The footballer Max Kruse played his last second division game on May 6, 2012 against SC Paderborn. His coach was then called Roger Schmidt. The crowd favorite at the time was midfielder Markus Krösche. Kruse contributed a goal to his FC St. Pauli’s 5-0 victory. Shortly thereafter, he moved to SC Freiburg and began a career during which he also wore the German national jersey 14 times. Kruse is now 35 years old, has 307 Bundesliga games under his belt and has been on a ten-month football break without a club since his last game in early September, a torn muscle fiber in October and his premature departure from VfL Wolfsburg at the end of November.
Kruse is expected to play his next second division game for SC Paderborn on July 30th. Then his season begins with a trip to the Greuther Fürth game association. The change from the sometimes eccentric poker player Kruse to the rather reserved East Westphalian family club is one of the most exciting football stories of this summer.
Kruse: “Of course I also want to be successful personally, you have to say that very clearly”
Kruse announced his arrival in Paderborn himself. He loves solo performances on the internet. On Instagram you can see him in a three-minute video on the sun terrace in the club’s training center in the black Paderborn jersey talking about his return to football. He opens with the words: “Well, my dears, I’m finally here; it’s finally that time again.”
It sounds similar when the Terminator or Indiana Jones return to the big screen. Kruse’s perhaps most striking and significant sentence in the video: “I’m happy to kick the ball again, that’s what comes first; I’ll do everything I can to help the team succeed and of course I want to You have to be very clear about being personally successful.”
Big names in a small club are often mockingly prophesied about the sunset
SC Paderborn, who played one season each in the Bundesliga in the 2014/15 season under coach André Breitenreiter and in 2019/20 under Steffen Baumgart and has been one of the most solid and best second division clubs for three years now, is considered by some in the industry is still synonymous with provincialism. Big names in a small club are often mockingly prophesied of sunset, so the five-month, unsuccessful interlude of coach Stefan Effenberg in Paderborn from October 2015 to March 2016 didn’t exactly help. The football magazine table football spontaneously praised Kruse’s move to SC Paderborn in an online comment for his “courage to laugh”.
In the course of the text, however, it is then conceded that Kruse can definitely be of help to the team. Assuming absolute physical fitness, Kruse can actually become the linchpin of the Paderborn game. But the entertainment factor of Paderborn football on and off the field will also increase. “How, do you still fit into the jersey?” Kruse teases in the video about a cheeky fan reaction apparently formulated live in the chat and answers the provocation laconically and with demonstrative tension in both upper arm biceps: “Guys, I’ve been training. What ‘ Go? Machine! Zack!”
Paderborn’s coach Lukas Kwasniok is still attached to an unresolved affair
From the end of July it must be shown how much ego the Paderborn team can take. Kruse’s extroverted nature joins a not yet over Mallorca affair of the trainer Lukas Kwasniok, who was temporarily arrested on the sunny island at the end of May. At the time, Spanish media reported abusive behavior against a woman. The procedure is ongoing. In a club video, Kwasniok says: “Basically, I have not done anything wrong or illegal; my immediate release without any conditions after the hearing actually speaks a very clear and unambiguous language.” His trust in the Spanish judiciary is “extremely high”. He is “endlessly indebted” to the club that has stuck with him so far.
With all sorts of background noise, Paderborn are starting a season in which they want to play up in the second division again. “I am firmly convinced that we are able to play a good role this season,” says Kruse. “I’ve been tormented for the last few weeks and months and I still have almost four weeks to get to know the team before the first league game is due.” Kruse is aware that his acceptance by the public will help determine the success of his trip to the supposed football province. He knows from many years of experience that “the fans welcome me well,” he says.