Alemannia Aachen
August 8, 2006
Aachen entered the winter break in thirteenth place, and the club's management and fans would be more than happy if that's where they finished the season. Avoiding relegation would be more than a triumph for a team that spent 36 years in the second division.
Some reinforcements would help. Unfortunately, Aachen spent most of the winter fruitlessly pursuing attacking midfielder Mikkel Thygesen from Denmark, who opted for rivals Mönchengladbach. That means Aachen will have to get by with the squad they have.
Star striker Jan Schlaudraff is going to Bayern Munich next season, and it remains to be seen how motivated he will be in Aachen's relegation. And they also have to solve their goalkeeping problem after youngster Kristian Nicht failed to pull his weight. Aachen have a shot at staying up, but it won't be easy.
The Roster
Goal: Marcus Hesse, Kristian Nicht, Stephan Straub
Defense: Mirko Casper, Sascha Dum, Nico Herzig, Alexander Klitzpera, Jeffrey Leiwakabessy, Moses Sichon, Thomas Stehle
Midfield: Yunus Balaban, Matthias Lehmann, Cristian Fiel, Matthias Heidrich, Sergio Pinto, Reiner Plaßhenrich, Laurentiu A. Reghecampf
Strikers: Marius Ebbers, Vedad Ibisevic, Szilárd Nemeth, Emmanuel Krontiris, Sascha Rösler, Jan Schlaudraff
(as of January 2007)