2nd league
St. Pauli’s trump cards: Improved defense and Hartel
Captain Marcel Hartel scored both goals for the Kiezkickers. photo
© Roland Weihrauch/dpa
With the victory in the top game, the Kiez-Kickers have underlined their promotion ambitions. Anything is possible in the cup. What will happen to coach Hürzeler?
In the end there was for There’s no stopping Fabian Hürzeler. The FC St. Pauli coach, who was banished to the stands because of a yellow card suspension, stormed onto the pitch and hugged his colleagues.
After the winless series in December, the Kiez club is back on track with a 2-1 win in the top game with free entry in the Düsseldorf Arena. And because it worked so well for their pursuer Fortuna Düsseldorf, the second division table leaders (39 points) have the best chance against the Rhinelanders again on Tuesday. With another success, St. Pauli could reach a semi-final in the DFB Cup for the first time in 18 years.
Double pack by Hartel
“Fortuna can present us with tasks. I’m excited to see whether we can build up the momentum again,” explained Hürzeler, whose team has now been undefeated in 22 competitive games since the start of the season. However, the successful Hamburg head coach has not yet extended his contract, which expires in the summer. Perhaps another success in the cup could bring things into motion.
The reasons for the upswing in neighborhood football are quickly identified. On the one hand, Marcel Hartel, who scored a brace in the 2-1 win, is now the outstanding offensive player with 14 goals and 10 assists in all competitive games of the season. “It was a lot of fun today. We have the quality going forward to score goals. It was simply a successful evening for us today,” said the 28-year-old.
In addition, the team posed major problems for the opponent with an enormous mileage (134 kilometers) and increased defensive work. “We worked a lot on defense during the winter break, which wasn’t always fun at times. But it’s the crucial point and maybe even the key to why we won the first two games,” explained defense specialist Hauke Wahl.
See you in the cup
After winning the league, Hürzeler’s team will also go into the game as favorites in the cup in front of their own audience. Even Fortuna’s coach Daniel Thioune had already said before the game on Saturday that the winner would start the cup game with a small psychological advantage. In addition, St. Pauli is the measure of all things in the second league.
However, the people of Düsseldorf, whose “Fortuna for all” campaign was also very popular and in demand in the second free game, are currently having primarily physical problems. The team is running out of players and the team is on its last legs in terms of personnel. “I would like to be able to bring the same reliability to the pitch as the opponent and be able to constantly have the same staff,” said Thioune, who was missing five regular players on Saturday. With 31 points in fifth place, the Rhinelanders are currently behind in the promotion race.