After the Olympics comes the Handball Bundesliga. The HBL clubs are currently preparing intensively for the new season. However, SC Magdeburg is suffering greatly in terms of personnel from the games in Paris. This is driving coach Bennet Wiegert mad.
“I know what trouble it is every four years. But we have never sold as many players as we have this year. I already knew that this would be a disaster preparation and that this is the biggest question mark for next season,” said Wiegert in an interview with “Sport Bild”.
The coach had hoped “that things would be less bad. We will definitely carry that into the season. We have no chance of compensating for it,” Wiegert continued.
With the two right wingers Tim Hornke and Daniel Pettersson as well as backcourt player Felix Claar and pivot Oscar Bergendahl, four players returned from the Olympic Games with injuries.
The Magdeburg team assumes that the Supercup at the end of August and the start of the season on the first weekend in September are “maximum at risk” for the quartet. “This is of course a complete catastrophe. We don’t need to try to sugarcoat anything. For me, this is the worst-case scenario,” emphasised Wiegert.
Wiegert sharply criticizes Olympic schedule
The 42-year-old sharply criticized the tight schedule at the Olympics. “I think what happened there was a catastrophe in terms of the format. Playing every two days with these small squads,” he raged.
The SCM coach added: “I don’t hold anything against my colleagues. If I were in their position, I would have been all-in in every game to maybe win an Olympic medal. But of course they didn’t think about what would happen afterwards.”
SC Magdeburg will start the new HBL season on September 7th with a home game against HSG Wetzlar. The Super Cup against Füchse Berlin will take place on August 31st.
Source: www.sport.de
