In youth at BVB & S04
SV Straelen has 14 points in the Regionalliga West as bottom of the table behind the relegation place, 17 on the saving bank. Due to the performances shown recently – after 0:5 against leaders Preussen Münster, the club from the city on the Dutch border came back to 4:5 and against the second-placed Wuppertaler SV after a deficit a 2:2 was fought – but there is some hope again flared up. This is also due to the offensive talent Ken Mata, who has been particularly convincing in the past few weeks and has contributed four goals and one assist in the last three games.
“The team has potential, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to catch up from a 5-0 deficit. The team will do everything to stay in the league. Nothing is impossible,” says the 19-year-old winger in an interview with Transfermarkt. Only ten points have jumped out of 24 games so far. According to Mata, this is also due to the fact that there was “a major upheaval in the team” before the season.
That’s no understatement: 28 players left Straelen in summer, seven more in winter, 29 came in total, including ex-Bundesliga professional Marcel Heller (37) and Mata, who thinks: “We were able to show the potential in the DFB Cup .” At the end of July there was a narrow 3:4 against second division team St. Pauli, which Hamburg only played out in the 90th minute. At that time, Sunday Oliseh, a former world star, was coach of the West Germans, the ex-pro was followed by Bekim Kastrati and twice on an interim basis by Kevin Wolze, who ended his career at Straelen in the summer and was responsible for the last four hopeful games.
SV Straelens Ken Mata: Change to men’s football “of course a change”
Mata had switched to SVS from the U19s of MSV Duisburg. “Of course it was a change for me to join a senior team as a young player. But I never doubted myself and kept working hard,” says the native of Düsseldorf. The left foot had previously scored seven goals in 16 A youth Bundesliga games for the “Zebras”. He was previously trained at Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04. “It’s a dream for every child to play in such big traditional clubs. I am very proud to have spent my junior years there.”
Michel, Moukoko & Co.: These players were in the BVB youth team
Mata decided on Straelen after a “very good conversation” with President Hermann Tecklenburg, husband of the national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. “He made me very welcome and I felt right at home. I think that’s very important and I’m very, very grateful to both him and the club.”
Mata’s contract only runs until the end of the season – he hasn’t given much thought to the future, focused on the fight against relegation. He still has big goals for his career: “As of now, I will play with Straelen in the regional league, my family and my advisor will take care of everything else. My dream is to compete with the best from Germany and Europe and I train hard for that every day. I will also achieve this goal.”
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