TSG Hoffenheim has started the pre-season with new coach André Breitenreiter. During his first session, the coach caused euphoria and is not only popular with the fans.
“Create atmosphere directly,” André Breitenreiter calls out to his players. The new TSG Hoffenheim coach looks at his stopwatch, presses it and then takes another look at the small piece of paper in his other hand. “Three times three minutes.” The atmosphere at the start of the summer preparations this Sunday lasts longer than the three times three minutes given by the coach. Breitenreiter also feels that had already tried at his official presentation on Fridayto spread a spirit of optimism.
He’s already won over the fans – around 400 came to Zuzenhausen to cheer on their team on a muggy Sunday afternoon. Many of them are happy about the new coach. “Good man,” they murmur as they pass by. In a direct conversation with the coach, it sounds a little euphoric after the first session. “All the best – and, can the boys and I take another picture with you?” Can you. Breitenreiter, or “André”, as the fans call him, is approachable. One of them.
“Many smiling faces”
That’s important for the coach, it’s part of his beliefs. “I saw a lot of beaming faces today,” said Breitenreiter in an interview with SWR Sport and doesn’t seem any less happy himself. Breitenreiter wipes the sweat from his forehead. Because – despite all the euphoria, there is a lot to do for the coach before the start of the season. He not only wants to lure the fans to the training ground, but also to the stadium again. “And maybe fill it up again,” he says. But that was rather rare in Hoffenheim even before the pandemic. But that doesn’t change anything about Breitenreiter’s ambitions.
He wants to form a team that fights, wears itself out, and mistakes are forgiven. The coach is a worker with a love of football and someone who knows that neither is enough to survive in the Bundesliga. “That’s only possible with a positive attitude,” he says, with ease. And with points, one might add. On the pitch, the desire for lightness can already be seen in the first unit. He jokes with the players, jokes and slaps Ihlas Bebou, whom he once made a Bundesliga player in Hanover, during the first exercises.
“Just take everyone with you”
“He’s a communicative guy and just wants to take everyone with him,” Bebou summarizes this side of the coach. But he knows the other one too. “He made me better.” And so the change of coach in Hoffenheim could not only have come at the right time for TSG. Bebou, who showed his strength last season but all too often lacked consistency, could also benefit from Breitenreiter. For him, however, something else is important: “The boy has to stay healthy.”
“The boy” is already motivated. And apparently he’s not alone. “Today we had a fixed meeting point and many players were there earlier,” says Breitenreiter, not without pride. “Of course I’m watching very closely, but you can tell that every player is motivated and looking forward to the start.” This also applies to the newcomers. Like the coach, they were on the pitch for the first time on Sunday with the team. “It was incredibly fun today,” says Prömel, who returned to his former club Hoffenheim from Union Berlin. “I came to win games. That’s what I’m here for.” And the new coach? “Makes a good impression.”
David Raum: Is he going or is he staying?
That’s how the fans see it too, but they also have another topic this afternoon: “The David.” David Raum, who is not on the pitch with the team because – like all national players – he is still on vacation. With large mugs of sparkling cold drinks in hand, the followers analyze the change ambitions of the national player. Does he go? Not sure yet, but: “The main thing is not to Dortmund.” That’s important to them.
A few minutes later the discussion about David Raum is forgotten. Training is over, the fans are applauding and André Breitenreiter has achieved his first goal and brought some spirit into TSG Hoffenheim.
