Lilien training with ten players and two goalkeepers

DARMSTADT – The great need is not over yet at second division soccer team SV Darmstadt 98: At the first training session of the week on Monday afternoon there were just ten field players and two goalkeepers on the pitch. None of the players who tested positive last week have returned to team training.

“The challenge lies in getting the boys back into training while adhering to the medical requirements,” said coach Torsten Lieberknecht. “Released does not automatically mean operational. We hope that a certain number of players can come back by Saturday.”

On Wednesday last week, the lilies announced that there had been a double-digit number of positive corona cases in the team environment. The affected players and members of the staff went into isolation, an internal test game planned for Thursday was canceled because it simply wouldn’t have made any sense with so many failures. Lieberknecht had released the team for the weekend anyway.

SV 98 will start the final spurt of the season next Saturday at 1.30 p.m. with a home game against Holstein Kiel.