The winter break was short. Just three weeks after their last league game against Bayer 04 Leverkusen (2-1), Christian Streich and his team kick off the second half of their 2021/22 season. The team goes into their first home game of the second part of the season in third place with 29 points, though only 500 spectators will be in attendance due to Coronavirus restrictions. The virus has also affected the squad, with three players testing positive ahead of the match. Jonathan Schmid, however, who was unavailable for a while due to a Corona infection, is an option for the squad again. “Training has been good, he can move well. I have a good feeling about it,” explained Streich.

Optimism after a good week of training

For SCF, preparations for the Bielefeld fixture began last Sunday, full of enthusiasm. “The mood beforehand was really good. The boys were very happy to be back playing football,” said Streich. Other clubs have been training for longer, but the Freiburg coaching staff purposefully opted for a shorter timeframe. “We gave everyone eleven days off. It was the right thing to do. I’ve had positive experiences when giving the players an extra day off, because then they come back fresh.” The team has been focusing together on the opener against Bielefeld for six days, and in the short break, the players all had individual training plans. “We have had a regular week ahead of the game. The sessions were good,” said Streich, who is happy that they can train and play at all.

The team in 17th place are the next visitors to Breisgau, and have recently been in the ascendency. Bielefeld won both of their last two matches (against Bochum and in Leipzig), and are now just two points off safety. Their win away against Leipzig was especially memorable for the SCF head coach: “Bielefeld won in Leipzig, which is something very few teams manage to do. That gives a team a lot of energy and self-belief. Now they’re right back in the thick of it and I think they will be giving it everything here. They will see every ball they win as a victory to keep on pushing.”

Being hungrier than Bielefeld

The away game finished goalless, with Arminia’s goalkeeper Stefan Ortega frustrating SCF. Streich believes that Ortega will have an important part to play in round two. “He is also a factor when it comes to building up play as he is a really good footballer. When a ‘keeper gets so involved in a team’s play, it is something pretty special, but we know about it and will try to handle it appropriately.” For the coach, however, the most important thing is that his team is focused on their own game: “For us it is about picking up where we left off after the Leverkusen performance, also with regard to physicality and energy. We played with the right values in that game. If we want to stay up there, the boys have to give it their all. Bielefeld cannot look like they want it more than us when we take to the pitch.”

Aside from the three players out due to Covid, the coaching staff have a full squad available to them. Yannik Keitel (recently injured) and Jonathan Schmid have both returned to full training. New arrival Hugo Siquet also completed his first sessions in Freiburg colours and has made a good impression. “He has done well. He has energy and he wants to move forward – we don’t have to push him in that sense,” Streich was pleased with the initial work of the Belgian.

Foto: Bernd Thissen