Coach Sandro Schwarz praised Hertha center forward Wilfried Kanga for his appearance in the benefit game at the Berliner AK. "It's good for him. He moved well in the rooms and had a good boxing presence," said coach Sandro Schwarz after Hertha BSC's 5-1 win at the regional league in the benefit game for victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria Friday evening. With his three goals, Kanga underpinned his claim to an early start in the Bundesliga. "He was then freezing in front of the box. That was a good performance and important for him after his injury break," praised Schwarz.
Kanga, who moved to Berlin in the summer, recently had to take a break due to a toe injury. He made brief appearances against Mainz and in Hoffenheim. He was often unlucky in front of goal in competitive games this season.
In the Bundesliga, the Berliners, who are threatened with relegation, will compete on April 1st at the Champions League candidate SC Freiburg (3.30 p.m. / Sky). Black will be pleased that he now has several options available for those much-needed points in the offensive relegation battle.
Because Dodi Lukebakio also collected arguments for himself. The Belgian, still Hertha's top scorer this season, has been on the bench more often lately. For the national team, new coach Domenico Tedesco brought him on from the start in Friday's game against Sweden and the 25-year-old set up two goals straight away.
In recent games, Schwarz has often relied on Jessic Ngankam and winter newcomer Florian Niederlechner. But Niederlechner, in particular, has so far rarely been able to emit a goal threat. He missed the game at the BAK because of muscular problems. But that was just a precautionary measure, Schwarz explained. Nevertheless, he could have to give way in Freiburg.
The Berlin boy Ngankam, on the other hand, was able to draw attention to himself with the German U-21s. In his first appearance for the team, he scored the 2-2 win over Japan from the penalty spot to make it 1-0. As a fifth option, Schwarz also has Stevan Jovetic, who scored the Berlin goal in the overall disappointing 1: 3 at Hoffenheim.
Despite all the sporting insights, Schwarz did not let the good cause of the benefit game take a back seat. "I think it's important to play this game and commemorate the earthquake victims," he said. "It's very important that we do what we can with a donation. As a group, we've done that responsibly and dutifully."
How much money was raised in total was not yet known. Most of the donations will go towards building a container village in the Türkoğlu/Kahramanmaraş earthquake region. According to the German-Turkish club BAK, the rest goes to the aid organization I.S.A.R. Germany and the technical relief organization.
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