SpVgg Unterhaching plays host to MSV Duisburg on Saturday. The promoted team will be missing one regular player.

For SpVgg Unterhaching, the NRW weeks in the 3rd league continue on Saturday. Three days after the 4-0 home win over Rot-Weiss Essen, the promoted team plays host to MSV Duisburg (2 p.m., RS live ticker). In the games before that, Bayern already faced Arminia Bielefeld (1:2) and Borussia Dortmund II (2:2).

However, one of the players who played in the three duels with West teams and in every game of the season for Haching will be missing against MSV: Sebastian Maier. The reason for the midfielder’s absence is simple. He picked up his fifth yellow card against RWE and must now serve the suspension due.

His coach Marc Unterberger probably didn’t like the way the warning came about. Maier took an irritatingly long time to make his substitution in the closing stages and was shown a yellow card for it. The Spielvereinigung already led 3:0 at this point.

Overall, Unterhaching has been very yellow-heavy this season. The referees have already issued 32 warnings against the Unterberger team. That is the highest number in the 3rd division. However, they have not yet been sent off.

The loss of Maier means that Haching will have to rebuild its midfield. The 30-year-old, who was under contract with VfL Bochum from 2018 until the beginning of 2021, was in the starting eleven on seven of nine match days and contributed two assists.

After winning the championship in the Bavarian Regionalliga and winning the promotion playoffs against Energie Cottbus, Maier and his team have acclimatized well in the 3. Liga. The win against RWE was the third this season, and Unterhaching has also only conceded one defeat. This results in seventh place in the table – with a ten-point lead over bottom-placed MSV.