SVE: ready to continue their 2. Bundesliga mission
SV Elversberg have successfully completed their brief winter preparations and appear more than ready for the second half of the season.
The fourth day of play seemingly provided vindication for all those who thought that the Saarland village club that had marched up from the regional league would have no chance in the 2. Bundesliga: Elversberg sat in last place after a 0:5 home defeat to Fortuna Düsseldorf. But the second division newcomers did not panic, remained true to the offensive style they had developed over several years under coach Horst Steffen – and got started. The Steffen eleven then charged through to the top half of the table with seven undefeated games in a row. Surprising? Not for anyone who had been following Elversberg’s career closely, nor for the club itself.
They entered the 2. Bundesliga with confidence in the strength of their play and finished the first half of the season with a respectable 24 points. The fact that they rounded off a fantastic year with three defeats (1:5 to Hertha BSC, 0:1 to Nürnberg, 2:3 in Karlsruhe) was a bitter pill for the Saarland team – especially as they were not the worse team on any of the three occasions. ‘All three games were extremely close – we could have put ourselves in an even better position for the second half of the season’, notes sports director Nils-Ole Book, although he is more than satisfied with the season so far: ‘The boys have proven equal to their task, adapted quickly and been hugely focused throughout’. Last winter SVE did not hold a training camp, and the Saarland players spent the summer preparing for their 2. Bundesliga adventure in Bad Kreuznach, 130 kilometres away.
Last Monday, the second division newcomers followed a few sessions in rainy Germany with a trip south – for a week in Malaga, Spain. As Book had previously announced, no new newcomers have joined the team. However, there is in fact one internal new addition: the return to form of Wahid Faghir, who had a strong start to the season during the first seven days of play with three goals and two assists before suffering a muscle injury at the end of September. This loan signing from VfB Stuttgart is now expected to build on his early season success in the new year and provide internal reinforcement to the team’s offensive strategy, which was no longer proving consistently efficient in the run up to Christmas.
The remarkable first half of the season has proved that the current team is capable of great things. SVE’s performances during their training camp were also extremely promising. SV Elversberg did not manage to achieve any more than a draw at their first training camp test game in Mijas, Spain: the Saarland players drew 2:2 after twice coming back from behind against Antequera CF, who are in sixth place in Spain’s third division. Steffen was then happier with the final test match against Champions League competitors RB Salzburg.
Although the first half of the match was rather modest, the game really got underway during the second half. SVE clawed back the 1:0 lead gained by Luka Sucic (32nd minute) thanks to Maurice Neubauer (59th minute), before bullish striker Roko Simic (68th minute) put the Austrians back a goal ahead at 2:1. The team under RB’s coach Gerhard Struber slowed down a little in the last quarter of an hour, and conceded not only the 2:2 equaliser by returning player Wahid Faghir (78th minute) but also a third goal in the final minute after losing the ball to Dominik Martinovic (90th minute) – resulting in a 2:3 win for Elversberg, a fantastic way to round off the training camp.
However, the team’s upcoming opponents in the first game of the second half of the season also completed their winter preparations on a positive note: Hannover 96 emerged victorious from their final endurance test against table leaders Holstein Kiel, ready to get back into the 2. Bundesliga. A week before their game against SV Elversberg, on Saturday the Lower Saxony team played a varied match that they won 3:2 (2:1). In the final first-leg game of the 2. Bundesliga season four weeks previously, the Kiel team had prevailed 3:0 in their home stadium.
SVE will now return home to prepare for the second half of the season with their game against Lower Saxony. The first leg ended in a 2:2 draw following good play. SVE are well positioned to put in a strong performance – and win.