Thursday December 30th 2021
Bundesliga worries are growing
Oh, omicron …
The Bundesliga clubs gather for their first training session after the short Christmas break – and the training groups are badly thinned out. The Omikron variant complicates the preparation. One coach speaks of “gambling”. England meanwhile are running out of coaches.
A few days before the start of the second half of the season, the Bundesliga clubs are worried about corona. Hardly any club is spared positive tests when they see each other after Christmas – and those who now have to be in isolation cannot stand on the pitch on matchday 18 (January 7th to 9th). “Football is always a game of chance, but that has to be added,” said Augsburg coach Markus Weinzierl, referring to the difficult planning due to the more contagious Omikron variant. “It will hit everyone in the next few weeks. There will be different luck factors.”
The FCA reported a positive test with substitute goalkeeper Tomas Koubek at the start of training. In the case of Reece Oxford, Niklas Dorsch and Daniel Klein, the results were initially inconclusive. VfL Wolfsburg announced that after Kevin Mbabu, Dodi Lukebakio will not be available for the time being due to Corona. Eintracht Frankfurt will have to do without Kristijan Jakic, Gonçalo Paciência and substitute goalkeeper Jens Grahl for the time being. Piero Hincapie has tested positive at Bayer Leverkusen.
“The Corona issue will continue to have an additional impact on all teams. There is no more planning security as it used to be,” said Bayer Sports Director Simon Rolfes on Wednesday the “Bild” newspaper. Weinzierl said today: “I hope that we will be spared and that we will not have too much bad luck. We have to solve the problems as they come and improvise. We have done that more often in the last six months.”
England are running out of coaches
League leaders FC Bayern will start preparing again on Sunday, the Munich team will contest on Friday (8.30 p.m. / Sat.1 and DAZN) the second half of the season against Borussia Mönchengladbach. “In view of the current pandemic situation and in close coordination with the Munich health department, testing will be much more closely meshed with the start of training and all hygiene measures will be intensified,” announced the Bavarians.
There had been a lot of discussion about Corona in recent weeks about the record champions and the unvaccinated and then Covid-19 sick national player Joshua Kimmich. “All players, coaches and staff members for whom this was already possible received the booster vaccination. The rest of them have recovered status or have been vaccinated,” said team doctor Roland Schmidt.
The Bundesliga is not an isolated case in view of the increasing number of infections in many places. In the English Premier League there is and was heated discussion about the correct use of Omikron – but it is still played in front of spectators. Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta is currently the third coach who is currently in isolation after Patrick Vieira (Crystal Palace) and Steven Gerrard (Aston Villa). The Spanish record champions Real Madrid recently reported four more corona cases in the team, in the Italian Serie A, the professionals will probably be vaccinated.