More relegation battle is not possible: With Bielefeld against Rostock and Karlsruhe against Fürth, the 20th matchday of the 2nd Bundesliga starts on Friday evening with two big games. Half the league is currently fighting to stay up.
In May there will be big celebrations in Karlsruhe: Then the new Wildpark Stadium will be inaugurated with a big party. The neat new arena – a project worth millions – is then finally ready for big football – “suitable for the first division”, those responsible call it. It’s just stupid: maybe the fans in the new arena will have to deal with football from a completely different category first – your KSC is in the middle of a relegation battle in the second division. Like half the league.
Before the 20th matchday, the teams from ninth place have to worry about staying up in the league. The FC St Pauliwho currently ranks in what appears to be midfield, has 23 points and just five points more than the current bottom of the table 1 FC Magdeburg.
Pure relegation battle on Friday evening
The four teams that open the game on Friday evening are also deeply involved in the fight against relegation: Der Karlsruhe SCwho from 18.30 the SpVgg Greuther Furth (on Friday, from 6.20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de), is in a relegation zone with 19 points and could pull the Franconians, who, like St. Pauli, have collected 23 points, deep into the swamp again.
They get even more nervous in Bielefeld and Rostock look forward to the second Friday game (on Friday, from 6.20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de): Arminia breathed a sigh of relief on the last day of the game after the 3-1 win in Regensburg, which was downright vital for survival, but they are still stuck with 20 points in the middle of a dilemma. The same applies to opponents Hansa Rostockwho paid for the most recent 2-0 home defeat against HSV by sliding into the deepest climes: Rostock’s 21 points currently mean 12th place in the league – a defeat in Bielefeld is practically forbidden.
Hansa Rostock – Just don’t lose again
After two defeats without scoring, Hansa definitely wants to score points with Arminia. “Playing uncompromisingly and with clarity at the back, callousness at the front: we need that,” says coach Patrick Glöckner before the guest appearance with the Bundesliga relegated team.
Hansa has to regroup the defensive department. The two defenders Damian Roßbach and Kevin Schumacher are suspended. Roßbach saw yellow-red in the north derby against Hamburger SV last Sunday, Schumacher received his fifth yellow card. Instead of Schumacher, Anderson Lucoqui could start at left-back. Ryan Malone is probably the first choice to represent Rossbach.
Fan protests in Magdeburg
In last place, promoted 1. FC Magdeburg naturally have the greatest fear of being directly relegated to the third division. After the 1-1 draw against Karlsruher SC, emotions boiled over after the final whistle. The ultra scene in particular accused the team of a lack of commitment. Trainer Christian Titz then enraged the supporters with a windshield wiper gesture. During the week Titz had to appear at a fan meeting for a report – the differences are said to have been cleared up before the performance at Holstein Kiel on Saturday (on Saturday, from 12.50 p.m. live in the audio stream on sportschau.de).
1. FC Magdeburg players had to face fan protests.
“We don’t have the carefree season that I wanted without any ifs and buts. But our goal is to hold the league. I’m in good spirits that we can do it,” said sporting director Otmar Schork this week the team’s back. And points out that Magdeburg is just five points behind ninth place. “Ten clubs are currently worried. Also clubs with different expectations,” says Schork, who hopes for cohesion on and off the field.
Nuremberg and Regensburg – the surprise teams
There has also been a better mood at both the 1. FC Nuremberg as well as at Jan Regensburg, who will meet in another thrilling basement duel on Saturday (on Saturday, from 12.50 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de). In the run-up to the season, both had actually wanted to orientate themselves upwards – now they are in the middle of the relegation mess with only 19 points each.
Especially the FCN – since October with the new coach Markus Weinzierl at the start – has been playing a disaster season by its standards so far. Although the Franconians made it into the DFB Cup quarter-finals during the week with a lucky win against league rival Düsseldorf – but the priority at the Valznerweiher must now be the everyday business of the second division. “We needed a win like that once,” said coach Weinzierl after the cup thriller and he hopes: “That should also give us momentum for the upcoming league games.”
Karlsruhe – “get a good mix”
Weinzierl and his fellow coaches are also aware of the other clubs threatened with relegation: their position will most likely be discussed in the next few weeks if the necessary successes do not materialize soon. At Karlsruher SC, these thoughts about coach Christian Eichner should still be far away – even if his team has been waiting for a sense of achievement for nine games now.
The current dry spell is not a reason to change something in yourself or in your work, as Eichner explained at the KSC press conference on Thursday afternoon. “If I were more irritated, my wife would have told me that anyway,” the KSC coach joked at first. In the same breath, he then added rather seriously: “I’m a friend of staying the same in these times and always getting a healthy mix of the seriousness of the situation and the team to live a certain lightness.”