Augsburg (dpa / lby) - Coach Enrico Maaßen will follow the World Cup in Qatar, which begins on Sunday, not only because of his three participants, but also for family reasons. "I'll definitely watch the games that our players are in. The opening game will be played by Qatar and Ecuador - with Carlos Gruezo in the squad. I hope he can play then. I'll be watching the German national team's games of course follow them too," said Maaßen in an interview with the "Augsburger Allgemeine" (Friday). "My son is also very interested in football, so he'll get me to watch a few more games."
Apart from Gruezo, there are Ruben Vargas in the Swiss team and Robert Gumny in the Polish team. "Carlos Gruezo and Ruben Vargas are solid pillars in their teams, Robert Gumny recommended himself for the World Cup at short notice thanks to his good performance and also impressed over 90 minutes in the dress rehearsal against Chile," said the 36-year-old.
When looking at the controversial tournament, Maassen sees two aspects. "I believe that the World Cup should never have been awarded there. That shouldn't really happen. From the athletes' point of view, a football World Cup is still a major event," said the former amateur coach of Borussia Dortmund, who has been coaching FC Augsburg since this season . With this he overwinters after a 0:1 against VfL Bochum in 14th place in the table.
When asked about possible contract extensions with the veterans Rafal Gikiewicz (35), Florian Niederlechner (32) and André Hahn (32), the coach said: "All three have already shown this season how valuable they can be for our team. The talks will be conducted in due course." The contracts of Gikiewicz, Niederlechner and Hahn expire at the end of the season.
