While the rest of CITYPARK reacted with shock and incredulity, Eduard Löwen simply raised his arms and pointed toward the sky.
Seconds earlier on Saturday evening, Löwen opened the scoring in an eventual 3-1 victory for St. Louis CITY SC by curving an artfully-placed free kick from a challenging angle into the top right corner of the goal. In a stadium packed with more than 20,000 people, Löwen was seemingly the only individual unsurprised by the resulting strike. It was a moment designed and executed exactly as the 26-year-old had planned.
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“Every single [free kick] from the left side wing, I always try to target the far post,” Löwen says. “If no one touches it, it still goes in. That is always my goal. When the goalkeepers make one step, it goes over.”
Just as it did against Vancouver.
Saturday marked the second consecutive game with a goal for Löwen, whose four scores this season tie him with Niko Gioacchini for the second most on the team in league play. Across his first 15 games in Major League Soccer, Löwen has illustrated his skill in a number of ways—finding the back of the net, providing a defensive presence in the midfield, and serving as the club’s primary set piece taker.
CITY sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel pursued Löwen last summer knowing the German could help a team by dabbling in all of those roles. So far, in his first season in North America, Löwen has looked exactly as advertised, while elevating a St. Louis club that feeds off of his ability to drive play no matter where he’s stationed.
“You can see just by his stature, his dominating performance, his touches on the ball and bringing others into games and bringing final plays forwards,” CITY head coach Bradley Carnell says. “That’s why we got Edu Löwen. We understand his game profile, and we understand we need to build a team around him.”
CITY has enjoyed vital contributions from an ever-growing list of players during its inaugural season. Löwen, you could argue, has been the connective tissue that’s made so much of St. Louis’ success possible. Löwen has demonstrated comfort in a variety of roles in the midfield, and he’s tied with striker João Klauss with nine goal contributions (four goals, five assists) in MLS contests. The points are great, of course, but Löwen wants to be a player CITY can rely on for anything.
“I think I’ve improved my game a lot defensively,” Löwen says. “That’s very important to me, and working defensively is fun for me. It’s important to buy in.”
Carnell sees that buy-in from Löwen each week during practice. The CITY coach says he’s been eager to challenge Löwen as he continues to mature inside of St. Louis’ system. That defensive development Löwen mentions has been a key area of growth, and is among the reasons why CITY believes he can be one of the better all-around players in MLS in short order.
“I challenge Edu all the time that, as much as we see great things with Edu on the ball, I challenge him against the ball, as well,” Carnell says. “… Because if he can get that right, he’s a real candidate in this league to achieve great things.”
Already, Löwen seems well on his way.
“Everyone has been able to see his quality,” teammate Indiana Vassilev says. “He’s a very quality player.”
