AUSTIN, Texas — There's a certain buzz in the air — a buzz because Major League Soccer is less than a year away from coming to Austin.
The buzz is in part thanks to Los Verdes, a supporters group that's only a month old, but one that sold 300 memberships in the first day they went on sale.
“Really our goal is to be the voice, the passion, the drumbeat, the music of the supporters section of McKalla (Place),” Jeremiah Bentley, a member of the Los Verdes leadership team, said.
With a membership supporters get a seat in the 3,400-person supporters section, free Austin FC merchandise and – perhaps most importantly – training for chants and songs.
“People come to expect at soccer games more and more, especially in MLS, for it to be a show and a spectacle,” said Mateo Clarke, who's a member of both Los Verdes and La Murga (a subsection of supporters, whose focus is music).
“We think about this as soccer church and us as the choir helping lead that experience,” he continued.
Clarke learned to play the trumpet a year ago for the sole purpose of playing it inside McKalla Place.
Since then, he and other members of La Murga have brainstormed catchy songs and chants that will soon be heard coming from their die-hard section of the stadium.
Among the chants is an Austin take on "Ole Ole Ole Ole," which replaces the words with "Alright Alright Alright Alright" as a tribute to Matthew McConaughey.
The group also drew inspiration from Camila Cabello's "Havana," and replaced the song's main word with "McKalla."
The entire effort is so that the buzz remains contagious.
“It’s born out of the belief that we can have an impact on the team doing well,” Clarke said.
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