“Twelve Final Matches Await Kickers Offenbach”

The regional soccer team Kickers Offenbach want to continue their race to catch up with VfR Aalen on Saturday. Captain Sebastian Zieliecki is combative. Coach Ersan Parlatan may want to “hold up a mirror” to the team.

Offenbach – This series is to the liking of Kickers Offenbach’s defense chief Sebastian Zieliecki. The fact that the OFC won the first three competitive games after the winter break (two in the regional league, one in the Hessen Cup) and conceded only one goal is “good”, says the captain. The performances in the three encounters were “not perfect”. But the wins were important for self-confidence. “The team needs that,” emphasized the Pole. Especially since these successes also pay off in the table.

The OFC, who won seven of the last eight league games over the course of the year, is the team in the best form in the Southwest season and has reduced the gap to leaders SSV Ulm 1846 from nine to six points. The belief that we can still have a serious say in the fight for promotion to the 3rd division is back. “We still have twelve finals ahead of us,” Zieliecki says combatively, but at the same time emphasizes: “We’re only looking at VfR Aalen.” The third from bottom in the table is the next opponent of the Kickers on Saturday (2 p.m.) in the Ostalb -Arena want to polish up their mediocre away record (four wins, two draws, four defeats).

Ersan Parlatan is pleased to see his players’ confidence growing, but knows that when they succeed, the biggest mistakes are often made. Therefore, the Kickers coach says: “You have to classify everything well. We’re always honest in our analyses, we don’t sugarcoat anything, but we don’t make ourselves worse either.” The 45-year-old admits that many games recently have been “tough and tight”. “But the fact that we still won it speaks for the team, for their mentality and quality.” He will continue to “hold up a mirror” to the team if necessary. “But football is also a result sport.” If you start the week with the knowledge that in this league no game is a sure-fire success, a lot has already been gained, says the OFC coach, who expects another unpleasant task.

Aalen has financial (insolvency proceedings) and personnel problems (in Alessandro Abruscia and ex-Offenbacher Sascha Korb, two top performers were recently missing, striker Steffen Kienle has only played one game after a long injury break), but despite a series of three defeats in a row by no means given up. Most recently, the ex-second division team lost 3-1 to FC Homburg. “I saw a team that believed in itself and was on an equal footing with Homburg,” says Parlatan. The VfR have quality – especially in the switching game – and will “try to make life difficult for us”.

After the OFC last started three times in a row with the same starting eleven and formation, there will probably be changes this time. It is very likely that midfield strategist Björn Jopek will return to the starting eleven after his strong comeback, which he gave as a joker against Freiberg. Defender Maximilan Rossmann, who had to be substituted against Freiberg with a “kind of lumbago” (Parlatan), could be missing in this. The 27-year-old had not trained until Thursday. However, the medical department will do everything, the coach promised.

By Christian Düncher