Rot-Weiss Essen’s second team is racing from victory to victory in the district league. We spoke to the successful coach.
May 7, 2023: That was the last day the second team of third-division club Rot-Weiss Essen suffered a defeat. That was over 850 (!) days ago.
“Yes, that’s right. I’ve set a timer on my phone. Let’s see how long we can keep this clean slate. In any case, it’s much more fun without defeats (laughs),” says Stefan Lorenz. The successful coach of Rot-Weiss, who led Essen from the Kreisliga B to the Bezirksliga, is continuing in the 7th league with his team where he left off in the Kreisliga A: with victories!
Three games, three wins: 3-1 against Lirich, 8-1 against Überruhr, 8-1 against Steele 03/09 – these are the first three results for RWE II in the Bezirksliga Group 6 in the Lower Rhine region.
“Three games, three wins. I’ve got nothing to complain about. But we can put it all into perspective. We haven’t faced any of the teams we expect to be at the top yet. Nevertheless, these nine points are very important and the 19 goals we’ve already scored are a nice bonus.”
Lorenz also emphasizes: “And I’m particularly pleased that we have so many options in attack. We now have five or six guys who are very dangerous in front of goal and have already scored a few goals. That just proves how difficult we are to predict and what a great squad we have – in terms of depth, but above all in terms of breadth. As a coach, that makes me extremely happy.“
Lorenz believes his team is still far from reaching its limit. ”We are continuing to grow. A few guys joined us in the summer and we are still developing. There is definitely room for improvement,” he says.
And that’s necessary, too. Because even the soon-to-be 44-year-old – Lorenz’s birthday is on September 19 – ex-professional knows that there are other teams in District League Division 6 besides Lirich, Überruhr, and Steele. “I’m definitely counting on Vogelheim and Klosterhardt. And the next game against Sterkrade-Nord is also likely to be a lot tougher. They are very confident and still undefeated. But we will be well prepared again,” promises the highly successful RWE II coach.