ST. LOUIS – A newcomer made an immediate impact for St. Louis CITY SC just hours after the team officially announced his first professional soccer contract.
Hosei Kijima joined St. Louis CITY SC as MLS SuperDraft pick ahead of the 2024 season. St. Louis announced his first professional contract Tuesday morning.
Kijima made his professional soccer debut in Tuesday’s CONCACAF Champions Cup match and scored a late tie-breaking and game-winning goal for St. Louis CITY SC.
“I was going to do everything I can to help the team win and I think I accomplished that today,” Kijima told the CONCACAF Champions Cup broadcast crew after CITY SC’s 2-1 win over the Houston Dynamo.
Kijima only played four minutes near the end of Tuesday’s match, but it didn’t take long for him to make his mark.
As St. Louis worked around a corner, a Houston defender briefly stopped a pass, but misplayed it. Kijima forced it away to his right, found an opening, and delivered a curving shot just inside the lower left goal post.
“NO WAY, HOSEI!” said the Y98 broadcast crew on the radio call Tuesday after his goal.
“I saw the guy take a bad touch. I crashed into the guy. Took it across and finished it,” said Kijima in a postgame chat with FOX 2 and other media members.
Kijima, a Japan native and a midfielder, completed four years of soccer at Wake Forest University before joining St. Louis. While at Wake Forest, he enjoyed a run as team captain and finished with nine goals and 10 assists over 63 matches. He was also named United Soccer Coaches All-South Region First Team last year.
On a whirlwind day, Kijima said the first thing that came to his mind was gratitude.
“Just to get a chance to see the field, let alone be rostered today, was first of all surprising. Second, I couldn’t thank the coaching staff enough,” said Kijima.
The new contract locks up Kijima through the 2024 season and offers various options from 2025 to 2027. He says the contract had been in the works since before his arrival to St. Louis, but there were some delays in getting it to line up with visa conditions.
Kijima and St. Louis CITY SC return to CITYPARK on Saturday for St. Louis’ 2024 MLS regular season opener. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
