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Thursday, July 2, 2020 at
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Werder Bremen crawled through the eye of the needle during the last round of the game and has thus averted direct relegation from the Bundesliga for the time being. Davy Klaassen’s team does have a play-off against Heidenheim. That club is making an impressive advance from the fourth level and is now considered ripe for a sensation. Former player John Verhoek also expects Werder to get very tough and tells in an exclusive interview with Voetbalzone why he has Heidenheim so high.
By Thijs Verhaar
Frank Schmidt. That is the name that every fan of German football will immediately mention when Heidenheim comes up. The former defender stepped in as a starting trainer in the middle of the season in 2007 and immediately guided them to the title at the highest amateur level in Germany in his first season. An interim contract was converted into a permanent appointment and thirteen years later, the now 46-year-old coach is still firmly in the saddle. Together with the board, he has been working year after year on the team that can put a crown on his work in the coming week with promotion to the 1. Bundesliga.
Verhoek was under contract with Heidenheim for two years between 2016 and 2018 and many of the teammates who were active in the Voith-Arena at the time are still playing there. “That is really Schmidt’s merit. He built the club together with a group of directors with a good plan. Just because of him, Heidenheim is an asset to the Bundesliga, “said the 31-year-old striker, who has been continuously on the German fields for almost ten years and is now under contract with Hansa Rostock. “Heidenheim has a very close collective and it will certainly not be easy for Werder to beat them.”
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Werder Bremen, with Klaassen in the middle, won 6-1 against FC Köln on the last round, passing Fortuna Düsseldorf, which would have been enough for a draw against Union Berlin, but could not withstand it.
Schmidt’s secret lies in communication, according to Verhoek. “You can talk to him about anything and even now that I’ve been away for two years, he still calls me every few weeks to ask how I’m doing with my family. He is a very familiar man and his working method makes everyone want to work hard for him. ” Schmidt does not care if you are the star of the team or a youth player or the third goalkeeper; everyone gets the same amount of attention, according to Verhoek. “He knows exactly what is going on with all his players and in his way ensures that everyone feels good. That is why that group stays together for so long. The core has been playing together for five or six years and some even longer. ”
In Verhoek’s time at the club, promotion to the highest level was still a utopia. Now the chance is, according to him, real. “When I got there, they also wanted to take steps. Only then it was simply not there with the player material. In the second season we even had to fear relegation, so I am happy that my goals helped me to maintain my body. ” A few months before the end of the season, he announced a switch to the larger Duisburg and his role in Heidenheim seemed to have ended immediately, but Schmidt continued to give him great confidence until his very last day at the club.
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John Verhoek starts his tenth season in Germany after the summer. “I feel very much at home in this country.”
“That was very special to experience. That is why I still carry the club in my heart and still speak to many of the players. I could also have stayed at Heidenheim, but I thought I would have a better chance of promotion with Duisburg. ” However, it turned out to be a disastrous season in which the team even became a last resort. Verhoek did not score once and left through the back door to Hansa Rostock. “That was a terrible year,” agrees the attacker, who was not positioned in his natural position and faced a trainer who did not trust him in the second half of the season.
Fortunately, things are different at Hansa Rostock now. I really like it there ”, says the regular. With the tradition club he seemed to be heading for promotion to the second level for a long time, but the busy schedule after the resumption of the competition throws a spanner in the works. After a weak run, the team is now in sixth place and has to bridge a gap of five points to number three. “For me, the corona crisis came at a very bad time, because before that I scored four times in four games. Now we played our ninth game in three weeks on Saturday. That cannot be done. It is now a matter of long haul and our competitors have just a little bit more air than we do, ”says Verhoek.
The striker who grew up at ADO Den Haag expects that stamina will also play a major role when Heidenheim and Werder Bremen cross swords next week. The latter team starts on Thursday with a home game and the return follows on Tuesday. “Knowing Schmidt, he prepared his players to perfection. It is of course true that they have had a very difficult season. I myself played in the 2. Bundesliga for seven years and I know from experience that you don’t get anything for free. That is the German mentality. For example, look at Hamburger SV. They had enough on the last round to stay ahead of Heidenheim, but received a 1–5 knock from Sandhausen, who played nothing for anything. ”
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Due to the victory over the direct competitor, Heidenheim rose to round 3 one round before the end, which was not given away despite a defeat on the last day against champion Arminia Bielefeld.
A week earlier, HSV also made a mistake against Heidenheim, which struck in its own home in the 96th minute and won 2-1 against the direct competitor for third place. “That fighting spirit typifies the club,” said Verhoek. “If I had to compare them to a team, I would go for SC Freiburg. Also a relatively small club with a clear playing style and vision. They also hold their own at the highest level and I think the same might be true for Heidenheim. ” Thanks to two main sponsors, the club has quite a bit of money and reportedly pays no less in terms of salaries than clubs in the right-hand row of the Bundesliga.
In that respect, the fairy tale of Heidenheim and Schmidt, according to Verhoek, could become even more beautiful in the coming years, but then Werder Bremen must first be settled. “Those will be two great matches,” Verhoek expects. “When you look at Werder’s selection, it’s actually incredible that they let it get that far. They have so much quality with Milos Rashica, Klaassen and all the others. Still, I think they should watch out now, because Heidenheim continues to fight until the very last second and is especially strong at home. It will be two real finals. I look forward.”
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