Sterkrade 06/07 is competing for promotion in the Lower Rhine district league. Ahead of the top match against Burgaltendorf, coach Mühlbauer spoke to Forecasting about winter transfers and the season’s goal.
Spielvereinigung Sterkrade 06/07 is currently sitting pretty at the top of the Lower Rhine District League 6. Coach Lars Mühlbauer’s team leads the table with 38 points after 16 match days.
A real top-of-the-table clash awaits at the end of the first half of the season: SV Burgaltendorf, which has slipped to third place after two recent defeats, will host Sterkrade on Saturday, December 13, at 3:30 p.m. at the Windmühle. Mühlbauer expects nothing less than a top-of-the-table clash: “It will be a very, very open and very close game. I expect it to be an evenly matched game, although in my opinion, despite leading the table, we are not the favorites going into Burgaltendorf. In advance, a point would be absolutely fine. I’m just hoping for a good game of soccer.”
Sterkrade finished second in the Bezirksliga Group 5 in each of the past two seasons. This season, however, the team is competing in the other district league, Group 6, which is a complete unknown for Sterkrade. According to Mühlbauer, however, this is the much more difficult group. He is all the more impressed by his team’s performance in the first half of the season so far: “You have to really appreciate my team’s performance in this new group.”
But despite the new group, Mühlbauer was ambitious from the start: “No, our goal was not just to stay in the league. We finished second twice in a row and wanted to be back up there again. My team has really found its feet and is playing very good soccer.”
Above all, Sterkrade’s defense is the measure of all things in the district league. With just 20 goals conceded, the team has the best defense in the league. Mühlbauer therefore sees no reason for changes in the winter: “I have complete confidence in my team. We don’t need to worry about anything. The squad is big enough, and together we are a mega-close-knit bunch.”
