VfB Stuttgart must continue to do without Waldemar Anton. The defender has not yet been able to rejoin the team training.
The numbers alone prove how important Anton is for the VfB Stuttgart defence: Since his move from Hannover 96 to the Swabians, he has played 67 of a possible 77 league games, in the vast majority of which he was in the starting eleven. This season alone, he has played all six of his league games over the entire season.
Matarazzo on Anton: “He’s only trained individually so far “
A red card and a subsequent infection with the Sars-CoV-2 virus slowed down the defender recently. On Wednesday, Anton returned to the training pitch after his recovery, but it will probably not be enough for him for the home match on Sunday evening against 1. FC Union Berlin. Anton has not yet been able to practise with his colleagues: “He has only trained individually so far,” reported VfB coach Pellegrino Matarazzo at the press conference on Friday. There are also question marks over the use of Omar Marmoush (blow to the syndesmosis) and Tangui Coulibaly (contusion).
Sure to be out are regular keeper Florian Müller as well as winger Roberto Massimo (both after COVID-19) as well as the long-term injured Sasa Kalajdzic (shoulder dislocation), Mohamed Sankoh (knee injury) and Silas (backlog after cruciate ligament tear). Despite the continuing strained personnel worries, however, Pellegrino was not complaining: “Of course I get upset for a moment and think shit, sorry, too bad,” said the Us-American. “But then I quickly press the reset button again.”
After all, Orel Mangala and Erik Thommy are available again. Both were also absent recently due to an infection with the coronavirus, but are already fully fit again: “Both have completely joined training,” Matarazzo confirmed. Mangala is therefore likely to return to the starting eleven, with Nikolas Nartey having to make way for the Belgian.
Matarazzo: “It won’t be a walk in the park “
By the way, VfB are still waiting for their first win at Bundesliga level against 1. FC Union. Neither last season nor in the 2018/19 Bundesliga relegation did the Swabians manage a three-goal win. Matarazzo expects a tough task this time as well: “It won’t be a walk in the park,” said the US-American. “We need an energy performance again and will go full throttle.” Last weekend, his team proved that it is capable of doing so when, despite a number of Corona absences, it wrestled a 1-1 draw with Borussia in Gladbach. And on Sunday evening, VfB can also count on the support of its fans. So far, 29,000 tickets have been sold, so Stuttgart are expecting a good 32,000 spectators.
