The 3-0 defeat to Hertha is still weighing on the mind of the coach, even the following day. Following the first half with “Two terrible goals, we failed to pose a threat in front of goal in the second half as well. At the back, you simply cannot allow your opponent to take the lead like that. Those two goals should never have happened,” said head coach Christian Streich on Friday afternoon. 

“For us, it comes down to not dreaming of what could be, but rather taking a close look at the games and facing up to reality. If there’s are too many gaps and we’re not working as well as a team as we should be, then we won’t win any Bundesliga games,” said Streich. In order to avoid a repeat of Thursday night, the team’s focus is back on what’s still to come this season. Just 40 hours after their return from Berlin, SCF will be setting off once again, this time for Cologne. “We know the mistakes that we made. The good thing about football is that we’re able to quickly analyse and put this game behind us, in order to do better on Sunday. We’re heading to Cologne in good spirits,” said Vincenzo Grifo, who will have fond memories of the reverse fixture this season. Goals from Ermedin Demirovic, Nicolas Höfler, Roland Sallai, Philipp Lienhart and Lucas Höler saw SCF win 5-0 at home in January – their biggest victory this season to date. 

However, the Breisgauer will likely come up against a different Köln side this time around. The Billy Goats may be in 17th with 29 points, but are just one point off the relegation play-off spot, as well as one away from getting out of the danger zone. The team have experienced an upward turn under coach Friedhelm Funkel of late, stunning Leipzig (2-1) before beating Augsburg 3-2. Köln’s biggest strength is their “team spirit,” said Streich. Grifo added, “Köln are experiencing good momentum at the moment. They were able to gain a lot of self-confidence from these last few games and have been given a new push by the new head coach.” 

Momentum is also a key word for Freiburg’s upcoming trip to Cologne. According to Grifo, the team wants to “do better right from the start” compared to the recent showing in Berlin. Mark Flekken will also be looking to play his part in doing so on Sunday. The goalkeeper will start his first league game since injuring his elbow during the warm-up ahead of the first round of the DFB-Pokal in September. It’s possible that, given the tightly scheduled season run-in, that Streich will make changes at other positions as well. 

Photo: Achim Keller