SW coach Van Acker:

“Mentally we have to be at 100 percent”

Bregenz had plenty of reason to celebrate in the fall - and that should not change in the spring.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

After a short and unusual preparation phase, SW Bregenz are already well prepared for their second league opener in Voitsberg on Friday. However, coach Regi van Acker is still missing one component - his players also have to be at the top of their game mentally. 

Things will soon get serious again. On Friday, SW Bregenz will kick off the spring in League Two in Voitsberg and will be looking to sell as well as they did in the fall, when the provincial capital finished fourth in the table.

Preparation went well for the Bregenz team, although the ÖFB Cup quarter-final against WAC just two weeks after the start of training did not allow for a conventional schedule this winter. The Black & Whites last tested against German fifth-division side Wangen, winning 6-0. "It wasn't really meaningful because of the opponent, but it was important to me that all the players got minutes again," said SW coach Regi van Acker, who will now fine-tune the team in the remaining days before the kick-off.

SW coach Regi van Acker wants to get his team mentally up to 100 percent.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

There is one important aspect that the Bregenz team must first internalize. "We have to be mentally at 100 percent. Now it's no longer preparation, now it's serious again," explains Van Acker, "it's about getting everything back on the pitch." If his team can do that on Friday at the promoted team from Styria, who had considerable difficulties in the fall but soon escaped the relegation places and finished twelfth in the winter, the chances of success are good.

Defender Raul Marte is fit for the opener in Voitsberg.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Hardly any absentees
The squad is also looking good. The recently injured Raul Marte and Tobias Mandler are fit again, Marco Rottensteiner is well on his way. Marcel Krnjic, on the other hand, will be missing for good as he has to serve a suspension from the last match in the fall.