MSV Duisburg - 1.FC Kaiserslautern

Two traditional teams play the Season opener this Friday. After two years MSV Duisburg is back in 2.Bundesliga and they want to start the Season well in their own Stadium while 1.FC Kaiserslautern goes in their fourth Season in 2.Bundesliga. Maybe it is a good sign for them because 2010 they managed after 4 years promotion. But nevertheless they have to build a new team again and this helps not much. They do a lot of understatement and avoid to give a real goal for this Season. The quality should be there for a top place but it is as every Season.

The euphoria is back in Duisburg after promotion and they are back in their home now again. They could hold all their important players, only a few from second row left the club. Therefore they can count on their successful team from last season and additional on their starting eleven as well. Although they signed six new players, only two managed it into the starting lineup while shortly signed central midfield player Holland is a candidate too but he is only a few days in training and not an option yet. The well balanced team knew each other well, only Bomheuer in central back and Bröker on the wing are the two new guys in starting lineup.

The other 4 guys are Iljutcenko and Brandstetter who both are ready and on the bench first while Poggenberg got injured in training and is out longer now, also Wiegel in not ready due to injury. Additional Wille and Scheidhauer are injured as well but not a problem at all for MSV. 

The test friendlies were successful to begin with two wins and a draw but the last major test against Bochum (1-2) and Porto (0-2) were both lost and was not the best for their self confidence.

Kaiserslautern must build a new team after 7 Starters left the club (Zoller, Demirbay, Matmour, Stöger, Heintz, Orban and Sippel). But they were able to sign 8 new players. DEF Vucur, MID Halfar, STR Przybylko, STR Mugosa which are all in starting lineup up for today. It is up to Coach Runjaic now to build up a successful team. It is also very open if he wants to play with two attackers or only one. The options are there with Mugosa or Görtler as replacement. Sure in the starting lineup is Przybylko up front, his partner is open.

Their key striker Hofmann left the club yesterday, he signed a contract at Brentford. Also Schulze, Gaus and Jacob are not available because all these guys are injured. The other new signings are expected on bench with Mockenhaupt, Alomerovic and Ziegler. Despite Vucur and Halfar are both parts defensive and midfield are very balanced with guys who are there already last season. So this can be an advantage maybe to begin as well. First keeper is Müller who won against Alomerovic and he knows the leagues already with some matches last season.

The test friendlies were very successful for Kaiserslautern. They were able to win 7 of these 8 games. Only against Danish team from Köge they lost 1-2, in all the others they showed that they are on a good way and had some great performances as well. The defensive worked very well and allowed not much while the offensive did a great job and scored and scored.