Soccer….Family Style

Sneak peak of Des Moines Menace Open Cup game vs Union Omaha

It’s been a minute since I wrote about soccer. We’ve all been through some things for the past few years: we’ve survived a pandemic, we’ve lost beloved members of our soccer family, and I haven’t quite known how to put myself back together. Who am I if I’m not traveling around the world following soccer?

If there’s one thing I learned during the pandemic, it’s the value of local soccer. I have supported Des Moines Menace for the past 30 years, first as a referee wife,  briefly as a referee, as a supporter and now as the corporate tifo sponsor (mainly because Mr. Tanya is insubordinate and refuses to listen when I say we need to focus on Hat Trick Renovation work). Which is fine, because local soccer is the best soccer, and the US Open Cup is the best of local soccer.

This year, ML$ decided to not participate in the Cup, yet another disappointment from on high (#youknew). It’s just too much work for them to deal with the clubs that train their players for them. It must be so hard.

No disrespect if you just heard about US Soccer leagues when Messi suited up, but we’ve actually been doing this for a really long time. In the 30 years of Menace Soccer history, we have made many lifelong friendships at the Open Cup. We loved our rivalry with Minnesota Thunder and because of our friendships with Neal Logan and his crew at Minnesota 1st Volunteers, we have traveled to watch the Loons play in MLS many, many times.

What I didn’t realize until this year is it’s also like that for players. I about lost my mind when USMNT alum Sacha Kljestan agreed to play for my Des Moines Menace. I thought it was because Charlie Bales is the greatest GM in all the land, but it turns out that we supporters of Menace soccer helped seal the deal.

Kljestan played against the Menace during his time at Orange County in the semi finals of the PDL Championship. He remembered our passionate fans and the experience of playing in Des Moines. Turns out plenty of players have great memories playing in the Open Cup, and a good number of them have signed with Menace, because the Menace are freaking awesome.

I’ve dedicated a good chunk of my life to building soccer supporter culture in the United States, and the culture we’ve built in Des Moines is so much bigger than lower league energy that ML$ doesn’t have time for. Having Sacha Kljestan and his posse show up for us is exactly the recognition Des Moines Menace deserves. I love my club, I’m psyched to see my friends in Omaha, and I can’t wait for another regular season of watching the future of soccer play out on a field in Central Iowa.