As the first half of the season comes to a close, Fortuna Köln is looking to get back on track after two consecutive draws: On Saturday (2 p.m.), Sportfreunde Lotte will be the visitors at the Südstadion.

Fortuna Köln still has hopes of winning the fall championship in the Regionalliga West. However, that requires a home win on Saturday against Sportfreunde Lotte.

If Fortuna earns three points and FC Schalke’s U23 team draws with 1. FC Köln’s U23 team at the same time, Fortuna would move ahead of the Royal Blues’ reserve team.

“Our goal is not just to earn points, but to win,” emphasizes coach Matthias Mink, who has nearly his entire squad at his disposal.

Mink: “Right now, colds keep popping up out of the blue. That’s why we’ll have to wait and see which players are actually available to us on Saturday. Basically, all the players are on board and eager to play. It’s not a given that you’ll have such a strong roster situation in November. But that’s also a testament to the team’s hard work and a result of our positive development.”

The team from Lotter Kreuz is currently in ninth place. Not quite good enough for the top, but too good for the bottom: that’s how you could sum up the Sportfreunde’s season, as they sit in the middle of the standings.

“Offensively, Lotte has good to very good Regional League-level quality. We all know Leon Demaj, who has already scored a large number of goals. Marc Heider is also a familiar name to everyone. He still has his strengths, especially in the box. And then, with Samuel Addai and Diamant Berisha, they have two very fast wingers who also need to be watched closely when it comes to goal-scoring threat. That’s why we’ve mainly focused on how to contain that offensive threat,” says Fortuna coach Mink.

Fortuna has recorded four wins and four draws in eight home games so far. Against Sportfreunde Lotte, who have also secured four wins on the road, the team aims to maintain its perfect home record at the Südstadion.