1860 Munich open season against Preußen Münster | OneFootball

Manuel Veth –

1860 Munich vs Münster – Friday, July 19, 18:00BST/19:00CEST – Grünwalder Stadion, Munich, Germany

For some time the 1860 Munich squad was like an incomplete puzzle. Poor financial planning and incoherent squad planning one year ago meant that the club was significant shot when it came to putting together a squad.

Only with the help of external sponsors 1860 Munich were able to renew the contract with Aaron Berzel, sign defender Dennis Erdmann, from 1.FC Magdeburg, and bring back creative midfielder Timo Gebhart. The former two were signed with the help from fan groups the latter is a present by investor Hasan Ismaik.

Speaking of Ismaik, the investor dominated the news once again this week after his merchandise company sued Löwen-Fans gegen Rechts — an organisation that fights racism and was awarded the prestigious Bürgerpreis für Demokratie by the city of Munich — for using the 1860 logo as part of their initiative. The reason for the attack? The fan organisation had criticised Ismaik for censoring fan posters on images distributed on the club’s homepage.

It is the latest dispute in a long range of disputes between the investor and fan organisations and perhaps it is, therefore, a good thing that football is about to return to Giesing. In fact, the latest additions to the squad have meant that the statistics company Goalimpact have declared 1860 the favourite for promotion this season.

The caveat, football is not played on paper, and the data to project the model uses past results that also include 1860’s time in Bundesliga 2. Nonetheless, it is also based heavily on impact players and should 1860 resolve their goalscoring issues from last season and stay relatively healthy there can be a tiny bit of optimism that the club’s season might be better than anticipated.

An optimism that is not quite shared by 1860’s opponent Preußen Münster. At least if one goes by the Goalimpact data. The club is projected to finish in the relegation zone this season.

Preußen Münster have been an ambitious club for some time but somehow have always failed to meet expectations. Expectations that new head coach Sven Hübschner is finally supposed to fulfil.

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The 40-year-old joins the club from Werder Bremen II where he averaged 1.53 points in 49 games. One of his first acts as the new head coach? Replacing captain Simon Scherder with Julian Schauerte — it will be interesting to see what sort of impact that will have on Preußen’s team cohesion and whether Hübschner can make the transition from an amateur coach to a first-team coach in Münster.

As for the game against 1860? The first day in Liga 3 is always one of the great unknowns, but perhaps it will be a slight advantage that 1860 were able to keep most of last year’s team intact, which could give them a slight advantage in terms of chemistry.

1860 Munich vs Münster – Players to look out for:

Timo Gebhart #10 – 1860 Munich

The arrival of Timo Gebhart has brought optimism back to Giesing. For weeks there were doubts about whether 1860 will have a squad that can be competitive in Liga 3. But in Gebhart 1860 got a creative midfielder that can also produce goals. The one question mark will be his fitness. Can the now 30-year-old stay fit throughout an entire season? His half-season at Viktoria Berlin in the fourth division indicates that his body is now stable and he should be ready to play on Friday.

Fridolin Wagner #25 – Preußen Münster

Fridolin Wagner was signed from Werder Bremen II. The 21-year-old midfielder is supposed to fill holes in midfield. Able to play several roles and is strong in duels but also against the ball overall. Ahead of the season, he was one of the few players that showed consistent improvement and will be a key player for Münster against 1860.

1860 Munich vs Münster – Match Stats

Futbolgrad Network Prediction: 1860 Munich vs Münster – 2-1

1860 Munich vs Münster – Lineups

1860 Munich:

Formation: 4-3-3

Bonmann – H. Paul, F. Weber, Erdmann, Steinhart – Bekiroglu, Wein, Gebhart – Willsch, Mölders, Kindsvater

Head Coach: Daniel Bierofka

Preußen Münster:

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Schulze Niehues – Schauerte, Kittner, Scherder, Heidemann – F. Wagner, Rodrigues Pires – Schnellbacher, Litka, Özcan – Dadashov

Head Coach: Sven Hübscher

Manuel Veth is the owner and Editor in Chief of the Futbolgrad Network. He also works as a freelance journalist and among others contributes to Forbes.com and Pro Soccer USA. He holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in History from King’s College London, and his thesis is titled: “Selling the People’s Game: Football’s transition from Communism to Capitalism in the Soviet Union and its Successor States,” which is available HERE. Originally from Munich, Manuel has lived in Amsterdam, Kyiv, Moscow, Tbilisi, London, and currently is located in Victoria BC, Canada.  Follow Manuel on Twitter @ManuelVeth.