Es runs at Eintracht. After the false start in the Champions League (0:3 against Sporting Lisbon) and the nasty Bundesliga misstep against Wolfsburg (0:1), the fickle Frankfurt got back on track within seven days. The 1-0 win in Marseille and the 3-1 win at VfB Stuttgart on Saturday point the way ahead for coach Oliver Glasner’s team after the two-week national team break. “If we take the steps that hurt, then we can achieve a lot,” said goalkeeper Kevin Trapp after the third win of the season in Swabia. With eleven points after seven games, the top places are within reach for the reinvigorated Hessians.
The encounter in Baden-Württemberg marked the end of the second English week in a row for Eintracht. Nevertheless, in the 94 minutes of the game, Frankfurt ran six kilometers more than Stuttgart – “and that four days after this intensive game in Marseille with 122 kilometers unwound,” as Glasner proudly emphasized. His team pulled themselves together in Bad Cannstatt for a tour de force with which the strong-willed players passed the character test in everyday Bundesliga operations. The coach “said that everyone says we are tired. Then he said: We are not tired, we are Eintracht Frankfurt. We showed that on the pitch,” defense chief Makoto Hasebe said afterwards.
Glasner’s imploring words served the team as a stimulant. “The boys threw everything in again. Big compliment! It was the fifth game in 14 days.” With these words, the coach praised the “passionate” performance and the “good mentality” of the team. “We didn’t manage, we wanted to win here.” The symbol of victory was defender Evan Ndicka, who played in a turban after suffering a ruptured eye wound until his eye swelled shut. “He looked like Rocky Balboa in his prime,” joked the coach.
Daichi Kamada felt a special boost. The 26-year-old Japanese was a key player and match winner in one person. The elegant attacking player played a key role in all three goals: Kamada initiated Sebastian Rode’s header to make it 1-0 (6th minute) with a free kick. He scored the 2:0 (55th) himself – this time his slightly deflected free kick landed in the goal. Goal number three (88th) by Kristijan Jakic prepared the Japanese with a corner kick. “In the beginning I was tired. Then we scored and I was fresh again,” reported Kamada. His sense of achievement was the fresh kick for Frankfurt’s best in the duel with VfB, for which Tiago Tomas had reduced the score to 1:2 in the 79th minute.
The Japanese international also went a long way on the seventh day of the game, running 11.58 kilometers. His performance record this season in the first division has four goals and three assists, and he also contributed two goals in the 4-0 cup game in Magdeburg. So far, none of my colleagues has been better. “Daichi is in great form,” praised sporting director Markus Krösche. So Kamada has become a solid candidate for the Frankfurt starting XI. “Daichi is very important to us. That’s why he plays every game,” Glasner said before the match.
“The direction is right”
Due to his susceptibility to injury and knee problems, Rode is not always available to the Austrian. But when the captain is there, he is usually a pillar in the game. In Stuttgart, the leader convinced in the areas of game and duel leadership. The VfB professionals got to feel his healthy aggressiveness in the individual duels. Sensitively, the Stuttgart Rodes earlier hit the lead with the head; Goalkeeper Florian Müller had blocked Kamada’s free kick in the direction of the captain. “I was lucky that the ball came to me and then the header went right into the corner,” said the scorer happily. The bottom line was that Frankfurt scored three goals after three standard situations. Of their total of 14 goals this season, six came from dead balls – they are leaders in this category.
And what is their overall balance? “We’re pretty much on target. Especially across competitions. We could have had a point or two more in the league,” said Krösche. “But we’re heading in the right direction, we wanted to make contact with the top.” Eintracht is on the upswing away from home, just like last season. Of her five competitive games abroad, she won four and drew once. In the Bundesliga, Frankfurt have collected seven points in three games. Only in the matches at home (four points from four games) can they not keep up with the top teams in terms of earnings.
Your upcoming task for Frankfurt on October 1 (3:30 p.m.) provides for a challenging showdown with Union Berlin. Eintracht in Stuttgart laid the groundwork for a successful performance. “This time we made the leap from the Champions League to the Bundesliga really well,” said Rode. The captain was extremely satisfied with the way things were going.
