The Wolves got off to a successful start at their summer training camp as Niko Kovac’s charges thrashed Austrian Bundesliga side WSG Tirol 7-1 on Saturday. The goals for the Wolves came from Luca Waldschmidt (14’, 32’), Maximilian Philipp (16’), Elvis Rexhbecaj (60’), Jonas Wind (72’) andRenato Steffen (75’, 79’), with Tim Prica netting for the hosts.
VfL knew that they would be in for a tough test before the match started, as not only was this Tirol’s fourth pre-season friendly but they had won all the previous three. A week of strenuous work on the training pitch now awaits the Wolves in Seefeld, before the squad move on to Belgium at the end of the week.
Nine absent
Kovac was without nine members of his squad at the Gernot-Langes-Stadion in Wattens, with Bartosz Bialek, Felix Nmecha, Lukas Nmecha, Bartol Franjic, Ridle Baku, Kilian Fischer, Maxence Lacroix and Lino Kasten all training individually back at the camp. Pavon Pervan was another who did not feature either, watching the game as a spectator. On Saturday 16 July, the Green-and-Whites take on KV Mechelen (kick-off 16:00 CEST, live on Wölfe TV).
“I can already see progress”
VfL head coach Niko Kovac: “I was pleased with the performance. We obviously know that Tirol aren’t going to be as strong as the likes of RB Salzburg for example. What’s important for us is that we see what we've been working on in the three weeks of training out on the pitch. We already did a lot more when we weren’t in possession of the ball. It wasn’t a hundred per cent the way I wanted it to look, but I can already see progress compared with the tournament in Osnabrück. I was really pleased with what I saw up front today. We want to defend high and put the opposition under pressure, and in the future we just need to protect our back line a bit better.”
VfL Wolfsburg – first-half: Casteels – Kaminski, Bornauw, Van de Ven, Sanchez – Arnold, Gerhardt (6. Vranckx) – Wimmer, Kruse, Philipp - Waldschmidt
VfL Wolfsburg – second-half: Klinger – Mbabu, Guilavogui, MacNulty, Roussillon – Rexhbecaj, Arnold (60. Paredes) – Steffen, Brekalo, Marmoush – Wind
Goals: 1-0 Waldschmidt (14‘), 2-0 Philipp (16‘), 2-1 Prica (26‘), 3-1 Waldschmidt (32‘), 4-1 Rexhbecaj (60‘), 5-1 Wind (72‘), 6-1 Steffen (75‘), 7-1 Steffen (79‘)
