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He’s loving it.

“Before, when I was young,� he said Thursday after a light practice, “(America) was, like, my dream country. And yeah, when I signed here, and I was so excited to come here. And my first first time, my first day in the airport, it was nice. I now have my dream, and I complete my dream now, and everything is nice.�

Of course, Fall’s reason for that dream may be different than that of others.

“We were kids and we were talking, ‘Which country do you want to live in?’ � he said. “ ‘Which country is your dream country?’ And we were playing GTA and everything. That’s why I love America.

“I was joking with my friend yesterday. Everything I see in GTA, I see it when I walk.�

The fact that Fall’s love of America has roots in the video game Grand Theft Auto is a reminder that he turned 21 years old in April and despite the significant investment the team made in him, he is one of the youngest players on the team.

Fall came on at halftime of the Aston Villa game, his first game ever against a Premier League team (Fall said his soccer dream is to play in England), and he played 40 minutes. “Yesterday was amazing,� he said. “I really like it.�

“Difficult game to come in for,� said interim City SC coach David Critchley. “Not often do you come over to the MLS and your first game’s against an EPL team. I was really happy with him. He got himself comfortable after a couple of minutes, it seemed like so, yeah, good impressions. Good first game.�

“I am the guy who wants to play,� Fall said. “The first thing I see here is like, I can say, I can bring more for the teams. To play more and to play for the long ball. If I get fit soon and I have the rhythm I can, I can bring more for the teams.�

Critchley may soon have plenty of options at center back. After playing 40 minutes on short notice against Aston Villa, Fall should be able to start when City SC returns to Major League Soccer action Aug. 9 against Nashville.

That’s the game the team is pointing at for Henry Kessler’s return to action. Along with the healthy Timo Baumgartl, Critchley soon will have three center backs to choose among for two spots.

Fall already fits in well as a City SC center back. He played Wednesday with a brace on his right arm, protecting the thumb he broke in his last game with Fredrikstad in Norway.

“I tried to take the ball, and I forget my finger behind, and it was like, broken,� he said, “but now it’s like, ‘OK, I have to wear this one, but I can move it.’ I just want to protect it for two weeks more and after that it’s done.�

On a team that had three center backs on the team injury report last week, the origin of the injury is something Critchley took time to stress.

“The injury was caused several weeks ago, not at St. Louis City,� he said Wednesday night, smiling. “He already had it.�

Kids’ chance

Critchley used 26 players Wednesday, 11 starters, 11 who came in at halftime and then four more who came in with five minutes to go. Among the players who didn’t get in were Jayden Reid, Xande Silva, Akil Watts, Homegrown player Caden Glover and No. 3 goalkeeper Christian Olivares.

Among those who got in were Brendan McSorley, Mykhi Joyner, Miguel Perez and Tyson Pearce, who have played the bulk of their time this season with City2. For Perez, it was three days past the day two years ago he made his last appearance with the first team.

“Very, very proud of them,� Critchley said. “I spent a lot of my time with them in the early part of the season. So Coach (John) Hackworth and his staff are doing a fantastic job keeping this development high for these guys. And I thought all the younger ones, all the City2 ones that came into the environment tonight, done a very, very good job. Brendan was fantastic.�

Like its parent club, City2 is off this weekend. It plays twice next week, first at Vancouver on Wednesday and then at home on Sunday against Colorado.