Alex grau in an interview: “there will be no b-elf waiting for us”

With the wurzburger kickers the FC lichtenfels has drawn a hammerlos. In the eighth final of the toto cup, the fubball-landesliga club receives the third division team from lower franconia on tuesday, 5. September, at 17.30 o’clock at the karl-fleschutz-stadium in lichtenfels.

The wurzburgers will not underestimate the FCL, as head coach stephan schmidt made clear on the kickers’ website after the draw: "we will also approach this task with the necessary seriousness and by no means take the opponent lightly. We are of course the favorites and have the ambition to qualify for the quarter finals."

in an interview, lichtenfels coach alexander grau explains how he is preparing his team for the game and what chances he sees against the professional club.

The kickers are the favorite. What do you expect from the game?
Alexander grau: from a purely sporting point of view, the match is of the "david vs. Goliath" format. If in the 90 minutes everything is normal, we are naturally without a chance. Nevertheless, the game is a highlight for the club and the players.

How did you follow the draw?
In the BFV-livestream uber facebook. Because the lottery pot was split once again, there were only two possible opponents – FC schweinfurt 05 and wurzburger kickers.

What chances do you see for the eighth finals??
The kickers have had a bad start to the season – but I don’t think we can hope for a bad performance from wurzburger. The take the cup very seriously, which one has seen also with the kantersieg against meeder. There will be no B- or C-elf waiting for us.

What is the battle plan for the eighth finals??
We want to keep the game open as long as possible. If only to make the match exciting for the spectators. When you’re already down 0:3 after ten minutes, a game like this doesn’t make as much sense anymore.

For your team, the cup match means the fifth english week in a short time. How high is the load?
Enormous, as we saw at the defeat in selbitz at the weekend. The loss of substance is clearly noticeable. We currently also have few personnel alternatives, we can hardly rotate. That does not make things easier. After the cup match on tuesday, our next game will be on friday in feucht. A real challenge awaits us, and we hardly have time to regenerate.

Prepare your team specifically for the cup game?
Currently, normal training is out of the question. I’m glad that we now have a regular training week ahead of us without an additional game. The focus is absolutely on the regeneration of the players.

The cup match will be played at 17.30 o’clock whistle. What do you say about the match schedule?
The anstob at a later time would have been naturally more beautiful. So the boys must quasi directly from the work on the place. The same applies to the spectators. The association is concerned, as far as I know, with a possible eleven-meter shift, which had to take place in the dammerung. That’s the way it is, we’ll take it.

Next weekend, baiersdorf will be playing in the national league. Will they spare players for the game against the kickers?
No way. Our focus is completely on the landesliga. The fact that we made it to the eighth finals against gebenbach is of course brilliant. If we were eliminated, however, the world would not have come to an end either. The game against wurzburg is a highlight that my players have earned with it. But nothing more. If I had to choose, I would rather win against baiersdorf than against wurzburg.

The conversation went
felix mock