So was the season of the 1st FC Heidenheim
At the moment of success everything seemed to be falling off by Frank Schmidt. After the final whistle of the 2-1 win of his 1. FC Heidenheim in Elversberg The 51-year-old put on the sprint on, stumbled and then celebrated with players and all FCH employees. After the victory in Saarland, it is clear: the Ostalb also provides a Bundesliga club in the third year – and Schmidt himself urgently needs a break. On the microphone of Sat.1 He said: « Honestly: I’m a mouse kaputt – for days and weeks. Nobody needs to call me anymore, I am no longer available for anyone. » The long season had demanded its toll, Schmidt emphasized again at the subsequent press conference: « We went through so much this year as a club – and also as a team. We have overcome resistance and it was not always harmonious. It was an incredibly difficult season for us »
In fact, only a few Bundesliga clubs had such a long season as the FCH. Because of the play-offs to the Conference League, the season for the Schmidt team started with two English weeks. In the end, the club completed 48 competitive games and therefore only less than top teams such as VfB and Frankfurt (49), Leverkusen, BVB (50) and FC Bayern, which had to compete 51 times, with appearances in the European Cup, league, DFB Cup and relegation. For the Munich team, the club World Cup in the USA is also due. In the meantime, little seemed to indicate the relegation – around the beginning of March, when Heidenheim was the bottom of the table. Schmidt admitted that parts of his confident and powerful appearance were facade: « It was about maintaining faith, even though you were very broken yourself. »
Elversberg was closer to the second goal than Heidenheim – then scienza came
The team of FC Heidenheim also seemed broken in the 48th and decisive competitive game of the season. After the tour of Mathias Honsak (9th), Elversberg’s captain Robin Fellhauer equalized before the break (31st). After the change of sides, Elversberg cheered by Fisnik Asllani (47th) over the 2-1 – because of a wafer -tart offside position, referee Sascha Stegemann took the decision back after Minutenlangen. From Heidenheim there is hardly anything left that SV Elversberg pressed and was much closer to the winning goal.
SVE coach Horst Steffen had already adjusted to the extension, « in which we can accelerate again so that the gap is opened ». In fact, there was a gap in the regular season – but for Heidenheim. In a counterattack, Leo Scienza came to the ball in the penalty area. The Brazilian danced his opponent Florian Le Joncour with a hook and finished very binding for the 2-1 win, a few seconds before the end (90.+5). Scienza thus became a player of this relegation: he was directly involved in all four Heidenheim goals.
At the beginning of March, Frank Schmidt Scienza painted out of the squad
Scienza’s season is quite representative for the entire Heidenheim season: Before the season, the third division promoted SSV Ulm, the Brazilian, who also has a Luxembourg passport, started furiously – and then stayed a lot guilty for a long time. Nobody doubts that Scienza is an outstanding footballer, maybe even the best in the FCH squad. It is an open secret that the discipline – a core virtue on the Ostalb – was sometimes a problem. At the beginning of March, Schmidt Scienza even suspended for a game because of his behavior during the final training. A lesson that apparently had an effect, says Schmidt: « After he had come out of the 3rd league, it was not an easy season for him, not even with me. I have certain ideas and he was more difficult than other players. » Ultimately, the case of the not always easy -care dribbler shows what is possible, says Schmidt: « You can see that criticism and discussion do not have to be bad. » Scienza showed that it is important to fight against resistance.
Scienza itself celebrated the relegation in the mixed zone with a bottle of beer. The two games were « madness » for him. « I’m just happy to have helped the team and have given the fans of this good feeling. » A long, hard year with many special moments was this season. Now Scienza even dreams of the Brazilian national team: « Why not. My way to this was already incredible. » Come down? « We’ll do that tomorrow. Today we celebrate. » It only starts in Heidenheim in July. With a rested Frank Schmidt.
