Christian Streich will be on the sidelines one last time on Saturday when SC Freiburg face Union Berlin at the end of the season and hope to qualify for the European Cup again. And then he’s “happy when it’s over.”
Enjoying his “farewell tour”, but also looking forward to its end: Christian Streich. IMAGO/Steinsiek.ch
Around 150 people, including a group of children, came to Freiburg’s last public training session on Thursday morning, especially to say goodbye to Streich. Recently there were several hundred there on public holidays and vacation days.
The outgoing SC coach could probably fill an entire room with gifts that were presented to him. There were a few bottles of wine, he reported, “but what people made, crafted or tailored for me is hard to believe.” Together with the emotional farewell after the home game against Heidenheim, “so much encouragement, closeness and love” in the past few weeks was sometimes “too much of an honor” for him.
He described it as “wonderful, touching and a gift from heaven,” “but you also need almost all your strength to withstand it.” That’s why he’ll be “happy when it’s over – and I can somewhat find my center again.” He thanked everyone for the many presents, but above all hoped for a sporting performance in the last game in Berlin. After all, despite good performances and significantly more chances at home, it wasn’t enough against Wolfsburg (1:2) and only one point against Heidenheim.
“When do we have another home game on the last matchday?”
Starting position before matchday 34
Freiburg collected significantly more wins away from home in the second half of the season (three), only Hoffenheim was beaten in their own stadium, right at the start in January. Nevertheless, Streich regrets that he and his team have to compete away from home for the fourth time in a row. “When will we finally have a home game on the last matchday again?” he asked himself when the schedule was published. At the Alte Försterei he trusts his players “not to hide and to show themselves”. Ultimately, they have “nothing to lose.”
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The SC coach also doesn’t mourn the many points awarded, with which the Freiburg team would have secured their qualification for an international competition. “We won at exactly the right time to avoid getting into negative waters,” he recalled of earlier phases of the season, “and we had a great European Cup season.” His team wants to experience that again with future coach Julian Schuster. “The boys want to gild the season,” said Streich, “they will leave everything on the pitch.”
Failures are not an explanation
To do this, however, they would have to be more effective than last, “and take advantage of one or two chances” and also improve on the offensive set pieces. The strength of previous years was not evident enough this season, explained Streich. “We’re not good there at the moment, with crosses and in the middle.”
This cannot only be explained by the failures of Matthias Ginter and Philipp Lienhart. The two defenders who are strong in the air have been missing for weeks, and now Manuel Gulde (torn hamstring) has been added. “I hope that we can break the negative with the set pieces on Saturday,” said Streich, “now we have another opportunity to really throw one in and put the ball in with conviction.”
In order to defend eighth place, which would be enough for international business if Leverkusen won the cup, the sports club would need a point. “We’ve never played for a draw, we can’t and we don’t want to,” emphasized Streich, “we definitely want to play well and win.” That would certainly be one of the best farewell gifts for the 58-year-old.
2024-05-16 17:33:45
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