Top match on Betzenberg for SV Elversberg
Saturday evening, floodlights, a packed stadium: SV Elversberg are facing 1. FC Kaiserslautern for a top second-division game. There are just four points separating the teams, so this promises to be a special event in terms of both sport and atmosphere.
Anticipation levels are high for SV Elversberg’s away encounter with 1. FC Kaiserslautern on the 20th day of play in this second-division season. A match against the team’s Palatinate neighbours is always something special, but its timing as a top-level fixture at 8:30 p.m. makes it even more so. The Fritz-Walter-Stadion will be almost entirely sold out with 48,349 tickets purchased so far, 4,543 by Elversberg fans who are travelling to Betzenberg to support their team.
SVE’s manager Vincent Wagner is hugely looking forward to Saturday evening. ‘It is a real highlight, a wonderful time to play football. We are really looking forward to it’, Wagner said during the run-up. In sporting terms, he is expecting a tight, challenging match. The two teams are sat very close to each other in the table (just four points apart) and both have scored 34 goals so far this season, making them some of the strongest attacking lineups in the division. Wagner views their playing styles as the main difference between the two. ‘We tend to take a more playful approach with our short passes. Kaiserslautern are playful too, but with long balls, so that they can be sensible with the second ball’. The Elversberg manager explained.
It is a real highlight, a wonderful time to play football. We are really looking forward to it
SVE manager Vincent Wagner
The stadium also plays a major role in the very special atmosphere. Wagner was there in person two weeks ago for FCK’s home game against Hannover 96. ‘And of course, then there’s the stadium, which plays its part. I was there in person against Hannover 96 two weeks ago, and you could see what it can do’, he said. SVE will be seeking to capitalise on the atmosphere on Betzenberg and respond with their own style of play. ‘We will be facing an incredible amount of power, but not for the first time this season. And we are just looking forward to tackling this type of football’, Wagner added. As it currently stands, the SVE manager will have a full squad to choose from.
The importance of this match is also clear to the home team. Beforehand, FCK’s manager Torsten Lieberknecht described this as a very special day of play. ‘We have earned this top match in front of a sold-out crowd. And of course, we want to secure the maximum three points in a home game’, Lieberknecht added. He welcomed Saturday evening’s scheduling as something special. ‘Matches at 8:30 p.m. are an absolute highlight for us’, the 52-year-old explained. He also noted that evenings like this can be nerve-racking. ‘8:30 p.m. matches are fantastic. A floodlight match, a sold-out stadium. But the time until the starting whistle blows feels like it drags’, Lieberknecht noted, adding about the scheduling: ‘If the referee is enjoying the match, sometimes it can take a long time. So we don’t get to bed until very late and don’t go to sleep until around 3 a.m.’
In sporting terms, FCK’s manager well remembers the first-leg match, which Elversberg won on the third day of play. Kaiserslautern equalised in stoppage time but SVE still managed to score a winning goal. ‘Both teams have developed since the first-leg match and have had their ups and downs’, Lieberknecht said. ‘If you lose the first leg, of course you want to set things straight and win the second leg. Thoughts of getting our own back should not play any part in this. But we do have a score to settle.’
Both teams have developed since the first-leg match and have had their ups and downs
FCK manager Torsten Lieberknecht
‘Elversberg have both very good position play and very good transitional play. We need to prepare for that’, the FCK manager explained. He added: ‘We need to be on top of our game and stop them from using their strengths.’
In staffing terms, Lieberknecht is not confirming beforehand whether Ivan Prtajin will be in the starting eleven. The striker has recovered from his torn muscle and recently scored two goals as a positionless player. ‘He is fit’, Lieberknecht said. In addition, Simon Asta could be back on the squad for this second-leg match for the first time since his serious injury. Jisoo Kim, Mahir Emreli and Avdo Spahic will still be out of action. Lieberknecht is not ruling out making further changes to the squad before Saturday, as the transfer window is still open. ‘Until the transfer window closes, anything is possible in either direction.’
For SV Elversberg, the setting is clear: a Saturday evening match against a major backdrop, an opponent that has not forgotten the first leg, and a stadium that provides a pressure of its own. At the same time, SVE are travelling in the knowledge that they have survived other matches like this during this season. Vincent Wagner will be seeking to embrace this very special evening on Betzenberg – and tackle it with their own particular style of football.