Tokio instead of Frankfurt. Suddenly it happened very quickly – and Ragnar Ache jumped on the Olympic bandwagon on Friday. Because HSV attacker Josha Vagnoman, who has already been nominated for the Olympic Games, cannot make the business trip to the Far East due to injury and Niklas Dorsch will also be absent, coach Stefan Kuntz has decided on Eintracht striker Ragnar Ache and Freiburg’s Keven Schlotterbeck.
Markus Krösche, the sports director of Eintracht, is sure that the nomination for the Olympic selection can give Achs career a boost. “He will enjoy this experience very much. We keep our fingers crossed for him and Stefan Kuntz’s team. It goes without saying that we support this with the shutdown. ”Ache, who will be 23 on July 28 and who was born in Frankfurt, will fly to the Japanese capital next Tuesday.
A few days earlier, on this Saturday, something serious finally comes into play at Eintracht. After coach Oliver Glasner had spent a good week getting to know his new team little by little and learning new tactical variations with them, the first form check now follows. In the first of four previously agreed test matches, the third division club SV Wehen Wiesbaden will be in fourth place at the Frankfurt Arena from 4 p.m. onwards. Timothy Chandler had already announced his anticipation on Thursday: “We are really looking forward to finally having a game again after the long break.”
The majority of Eintracht professionals have not played a game since mid-May, since the final whistle of the previous Bundesliga season. A good third of the squad was involved in the respective national teams. Goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow, who made it to the semi-finals of the European Championship with Denmark, was the Eintracht professional who had been in action the longest, but was ultimately only watching.
Another, who recently sought his fortune in Poland and Hamburg, has returned to Frankfurt: Rodrigo Zalazar. The loan deal with FC St. Pauli was good for the Uruguayan-Spanish defender, so he is hoping to play a more important role in the future than before. The 21-year-old Zalazar scored six goals for the Kiez-Kicker. He was also responsible for six assists. “That was the first time in my life,” Zalazar reported on Friday via the Eintracht media. Goals and assists, good for confidence. “From now on I want to prove what I can again in Frankfurt.” Zalazar, who came to Frankfurt from Malaga two years ago, has already come up with a plan. “We play in three competitions. So it’s going to be a very demanding year and the coach will need every man. I try to fight for my place to get stakes. “
Zalazar, who is contractually bound to Eintracht until mid-summer 2023, is happy that he has like-minded people in the squad. Players who are also fighting for a sporting role – and who speak the same language. Like Fabio Blanco and Enrique Herrero García. Together with Goncalo Paciencia, who has returned from the Bundesliga relegated FC Schalke 04, Zalazar tries “to give them a little more attention to ensure that they get everything and understand what it means to be a professional footballer”. The growing Spanish-speaking faction of Eintracht will get a new addition when the Colombian Rafael Borré, who recently signed on as an attacker, comes to Frankfurt. The veteran Chandler doesn’t expect any problems getting used to it. “We see ourselves as one big family that takes everyone in,” said the 31-year-old. From this family, Ache is now an Olympic driver.
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