Fortuna Dusseldorf v Energie Cottbus – For Monday has traditionally left one derby match of the German second Bundesliga, and this time it is the match between returnees from the elite rank, Fortuna and Cottbus, who last year in the 2nd ended on eighth place. Regarding their mutual matches, before Fortune left for the 1st Bundesliga they usually ended with home wins, and therefore this time Fortuna is regarded as a slight favourite. Begins: 22.07.2013 – 20:15 CET
Fortuna Dusseldorf
Fortune has had a very turbulent season, which ended in the worst possible way that means immediate return in the second German league. Of course that in the club still thinks about how disastrously had played the season’s finale and lost a number of matches by teams that had no imperative to win them. However, now they must face new challenges and try to soon as possible return in the elite rank and for that purposes they hired a new coach Buskens who in the first part of last season led Furth. Despite all the problems Fortune is still regarded as one of the favourites for the top two spots in the 2nd, no matter that they lost this summer several good players. Specifically, out of standard and temporary starters the club left defender van den Bergh, midfielders Kruse and Tesche, and even four strikers Voronin, Schahin, Rafael and Ilso. On the other hand, out of the newcomers should be mentioned goalkeeper Rensing, defender Schmidtgal, midfielders Kenia and attackers Benschop and Gianniotas. Let us add that in this match will not play due to injury only the newcomer Schmidtgal and experienced Greek stopper Malezas.
Probable lineups Fortuna Dusseldorf: Giefer – Balogun, Latka, Bodzek, Ramirez – Lambertz, Fink – Gianniotas, Kenia, Bellinghausen – Benschop
Energie Cottbus
In the introduction we have already said that Cottbus ended the last season in the second German league on eighth place, primarily thanks to the great finish when they won eight points in the last four rounds. If they had by any chance an earlier awakening from the hibernation they might get involved in the battle for third place, which leads to the playoffs but we believe that in their camp are not too unhappy with this outcome of the situation. Given the size of the budget their main goal for several previous seasons was to as soon as possible secure survival but for something more many other things have to get in place. One of them is definitely the reinforcement of the lineup and bench, and prior of this season was very busy in Cottbus and in both ways. Thus, the team left goalie Kirschbaum, defender Hunemeier, midfielder Rippert and defender Adlung, while on the other hand where brought in Almera from Fortune, stopper Buljat from Zadar, defender Susic from Istria, midfielders Takyia from Horsens and Affane from Chelsea youth team and Slovakian attacker Jendrisek from Freiburg.
Probable lineups FC Energie Cottbus: – Schulze, Mohrle, Buljat, Bittroff – Banovic, Kruska – Farina, Stiepermann, Affane – Sanogo
Fortuna Düsseldorf v Energie Cottbus Pick
Although during the summer Fortuna experienced many changes, we still believe that is much better team than Cottbus and therefore we expect that at the very beginning of the season make clear to everyone that they are only interested in return to the 1st Bundesliga.
Tip: 1
Odd: 1.85 - WilliamHill
Stake: 6/10
