Düsseldorf –
The Corona chaos threatens the 2nd Bundesliga with a hectic – and possibly unfair – season end.
After the renewed quarantine order for Holstein Kiel, the game plan has to be adjusted again for the few remaining weeks, until then the table remains little meaningful even after the defeats of the promotion favorites VfL Bochum and Hamburger SV. When the Holstein team of coach Ole Werner can make up for his games is currently open. The German Football League (DFL) did not initially name the next steps.
“The decision (to quarantine) presents us with major challenges for the rest of the season. We have no other choice than to accept and accept this situation, ”stated Holstein sports director Uwe Stöver. The people of Kiel have to be in domestic isolation until April 20th. The game against Jahn Regenburg, scheduled for April 10, was canceled at short notice.
Kiel, which will also play in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup against Borussia Dortmund on May 1, expects an extremely tight program after the quarantine. The 34th matchday is scheduled for May 23rd, the relegation first leg is to take place three days later, gaps in the schedule are rare. Dynamo Dresden was similarly affected last season, had to play seven games in 19 days at the end of the season and was finally relegated.
Kiel also had bad experiences after returning from the first quarantine. With no match or training rhythm, the team lost in Bochum (1: 2) and Heidenheim (0: 1). The North Germans currently have two games less than Bochum and HSV. Three games are planned until April 20th, and Kiel’s game against SV Sandhausen is scheduled for April 21st. The northern Baden residents are also currently in quarantine. The Karlsruher SC team is also isolated.
The games of SpVgg Greuther Fürth against Sandhausen and Fortuna Düsseldorf against KSC were therefore deleted from the schedule. So, despite Bochum’s 3-0 at SC Paderborn and HSV’s 1-2 at the top of the table, nothing changed. Bochum (28 games / 54 points) remains the front runner ahead of Hamburg (28/50), Fürth (27/50), Kiel (26/46) and Düsseldorf (27/43). FC St. Pauli also stalked the promotion region, winning 3-1 against Aue in the Ore Mountains. The best team in the second half of the season now has 41 points after 28 games.
There was also a Corona vortex in Lower Saxony: On April 10, the game of Hannover 96 against 1.FC Heidenheim was on the brink. But after a positive rapid antigen test for the virus, the all-clear at 96 in the afternoon. All PCR tests were negative – the Sunday game could take place. Shortly before the Lower Saxony duel against Eintracht Braunschweig, there was also a positive test at VfL Osnabrück, but the game could take place. A VfL player had to be isolated at home.
How it will continue is open. The most recent cases and the findings from them flow into the regular consultations of the “Task Force Sports Medicine / Special Games in Professional Football”. Last week, the DFL Presidium, which has to give the task force the green light for recommendations, decided that there will be no mandatory training camp quarantines in the 1st and 2nd leagues, at least for the time being. The tests have been tightened since April 1st.
Sandhausen President Jürgen Machmeier considers the waiver of the otherwise usual relegation to be a possible solution. In an interview he told Deutschlandfunk that in this situation you had to “think with a bit of imagination” how the season could be played to the end by the end of May, beginning of June – “that’s our deadline”. (dpa)
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