A surprise team with a strong influence from Germany is currently overshadowing superstar Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in the North American professional soccer league MLS.
For newcomer St. Louis City SC, sports director Lutz Pfannenstiel can only think of superlatives several days after winning the Western Conference early.
“This is a record for eternity,” said the ex-goalkeeper known as a globetrotter.
To better understand the situation, Pfannenstiel, who as a goalkeeper became the first player to play professionally in all six continental associations, tried to make a comparison between his team and Bundesliga newcomers 1. FC Heidenheim: “It’s as if Heidenheim became German champions and in the Champions League,” said the former sports director of second division team Fortuna Düsseldorf on the Internet portal “t-online.de”.
In any case, St. Louis has already achieved notable milestones in its first MLS season, not least thanks to Pfannenstiel’s experience in building the team.
With five wins in a row, the team around former Bundesliga professionals Roman Bürki, Eduard Löwen and Joao Klauss recorded the best start for a newcomer in MLS history, secured participation in the playoffs early on and also achieved success in the conference last weekend Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions League is already perfect.
Pfannenstiel wants to use the final round, which begins at the end of the month, primarily as part of an ongoing maturation process for his team and not to create excessive expectations. “I don’t want to set any goals. For us, it’s about creating stability and consolidating the whole thing. Then the results will come by themselves.”
The Lower Bavarian considers a knockout duel with world champion Messi and Miami shortly before the end of the points round to be highly unlikely. Even though Messi has “almost single-handedly dismantled” the league, “I don’t think Inter can do it anymore,” says the 50-year-old: Miami’s gap to the playoff places is already “simply too big” when the Argentine is signed. been.