Freiburg brought their nine-day training camp in Montafon to a close on Friday afternoon. Before the 120-minute friendly against SpVgg Greuther Fürth, SC’s chief sporting officer Jochen Saier thanked their hosts in Schruns for their hospitality over the past 20 years.

Fürth begin their Bundesliga 2 campaign next weekend and had already shown some promising early form, including in a 1-0 win over Ligue 1 side Paris FC. They also made a bright start against SC. Cyriaque Irié was too rash in his challenge on Shinta Appelkamp inside the box, allowing Felix Klaus to put Fürth ahead from the penalty spot after just five minutes. The former Freiburg player gave Mio Backhaus no chance from 12 yards.

The 1,000 spectators at the Sportanlage Golm had to wait another 15 minutes for Freiburg’s first opportunity. Irié tested Florian Hellstern from 17 yards, but his powerful strike was too central to trouble the 18-year-old loanee from VfB Stuttgart.

SC began to take control against a Fürth side defending deep, but were unable to create another opening before the first drinks break of the afternoon. Instead, Fürth doubled their lead in the 37th minute. Appelkamp clipped a pass through for Klaus, who lifted the ball over Backhaus after the goalkeeper had raced a long way off his line.

Freiburg began to pose more of a threat on a pitch badly affected by the heat and repeatedly watered by the local fire brigade during the breaks. A fine passing move ended with Maximilian Eggestein shooting narrowly wide from 16 yards (43’), before Lucas Höler headed Derry Scherhant’s pinpoint cross just past the post from the penalty spot (45’).

2-0 after 60 minutes

Freiburg fielded an almost entirely new side for the second half and soon had an opportunity to reduce the deficit. Igor Matanovic was presented with a great chance two and a half minutes after the restart, but the Croat volleyed over from seven yards. Keisuke Goto and Yannik Engelhardt both went similarly close to scoring their first goals in an SC shirt ten minutes later.

Freiburg’s pressure continued to build, and Matanovic had a goal ruled out for an apparent handball on 90 minutes. However, with half an hour still to play, Fürth suddenly made it 3-0. Omar Sillah was left unmarked in front of substitute goalkeeper Yannik Huth and tapped in from close range to complete the scoring.

“Regardless of whether the opposition are further along or fitter than us, we have to stick together during periods when things aren’t going our way,” said SC head coach Julian Schuster after the final whistle. “Overall, we didn’t give much away, but we weren’t compact enough on the goals. We lost challenges or didn’t push up properly when pressing. Perhaps a result like this isn’t such a bad thing at this stage, because it can serve as a minor wake-up call.”

Goals: 0-1 Klaus (5’, pen.), 0-2 Klaus (37’), 0-3 Sillah (91’)

SC Freiburg, first 60 minutes: Backhaus – Kübler, Ogbus, Rosenfelder (Jung 46’), Günter – Irié, Eggestein, Suzuki (Zelic 46’), Osterhage, Scherhant – Höler

SC Freiburg, second 60 minutes: Huth – Treu (Steinmann 106’), Ginter, Jung (Lienhart 76’), Makengo – Beste, Engelhardt, Goto (Tarnutzer 106’), Yilmaz, Grifo – Matanovic (Catak 106’)

Unavailable: Florian Müller (ankle), Rihito Yamamoto (load management), Eren Dinkci (thigh)