Manfred Cross

Manfred Kreuz (born March 7, 1936 in Gelsenkirchen ) is a former German soccer player . As a player at FC Schalke 04 , he played 135 league games (42 goals) from 1956 to 1963 in the Bundesliga West and from 1963 to 1968 in the Bundesliga another 83 league games with 16 goals. In 1958 he won the German soccer championship with Schalke 04 .

career

SC Hassel

His career began with the green and whites of SC Hassel . At the age of 17 he began training as a civil servant at the Borken tax office. He did not give up his job as a tax officer even during his active time. However, due to the working hours and the long way to work, optimal football training was out of the question.

FC Schalke 04

So it was good that FC Schalke 04 had an eye on this talent with the strong left foot. In the mid-1950s he switched to the "Knappen". On September 2, 1956, he made his debut in a 2-4 home defeat against VfL Bochum in the league. At the end of the round in 1956/57 Schalke finished fourth and Kreuz had scored seven goals in 15 league games. In his second league year, 1957/58 , the offensive player , who was on the half left, left winger and center forward in the World Cup system at the time, started on the starting day, August 11, 1957, in a 5-0 away win at Hamborn 07 with three goals. At the end of the round, the powerful attacker had scored 13 goals in 25 league appearances in winning the championship of Schalke in the Oberliga West. In the final round, which was shortened because of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, he was used in the group matches against Tennis Borussia Berlin (9-0) and Karlsruher SC (3-0) and scored three goals. The victory against the South German champions from Karlsruhe was watched by 75,000 spectators in Hamburg 's Volkspark Stadium . In the final of the German championship 1957/58 he was part of the victorious team that defeated Hamburger SV in the final on May 18 in Hanover in front of 80,000 spectators - it was directed by referee Albert Dusch - with 3-0 goals and in the cross scored the third goal.

In the 1958/59 season, the four appearances in the European Champions Cup against KB Copenhagen and in particular the assertion against the English champions Wolverhampton Wanderers (2: 2; 2: 1) stood out, with Kreuz convincing as a center runner against the team around Billy Wright could. In the year of the soccer world championship in Chile in 1962, the tax officer reached the runner-up in the Oberliga West with Schalke and therefore took part in a final round of the German championship for the second time. In this series he formed the runner row of the "Royal Blues" with Willi Schulz and Egon Horst . Schalke prevailed 4-1 after extra time in qualifying against Werder Bremen, but failed in the group stage against defending champions 1. FC Nürnberg. Kreuz had played all four games as a left winger.

Before the start of the last league round in 1962/63 , the DFB Cup was played in 1962. Kreuz and colleagues failed in the semifinals due to a 2: 3 defeat against Fortuna Düsseldorf to make it into the final. The era of the first-class Oberliga West was completed by Kreuz in 1962/63 with Schalke in sixth place and thus qualified for the newly introduced Bundesliga . He had scored ten goals in 27 league games. With the 30th day of play, May 11, 1963, the chapter Oberliga West ended. With the attack Reinhard Libuda , Hans Nowak , Willi Koslowski , Waldemar Gerhardt and Kreuz there was a 1-1 draw at Fortuna Düsseldorf. Cross played a total of 135 league games for Schalke from 1956 to 1963 and scored 42 goals.

Manfred Kreuz also played seven games for the German championship with four goals. Twelve cup games (with four goals) and four European Cup games also belong in his studbook.

When the Bundesliga was introduced in 1963/64 , Kreuz was still under contract with Schalke 04 and on the first match day, August 24, 1963, under coach Georg Gawliczek, he was part of the team that won with a 2-0 home win against VfB Stuttgart in the new elite league started. After the fifth match day, September 21, with a 1-0 home win in front of 40,000 spectators against the HSV team around Uwe Seeler and Gert Dörfel , Schalke ranked 9: 1 points, tied with the eventual German champions 1. FC Cologne, in second place. For the injury-prone cross, however, the round was over. In the next three laps he experienced Fritz Langner's training work and the constant battle against relegation. In the 1964/65 season , moving into the semi-finals of the DFB Cup brought a briefly better mood to Schalke.

On January 7, 1967, Schalke lost 0:11 at Borussia Mönchengladbach and thus experienced the highest Bundesliga defeat in the club's history. "One possible reason for the Schalke debacle: The wife of team captain Manfred Kreuz died two days before the game - the team was in shock."

With only one mission - on March 30, 1968 in a 1-1 home draw against Hannover 96 - the tax officer at the Gelsenkirchen-Nord tax office ended his playing career as a result of meniscus surgery after the 1967/68 season . He played his last competitive game for Schalke on half right at the side of teammates Horst Blechinger , Hans-Jürgen Wittkamp , Herbert Höbusch and Gerhard Neuser .

Kreuz had completed 83 appearances in the Bundesliga from 1963 to 1968, in which he scored 16 goals.

Coaching office

After his playing career he was coach of the Schalke amateur team for years.

International matches

Manfred Kreuz never made it to the A national team, he was invited to a B international match, but was not used there either. According to his own statements, that was probably due to his way of life. So after the game he probably drank a beer and smoked a cigarette; Conveniences that Sepp Herberger couldn't afford.

literature

• Georg Röwekamp: The myth is alive . The history of FC Schalke 04. Verlag Die Werkstatt. Göttingen 1996. ISBN 3-89533-332-8 .
• Hardy Grüne , Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. Agon-Sportverlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 .

Web links

• Manfred Kreuz in the database of fussballdaten.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Football Bundesliga: Every shot is a hit . Spiegel Online, August 11, 2014.