The internet has a lot of pearls in store, but for football fans from Bremen there is a lot of material for melancholy pastime. “The Day Werder destroyed …”, for example, is the name of a small series of videos with highlight clips that can be accessed on popular platforms. And the traditional club has “destroyed” quite a few large calibers in the past: Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Juventus Turin – to name just a few who were guests at Bremen’s Weser Stadium and had to pull their heads down again.
What does that have to do with football coach Florian Kohfeldt? First of all, not much. What is striking, however, is that the historical Werder records, the copyright of which is probably not entirely correct, were uploaded by Kohfeldt almost exactly during the non-working period. A causal connection does not have to be assumed straight away, but the 39-year-old could already be considered as a potential consumer of the video clips: Kohfeldt has always had a weakness for magical European Cup nights, he had already stood in the Bremen fan curve as a teenager and supported it his cheers to the fact that Real, Inter and Juve had nothing to do with the Osterdeich at the time. Later, as the coach of SV Werder, he dreamed of reliving the glory days together with those in charge of Bremen. Many think: That was the beginning of the relegation that overtook Werder and the coach Kohfeldt, who was released shortly before the end, last season.
“A debut like this is something you’ve dreamed of for a long time,” says Kohfeldt
Regardless of that, the time has finally come for Kohfeldt this Tuesday: Champions League, floodlights, the embroidered letter “W” on the green and white uniforms – if you didn’t know better, at first glance everything would look like a long longing to be fulfilled the end. Kohfeldt, who has been coach of VfL Wolfsburg for about a week, will of course willingly overlook the fact that the opponent is called RB Salzburg (kick-off 6.45 p.m.) and therefore does not spray the shine like the industry giants. “A debut like this is something you’ve dreamed of for a long time,” said Kohfeldt at the mandatory press conference on the Monday before the game: “I appreciate being able to experience something like that.” Now stop at the Mittelland Canal instead of the Weser.
Kohfeldt inherited a tricky constellation in the Wolfsburg group from his predecessor Mark van Bommel, so his premier premier is something of a small final: VfL is currently in last place in the table, after a draw against Sevilla and FC OSC Lille and a defeat at the front runner Salzburg. The situation, said Kohfeldt, is “not hopeless” with two points from three games – but a success against the opponent from Austria, who is classified as “dangerous”, is essential for this assessment to last a little longer.
After weeks of sadness, there was some confidence in the Autostadt again, which is primarily related to Kohfeldt’s Bundesliga debut as VfL coach on Saturday. In the 2-0 win in Leverkusen after goals from striker Lukas Nmecha and midfielder Maximilian Arnold, the team seemed to have already emancipated itself from van Bommel’s vague attempt to install a dominant ball possession football. For Kohfeldt, a few seemingly simple movements were enough to unleash the Wolfsburg strengths that had been buried last: The team no longer let the ball run dogmatically through their own ranks, but played stylistically more flexible and much more peppy forward. That is much closer to “our DNA”, revealed the former VfL captain Josuha Guilavogui, who played the central role in a newly formed three-man back defense and presented an impeccable performance.
Midfielder Guilavogui found Kohfeldt immediately “in the head” of the VfL players
The system change alone does not explain why the Wolfsburg-based company was barely recognizable. Kohfeldt, reported Guilavogui, was “immediately in our head”. This was expressly meant as praise and aimed at ensuring that the energy level among the actors was significantly higher than under van Bommel. Kohfeldt himself said that he had only “resorted to principles” that were already in the team. And he added that the win in Leverkusen had “most to do with the players and least with me”. More personal responsibility and development opportunities, that’s obviously what Kohfeldt will also be looking for in the game against Salzburg.
A scene on Monday made this clear: When asked by a reporter, Kohfeldt was supposed to explain what his multiple-used technical term “cover shadow” was all about. The coach immediately referred to striker Nmecha, who sat next to him on the podium, for the answer, because “he has to understand it and implement it”. Nmecha, 22, did not give the impression that he needed tactical tutoring. The conditions for Kohfeldt’s first European game could be worse. And who knows? Maybe he’ll provide some material for the first part of a Wolfsburg video series that will later go viral on the Internet. There is still room for a few pearls in the VfL pantheon.