The opening match in the Oberliga Niederrhein is between Adler Union Frintrop and VfB Hilden. Forecasting spoke to Frintrop goal scorer Yannick Reiners.
Great honour for Adler Union Frintrop. The promoted Oberliga side will be allowed to open the 2023/24 season with a home match against reigning runners-up VfB Hilden on Friday evening (11 August, 7.30pm).
After the double promotion, the team from the Wasserturm will go into a league match as underdogs for the first time in a long time. It is clear that Hilden is a seasoned Oberliga team and one of the favourites for promotion, while for the Frintrop team the only thing that counts is staying in the league.
In this mission, Adler Union can once again rely on a well-rehearsed, homogeneous team – and on top goal scorer Yannick Reiners. In the Landesliga championship season, the 26-year-old was top scorer with 30 goals. Reiners, who has played for Frintrop since 2001, scored a total of 124 goals in 167 senior games.
Forecasting spoke to the 2.04-metre giant before the season opener:
Yannick Reiners, how did the preparation go from your point of view? What was good and where is there still room for improvement?
The preparation was quite mixed for us and had some ups and downs. Confident performances at the beginning were followed by a few weaker games in the middle. In the training camp a fortnight ago, we were able to adjust a few things and integrate the newcomers even better into the team. The last dress rehearsal was of course suboptimal (1:6 against Wiemelhausen, editor’s note), even though I could only watch from a distance. They showed us what we can expect in terms of intensity and tempo on the pitch in the coming season and I hope we can draw the necessary conclusions from that.
Adler Union Frintrop has the great honour of opening the season against runners-up VfB Hilden. Hilden is once again one of the favourites for promotion. What kind of game do you expect?
Of course we are really looking forward to opening the season again this year. The fixture list has given us a real challenge. On Friday evening, I think we will feel directly what it means to play in the top division. Hilden has a really strong team and was not runner-up in the last two years for nothing. However, we will certainly not surrender without a fight. We want to be a very unpleasant opponent and make life as difficult as possible for them and then also bring our qualities onto the pitch.
We will certainly be inferior in one or two games, but we have to be able to look in the mirror after 90 minutes and say: ‘We gave our last shirt today’.
Yannick Reiners.
For most of the squad it will be their first Oberliga season. What is the team’s goal?
Again, there are parallels to last year, because there it was the first Landesliga season for most of them. We are entering new territory again this year and want to do everything we can to master this task. For us as a team, it will be important that we can deal with setbacks and keep getting back up. If we are above the line at the end and can keep the class, it would be a huge success with our possibilities. To achieve this, we want to turn the Wasserturm into a fortress again, where no opponent likes to come. This will only work if we as a team continue to pull together as we have in recent years and approach every game and every training session with 110 percent. We will certainly be inferior in one or two games, but we have to be able to look in the mirror after 90 minutes and say: ‘We gave it our all today’. If it still wasn’t enough, we have to quickly fix the crown and keep working towards our common goal.
Last year you were the top scorer in the Landesliga with 30 goals. What are your personal goals?
For the team and for me personally, last season was like a dream. Of course, I’m always happy when I can help the team with goals. This year, it won’t necessarily be about the number of goals, but about scoring them at the right moments. Sometimes a dirty 1:0 has to be enough and if I score the goal there, I’d rather have that than a treble and we lose the game. Personally, I haven’t set myself a goal for now. It remains to be seen to what extent we can bring our offensive play to the pitch one level higher. But the team’s goal has the highest priority, and that can only be to stay in the league.