Former sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel wins title with MLS newcomer St. Louis

To understand the situation better, Pfannenstiel, who as a goalkeeper became the first player to play professionally in all six continental confederations, tried to draw a comparison between his team and the newcomers in the Bundesliga 1. FC Heidenheim: “It is as if Heidenheim became German champions,” he said. The former sporting director of the second division team Fortuna told t-online.de, “The player will move to the Champions League.”

In any case, St. Louis has already achieved notable accomplishments in its first season in Major League Soccer, not least thanks to Pfannenstiel’s experience in building a team. With five straight wins, the team led by former Bundesliga pros Roman Bürki, Eduard Lewin and Joao Klaus made the best start for a newcomer in MLS history, secured early playoff participation and actually successfully passed the conference and qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League Perfectly.

Pfannenstiel wants to use the final round, which begins at the end of the month, primarily as part of his team’s ongoing maturation process and not to create excessive expectations. “I don’t want to give any goals. Our goal is to create stability and strengthen the whole thing. The results will come on their own,” Pfannenstiel emphasized.

Lower Bavaria considers a knockout duel with world champions Messi and Miami shortly before the end of the points round highly unlikely. Although Messi “almost single-handedly dismantled” the league, “I don’t think Inter can do that anymore,” says the 50-year-old: Miami’s gap in the playoff places “simply closed” when the Argentine signed a “major” .

Pfannenstiel, who had already helped take the club off the drawing board and onto the field in Saint Louis, moved from TSG Hoffenheim to Fortuna as sporting director in 2018. Two years later, he asked the supervisory board to terminate his contract early – according to his statements – exclusively for personal reasons. The original contract was to run until summer 2021. Paid content He later had a public mud fight with his successor, Uwe Klein.