Was that it with the early season glory of SV Wehen Wiesbaden? Has the magic of starting in the new league gone? Make it, make it, is the message from Nico Schäfer. “We were humbly optimistic with the points scored at the start and can realistically classify the current dip in results,” said managing director Nico Schäfer to the FAZ. “We were basically on par with our previous opponents and there is no reason to believe that this should be any different in the coming games.”
The second division promoted team got off to a strong start with seven points from three games – but since the end of August they have only added one more point. Combined with the gradual slide to 15th place in the table. In the last English week there were three defeats, with the only performance at home against Elversberg being weak, while the cup game against RB Leipzig (2:3) was a real highlight, which in the end was too the dwindling strength in the 0-1 defeat at promotion contenders Hannover.
The physical resistance should now be restored when the next game with a high experience value and a slightly lower chance of results takes place in the Wiesbaden Arena this Saturday (1 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the second Bundesliga and on Sky) against Hamburger SV. Schäfer is counting on the fact that with HSV, like against Leipzig, “an opponent is coming who should release positive emotions”.
Jörg Daniels, Wiesbaden Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 1 Alex Westhoff, Wiesbaden Published/Updated: , Jörg Daniels, Wiesbaden Published/Updated: ,
The stadium on Berliner Straße will be sold out for the second time in a row with 12,100 spectators. However, it remains to be seen how the team will cope with the recent setbacks and the loss of Ivan Prtaijn. The goalscorer not only played a major role in the promotion, but also established himself as an anchor in the storm in the second division. With his presence and his ability to score goals – the Croatian scored two of Wiesbaden’s only six goals of the season, as well as both goals in the cup against Leipzig. Prtaijn will be out for three to four weeks due to the torn muscle fiber he suffered in Hanover. “He cannot be replaced for us one-on-one,” says coach Markus Kauczinski, who knows his Hamburg counterpart Tim Walter very well from their time together in Karlsruhe when he was the U-19 coach there.
