With an impressive winning streak, VfL Osnabrück stormed into the 3rd division from relegation to promotion. Coach Tobias Schweinsteiger literally made the team fit and identified a new spirit of optimism around the Bremer Bridge. Even Grandma Isabella is excited about that.
Grandma Isabella seems to have left the worries of the past behind. For years she had driven her grandson Erik Engelhardt to training, but "never watched because she was always afraid that I might hurt myself," as the VfL Osnabrück center forward told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung". "This time she had a lot of fun," Engelhardt said after the 4-1 success of his lilac-whites in the away game at FC Ingolstadt, to which he had contributed significantly with two goals - and after which he kissed his hands a lot in the direction of the stands sent, on which Grandma Isabella was also sitting.
It was his goals five and six in the last seven third division games that VfL have all won. The victories against SC Verl and in the derby at SV Meppen came before the World Cup break, after the turn of the year Osnabrück also got against Viktoria Cologne, against the second team of Borussia Dortmund, at MSV Duisburg, against Erzgebirge Aue and recently in Ingolstadt full points. In November there was still a risk of an immediate fall to the relegation zone, but in mid-February the Lower Saxony are clearly a candidate for promotion. During this time, they have made up ten places in the table, reducing the gap to the relegation place from 11 points back then to just 2 points today.
"We're currently on a really good run," said midfielder Lukas Kunze, summing up the longest active winning streak in German professional football, which made the fans of the traditional club dream of a seventh promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga. No other club has managed this leap up more often, unfortunately also because VfL also holds the negative record, which is difficult to break, with six relegations to the 3rd division. Currently, however, there is once again a spirit of optimism around the Bremer Brücke, one of these stadiums located in the middle of housing estates, which is time-honoured in the very best sense of the word.
Tobias Schweinsteiger is mainly responsible for the fact that the team is hot in the best sense of the word. Head coach in professional football for the first time, in office since the end of August. After the series continued in Ingolstadt, the 40-year-old was not only happy about points 35, 36 and 37 this season, but also spoke about the "crucial point" for success for him: the respectful and appreciative treatment of one another. He told the NOZ that he had learned from his time at “clubs with limited opportunities” how “you can do a lot with a little with good team spirit”. Unlike his famous brother Bastian, he mostly played away from the limelight during his playing days, scoring 43 times in 148 third division appearances for the Unterhaching game association and SSV Jahn Regensburg. However, never against VfL, who prefer to find their newcomers in the fourth leagues and rely on them growing in their task in the city of Westphalian peace.
Like Erik Engelhardt, who drew attention to himself last season with 19 goals for Energie Cottbus in the Regionalliga Nordost. After a rocky start, he has now become a regular, scoring all of his nine league goals and four assists in the last ten games. Or Ba-Muaka Simakala, called "Chance" for short, who also scored nine goals and came to Osnabrück from SV Rödinghausen. Lukas Kunze went the same way and is currently in top form in midfield. Maxwell Gyamfi (HSV II), Sven Köhler (SV Lippstadt 08), Florian Kleinhansl (VfB Stuttgart II) and goalkeeper Philipp Kühn (SV Drochtersen/Assel) also play a league higher with VfL than before.
Schweinsteiger also focuses on "the little things" in everyday dealings and gives examples: whether someone clears the other person's coffee cup, the tables are cleaned after eating together. "The boys now know what I'm asking for and what values I stand for. This also means that I sanction when something doesn't work." An approach that Schweinsteiger can use for the first time as head coach after several positions as assistant coach (including at FC Bayern II and HSV). At a club that had to look for a new one at short notice in the summer and found one at 1. FC Nürnberg.
Predecessor Daniel Scherning had moved to second division side Arminia Bielefeld after the fourth third division matchday, VfL received a six-figure fee in return, and shortly afterwards Noel Niemann from East Westphalia moved across the state border to Lower Saxony. With 7 assists in 16 appearances, the outside player is now also an indispensable part of the starting line-up, in Ingolstadt he just missed his first goal of his own.
The game of Osnabrück is controlled in the center of Sven Köhler and Robert Tesche, who completed the majority of his 243 appearances in both Bundesliga for VfL Bochum, was in all 22 third division games in the Osnabrück starting eleven and recently signed his contract with an der Bremer Brücke extended. Schweinsteiger, however, does not like to emphasize individual achievements, preferring to emphasize the collective and, after the success in Ingolstadt, mentioned all the substitutes and also the substitutes. "Because everyone belongs," as the NOZ summed it up.
The former professional took over an unsettled team in late summer. After the 1-0 win against MSV Duisburg, VfL went six times without a win before a 1-0 win against newly promoted Rot-Weiss Essen finally broke the ban on matchday eight. However, this did not bring lasting success, for the first time the Osnabrück team won two games (and more) in a row at the beginning of the current series. It is currently the longest in the country's top three divisions, in the Bundesliga Dortmund and Union Berlin have each won five games in a row as "VfL pursuers".
"We've noticeably increased the level of fitness," said Schweinsteiger when asked about the differences from when he started out. Criticism of the work of the predecessor, who finally prepared the team for the season, can also be derived from this. And apparently not good enough if the results of the first few weeks are taken as a benchmark. "The boys can now play at the pace that we need for our type of football," said the 40-year-old, who identified "the ability to sprint in the upper range" as a success factor: "Anyone who can sprint more often and faster will have an advantage. " This seems to have a measurable effect on the important statistics in football: in the five games before the winning streak (one win, four defeats), VfL always conceded at least two goals. Since? Maximum one, with always at least two own goals.
Captain Marc Heider told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" this week that the team "met two or three times before the winter break because we realized that there were still a few pieces of the jigsaw missing in terms of cohesion. That obviously worked ." The 36-year-old had risen from the VfL youth team to become a professional and returned to Osnabrück in the summer of 2016 after stints at Werder Bremen II and Holstein Kiel. Set under Scherning, he prefers to come off the bench at Schweinsteiger. "It was difficult to accept," admits the striker, who is on the verge of his 300th third-division game and is now absorbing his new role. Four joker goals are in the statistics for Heider, who also enjoys a high reputation among the fans because of his tireless commitment and his love of running.
The fans in Osnabrück have always been an important part of the success and have been among the most active and committed in German professional football for many years. The narrow stadium on the Bremer Bridge, named after the neighboring railway bridge on the route between Osnabrück and Bremen, is approaching its 100th birthday and symbolizes many things that distinguish the third division from the glossy football above. There are only a few parking spaces, the game can be followed through skylights without a ticket from many a residential building, the floodlights can be seen far beyond the stands - and whether VfL is currently playing successfully depends on the wind direction and not only in the surrounding district of Schinkel, but to be heard in the city center.
The fact that Omar Traoré, a child from the city, has a permanent place in the starting XI also ensures a close bond between the team and the fans. The 25-year-old came from SV Rasensport Osnabrück to the VfL youth team, first moving to Eintracht Braunschweig before returning to his homeland via western regional league team Rödinghausen and KFC Uerdingen. Similar to defense chief Timo Beermann, mostly called "Owl". Born in Ostercappeln, not far from the city of 165,000, he came to the Lila-Weißen at the age of 14, went to 1. FC Heidenheim in 2013, with whom he celebrated the third division championship in his first season and was promoted. At the age of 32, he now regularly leads the team as captain in Heider's absence.
Given the dominance of SV Elversberg, it seems impossible that the race to catch up will end with winning the title - the Saarlanders lead the league by nine points, have the best defense and the best attack - but the relegation is already in for the Osnabrück team, who are currently fifth Range. If the eighth win in a row against newly promoted SpVgg Bayreuth (Saturday, 2 p.m. / MagentaSport and in the live ticker on ntv.de) then there are two great chances in the top games at home against the second Wehen Wiesbaden and away at the fourth Saarbrücken to advance. Especially since fourth place this season could be enough to make the leap into the 2nd Bundesliga, because SC Freiburg, who are currently third-placed, are not allowed to move up.
However, Schweinsteiger is not thinking that far into the future: "The league is so tight that all we can do is concentrate on the game at hand." The VfL trainer sees SV Elversberg, who is currently working on moving from the fourth to the second division, as hasty, but otherwise he says: "It doesn't help at all to deal with it further." That's how Heider sees it, who is enjoying the rush of victory, but also knows "that you have to do more from game to game to continue it". If only so that Erik Engelhardt can kiss many more hands and Grandma Isabella can watch a few more times with lots of joy.
