Ahead of their upcoming away trip to Ulm, MSV Duisburg played a friendly match against SpVg Schonnebeck. Here are the takeaways Dietmar Hirsch drew from the 5-0 victory.

For many of the MSV Duisburg pros, Tuesday evening (January 27) meant a double session. Following the training session to prepare for the upcoming away match at SSV Ulm, there was also a development match at Westender Straße against the second-place team in the Oberliga Niederrhein, Spielvereinigung Schonnebeck.

After 90 minutes and a dominant second half, the final score was 5-0 in favor of MSV Duisburg. The lineup included players from the U19 team as well as first-team players who have seen less playing time this season. We spoke with Coach Dietmar Hirsch after the game.

Dietmar Hirsch on…

…the 90 minutes: “First and foremost, these games are about getting match practice. That’s far more important than training. On top of that, we’re strengthening the connection and ties with the NLZ through the U19 players. The result was good, and the intensity was there against a very strong Oberliga team that’s at the top for a reason. Of course, the plays weren’t perfect, but I thought the effort was great, and the U19 players did very well too. I’m very satisfied.“

…trialist Dominik Becker: ”I really liked him. Flawless, solid. Just the way a center back needs to play—flawless. He dribbled boldly, and you can see he already has good pace. That’s a plus for a center back. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

And we were awarded two penalty kicks. That’s why I say those were nice too. We hadn’t had that many up to that point

Dietmar Hirsch

…Gabriel Sadlek at left back: “You could tell he was lacking match practice. That’s another reason why it was good that we had this game now. Now we have to see, with the weekend in mind, whether we stick with this or make a different arrangement. We could also put a right-footed player there. But we’d rather have a left-footed player there. We’ll just see; we still have a few days until Ulm.“.

..the strikers’ successes: ”All goals are good and build confidence. Whether it’s Flo Krüger or Simon Symalla, who scored two goals. Andy Visser also scored a great goal—in true striker fashion. I think all the goals were beautiful. And we were awarded two penalty kicks. That’s why I say those were beautiful too. We haven’t had that many of those so far.”