There is a carnival atmosphere in Sandhausen and when the second-tier side host five-time DFB Cup and Europa League champions Schalke 04 on Wednesday, it will be a spectacular game in the club’s history. It is a moment that Reinhard Grindel does not want to miss out on and the DFB president will be in attendance at the stadium.
It has been 31 years since Sandhausen have hosted a team of this calibre at this stage of the competition. It was in fact Schalke’s close neighbours Borussia Dortmund who faced Sandhausen in the quarter-finals of the 1985/1986 season. Gerd Dais shot Sandhausen into the lead before Michael Zorc, Jürgen Wegmann and Ulrich Bittcher sent Dortmund on their way to a comfortable victory.
Meyer: “It’s going to be a tricky one”
World champions Benedikt Höwedes, Max Meyer and the rest of the Schalke team await the minnows, having put in a convincing performance to draw 1-1 in Munich. “Even though they are a second division team, it’s going to be a tricky one,” warned Meyer.
That is because Sandhausen are on a good run of form. The sixth-placed side have been one of the surprise outfits in the 2. Bundesliga this season and recently beat Fortuna Düsseldorf 3-0 and Erzgebirge Aue 2-0 in impressive style.
Kocak: “They’re going to have to invest a lot in this game”
On the subject of Schalke’s winter signing Daniel Caligiuri, Sandhausen’s coach Kenan Kocak joked that “just having Caliguri will not be enough if they want to compete with is. They’ve been unlucky to have drawn us anyway. They’re going to have to invest a lot in this game here,” said the 36-year-old with a wink but qualified this by saying that “we don’t need to worry about Schalke’s strengths, but rather how good our bus driver’s parking is.”
Should Sandhausen cause a sensation, Kocak would immediately secure his place in the history books in just his first year as a professional on the sidelines.
There is a carnival atmosphere in Sandhausen and when the second-tier side host five-time DFB Cup and Europa League champions Schalke 04 on Wednesday, it will be a spectacular game in the club’s history. It is a moment that Reinhard Grindel does not want to miss out on and the DFB president will be in attendance at the stadium.
It has been 31 years since Sandhausen have hosted a team of this calibre at this stage of the competition. It was in fact Schalke’s close neighbours Borussia Dortmund who faced Sandhausen in the quarter-finals of the 1985/1986 season. Gerd Dais shot Sandhausen into the lead before Michael Zorc, Jürgen Wegmann and Ulrich Bittcher sent Dortmund on their way to a comfortable victory.
Meyer: “It’s going to be a tricky one”
World champions Benedikt Höwedes, Max Meyer and the rest of the Schalke team await the minnows, having put in a convincing performance to draw 1-1 in Munich. “Even though they are a second division team, it’s going to be a tricky one,” warned Meyer.
That is because Sandhausen are on a good run of form. The sixth-placed side have been one of the surprise outfits in the 2. Bundesliga this season and recently beat Fortuna Düsseldorf 3-0 and Erzgebirge Aue 2-0 in impressive style.
Kocak: “They’re going to have to invest a lot in this game”
On the subject of Schalke’s winter signing Daniel Caligiuri, Sandhausen’s coach Kenan Kocak joked that “just having Caliguri will not be enough if they want to compete with is. They’ve been unlucky to have drawn us anyway. They’re going to have to invest a lot in this game here,” said the 36-year-old with a wink but qualified this by saying that “we don’t need to worry about Schalke’s strengths, but rather how good our bus driver’s parking is.”
Should Sandhausen cause a sensation, Kocak would immediately secure his place in the history books in just his first year as a professional on the sidelines.
