The top match between Energie Cottbus and MSV Duisburg will be a battle for the top of the table. MSV coach Dietmar Hirsch will be missing one of his key players.
When Energie Cottbus welcomes MSV Duisburg on Saturday (December 6, 2 p.m.) for the top match of the 17th matchday of the 3rd league, both teams will be fighting for nothing less than the top spot in the table. Duisburg coach Dietmar Hirsch and his team want to maintain their place at the top with a victory.
Second-placed Cottbus are level on points with Meiderich and only have a goal difference that is one goal worse. If both teams share the points at the weekend, third-placed SC Verl could also jump to the top of the table, provided they win their away game at TSV Havelse.
MSV coach Hirsch is already fired up for the upcoming match. He says it’s not a given that two teams will meet in such a top match at this point in the season and that both teams have more than earned this duel through their performances so far.
“There will be a good atmosphere and it will be a positively heated and emotional game. Cottbus is a team that deserves to be up there, defends very well and, above all, has a very compact organization. That means we have to be very patient with the ball,” Hirsch explained at the pre-match press conference.
We have to try to keep the opponent out of our box and impose our game through quick transitions and calm periods of possession.
Dietmar Hirsch
Duisburg’s successful coach also warned of the individual quality of the upcoming opponents. Tolcay Cigerci (eleven goals, six assists) and Erik Engelhardt (ten goals, one assist) in particular are players who are capable of making the difference.
“They play very courageously with the ball and have a noticeably high number of players in the box. Sometimes there are five or six players in the box and there’s always a lot going on,“ explained Hirsch. ”We have to try to keep the opposition out of our box and impose our game through quick transitions and calm periods of possession.”
Hirsch will have to do without key player Joshua Bitter against Cottbus. In Duisburg’s 3-1 win over Alemannia Aachen on the last matchday, the right-back received his fifth yellow card and is therefore suspended for the upcoming top-of-the-table clash. “Mert Göckan would be one option to replace him, but that doesn’t have to be the final decision. We’re trying a few things out and have other options,“ Hirsch revealed. ”Leon Müller has already played in this position and Niklas Jessen is also a regular right-back. So we have a few options to fall back on.”
The approximately 1,000 MSV fans traveling to the game will find out on Saturday afternoon at the latest who will ultimately replace the suspended Bitter in the starting lineup and whether Duisburg can defend its place at the top of the table.