Olof Mellberg just wants to talk about football. The new St. Louis City SC manager arrives in the midwest to take charge of a team that underwent a fairly remarkable downturn from in 2024. The expansion franchise enjoyed arguably the best first regular season in league history in 2023, topping the Western Conference — a smartly constructed roster pieced together by former Hoffenheim Head Scout Lutz Pfannenstiel rolling through the summer months.
They went the opposite way the year after, and finished 12th in the West – 16 points out of the final playoff spot. Bradley Carnell was dismissed halfway through the campaign. The critics were vocal. Was that first season – that ended with a first-round playoff loss – just a fluke? Was this team really midtable all along, and riding its luck, backed by the pulse of a new town?
Soccer, it turns out, is more complex than that. But change was needed in some way. And Mellberg is the man charged with turning this all around. Sit down with him, and the laser focus of a man who, again, just wants to talk about football, shines through. It might just be a good start.
“I’m an attack-minded coach that likes to be in control of games, which means organization defensively, and balance in transition,” Mellberg told GOAL at MLS media day in Miami.