Kohr: “Don’t give the opposition any hope”

At last, it’s time to get going again. After almost eight weeks of hard preparation, Mainz 05’s first-team players are set for their first competitive match of the new season, as they face VfB Krieschow in the first round of the DFB-Pokal (Sunday, 15:30, live on Sky and 05ER.fm). FSV will travel to Brandenburg in good spirits: over the summer, the squad was strengthened in selected areas with the additions of Ransford Königsdörffer, Eric Martel, Fabio Gruber, Alexander Schwolow and returning defender Stefan Posch, while the core of the team has remained together. One of those key pillars is Dominik Kohr. The 32-year-old veteran is heading into his 16th Bundesliga season, and his seventh with the club from Rheinhessen. With a successful pre-season behind him and a strongly assembled squad around him, the centre-back is looking ahead to the cup tie and the upcoming Bundesliga campaign with confidence.

Avoiding any surprises

“Even though the opposition are from the Oberliga, I’m really happy that things are getting going again. We have to approach this game like any other competitive match. Krieschow will give everything on the pitch, and we have to be prepared for that. The aim is, of course, to reach the next round,” says the 32-year-old, looking ahead to facing the Brandenburg regional cup winners. Krieschow are not to be underestimated: in the regional cup final, VfB beat newly promoted second-division side Energie Cottbus (2-1), pulling off a major upset. Accordingly, the Mainz centre-back warns against careless mistakes: “Unlike in many Bundesliga games, we will have a lot of possession and the opposition will be waiting for counter-attacks. For us, that means being brave in our attacking play while never losing sight of our defending. We don’t want to give the opposition any hope of a sensation. If we play our game, they won’t have a chance.” The form of recent weeks certainly seems to justify that confidence, or does it?

“I would have preferred to have had a worse record in the friendlies, just to bring us back down to earth. Nevertheless, the performances we showed confirmed the potential and quality of our squad. That naturally gives all of us more confidence looking ahead to the coming games,” said Kohr. The opponents in those friendlies included AFC Bournemouth (2-1 win), Paris FC (4-0 win) and Udinese Calcio (3-3 draw). In those matches, head coach Urs Fischer repeatedly opted for different centre-back combinations. Mainz 05 are very well stocked in that position, and the internal competition has become even tougher with the new arrivals Posch and Gruber. Seven first-team players are currently competing for three available spots in the starting line-up.

Fierce competition

“These circumstances really motivate me, because I’m forced to perform every day, in every training session. Of course, that also applies to the lads who will start in the back three on Sunday. They won’t be able to sit back, because there are always four other guys constantly applying pressure and wanting to be out on the pitch themselves,” said the veteran. Personally, Kohr feels in excellent shape and is looking forward to the around 1,000 Mainz 05 fans making the trip to Krieschow: “I feel ready to play 90 minutes. I also hope we won’t have to work overtime on Sunday. To make sure of that, we need to make few mistakes and take our chances straight away. Then we can send our fans back to Mainz happy. Despite the long journey, I hope there will be plenty of Mainz 05 fans there, because only together can we have a successful season.”

Who the head coach ultimately chooses will, as always, become clear one hour before kick-off. One of the three defenders will then almost certainly come up against top striker and Krieschow legend Andy Hebler, whom Kohr had identified beforehand as the direct opponent he would like to face.