FC Augsburg would probably have given the verbal disruptive fire from manager Stefan Reuter (55) and coach Markus Weinzierl (47) better …
The German Football League (DFL) followed the arguments of the Corona-stricken Mainzers and approved the application from Rheinhessen (14 players are still in domestic isolation, plus coach Bo Svensson and five other people from the staff) to postpone the game.
The Bundesliga game planned for Saturday midday in Augsburg has been canceled – a catch-up date has not yet been set!
Defeat for Augsburg, who absolutely wanted to play and only wanted to accept the game being postponed from Saturday to Sunday. Since Mainz applied to the DFL to move the game on Wednesday morning, poison arrows have been flying back and forth between the two clubs.
“We were informed for the first time this afternoon that Mainz 05 had submitted an application to the DFL to transfer the game,” explained Reuter in kicker. That’s not true, says Mainz sports director Christian Heidel (58), who wants to have called the FCA manager in the morning: “I personally informed Stefan Reuter in a 15-minute phone call.”
Indirectly, Reuter even accused the Mainz side of cheating on goalkeeper Finn Dahmen (he would have counted as a “playable” player without the corona infection despite his syndesmosis ligament tear). This not only angered many Mainz fans on social media against the Augsburg team, it also met with a lack of understanding from the 05 leadership. Heidel towards the FCA manager: “The arguments he put forward are interesting, but have nothing to do with our application, the content of which he does not know.”
Since Augsburg assumed that the game would be played, the Swabians also held the pre-match press conference on Thursday. “We don’t know of any argument as to why the game should be canceled,” Weinzierl added, then demanded: “It’s regulated how the clubs test.” That they test it right away. We test every day, so we have the potential advantage of catching the positive player and not making it a 19. However, as a result, we had several players missing on the day of the game. From experience with the other clubs I know that this is handled differently. In the final phase of the season, this should be regulated uniformly by the DFL, because it can have consequences and it is about close competition in the relegation battle.” He fears competitive disadvantages for his team in the relegation battle if this is done after the international break in April is: An English week “between the games against Wolfsburg and Bayern” is “definitely a disadvantage”, according to the FCA coach.
Heidel on the DFL’s decision: “We are relieved that the DFL followed our request. This is a decision in the interests of fair competition and the health of the players.”
