Subscribe to the St. Louis Daily newsletter to start your mornings with Sarah Fenske and Ryan Krull’s fresh perspective on the day’s top local news.
Email: St. Louis City SC’s decision to fire head coach Bradley Carnell and its implications for 2024 and beyond.
The club refuses to let injuries be an excuse for poor performance.
Bradley Carnell will always hold a special place in St. Louis City SC history. The club’s first head coach was instrumental in CITY’s early success, propelling it to the top of the Western Conference while quickly establishing himself in the St. Louis region during an unforgettable inaugural season in 2023.
However, the goodwill generated during the initial campaign has run dry.
CITY announced Carnell’s dismissal on Monday morning, two days after the club blew an early lead and lost 4-3 in Vancouver, extending its winless streak to nine games. It’s been a difficult season for the club, and injuries and player absences only tell half the story. Poor results, stagnant development, and stale messaging prompted CITY officials to fire Carnell almost five months to the day after the club proudly announced a contract extension for the coach. With CITY trailing the Seattle Sounders by nine points in the Western Conference playoff race, there is a sense of urgency to turn things around this season.
As CITY prepares for a must-win home game against San Jose on Wednesday night—and with four games until the summer transfer window opens—sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel recognizes that his team is quickly running out of time to achieve one of its primary goals: postseason soccer.
“We set a goal of making the playoffs at the end of the season,” Pfannenstiel said. “Right now, it appears that goal is in jeopardy. Unfortunately, it is part of professional sports—professional soccer—that you must make this decision, and we felt this was the appropriate time to do so.”
During Monday’s press conference, Pfannenstiel and CITY president and general manager Diego Gigliani explained why they fired Carnell. Poor results were unavoidable, and both men lamented the fact that CITY leads the MLS with 10 draws. Several of those ties could have gone St. Louis’ way, and while a rash of injuries has kept the club from operating at full strength for nearly the entire season, Carnell’s attempts to devise creative solutions and steer CITY in a positive direction have fallen short. Carnell’s final match as coach was on Saturday, and he was forced to field a back four without a single traditional center back. The formation was an unmitigated failure, contributing