Third division club Rot-Weiss Essen resumed training on Thursday. 26 players were there.
On Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m., the time had come: Rot-Weiss Essen completed the first training session of winter preparation at Hafenstraße. After the third-division club played its last competitive match before the World Cup break in mid-November with a 1-1 draw away to TSV 1860 München, head coach Christoph Dabrowski asked for a warm-up more than three weeks later.
The session lasted 90 minutes and included various forms of passing and playing.
With Simon Engelmann (rehab with athletic trainer), Clemens Fandrich (wedding, extended holiday), Lawrence Ennali (tonsil operation) and Michel Niemeyer (rehab), four players could not participate. Felix Wienand, on the other hand, trained normally after his wisdom tooth operation.
Thus, 25 squad members were present. They were joined by test striker Tobias Warschewski – RevierSport reported. In total, Dabrowski welcomed 26 players to the green pitch.
Thomas Eisfeld and Cedric Harenbrock, who had been injured recently, sat out the final game – as agreed. Meiko Sponsel, who missed more than two months of the first half of the season with a meniscus tear, also trained “only” for a good hour.
Double session on Friday, first test match against Paderborn
Many RWE players had used the days off between the 1860 game and the first training session to travel. Midfielder Felix Götze was in Lisbon, Felix Wienand was also on holiday in Portugal – in Funchal on the island of Madeira. There, where superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was born.
The longest trip, however, was made by winger Isaiah Young. The 24-year-old visited his family in the USA for three weeks and only landed back in Germany on Tuesday. “It was a good holiday. It’s always nice to spend time with family,” Young stressed to RS.
In the next few days, coach Dabrowski will increase the training workload peu à peu. Already on Friday, Rot-Weiss will complete a double unit. The first test match of the winter preparation will take place on 17 December (1 pm). SC Paderborn, sixth in the 2nd Bundesliga, will then travel to Hafenstraße in Essen.