MSV Duisburg will be playing away at KFC Uerdingen on Saturday. Here is the squad list for the Regional League West derby.
As leaders of the Regional League West and semi-finalists in the Lower Rhine Cup, MSV Duisburg are going into the final stretch of the year full of confidence. One person who must be particularly proud at the moment is Malek Fakhro.
The striker has scored four goals in the last four league games and fulfilled his dream of playing for his country during the international break. The 26-year-old played two games for Lebanon and scored both goals, earning himself further call-ups.
“He seems euphoric,” said coach Dietmar Hirsch about Fakhro, who returned to team training on Thursday. However, it remains to be seen whether the striker will be back in action for MSV in Saturday’s derby against KFC Uerdingen (2 p.m., RS live ticker). After all, he has a long journey home from Myanmar via Thailand and Dubai behind him.
“I think he had a good seat on the plane. He doesn’t have any problems, not even jet lag,” explains Hirsch. Therefore, Fakhro is basically a candidate for the starting eleven. “We’ll have to see how he feels after the final training session. It was very strenuous. We have good alternatives.”
Alongside Gerrit Wegkamp, Luis Hartwig can also expect to be called upon. The 21-year-old has not played in the Regionalliga for weeks, last appearing at the end of September. However, Hartwig started in the cup quarter-final in Ratingen last weekend (3-2 a.e.t.) and the former Bochum talent took his chance to score the opening goal.
Hirsch said of the youngster: “He trained very well, you could see that in the game. He’s very hard-working and I hope he continues like this. Then he’ll get more playing time than he has recently, when the others have also done very well.”
Hirsch can look forward to two more options for the starting eleven in Leon Müller and Tobias Fleckstein. The defensive players have fully recovered from their injuries during the international break. This means that only Jannik Zahmel and Jihad Boutakhrit are missing from KFC.
The two long-term injured players have now resumed running training. They are not yet in contention for the squad. Zahmel is not expected to make his comeback until the new year. In Boutakhrit’s case, it is a matter of weighing up whether he will return to competitive action before the winter break. “We won’t take any risks,” emphasizes Hirsch.