Cottbus. The press conference of FC Energie Cottbus began a few minutes late on Friday afternoon before the DFB Cup match on Monday evening against Bundesliga club Werder Bremen (kick-off: 6.30 p.m./Stadion der Freundschaft). “The boys trained a little longer this morning,” said Stefan Scharfenberg-Hecht, press officer for the Lausitz club.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
A seemingly harmless sentence, but one that gave a lot of insight into the past week of training, which Energie coach Claus-Dieter Wollitz later elaborated on: “We really cranked up the intensity in training, despite the warm weather. I’m no longer taking anything into consideration because we have a responsibility to the club, the members, the sponsors and the fans.”
Wollitz does not hide the fact that he is dissatisfied with the start of the season in the 3rd division. Quite the opposite. The hot-tempered coach has clear words: “The last two games were not satisfactory.” He is particularly annoyed that the team lost a lead against both Arminia Bielefeld (1:2) and Dynamo Dresden (2:4). “Overall, there is uncertainty. The self-confidence and conviction are not there. That is far too little for this league.”
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
Including test matches: Energie Cottbus without a win in six games
Wollitz is “1000 percent” confident that some third division teams will surprise Bundesliga teams on the cup weekend. “If the third division teams are in rhythm, in their self-image, then they will have a chance, because the Bundesliga teams are coming out of the cold. If we want to be that, we have a lot to improve.”
He does not consider his FC Energie, the Brandenburg State Cup winners, to be a possible surprise; he was too disappointed by their last performances and a winless streak that has lasted six games, including test matches. Statistically speaking, the chance of knocking a first division team out of the first round of the DFB Cup is highest when the opponent is Werder Bremen. No other club has failed in the first round more often as a Bundesliga team than the Hanseatics, who have already failed 13 times.
“I have no desire to sell anything here, even though the facts speak against it.”
Claus-Dieter Wollitz
Coach of FC Energie Cottbus
The focus in Lausitz is on staying in the 3rd division, and Wollitz just wants to “put on a fantastic cup match” against Bremen and gain confidence. In order to achieve this in front of a sold-out crowd of around 20,000 fans, “we have more to do and more to deliver to even think about causing a sensation or causing a pinprick,” says Wollitz.
“The fact is that they have more individual quality. You can compensate for that by running more, but I’m not happy with the running performance in the first two games. I don’t want to sell anything here, even though the facts speak against it,” says the coach.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
Newsletter 5er-Kette – subscribe now!
Wollitz is also referring to the debacle last year, when second division team SC Paderborn beat FCE 7-0. “We also started the league badly there and had no self-confidence and no self-image.”
Werder Bremen had already been a guest the year before and won 2-1. Nevertheless, the Energie coach still knows: “If we want to increase our chances of making it to the next round, then we should do a lot of things better. The 1-2 is misleading about the game. I think that Werder Bremen had very good chances. We need a lot of things to be better, but we will try everything and have to try everything to put up a thrilling fight.”
FC Energie Cottbus has been waiting for a win in the DFB Cup since August 3, 2013. Back then, the Lausitz team won 1-0 against the then regional league team 1. FC Magdeburg and were eliminated in the second round with a 0-3 defeat after extra time against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
MAZ
