TO THE LOWER RHINE WE GO
Thursday, 23. March 2017, 23:29 Uhr
This Friday the Boys in Brown will contest a friendly guest at tenth-placed Bundesliga outift Borussia Mönchengladbach (kick-off: 1600 CET). Though the home side will be without several players due to injury and international commitments, they will still provide tough opposition for Ewald Lienen's charges.
Lienen resisted the temptation to take things easy during the international break and instead opted to use the gap in the fixture calendar for a trip to the Lower Rhine to face Borussia Mönchengladbach. If you think this fixture has a familiar ring to it, then you're not mistaken. Another March friendly two years ago ended 0-0 at the Borussia Park.
The first round DFB Cup tie between the two sides at the Millerntor in August that year produced more goals. Marc Rzatkowski gave St Pauli the lead but the Foals showed all their quality to hit back and progress to the next round with a 4-1 win. Lienen will be looking to avoid a similar scoreline this time round, of course, but he will be without a host of players due to illness or injury. "Joel Keller, Christopher Avevor, Johannes Flum, Cenk Sahin, Marc Hornschuh and Jeremy Dudziak won't make the trip to," said the 63-year-old coach on Thursday.
Dieter Hecking will also be forced into a string of changes, however, due to international commitments and injuries, though that doesn't make the task any easier for the Boys in Brown. "If I look at the team they are capable of fielding with players such as Hofmann, Raffael and Hahn, then it's still going to be a very good side," said Lienen. Equally certain is that his men will do their utmost to return to Hamburg with a good result and confirm their form of recent weeks.
Photo: Witters
