must win for Geißböcke

By: klaus | February 12th, 2009

The abbreviated week for die Geißböcke has been peculiar as much of the attention of Saturdays match against Karlsruher SC has been diverted towards Roda Antar, who walked out on the club on Wednesday. While he has yet to comment on his disagreement with Christoph Daum his falling out of the lineup is obviously at the crux of the matter.

The matter does not appear to be heading towards a good conclusion as when asked FC Köln sporting director Michael Meier said:

“Christoph Daum and I had a lengthy discussion with Roda Antar and his advisor yesterday, during which we again made it clear that FC Köln needs him. We let Roda know that, if he gives it his all, he’s an important player for us. We gave him two choices; either he commits himself fully to the team, or he turns his back on it. The fact that he didn’t come to training today clearly means he has taken the latter option. With an important game against Karlsruhe coming up, it’s essential to be fully focussed on that, rather than on the interests of an individual player.”

Of his the players decision to leave the club when asked if it was regrettable, he added:

“Yes, I find it a great pity that Roda has chosen to take this route. We’ve tried to build every possible bridge for him here. The coach has given him his support and put him in the team time and again, and stuck by him through some difficult times. But Roda’s still unhappy. I think it’s unfortunate Roda’s taken this decision because in going public with his desire for a move, he has had a negative impact on the mood within the team at what is a crucial phase in the club’s battle to stay in the Bundesliga.”

For Saturday’s match, Köln needs to expect an intense performance from Karlsruher SC, who shocked Hamburger SV last week 3-2. Fighting to avoid relegation KSC is rarely an easy match and you can be assured this will be a hard tackling match. KSC will be missing Marco Engelhardt who was shown a red card last week and Joshua Kennedy who is off on international duty for Australia.

Christoph Daum’s only absence beside Roda Antar is Pierre Wome. Last week Milivoje Novakovič detonated Eintracht Frankfurt paired with either Manasseh Ishiaku or Sergiu Radu.