That would of course have been a fine thing. At least for everyone who loves SpVgg Unterhaching. It could have been a little spectacle if Schwablmarkus had shoveled the ball out of the right half field in front of the goal of TSV Aubstadt and Wagner had stood there. Probably a goal would have been scored then.
Markus Schwabl cross, Sandro Wagner header: It’s not just a nice idea, it’s also a pretty promising one. It’s just stupid that the ball would have ended up out of bounds if Schwabl had actually played Wagner. Wagner is now a coach, so he is outside on the sidelines when SpVgg Unterhaching is a guest at TSV Aubstadt in the opening game of the Bavarian Regional League.
It’s Thursday, a moderately beautiful summer evening, the sky is cloudy, the Hachinger game poor. Wagner, 33, crosses his arms over his chest, the fifth minute of stoppage time is running. Haching’s coach has the best view of what’s going on on the pitch. Wagner’s look says nothing, difficult to assess what is going through his head. Maybe he, too, would like to have one more header.
Then referee Roman Potemkin blows the whistle. It is a release. For Wagner, for the fans who traveled with him, for all Hachingers who got a first impression of how demanding the season could be when they went 0-0. The prelude in Grabfeld, it was actually something like a foretaste of what will be in store for Unterhaching week after week this season: defensive opponents who not only know how to defend their goal with devotion – but also have the means to get Wagner’s team into a mess with targeted counter-attacks.
“We have planned a lot more, especially with Ball,” says Wagner
Against this background, the game for Unterhaching was primarily one thing: educational. “The point is good and important for my young team,” emphasizes Wagner as he sits on a beer bench in the center circle of the field after the game and classifies the past 90 minutes. The draw is particularly important for the development of his team, emphasizes Haching’s trainer, but then also briefly strikes a critical note when he says: “We have set ourselves a lot more, especially with the ball.”
Uninspired and sluggish, that was how his team had played. That she still managed to go home with a point in the end was extremely happy, because Aubstadt had come close to the goal several times. The game illustrated two things above all: on the one hand, that the young Hachingen team will need a certain amount of time to get used to the regional league – and on the other hand, how much Sandro Wagner will be challenged as a coach over the next few weeks.
Wagner is pretty restless in Aubstadt. When the last quarter of an hour has just begun, he calls out: “Men, more!” His men lose the ball. It’s not Haching’s evening, yet not a minute goes by before stoppage time in which Wagner gives no instructions, and certainly not a second in which he takes a seat on the bench. Here a shout, there a one-on-one conversation when the game is briefly interrupted: Wagner coaches continuously. “We have such a young team that you need a committed coach,” says Manfred Schwabl, calling Wagner’s appearance on the sidelines “very factual” and “always positive”. Haching’s president is less satisfied with the team itself – although Markus Schwabl, Dominik Stahl and Stephan Hain only have three players in the squad who can be considered “confessed”.
“There are no excuses,” emphasizes Schwabl, “the young people now have to swim free.” A requirement that also includes Wagner. It is now up to him to help his talents and show them the way. From Aubstadt via Eltersdorf to Pipinsried, a route through the regional league that is uncharted territory even for the restless.
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