Keeper shortage ahead of two friendlies

It was slightly unbelievable for Pal Dardai, who had to watch three of his keepers pull out of training for Hertha BSC. “We’ve managed to put out three of our goalkeepers,” said a humorous Dardai. Rune Jarstein, Thomas Kraft and Jonathan Klinsmann were three key players to all call it a day prematurely in the first session on Wednesday. “Rune is feeling a bit ill, Jonathan has an issue with his knee and Thomas was hit in the nose by the ball,” he said. Since Dennis Smarsch is also out with injury, Leon Brüggemeier and Leon Schaffran were brought in at the last minute from the U23s and joined up with the rest of the group. Hertha will now wait to see if they will have a goalkeeper fit in time for the friendly on Friday against Anker Wismar and then for the Tradition Cup on Sunday in Duisburg.

Kalou suffering back problems

Salomon Kalou was also missing from the field on Wednesday. “He has some back problems and will sit out for a few days,” said Dardai. Sebastian Langkamp and Davie Selke completed individual programmes with athletics coach Hendrik Vieth. “If Basti can train on Thursday, then he will feature in our next couple of matches. Davie might also be able to but we need to wait and see,” said the coach. Herthas returning internationals, with the exception of Niklas Stark, may also be available for the friendlies. “Mitchell Weiser and Marvin Plattenhardt both have a good base to start from and did well in their performance diagnostics,” said Dardai. “They must all recover for the next two weeks and do some running sessions. We expect them to all be available for Schladming.”