Soccer stories, like baseball ones, tend to be generational.
This one starts in St. Louis in 1981. Emilio Romero was one of the top scorers on the , the indoor soccer team that played at the Checkerdome. The team was one game short of going from last to first that year, losing in the Major Indoor Soccer League championship.
Romero would be traded to Kansas City the next year, and eventually end up back in his hometown of Denver, coaching the , one of the top teams in the outdoor American Professional Soccer League, later called the A-League. The Foxes played at Englewood High School’s stadium. It was my mom’s alma mater, and it was a fine facility, as far as high school stadiums go. I used to take my kids to the games, as well as the kids who played on the competitive soccer team that I coached. After wins, fans could mingle with the players on the field. Marcelo Balboa, who would go on to national team stardom, was my favorite player.
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Emilio Romero Steamers Forward 1981 Post-Dispatch photo
The Foxes won the championship the year after Romero left as head coach. Soon, they were jettisoned into the minor leagues, as the upstart Major League Soccer organization took off.
Romero ended up coaching the high school team in Evergreen, where I lived. I’d see him at clinics for coaches and players. My son, Bradley, would learn a few moves from him, and then move on to play at Horizon High School. He was teammates with the son of , who was the new MLS coach of the Colorado Rapids. In 1976, Myernick had won the , given annually by the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis to the best college player in the country.
Mooch and I would sit high in the stands, away from most of the other parents, and watch our boys play soccer, talking about the game. If a heart attack hadn’t taken him at 51, he likely would have ended up as head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team, perhaps bringing them to Busch Stadium next month.
Our boys won the state title my son’s senior year.
Mooch moved on from the Rapids. My son stopped playing soccer. I ended up in St. Louis, that hotbed of American soccer that for too long has lacked a top level professional team.
A few months ago, my family was back in Colorado, watching my son’s daughters play soccer. My granddaughter’s coach looked familiar. “What’s his name?†I asked.
It was Alfonso Romero. He is Emilio’s son.
Soccer binds us all.
OK, not all of us. As St. Louis was abuzz with excitement Tuesday over officially becoming a “major league†city again, with the MLS awarding the city the league’s 28th franchise, there were plenty in the city who didn’t quite join in the fun.
This is a city where 11 children have been shot and killed this summer. It’s a city, er, region, where one of its top elected officials was just sentenced to four years in prison for massive corruption. It’s a baseball and hockey town, still reveling in the Stanley Cup victory of the St. Louis Blues and the fact that (on the day the soccer team was announced) the St. Louis Cardinals were in first place.
Not everybody loves the beautiful game. My former colleague, Kevin Horrigan, used to make fun of me every time Frank Reust, former letters editor, and I would start talking soccer. It’s like watching paint dry, Old Sport would say. Poor Horrigan found himself covering men’s soccer during the 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea. Probably not his favorite memory as a sports columnist.
But in my family, soccer memories help mark the passage of time, like July 4, 1994, Palo Alto Stadium, where my son and I watched the U.S. lose 1-0 in the 1994 World Cup to soccer power Brazil. We spent the day with soccer-loving Brazilians who didn’t speak our language. “Futbol†and “cerveza†were the only words I needed to know.
Soccer is about watching your kid rise up from his defender spot and take a cross out of the air headed for a wide open striker in the 6-yard box. It’s watching Romero, father or son, challenge the rules of physics by juggling a ball that seems impossibly connected to their feet. It’s watching soccer like it’s a chess match, with a soccer savant like Mooch predicting the next pass before you can see it open up.
It’s your granddaughter falling in love with the game, and her father realizing she’ll be better than he ever was.
Soccer is back in St. Louis.
It’s the next generation’s story, waiting to be told.
Photos: Major League Soccer expansion team coming to St. Louis
MLS announces St. Louis as next expansion team

Gesa DeGreeff, from Crestwood, poses with her MLS4THELOU scarf in front of a photo booth as she and other St. Louis soccer fans celebrate during a gathering at the Urban Chestnut Grove Brewery where owners of the newly announced MLS expansion team in St. Louis toasted fans and thanked them for their support on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019. Earlier Tuesday MLS Commissioner Don Garber officially announced St. Louis will be the 28th team added to the growing professional soccer league. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
MLS announces St. Louis as next expansion team

MLS Commissioner Don Garber, left, the new owners of the St. Louis MLS expansion team, center, and St. Louis soccer hero Taylor Twellman, right, celebrate with St. Louis soccer fans during a gathering at the Urban Chestnut Grove Brewery where the fans were thanked and toasted for their support on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019. Earlier Tuesday MLS Commissioner Garber officially announced St. Louis will be the 28th team added to the growing professional soccer league. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
MLS announces St. Louis as next expansion team

St. Louis soccer fans celebrate during a gathering at the Urban Chestnut Grove Brewery where owners of the newly announced MLS expansion team in St. Louis toasted fans and thanked them for their support on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019. Earlier Tuesday MLS Commissioner Don Garber officially announced St. Louis will be the 28th team added to the growing professional soccer league. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
MLS announces St. Louis as next expansion team

St. Louis soccer fans celebrate last August at Urban Chestnut Grove Brewery, where owners of the MLS expansion team in St. Louis toasted fans and thanked them for their support. (Post-Dispatch photo by David Carson)
MLS announces St. Louis as next expansion team

St. Louis soccer fans celebrate during a gathering at the Urban Chestnut Grove Brewery where owners of the newly announced MLS expansion team in St. Louis toasted fans and thanked them for their support on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019. Earlier Tuesday MLS Commissioner Don Garber officially announced St. Louis will be the 28th team added to the growing professional soccer league. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
MLS announces St. Louis as next expansion team

(Pictured from left to right) Allie Kindle Hogan, Jo Ann Taylor Kindle, Andy Taylor, MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Lee Broughton, Chrissy Taylor Broughton, and Carolyn Kindle Betz pose for a photo after a celebration with St. Louis soccer fans at the Urban Chestnut Grove Brewery on Aug. 20. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
MLS announces St. Louis as next expansion team

The new owners of the St. Louis MLS expansion team and St. Louis soccer hero Taylor Twellman, right, celebrate with St. Louis soccer fans during a gathering at the Urban Chestnut Grove Brewery where the fans were thanked and toasted for their support on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019. Earlier Tuesday MLS Commissioner Garber officially announced St. Louis will be the 28th team added to the growing professional soccer league. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
MLS announces St. Louis as next expansion team

MLS Commissioner Don Garber (left) and St. Louis soccer hero Taylor Twellman (right) flank the new owners of the MLS expansion team at a fan party at Urban Chestnut Brewery in The Grove on Aug. 20. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
MLS announces St. Louis as next expansion team

Politicians Lyda Krewson (third from left) and Lewis Reed (front) celebrate with MLS Commissioner Don Garber and the MLS4TheLou group last August. (Post-Dispatch photo by David Carson)
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Carolyn Kindle Betz, leader of the team's ownership group, and Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber at the Aug. 20, 2019 announcement that St. Louis had been awarded an MLS expansion team. (Post-Dispatch photo by J.B. Forbes)
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Members of the ownership group of the new St. Louis franchise in Major League Soccer pose for a photo after the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a team. They are from left: Patty Taylor, Jo Ann Taylor Kindle, Carolyn Kindle Betz, and Chrissy Taylor.
MLS announces St. Louis team

Carolyn Kindle Betz, head of MLS4TheLou, and league commissioner Don Garber announce last August that an MLS expansion team has been awarded to St. Louis. (Post-Dispatch photo by J.B. Forbes)
MLS

The press and dignitaries gather all the Palladium for the announcement that St. Louis is getting a major league expansion soccer team. Photo by JB Forbes jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Chris Goodson, owner of Fields Foods, congratulates Carolyn Kindle Betz after the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team. Betz is one of the owners of the new franchise. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Carolyn Kindle Betz receives applause from Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber and a large crowd during the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team. Betz is part of the ownership group. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Carolyn Kindle Betz receives applause from Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber and a large crowd during the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team. Betz is part of the ownership group. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Carolyn Kindle Betz talks about how excited she is for soccer coming back to St. Louis during the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Posing for a photo after the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team is from left: St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, new franchise owner Carolyn Kindle Betz, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber and St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Carolyn Kindle Betz, a member of the ownership group of the new soccer franchise, accepts a soccer scarf from Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber after the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Carolyn Kindle Betz talks about what a good sports town St. Louis is during the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team. Others on the stage are from left: Don Garber, Major Leage Soccer Commissioner; St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber talks about what a great soccer town St. Louis is during the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Carolyn Kindle Betz talks with Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber during the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a Major League Soccer soccer expansion team. Betz is CEO of the ownership group. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Hockey star Bernie Federko and St. Louis Cardinals football star Jackie Smith talk before the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team. Behind them is Aeneas Williams, from the St. Louis Rams an Chris Pronger, former St. Louis Blues hockey player. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Jo Ann Taylor Kindle, Andy Taylor, and Chrissy Taylor applaude Carolyn Kindle Betz after the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Carolyn Kindle Betz talks about how excited she is for soccer coming back to St. Louis during the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a major league soccer expansion team. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Carolyn Kindle Betz is congratulated by St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed after the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a Major League Soccer expansion team. Betz is part of the team's ownership group. (J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com)
St. Louis gets a new soccer expansion team

Carolyn Kindle Betz, a member of the ownership group of the new St. Louis soccer franchise, and Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber hug after the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, that St. Louis has been awarded a Major League Soccer expansion team. (J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com)