FC St. Pauli

With a weekend of friendlies followed by the training camp in Austria, it’s an exciting period for St. Pauli. Yet there is no question where the emphasis lies for the next few days. “For us it’s important to have everyone fit for the training camp,” said head coach Markus Kauczinski, “so we’re focusing far more on Maria Alm than on the warm-up games.”

As a precautionary measure, four players Marvin Knoll (patella tendon problems), Jeremy Dudziak (ankle inflammation), Richard Neudecker (onychia) and Dimitrios Diamantakos (bruised thigh) will not make the trips to Flensburg and Copenhagen. In addition, centre-back Clemens Schoppenhauer has been given time off to hold contract talks with another club and it remains to be seen whether he will still be a part of the St. Pauli delegation.

While Bernd Nehrig will gradually increase his workload in Maria Alm, Marc Hornschuh will not be able to train as things stand, though he will visit his teammates at the camp. Ryo Miyaichi, in contrast, looks set to return to action after being cleared to play in the weekend’s friendlies. And with Aziz Bouhaddouz hooking up with the squad before their departure for Austria after being granted an extended holiday due to his involvement in the World Cup, everyone else is on board as the Boys in Brown step up their preparations for the opening day of the season at Magdeburg.

“We’ve had good conditions in the last couple of weeks,” said Kauczinski. “We’ve trained well and want to intensify some of the aspects we’ve been working on.” The players have started work on a new system and tried out lots of things, and the aim now is to expand on that. “We want to be more flexible and place more focus on keeping possession, for example – football consists of a lot of things which go together in my opinion.”

The Boys in Brown have given themselves lots of homework, then, before the season kicks off on 5 August. “We need to change things from the outside and from the inside,” said Kauczinski. “This change has to come from us as well, which doesn’t rule out a new signing, for example.” Triallist Leon Jensen has left a good impression but will not be handed a deal as he won’t be able to help the team in the short term.”

For now, then, the focus is entirely on the training camp, even though the question of the captaincy remains unanswered. “The captain and the team committee are elected by the players, but a decision will definitely be reached before the season launch day,” said Kauczinski.

Photo: Witters