Before the home game against SV Sandhausen, second division soccer team 1. FC Kaiserslautern has a number of cases of illness. FCK trainer Dirk Schuster had to do without numerous players in preparation for the match on Friday (6.30 p.m. / Sky). It was a brutally difficult situation. We had a wave of illnesses that I have never experienced in this form in my coaching career, he said on Wednesday.
The 55-year-old did not name the possible failures. I don’t want to make it that easy for the opponent and prefer to keep quiet about it, said Schuster. But there is a double-digit number of players who are currently missing in training. Every hour there is a different level of knowledge, so that training could only be carried out to a limited extent.
It’s definitely a big challenge, but we’ll field a competitive team on Friday, said Schuster. Julian Niehues, who has to serve a yellow card suspension, will certainly not be there. The injured Kenny Prince Redondo and Lars Bünning are also not available.
According to the FCK Schuster, who are currently penultimate in the table from Sandhausen can look forward to an opponent who is stable on the defensive and extremely strong in one-on-one battles. They are a seasoned second division team and one of the most underrated teams in the league. It’s a little surprising to me that they’re so far down. It will be a battle of attrition where little things will make all the difference, Schuster said.
The Palatinate have already sold almost 38,000 tickets for the game. Schuster was looking forward to another atmospheric backdrop in the Fritz Walter Stadium and is counting on the support of the fans because of the many question marks in terms of personnel. We have to give our all on the pitch, but the spectators have to give our all too. We must all pull together to reach our goal of breaking the 40-point mark, he said.
