a stranger goal.
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