FC St. Pauli

"Waldemar Sobota is out as you know but Lasse Sobiech will miss the game as well," said Kauczinski, beginning with the bad news. "We'll continue to monitor Lasse's progress. Svend Brodersen went over on his ankle and has a capsular ligament injury. Luca Zander is still labouring with the 'flu and is also ruled out."

Yet Kauczinski also had positive news to report: "Bernd Nehrig is back from suspension and Mats Møller Dæhli has trained for the last two days and is available to play." Two of the long-term absentees are also making substantial progress, the head coach added: "Ryo Miyaichi trained for the first time today and completed half of the session and Christopher Buchtmann trained for some of the time yesterday. Neither player is an option for Saturday, though."

The 48-year-old was keeping his cards close to his chest as far as his attacking lineup is concerned but did reveal who would be deputising for Lasse Sobiech in central defence: "Philipp Ziereis will play. He's earned himself a run-out." Kauczinski also expressed his delight over the news that the club had extended its option to extend Jeremy Dudziak's contract: "Jeremy has come on very well. He has loads of potential and I'm very pleased with him. He's a permanent fixture in our midfield at the moment and has plugged the gap in our attacking department."

Torsten Lieberknecht's side are awkward opponents, as Kauczinski put it. "In Eintracht Braunschweig we face strong-tackling opposition who've experienced some highs and lows this season. They're very aggressive and compact and will push us to the limit." He remains confident going into the game, however: "We need to maintain a high level of aggression and get the tackles in. At home we want to come out on top, of course. Our last result at home against Kiel was very positive and we aim to keep that in mind."

Director of sport Uwe Stöver ended the press conference with a look ahead to the forthcoming tour of the United States in May: "For us this an important trip to make and the right one. Nevertheless, our stated objectives will continue to take priority until the end of the season, which means our focus will solely be on avoiding relegation." Asked about the aims of the tour, Stöver said: "Besides playing football while we're there we also want to look at socio-political aspects such as the exchange of views with our partners and supporters. The ideal of solidarity towards other clubs and the German Football League, under which we aim to represent German football in America as a second division team, will also play a role." This will not impact the spare time of the players, though: "The players will have even a little more holiday this year compared with last year." Markus Kauczinski is also looking forward to the trip: "A lot has been packed into the US tour, I think it's an interesting mix."

Photo: Eibner