MSV Duisburg will face SV Waldhof Mannheim on Friday evening. The league leaders have not won in five games.
MSV Duisburg has not won in five games—four draws and one defeat.
And yet, after 13 games in the 3rd division, the promoted team is in first place.
“That’s something we can be proud of, and of course it’s something special. Alexander Hahn recently said that looking at the table doesn’t make much sense at the moment. I talked to ‘Ali’ about it and I know what he meant and what he wanted to achieve: he wanted to take the pressure off the team. But we can all be proud that we are in first place after 13 games as a promoted team,” Dietmar Hirsch made clear before Friday evening’s match against SV Waldhof Mannheim.
Even the experienced Hirsch knows that MSV should not make themselves smaller than they are, especially in this phase – with five games in a row without a win, the word “results crisis” may well come up. After all, the Meiderich team started the season with eight games without defeat and set a new third division record. Clearly, the MSV pros can be proud of this record.
We don’t have to win, and we shouldn’t have to win. But we want to win! We just have to be excited about soccer and let the atmosphere inspire us. We want to play against our opponents, fight them—and then we’ll see what happens. It will be another great atmosphere, under the floodlights and in front of over 20,000 fans.
Dietmar Hirsch
If Hirsch has his way, the tide will turn on Friday against Mannheim in front of around 22,000 fans. The 53-year-old said: “We want to play courageously and work compactly against the ball. The opponents are very agile and fast. They like to go for the second balls. Nevertheless, I believe that we can play high up the pitch against opponents like this. We did that against Rot-Weiss Essen, who have fast players like Ramien Safi. But, of course, you always have to be alert and highly focused.”
Hirsch also emphasized: “We don’t have to and shouldn’t win. But we want to win! We just have to be excited about soccer and let the atmosphere completely inspire us. We want to play against our opponents, fight them—and then we’ll see what happens. It will be another great atmosphere, under the floodlights and in front of over 20,000 fans.”
