On Friday (April 12, 7 p.m., live ticker), MSV Duisburg will host SV Waldhof Mannheim. It is the first of six final matches for the Zebras.

There are still six match days to go in the 3rd division. After defeats at Arminia Bielefeld (0:2) and Rot-Weiss Essen (1:4), MSV Duisburg are eight points off the safety zone.

The third division lights are slowly going out in Duisburg-Meiderich. But coach Boris Schommers refuses to accept this and remains confident – despite the eight-point deficit with six matches to go before the end of the season.

The soccer coach said ahead of the game – Friday, April 12, 7 p.m. – against SV Waldhof Mannheim: “Of course, it’s a very difficult task with a current eight-point deficit. But I believe one hundred percent that we will manage to stay in the league. We’ve already been declared dead twice, and twice we’ve come back to the bottom within four matchdays. If we can do that again, then we’re in the race. Why shouldn’t we succeed a third time?”

Mannheim (H), Ingolstadt (A), Sandhausen (H), Lübeck (A), Aue (H) and Dresden (A): These are MSV’s last six opponents of the current season. Duisburg should win five of these six games to avoid the horror scenario of the Regionalliga West at the end of the season

“First of all, we have to win against Mannheim on Friday. That’s a game against a direct competitor. If we win, Waldhof would only be five points away. Then we’ll see,” said Schommers, staying true to his motto of “looking from game to game”.

The 45-year-old also knows that Mannheim is one of the league’s most in-form teams and recently beat Unterhaching 6-1 at the Carl-Benz Stadium after trailing 1-0. “Waldhof are coming to us with a lot of confidence, but we can also go into the home game with a lot of confidence. After all, we’ve won our last three home games and that was against teams that are certainly looking to move up the table. We can also win our fourth home game in a row!”