The test match at Minnesota United FC (MNUFC) on Monday evening marked the sporting conclusion of our Storks’ training camp in the USA. On Tuesday morning, our boys then set off on the team bus to Chicago, almost six and a half hours away, from where they traveled back home on Wednesday afternoon.

Our coach Marcel Rapp drew a positive conclusion after nine days in Minneapolis and numerous intensive sessions at the MNUFC facility. “We found outstanding conditions here – be it the training pitches, but also the hotel and the food – and were given an extremely warm welcome by the people here in Minnesota. Although we have experienced a lot together, we subordinated everything to the sport right from the start. The most important thing was that we took steps forward in terms of soccer – and we managed to do that,“ summarized Rapp, adding: ”Of course, it was very good that we also spent a lot of time together off the pitch, because the team grew even closer together as a result. The time passed very quickly, which I think is a very positive sign.”

Everyone involved worked very well together, emphasized Rapp. And when our coach talks about “everyone”, he is not only referring to the players, but also explicitly to his two assistant coaches Dirk Bremser and Alexander Hahn as well as the entire functional team:

After a final dinner together and an overnight stay in the third-largest US city, they traveled to Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, from where the plane took off for Frankfurt at 4 p.m. local time. Our boys will return to German soil at around 7.30 a.m. on Thursday and, after a short breather, will return to team training in Kiel-Projensdorf on Sunday.