To his chagrin, Torsten Lieberknecht had to take on a new role on Monday evening at the Homburg Waldstadion. That of the deeply broken and bitterly disappointed “Lilien” trainer, who asked for forgiveness for the favorite’s mistake. “For the first time in my two years in Darmstadt I have to say: We can only apologize to our fans for this performance and for being eliminated.”
0: 3 in the DFB Cup at regional league club FC Homburg. The end in the first round. The newly promoted Bundesliga team, spoiled by success, made a fool of themselves, just like their new league rivals Augsburg, Bochum and Werder Bremen, who all failed to meet the high standards in the duels with outsiders.
To limit the damage after the violent slip on the soccer field, Lieberknecht immediately sent his team to the SVD fan block “to apologize”. The coach later reported that there was “good feedback”. “Normally it would have been fair to be whistled down today.” Goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen also praised the fact that the supporters “treated us with great respect”. “They got us in the right mood for the start of the Bundesliga.”
“It won’t be easy”
This Sunday (5.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on DAZN) the league newcomer will be playing in the Hessen derby against Eintracht Frankfurt. “It won’t be easy. The opponents have good names – 17 times,” said Lieberknecht, giving an outlook on the future and much more difficult challenges in the premium class.
The present must worry him. Instead of taking the spirit of optimism from the rise and going into the first Bundesliga match day with your head held high, the surprising failure requires you to work through it and possibly also have consequences. In the pre-season, the “lilies” have not scored a goal in four friendlies. Even against the Hessenliga club FC Gießen, nothing countable came out of the 0:2 for the SVD.
“You can say: OK, something’s going wrong,” Lieberknecht mused in Homburg about the alarming lack of goals. Even he could not “discuss away the doldrums”. Finding an argument for the boys, for the whole team, is difficult today,” said the coach on television. “This is total nonsense. Why am I supposed to stand here and talk things over into something else?” Homburg’s success was “ultimately deserved at this altitude”.
Captain Fabian Holland afterwards admitted that the Darmstadt team could have played “what felt like hours up front” “without scoring a goal. We certainly had our chances, but we certainly wanted to play a lot more compelling actions,” he said. This was also due to the fact that the southern Hessians acted imprecisely in their own ball possession – “both with crosses and with shots” (Lieberknecht). In addition, there was the Homburg goalkeeper Tom Kretzschmar, who had “the moment of life” in the encounter, as the SVD coach put it.
Lieberknecht wants to remain calm
What he called a “sensational goalkeeper” also saved the penalty shot by SVD attacking player Filip Stojilković in the 89th minute. “Over 90 minutes we didn’t show what defines us,” said captain Holland self-criticizing. This included defensive behavior. “We’ll get a counterattack, a set piece and another counterattack,” said chief critic Lieberknecht, describing the list of shortcomings. It was a football night to forget for the fallen favourite, which goalkeeper Schuhen summed up as follows: “It didn’t go well for us.”
Lieberknecht now has to find solutions. “We will definitely have to do things better – especially in the game against the ball.” The coach asked for “a little time to process the whole thing for me”. But he “always found solutions”. When dealing with the disgrace, “at least” the coach wants to “remain calm. I know I’ll stick my head out.” He announced that the team would get back on its feet.
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Club president Rüdiger Fritsch also appealed to keep calm. “We all know it’s going to be a tough season. We will face more defeats where we have to stand together. If we insult each other now, we can go home right away,” he told the German Press Agency. The early retirement “hurt” the 62-year-old Fritsch. According to the head of the club, the club hoped to generate more income from the DFB Cup, not only in sporting terms but also economically.
Coach Lieberknecht stated in Homburg that during his time at Böllenfalltor he “never won” the first competitive game of the season – “and after that it just got better and better.” His captain pointed out that the Darmstadt team “could handle setbacks well”. . A completely different game awaits the promoted team at Eintracht – “in which we also have to show a completely different face,” said Holland. In Homburg it was a sporting slap in the face of Darmstadt.
