Eintracht Frankfurt
August 8, 2006
Coach Friedhelm Funkel deserves credit for getting the most out of squad that consists largely of castaways from other Bundesliga clubs. But Frankfurt are hardly out of the woods yet, as the coach himself knows.
"Our goal is still to avoid relegation," Funkel cautioned as the season entered its second half.
If attacking midfielder Albert Streit and strikers Ioannis Amanatidis and Naohiro Takahara continue their run of good form, Frankfurt fans won't have to sweat too much about going down.
But a couple of key injuries or a spell of bad luck could put Frankfurt back in the relegation picture and put the brakes on this season's euphoria.
The Roster
Goal: Oka Nikolov, Markus Pröll, Jan Zimmermann
Defense: Patrick Ochs, Aleksandar Vasoski, Christoph Spycher, Christopher Reinhard, Marco Russ, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Chris, Mounir Chaftar, Marko Rehmer
Midfield: Faton Toski, Christoph Preuß, Michael Fink, Benjamin Köhler, Albert Streit, Markus Weissenberger, Jermaine Jones, Alexander Meier, Benjamin Huggel
Strikers: Ioannis Amanatidis, Naohiro Takahara
(as of January 2007)