It’s always worth remembering March, and not just because the days were longer and the temperatures were milder than they are now. But also because Max Kruse, midfielder at 1. FC Union Berlin, allegedly had to deal with an unknown being for the first time in his life: the Conference League, in the hierarchy of continental competitions something like the 3rd league behind Champions and Europe League.
The 33-year-old judged the competition very apodictically, which at that time only threatened the Unioners and was now being held for the first time. “I would like the Europa League. Somehow I don’t feel like the Europa Conference League. I don’t even know what it is,” said Kruse. Now, nine months later, one has to wonder if that was a bluff; As you know, Kruse is not only a footballer, but also a gifted poker player. On the other hand: bluff? He snapped very convincingly when he left the field on Thursday. He was downright annoyed. So much so that he was on the verge of a dispute with Union trainer Urs Fischer.
“We tried far too little to find playful solutions,” complains Kruse
Union had just scored a very respectable 1: 1 against Slavia Prague (with a goal from Kruse / 64th minute) – a team that had won the championship and cup this summer and then failed in qualifying for the Champions League. Union would only have progressed if it had won.
Kruse was crying when he left the square. And that was not because the colleague Timo Baumgartl had initiated the Prague tour by Ivan Schranz (50) with such a capital goat that he then looked as if he would have preferred to go to the long jump pit, which he regrettedly covered Olympic stadium buried. Kruse’s complaint was that Union had pulled out the crowbar much too early and hit long balls at random half an hour before the end, thus activating the Czech anti-aircraft defenses. It worked brilliantly.
“We tried far too little to find playful solutions,” complained Kruse. A TV reporter wanted to know why that was the case, and it embarrassed Kruse: “To answer that now … I’d rather not do it, that’s the coach’s job,” he pressed. Urs Fischer, the coach, came to the same conclusion after the game as Kruse: that Union’s game suffered from a lack of breadth and an excess of depth.
Union was not allowed to play a single game in the Alte Försterei due to the seating requirements of Uefa
That was a question of the dynamics of the game, “something like that also happens in the game,” explained Fischer. “I’ve tried again and again from outside to coach the players appropriately,” he said, “but it’s incredibly difficult when there are 5,000 spectators there.” Which in turn tells a lot about the enthusiasm exuded by the Union fans in the Olympic Stadium. Your club was not allowed to play a single game in the Alte Försterei due to the seating requirements of the European football association Uefa.
Who knows how the games would have ended there. But the exile was probably not the reason why Union became third in the group and was eliminated after encounters with Feyenoord Rotterdam, Maccabi Haifa and Slavia Prague. “In the end we paid too much hard work together to qualify for the knockout phase or the playoffs,” said Fischer. The Swiss did not hide the fact that they had gotten a taste for it, “of course it was fun”.
But he kept a grave tone against the fact that this would result in a change in the declarations of intent for the current season: “Objective remains relegation,” said Fischer, and that was anything but a bluff, but meant seriously on the eve of the game. Although Union is currently sixth in the Bundesliga before the Sunday visit to SpVgg Greuther Fürth and is therefore possibly on the best way to play in the Conference League again next year. From this competition they not only know that it exists – they have come to appreciate it in Köpenick.