Minden is teetering on relegation from the Handball Bundesliga. The East Westphalians still have three games to hold the class. Now the decisive game against Magdeburg is coming up.
When Minden’s head coach Frank Carstens is on the sidelines against SC Magdeburg on Thursday, it’s a special home game for him and his team. The green-whites have to create a small sensation and win against the second in the table in order to have any chance of staying up.
Seven games without a win
It is much more likely that on Thursday evening the fifth descent in the club’s history from GWD Minden will be sealed. Because Carstens’ team has been waiting for a win for seven games. After a total of 24 defeats this season, Minden is on the penultimate place in the table – five points behind the first non-relegation zone. There are only three games left.
“The realistic chances of staying up in the league are small and with Berlin and Magdeburg we have two top teams waiting for us,” said Carstens two weeks ago. After that, the game against the favored Berliners was clearly lost at 35:42. “My team fought, tried everything until the last second,” said the coach after the game. “But unfortunately we’re again without points today.”
Penultimate home game as head coach
Now the next top opponent is waiting with Magdeburg. The game is also special for Minden coach Frank Carstens for other reasons. On the one hand, he was a coach at SC Magdeburg for three years between 2010 and 2013. On the other hand, it will be the penultimate home game as head coach. It has been clear for months that Carstens will leave the gymnastics and sports club GWD Minden at the end of the season.
Carstens took over the relegation-threatened Minden team in 18th place in the table in 2015, but was no longer able to prevent relegation. In the following season he led the club straight back into the Bundesliga, where he and his team have always been above the line at the end of the season – albeit at times just a little. After eight years, an era in Minden is coming to an end.
In the past two seasons, Minden had managed the last-minute rescue under Carstens. Now the signs point to relegation. Carsten’s team would have to win the remaining three games and at the same time hope for three defeats by Wetzlar. After all: Minden has already made it into the second division four times – three times they have been promoted quickly after one or two years in the second division.
New coach: Adli Eyjolfsson
Two weeks ago, the head coach was still combative: “For us it is now important to look ahead and focus on the last four Bundesliga games, because mathematically we still have a chance”. In the meantime, these chances have become even smaller. Against Magdeburg, the little sensation is needed, otherwise Carsten’s time at GWD will end with relegation. The Icelander Adli Eyjolfsson, who comes to East Westphalia from the Kadetten Schaffhausen, will be his successor for the new season.
