With a mortgage of four bankruptcies in a row, VfL Wolfsburg II went into the regional league game with top team Werder Bremen (belonged to the top trio with 17 points before the match day). Coach Henning Bürger also admitted in the run-up to the game that he felt additional tension. No wonder: VfL last had a series like this in November and December 2011, at that time there were also four defeats in a row – one of them against a now very prominent opponent: RB Leipzig.
For five defeats in a row, however, you have to go back even further: the series started in February 2008, ended in a draw, followed by four more defeats before the next victory. VfL did not want to repeat the past against Werder Bremen II on Saturday, but it did not succeed. In the end it was 1: 2 (1: 1) – and bankruptcy number 5 in a row.
–
Regional football league: VfL Wolfsburg II versus Werder Bremen II
–
Regional football league: VfL Wolfsburg II versus Werder Bremen II
© Boris Baschin
–
–
However, VfL started the game well, appeared more grippy and self-confident than in the previous games. And also rewarded himself for the strong game. First the advanced central defender Anselmo Garcia Mac-Nulty, who made a strong game, failed after a cross from John Iredale with a weak and unplaced header from five meters to Werder keeper Eduardo Dos Santos Haesler. Only three minutes later, professional Omar Marmoush, who played in the U23 for the second time this season, made it better: After a foul on Soufiane Messeguem, he sank the due free kick from around 20 meters in the kink. 1-0. Well deserved at the time.
But the cold shower for VfL followed quickly. Bremen equalized completely out of nowhere with Eren Dinkci, after a long ball the winger VfL defender Marcel Beifus ran over on the left wing and netted cool with his outside instep in the far corner. Keeper Lino Kasten, previously unemployed, had no chance.
911 shot
It almost got even worse for Wolfsburg, who had visibly lost the thread in their game for around ten minutes after the equalization: After a duel between Beifus and Abdengo Nankishi in the VfL penalty area, referee Alexander Roppel pointed to the point – at least one questionable decision. But: Kasten parried Kebba Badjie’s weak attempts with ease.
In the second half, however, Werder didn’t need ten minutes to take the lead. VfL veteran Julian Klamt played a momentous bad pass shortly before his own penalty area under pressure, inviting Bremen to score, Dinkci completed again. A short time later, Bremen even almost scored 3-1, but the pass to the free Badjie in front of the VfL goal was too imprecise.
Yellow-red for mugwort
VfL had more play during the entire duel, but clear chances of scoring remained after the 1-0 win. To make matters worse, Wolfsburg played the last ten minutes outnumbered: After his alleged foul on the penalty and an intentional handball, Beifus saw yellow-red in the 79th minute.
In the closing stages, there was a debut at VfL: The recently signed French striker Fally Mayulu (from the U19 from RC Lens) came into play for Messeguem. But even he could no longer prevent defeat.
“We are not machines”
“I would have thought a draw was fair. I can’t blame the team for their approach, but we have had very, very few offensive actions in which the keeper had to intervene,” said a visibly disappointed citizen. “We are not machines, now we have suffered the fifth defeat in a row, there is a negative spiral in your head that you have to break.”
Of course, it doesn’t leave the coach unaffected either, Bürger was much louder than usual on the sidelines. “If I think I can reach players, I’ll do that too. Everything else is my own frustration as a coach, which of course now otherwise I’m the quieter one, but today I was on fire in a few scenes. And that has to be the case. ” The team hadn’t formulated a clear goal for the season, but the promotion round it should be in the end. Now maybe the view has to go down. But Bürger says: “I am basically optimistic that we can still reach the promotion round. The boys know what is at stake.”
–
VfL: Kasten – Garcia Mac-Nulty, Klamt, Beifus – Marx – Bird (64th Hamadi), Pohlmann, Berger (71st Abifade), Messeguem (87th Mayulu) – Iredale, Marmoush.
Werder: Dos Santos Haesler – Schröder, Halbouni, Nawrocki, Park – Schneider, Engelhardt, Pudic – Dinkci (89th Schönfelder), Badjie (90th + 2 MC Mensah Quarshie), Nankishi.
Referee: Roppel (Lübeck). – Spectator: no.
Tore: 1: 0 (19.) Marmoush, 1: 1 (24.) Dinkci, 1: 2 (54.) Dinkci.
Yellow: Messeguem, Berger, Marx / Schröder, Pudic.
Yellow Red: Beif.
–
