ZAt the end of their sweaty morning shift, many Eintracht players slipped into the role of amazed observers. During the first hours of their week-and-a-half stay in Dubai, under the direction of Oliver Glasner, they had trained in duel behavior and worked on recognizing switching situations, an athlete was doing his laps around them on the blue tartan track, who was singing to Italian music from a mobile sound system and was then shown video recordings of the sprints by his three coaches.
Luca Pellegrini, who was born in Rome in the ranks of Frankfurt, was one of the first to recognize the situation and who it was and contacted his compatriot Marcell Jacobs directly when he left the pitch: The 28-year-old won Olympic gold over 100 in Tokyo in 2021 meters and is currently also preparing for the commitments of the new sports year in the “Nad al Sheba Sports Complex”.
The speed at which he was able to activate his massive body also made an impression on many a watching professional from Hessen, as they hopped into two paddling pools one after the other, which were filled with water and ice cubes and provided cooling in the desert heat.
The supporting program also promises to be somewhat entertaining for the Hessian travel entourage. Whereby Makoto Hasebe, the senior leader of the troupe, immediately attached importance to the statement that, of course, they had not only come because of the beautiful weather and the illustrious ambience, but also that the coach had given them a clear assignment to do so until mid-January to prepare the second half of the season, “that we will overcome the challenges”. Reaching fourth place in the Bundesliga after 15 match days and reaching the round of 16 in the Champions League and the DFB Cup are “very good” interim results, but Hasebe announced that they all wanted more.
He sees potential for improvement in defensive behavior in particular. 24 goals conceded in the league are too much for a team with high standards, “we have to stabilize at the back,” said the Japanese – and self-interests also sounded between the lines. On the 18th of this month, the Bundesliga oldie will be 39 years old and the competition with the youngsters around him, some of whom could be his children because of their age, still motivates him to push his performance limits so that he is ready to take on a leadership position.
Hasebe said that if the defense were to become even more stable from then on, there would be no upper limit for Eintracht, because up front there was “so much quality” around Randal Kolo Muani, Mario Götze, Jesper Lindström and Daichi Kamada, “that we can always win”.
After his knee injury, which he suffered in October, he feels “really fit again” to work so hard that Glasner can’t avoid calling him up again as the organizer of the last row in front of Kevin Trapp. “I always want to play,” said the professional, who won the championship in 2009 with VfL Wolfsburg before moving to Main via a stopover at 1. FC Nürnberg in 2014. And an end to his commitment to Eintracht, which loaned central defender Jérôme Onguéné to RB Salzburg for six months on Thursday, is a long way off, as Hasebe emphasized.
He contractually agreed with the club about continued employment until mid-2027. “In March”, as he has now announced, he will inform sports director Markus Krösche whether he will continue as an active player for another year or prefer the “subsequent use” to be described more precisely. , as stated by Eintracht, will prefer.
Stayed here: Makoto Hasebe can still take on anyone – even Mario Götze.
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Image: Huebner
He has already completed his trainer B license. And that it will one day lead him to a position in which he can independently pass on his accumulated knowledge to the next generation, is considered certain – so that those responsible at the youth training center in Riederwald have long been considering which young people could be looked after first by Hasebe . As a thank you for his exemplary commitment, the club gave him the freedom to decide on his future himself.
This accommodation, he said, made him “proud” because it was a “special honor”. “And it’s not about the money.” When asked if he had spoken to Kamada about his upcoming intentions during his home vacation over Christmas, Hasebe replied that they had only exchanged views about the advantages and plans of Eintracht and that he himself was excited be “what Daichi does”. The 26-year-old midfielder’s contract expires in the summer – and all sorts of top European addresses have him on their wish lists.
For Hasebe, the current Eintracht vintage is the “best” he could imagine. Individually, the team is inferior to many a top team, but with the extraordinary team spirit that they all lived and have now renewed in Dubai, they need not be afraid of anyone: “If we remain modest, we can dream and in the end get something for our effort.” , Hasebe summarized the initial situation – spoke it and was one of the first to retreat to the shadowy areas of the hotel: “Regeneration is one of the most important things.” There was no time to marvel at an Olympic champion in action up close.
