Getting stuck in!

St. George‘s Park, home of the FA, occupies 330 hectares of the beautiful English countryside. The facilities leave nothing to be desired with 14 pitches to go with numerous fitness studios. The Three Lions have trained here since 2012 – but they're not the only ones. Other elite teams have set foot at St. George‘s Park as they look to gain an edge, and now it is the turn of the Old Lady. Our Herthaner arrived in Burton upon Trent on Tuesday alongside SL Benfica. Sandro Schwarz’s men will train here until 23rd July; the facilities will also be used by Real Betis and Racing Santander before Olympique Marseille take Hertha’s place. “We’ve found the facilities here to be perfect – but that’s a given when you look at the surroundings and the the organisation running things here. The hotel is fantastic, the pitches are perfect. We are looking forward to concentrating and putting in the hard work,” said our head coach after today’s training session.

On pitch four, our blue-and-whites started the day divided into various groups. While Stevan Jovetić did his laps with fitness coach Hendrik Vieth, Henrik Kuchno and Markus Hödl got the rest of the squad warmed up. They then handed over to Volkan Bulut, Tamás Bódog, Vedad Ibisevic and Daniel Fischer. The focus was on clean, precise passing with Schwarz watching on closely and barking instructions. “Get stuck in, lads! Talk to each other!” Meanwhile, goalkeeping coach Andreas Menger had something special in store for our quartet of shot-stoppers. The ‘keepers put their reflexes to the test while wearing Strobobrille, technological glasses designed to improve visual perception.

After a game played in the tightest of spaces and with smaller goals, the 70-minute session concluded with some stretches. Our players have now had their first taste of what is to come over the next two weeks in England - and there’s plenty more ahead with double sessions and three friendly matches on the way.