Heidenheim in the Bundesliga: victory in the relegation battle against Kiel

The game was played and Frank Schmidt said a sentence that could now be excellently teared out of context: Schmidt speaks of the championship! When the coach of the 1st FC Heidenheim was asked on Sunday evening after 3-1 against Holstein Kiel that his team cheered after the last goal, as if she were now a German champion, was his answer: “Oh, isn’t it that way? Are we not German champions? “

No, in Heidenheim they have not become megalomaniac. Schmidt’s remark was of course only a joke, a casual statement, born out of the situation. And yet this marginal note could be seen in this day about Schmidt’s soul and his team: after the 1-1 at TSG Hoffenheim and the 3-1 against Kiel, not only the confidence in Heidenheim is back – even a touch of ease has returned.

“If we had lost the game, it would have been extremely difficult to maintain the faith,” admitted Schmidt. But now, after the fifth victory of this season, everything that the Heidenheimers say, explain and assert is no longer suspected of being just optimism. After the international break, the opponents are called VfL Wolfsburg, Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart, but defender Marnon Busch said after the duel with Kiel: “A lot works with such a performance. We can also annoy very large teams. “

Is the shape enough to score against top teams? The proof is still pending

The proof that the lecture on Sunday would really be enough to score against top teams would still have to be provided. Heidenheim can actually encourage two findings from the 90 minutes. The first: If it doesn’t get anything with the championship, at least the relegation battle can also be mastered in the type of house.

Even in need, the FCH has remained true to its principles in the past few weeks. When Leo Scienza was said to have shown “Echtersnentigatik” in the final training before the Hoffenheim game, as Schmidt later revealed, that said: There is no place in the squad for Scienza. Because the unit is written even greater than in others Bundesliga locations, the FCH seeks happiness in its unfortunate situation in the Heidenheimer way-and even accepts it to weaken itself in terms of individual quality.

On Sunday, Scienza was back in the contingent and experienced up close, which is now the second message above the Kiel game: FCH again came from Karlsruhe in winter and after his goal in Sinsheim one of the goal shooters next to Marvin Pieringer and Sirlord Conteh.

Civilian needed a certain start -up time, but now it is becoming more and more in step. “He now laughs more. I also feel that he has now arrived and a bit better integrated, ”said Schmidt and then took a look at the Heidenheim club annals:“ If I think back to the whole year: Except for Tim Kleindedienst, everyone, really all offensive players, have at least half a year to arrive here. ” A diagnosis that has to do with the fact that Schmidt not only demands from his strikers to score goals, but also to “be unconditional defenders”.

Not all of Schmidt’s students do justice to this claim, but Civilian is now getting along better and better. “He is one who – like Tim Small Service – is on the road a lot and works for the team,” said his teammate Busch on Sunday, “but I don’t want to make a comparison with Tim because the budu would not do justice.” After all, small service in Heidenheim set standards. He is now one of the best center forward of Germany and even national players; From Heidenheim’s point of view, unfortunately: Gladbacher. Civilian, on the other hand, would not receive a call from national coach Julian Nagelsmann even if he was still shooting Heidenheim for the championship. This could also have to do with the fact that ZivziVadze is Georgian, but the need for the DFB would not be too great at the moment.

It’s different in Heidenheim. For the FCH, ZivziVadze could become the trump card in a relegation battle, in which, according to a new definition, it would be a success if two teams ended up behind Heidenheim. “We have now spent the goal of getting into the relegation,” said Schmidt on Sunday. He didn’t grin this time.