Matchday 19: A duel in table neighborhoods, Borussia travels to Mulhouse
The clubs in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) do not have much time to recover this week. After the 18th matchday with the 3:1 victory of Düsseldorf over Saarbrücken is still in the limbs, the 19th matchday already starts. In addition, on Sunday with the game between Mainz and Mühlhausen still the past match day is finished.
SV Werder Bremen - TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt
SV Werder Bremen and TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt will kick off the match day. For both of them the last match will be only four days ago. On Sunday, the Bergneustadt team had to put away a painful 2:3 defeat against TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell, and the Bremen team also had to concede a clear 0:3 defeat to TTC Zugbrücke from Grenzau. Bergneustadt in particular is in a tight spot, the TTC is currently in penultimate eleventh place in the league. However, they only need one win to catch up with Fulda and Grenzau, who both have a record of 14:22. SV, on the other hand, has nestled itself in the comfortable middle of the table, but Mattias Falck's team should not drop any points either. The competition from the following teams is fierce.
TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell - TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau
The neighborly duel in the table will take place between Fulda and Grenzau. The former are still reeling from their tough 3-2 win over Bergneustadt last Sunday, while Grenzau are relying on the tailwind from their win against Bremen. Both teams need a win, because the team that wins will extend its lead over the other team. Fulda will look back on the first leg against Grenzau in November. At that time, the team of Quadri Aruna, Ruwen Filus and Fan Bo Meng won 3:1 away from home.
Post SV Mühlhausen - Borussia Düsseldorf
In the top half of the table, it comes to the clash between Post SV Mühlhausen and Borussia Düsseldorf. Borussia currently comes strengthened from the 3:1 win against their biggest rivals from Saarbrücken, who had started the game weakened by illness. Nevertheless, Borussia should not rest on its victory, because Mühlhausen's rivals go into a long weekend of matches with full energy. First, the team around top player Steffen Mengel receives Düsseldorf on Saturday, followed by the trip to Mainz, the last team in the table, on Sunday. The match against the promoted team is still part of the 18th matchday of the TTBL. Borussia won the first-round encounter 3-0 on Matchday 1.
TTC Neu-Ulm - TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen
With a week to go, it continues on Saturday, March 4. Then the TTF from Ochsenhausen travel to the TTC Neu-Ulm. Neu-Ulm recently had to cope with the 3:1 TTBL defeat against Bad Königshofen, and the Bavarians also had to concede defeat to Düsseldorf in an intense Champions League second leg. Accordingly, the ambitions to set a sign against Ochsenhausen are great. This will not be easy, as the Ochsenhausen team is currently one of the top teams in the TTBL. After two wins against Fulda and Grünwettersbach, the team is working on a repeat of the three-game winning streak from the beginning of the second half of the season. Only Düsseldorf and Bergneustadt had been able to put a stop to the team in 2023. The TTF won the first leg 3:0 in December.
1st FSV Mainz 05 - TSV Bad Königshofen
At the end of the 19th matchday, the promoted team from Mainz welcomes TSV Bad Königshofen. For Mainz, a win is urgently needed, the team had so far only won against Neu-Ulm in the second half of the season. The TSV from Bad Königshofen, on the other hand, is looking up: With a points tally of 20:16, they are currently in fifth place in the league. Bad Königshofen is coming off a 3:1 win against TTC Neu-Ulm, before that they had to admit defeat to Grenzau and Grünwettersbach. For Mainz, the match against Bad Königshofen is of special importance: In December, the men around Yuto Mutamatsu had celebrated their second win of the season against the team from Lower Franconia.
The 19th matchday in overview
Thursday, February 23
7 p.m.: SV Werder Bremen – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt
Friday, February 24
7 p.m.: TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau
Saturday, February 25
3 p.m.: Post SV Mühlhausen – Borussia Düsseldorf
Saturday, March 4
7 p.m.: TTC Neu-Ulm – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen
Sunday, March 5
12 p.m.: ASV Grünwettersbach – 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT
4.30 p.m.: 1. FSV Mainz 05 – TSV Bad Königshofen
You can see all the games live on Spontent's channels on Twitch.