Pre-season Review

On 1 February, the new management duo of Marcel Schäfer and Sebastian Schindzielorz assumed their roles at VfL Wolfsburg. Schäfer replaces Jörg Schmadtke as one of the three managing directors of VfL, while Schindzielorz is the club’s new sporting director. Frank Witter, chairman of the VfL Wolfsburg supervisory board, joined them on the podium to talk about…

He said it was impossible to choose between them, before reeling off football’s greats, with one man conspicuous by his absence.

The Dutch duo have a particularly tough task in store. The two Black & Yellows are set to go up against some high-class opponents in Eindhoven in the so-called “Golden League”, a test match tournament. First up on Thursday is a game against Czech Republic, which will be followed by two big clashes. World and European champions Norway will be the adversaries on Saturday, with vice European champions Denmark up on Sunday.

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The DFL have scheduled matchdays 26 to 29 for the 2022/2023 Bundesliga season. The home games against TSG Hoffenheim and SC Freiburg will take place on Sunday. The away matches at FSV Mainz 05 and Hertha BSC will both be on Saturday at 15:30 CEST.

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The team had barely got themselves unpacked at the hotel before the first training session kicked off. Among the squad was Frederik Winther, the team singing “Happy Birthday” for him on his 22nd birthday. Youth stars Marcel Lubik, Daniel Katic, Mert Kömür, Franjo Ivanovic, Josue Mbila, Mahmut Kücüksahin and Davide Dell’Erba, who have been able to hone there skills with the first team on many previous occasions, also made the journey to Spain. FCA have visited the country before; the Costa Blanca hosted one of the club’s 2019 training camps.

“I’ve known Serge for ages,” Julian Nagelsmann explained in his pre-game press conference ahead of Saturday’s Mainz 05 clash (via @iMiaSanMia). “He thinks a lot, so you always have to explain things to him. We had two or three good conversations. He’s an exceptional footballer with exceptional quality. He worked hard on himself and we saw the result on Wednesday.”

It was a quiet start to the game, during which the guests had more of the ball: Hertha also had the first chance of the game after ten minutes. Lucas Tousart drove past Kenneth Schmidt on the right side of the penalty box and put a flat cross in, only finding Matthias Ginter. Ginter was playing in a back three alongside Manuel Gulde and the aforementioned Schimdt, who was making his first Bundesliga start for Freiburg. Lukas Kübler was absent today due to illness. As well as Schmidt, Lucas Höler was a new face in the starting XI compared to SCF’s most recent 1-1 draw against FSV Mainz 05. He replaced the suspended Michael Gregoritsch.