“It was strange, but it was also super beneficial because I got to train with five different clubs [New England Revolution, Seattle Sounders, Chivas USA, Real Salt Lake and the Crew]. The goal was to get my foot in a door and make as many good impressions as I could.”
For someone with a gloomier disposition, it might have been a drag. For the upbeat Stuver it was an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of other MLS goalkeeping stars he held in high esteem – the likes of Tim Melia, Sporting Kansas City legend and two-time Open Cup Champion, and the most famous alumni of the Goalkeeper Pool, 2017 Open Cup Runner-up Luis Robles and Sounders hero Stefan Frei, twice an MLS Cup winner and one-time Open Cup Champion.
“I looked up to those kinds of guys – the ones who didn’t have your typical MLS story of being the young guy everyone is looking at,” he said.
Stuver was eventually signed in 2014 by the Columbus Crew, his homebase club during that Pool Year. It was there – and out on loan from there – that he got his first taste of the U.S. Open Cup. “We’d go to Richmond [Kickers] and Rochester [Rhinos] and places like that – and of course there was that FC Cincinnati game in 2017.”
The game in question was the first installment of the Hell is Real derby when, in May of 2017, the then Division II FC Cincinnati started what he calls a “magical run” in the Open Cup with a 1-0 win over Ohio rivals Columbus Crew. Djiby Fall’s winning header that day slipped past one Brad Stuver and into the back of the net at a raucous Nippert Stadium.
Austin’s Hero on a Hunt for Trophies
Arriving in Austin with a low profile, after a back-up role with New York City FC between 2018 and 2020, where he made seven appearances in the league and four more in the Open Cup, Stuver quickly grabbed hold of the starting position. The young club’s fans, with little in the way of traditional success to hold on to, adopted the mild-mannered keeper as their icon.
“You can’t dream of a better reception than what I got when I arrived here,” he said of the fans who delight in chanting Stuuuuuv from behind his goal. “The way the fans adopted me. The city. It’s one of those places where you’re made to feel at home. There's nothing like the heartbeat before the kick-off or the Verde smoke after a goal. It’s electric.”
From a player without a club to an enduring symbol of one, it’s been quite the road for Stuver. And you get the sense it’s only just beginning. Up next for the Austin club in search of a first-ever piece of silverware, is a U.S. Open Cup Semifinal on the road against Minnesota United FC on September 17 (LIVE on Paramount+ and on air at CBS Sports Network).
“They sure do have their identity,” said Stuver of the Loons of Minnesota, one of the toughest opponents in MLS and one with a particular style of play that can be best described as disruptive.
“They know exactly who they are and they don’t allow very many shots,” added Stuver ahead of a huge test on the road in St. Paul. “They’re extremely good defensively. And they can hit you hard in transition and on set pieces.”
