St. Louis City SC Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel has given an update
on the progress of South African midfielder Njabulo Blom since his
December move from Kaizer Chiefs to the America-based club.
The former Amakhosi midfielder made his debut for the MLS side in their
first game of the season in a 3-2 win over Austin FC, coming on as an
early substitute for Indiana Vassilev who got injured.
Pfannenstiel gave a glowing review of Blom’s performance against Austin,
saying: “The weather was freezing cold, we went to California in our first
two games, now in our first game he really adjusted very well, he worked
hard. First game, he came on after just ten minutes because there was
another guy who was injured, he had an outstanding performance in his
first MLS game.”
The former German goalkeeper also revealed that Blom has settled well
under South African coach Bradley Carnell, despite the challenges of the
weather and the different style of play in the MLS.
“He’s quite fortunate he has a South African coach and is very familiar
with the culture as well and I think somehow he’s quite home when he came
here,” he said. “I think the weather and the food was probably the biggest
(challenge) because I don’t think he has played in snow or icy conditions,
which we had here for a while. And really hopping from one planet to the
other during the (pre) season and I think the game’s speed is a bit
different, teams have a lot of the ball, he played for one of the best
teams in South Africa and for us we’re a transition team. So I think that
will take a bit of time that adjustment,” he concluded.
