Hertha Berlin are training in Florida in January in preparation for the second half of the 2022/23 Bundesliga season.
Hertha, who currently occupy the 15th position in the Bundesliga, have four friendlies scheduled in Florida for the start of 2023. On January 8, they will face Club Lyon Orlando of the United Premier Soccer League. On the same day, Hertha take on The Villages SC of USL League 2. Three days later, they take on SIMA Montverde Academy, before finishing their tour against Colombian giants Millonarios FC later that evening (US time).
“We have grown together as a group over the past few months,” said Hertha Berlin head coach Sandro Schwarz. “Nevertheless, the extra days together will help us work well together even better.”
The Hertha Berlin squad for the move to Florida is as follows: Oliver Christensen, Tjark Ernst, Leon Cuk, Tim Goller, Peter Pekarik, Augustin Rogel, Filip Uremović, Suat Serdar, Jean-Paul Boëtius, Myziane Maolida, Dodi Lukébakio, Jonjoe Kenny, Maximilian Mittelstadt, Wilfried Kanga, Steven Jovetić, Marc Kempf, Marco Richter, Jessic Ngankam, Lukas Ullrich, Prince Boateng, Lucas Tousart, Marton Dardai, Ivan Šunjić, Deyovaisio Zeefuik, Derry Scherhant, Chidera Ejuke, Julian Eitschberger and Pascal Klemens . . . .
Hertha Berlin will be back on Saturday January 21 in the Bundesliga.
Florida’s Hertha Berlin aren’t the only Bundesliga team in the United States
FIFA’s decision to move the 2022 World Cup to November and December has led to major changes to the schedule of football clubs around the world. In Germany, this means that the winter break has become much longer than it otherwise would have been.
The Bundesliga sent the third most players to the tournament of any league (behind only the Premier League and La Liga). This has always created a strange dilemma for clubs over how to keep players fit when the vast majority of them would not have a competitive game between mid-November and the end of January. Generally speaking, clubs have mostly decided to continue training for long periods, while giving their remaining players some time off when play stopped in November and again for the summer holidays. ‘winter.
There were also a handful of teams that decided to go on overseas trips fairly soon after the start of the winter break. Some of them went to the United States.
Bayer Leverkusen remained in St. Louis, Missouri. There they faced new local MLS expansion team St. Louis City, beating them 3-0 in what was the inaugural game at the stadium named CITY PARK. Meanwhile, 1.FC Koln and VfB Stuttgart both traveled to Austin, Texas where they faced off and the latter won 4-2.
Even Bundesliga 2 side Hamburger SV have moved to California for the start of the winter break. They beat Orange County Soccer Club by 1-0.
The DFL, which is the administrative organization of the Bundesliga, tries to popularize the league in North America in particular, given the great potential for additional income from television and sponsors.
Photo : IMAGO / Kirchner-Media