For two substitute periods and four international matches, TSG Hoffenheim has “loaned” its goalkeeper coach Michael Rechner to the Turkish association. For the 41-year-old, this was an unusual and exciting change of pace.
With 15 international players, Hoffenheim currently has the second-largest contingent of all Bundesliga clubs after FC Bayern Munich (18). But that’s not all. This time, TSG has also sent a candidate from its coaching staff: Goalkeeping coach Michael Rechner.
The 41-year-old will temporarily support the coaching team around Turkey’s new head coach Stefan Kuntz during the current and the upcoming international break in November. “The request came at very short notice, but it is a very exciting and intensive experience. I am very grateful to TSG for making this possible for me,” explains Rechner, who has already had a few sessions with the Turkish goalkeepers and also Turkey’s World Cup qualifier against Norway (1-1). In the meantime, the team has travelled on to Riga, where the next task is against Latvia this Monday.
While still the German U-21 coach, Kuntz had reported on the good relations with TSG and the support from the club. Most recently, Kuntz had even had junior keeper Luca Philipp watched on the recommendation of manager Alexander Rosen, and in the meantime the TSG talent has played his first two U-21 international matches. So Kuntz asked Hoffenheim whether TSG and Rechner were willing to bridge the vacancy.
“There’s a great atmosphere in a super coaching team, it’s really fun. “
GOALKEEPER COACH MICHAEL RECHNER
For Rechner, who otherwise works intensively with Oliver Baumann, Philipp Pentke and Philipp, an interesting task. Now his protégés are called Ugurcan Cakir or Altay Bayindir. “The Turkish goalkeepers have a good mentality and are extremely motivated. They are very open to new things and try to implement them,” says Rechner, who has been working in this capacity at Hoffenheim since 2008, first at the U19 and U23 levels and now for six years with the professionals. “There is a great atmosphere in a super coaching team, which is really fun.” In addition to Kuntz, assistants Kenan Kocak, formerly head coach in Mannheim, Sandhausen and Hannover, and former Mainz coach Jan-Moritz Lichte have also signed on in Turkey. In addition, Mainz’s assistant coach Axel Busenkell, whom Kuntz already knows well from his time with the U21s, is also on board.
Structure is right
In this constellation, the aim is to possibly qualify for the World Cup in Qatar in the final spurt. But the draw against the two-point better Norwegians in second place in Group G was not enough. A three-goal win in Latvia is now a must, in the hope that Norway will not slip up.
In any case, the structural preconditions are not to blame, as Rechner reports. “The Turkish federation has an excellently equipped academy near Istanbul, directly on the Black Sea. It’s comparable to the TSG training centre in Zuzenhausen.
Already on Tuesday, he will lead the training of the TSG keepers there again as usual before the home match on Friday evening against 1. FC Köln. He will then set off on his second agreed excursion in November, which will take him to the Turkish team’s games against Gibraltar and in Montenegro.
