Real Sociedad’s trip to Germany is not just another preseason checkpoint. With two friendlies against Colonia in two days, the squad announcement on Friday turned this into a small but useful test of rotation, fitness and timing, especially for a group still trying to build minutes before the season begins.
Pellegrino Matarazzo named 27 players for the double friendly, including nine potrillos, which already tells you what kind of exercise this is meant to be. The club is not simply chasing results; it is trying to spread workload, give younger players exposure and manage the first real steps of the summer campaign without overloading the core group.
Two matches, two different settings
The schedule itself matters. The first test against Colonia is set for Friday at 18.00 hours behind closed doors, while the second comes on Saturday at 15.30 hours at RheinEnergieStadion and will be open to the public. That split creates different demands on the same squad: one match for internal evaluation, the other for a more complete competitive rehearsal.
For Take Kubo, the trip is especially significant. He has already accumulated many training sessions, but he still has no preseason minutes. That makes the Germany games a likely first chance to move from training rhythm to match rhythm, which is often the real turning point in a summer build-up. The exact workload is still to be managed, but his presence in the group suggests Real Sociedad are ready to start that process.
The wider picture is just as important. The club are using these friendlies as part of a controlled preseason ramp-up, while the Sanse are preparing to begin the Segunda División the following weekend against Castellón. That gives the first team’s trip an added layer of relevance: minutes now matter because the calendar is already tightening.
There is also a longer timeline to keep in mind. Oyarzabal is expected to join training the following week under Matarazzo, which means this German trip arrives before the squad is fully assembled. In that sense, the double friendly is less about finishing the job and more about continuing it, with the staff trying to learn who is ready, who still needs time and how the group can be shaped around the season ahead.
So the headline is not simply that Real Sociedad have named 27 players for Colonia. It is that the club are entering the kind of preseason window where every session, every substitution and every minute starts to matter. For Kubo, for the younger players and for Matarazzo’s early planning, these two matches should tell us more than the scoreline ever could.
