St. Louis star Eduard Löwen: Support of "whole city" has driven us to success
After a frustrating time in the Bundesliga, Eduard Löwen has had a fantastic start to his career in Major League Soccer. The 26-year-old midfielder joined expansion side St. Louis CITY SC ahead of the season, and Löwen has become a key member of a side that has already secured first place in the Western Conference. Transfermarkt had a chance to catch up with Löwen for an exclusive interview after St. Louis CITY’s 3-0 defeat to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
“Obviously, we are happy about clinching first place in the Conference,” Löwen said after the game. “But I think that was not the level we wanted to play at. We have to analyze what happened here and move forward to the Seattle game.” That game against the Seattle Sounders could cap off a historic season for St. Louis. A win and St. Louis CITY SC will have broken a record for the most points recorded by an expansion side in MLS history.
Heading into the final matchday, St. Louis have already secured 56 points to rank first in the Western Conference and third in MLS overall. The win secures St. Louis a home advantage all the way to the Conference Final, should they get that far. “Obviously, we have some great individual quality, but I think we did a great job of building a really good team, not just the players but also including the staff,” Löwen said when asked about this season’s success. “There is a great atmosphere within the team, but we also had great support from the whole city, and I think that drives us. It’s a lot of fun to come to training and be a part of this community. There are a lot of great people involved, and it is fun to work together with them.”
Eduard Löwen: St. Louis CITY SC made the transition easy
From the start, there has been a sense that St. Louis will have to be greater than the sum of its parts to be successful this season. But even then, it is undeniable that sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel was able to secure some significant undervalued talent ahead of the season. Löwen certainly falls into that category. Signed for just €1m from Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin, according to the latest MLSPA salary guide Löwen is set to earn just $1.34m in guaranteed compensation with St. Louis CITY SC this season. While the annual guaranteed compensation includes marketing bonuses and any agent fees, it doesn’t include performance bonuses as there is no guarantee that the player will hit those bonuses.
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The 26-year-old has been worth every penny, scoring six goals and nine assists in 28 regular season games. According to Wyscout, Eduard Löwen is tenth with 75 shots on goal overall and second only to Thiago Almada (78) with 68 shots outside the box. Löwen’s excellent free-kick technique have also led to two direct free-kick goals, which rank him second in the league—again just behind Atlanta United’s Almada. But it isn’t just Löwen’s shooting technique that makes him a key player for St. Louis. The central midfielder is also the most important part of Bradley Carnell’s midfield. Just a few numbers: Löwen is 20th in MLS with 1.55 through passes per 90 minutes, 22nd with 220 passes to the final third, and 26th with 26.19% completed through passes.
But what has been the secret of Löwen’s easy transition to MLS? “Obviously, I work very hard,” Löwen said when asked about his personal performances this season. “But all the people around me made it very easy for me to get settled in a new country. We have a relations manager who took care of everything; many things you wouldn’t even think about. So, it was kind of easy for me and my wife to get settled.”
Eduard Löwen: Hertha going down was “predictable”
Playing in MLS rather than the Bundesliga has also helped Löwen regain his form. “There is less tension here; everything is a bit more relaxed,” Löwen said. “You don’t feel as much under the spotlight; you are less afraid to try something because, in Germany, it often felt like people were looking for you to make a mistake. I really enjoy America because it is a bit more chill, and that helps me a lot because I don’t have to be as careful.”
It almost feels like that Löwen has a new lease on life after getting out of a very difficult situation with Hertha Berlin. Hertha signed the midfielder for €7m from 1. FC Nürnberg in 2019, but Löwen never really found a place with the squad playing just 14 games for the team based in the German capital and spent time out on loan at Augsburg and Bochum before finally escaping the situation by moving across the Atlantic to St. Louis.
Indeed, the situation at St. Louis feels like the total opposite of Löwen’s time at Hertha. Relegated from the Bundesliga, Hertha are currently struggling in the second division, a status that doesn’t surprise Löwen at all. “I don’t have any thoughts or feelings of revenge; neither am I happy that they have gone down,” Löwen said. “It was predictable, to be honest, because there was a lot of chaos there. You know this team [St. Louis] is like a community; we didn’t have that at all over there. But obviously, [Hertha] have a lot of potential, so maybe they can turn it around at some point. I would be happy for them if they could.”
How far can St. Louis go? Löwen: “Just bring on anyone”
Hertha are in the past; the Seattle Sounders and the MLS Cup Playoffs are in the future. After finishing first in the Western Conference, St. Louis will receive a bye to the first round where they will meet the winner of Wildcard match played between the teams that finished eighth and ninth in the Western Conference. At the moment, the potential opponents are the Portland Timbers, FC Dallas or the San Jose Earthquakes.
After an already successful regular season, the question has to be asked: how far can this team go? “That’s a really good question,” Löwen said. “We are definitely talking about it among ourselves. At the end of the day, we had a great season already. But you can also lose in the first round of the playoffs, and everybody will forget the success you had. We have done a good job thinking game to game rather than saying now we want to win the MLS Cup. I think that is the best approach for us. We want to go and beat Seattle and go with a positive feeling into the playoffs.” Then, in the playoffs, is there a particular team Löwen and St. Louis CITY SC want to face? “Oh no, I wouldn’t say so,” Löwen said. “Just bring on anyone.”
