Saturday night figured to be an emotional night at CityPark: the final home game in a season that has lived up to no one’s expectations but has shown plenty of promise at the end.
As the game went on, there were St. Louis City SC players mad at Houston players, Houston players mad at City SC players, City SC players mad at other City SC players and maybe a coach.
But in the end, the prevailing emotion was unbridled happiness.
City SC closed its home season with a 3-0 win over Houston behind two goals by newcomer Simon Becher and a goal by Jake Nerwinski, who may well have been playing his final game in CityPark — and with the club. Nerwinski’s goal may have been largely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, a 92nd-minute goal in a game City SC already had in hand, but it mattered a great deal to everyone with the club.
Then, when the game was over, players hung around on the field for the postgame fireworks show, while the children of players took penalty shots at Roman Burki.
In a season filled with frustrations, this night seemed to bring back all the feelings of joy that had marked the first season.
