IFrank Schmidt dropped to his knees in the rain from Bremen. Not because the coach of 1. FC Heidenheim suffered a terrible downfall like a boxer, but because the underdog in the first leg of the relegation narrowly missed the only goal of the evening in added time. As Timo Beermann’s header rushed past the post, it remained 0-0 on Thursday after the first part in the fight for the last place in the Bundesliga. On Monday (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker on relegation, at DAZN and Amazon Prime Video) it will be decided who is first class.
Tobias Rabe
Responsible editor for Sport Online.
Schmidt quickly got up again, because the second division club can also be satisfied with the goalless draw. “If we can do one, it will fall and get up again. We confirmed that today, ”said Schmidt, referring not to his spontaneous knee fall, but to the history of the game. Heidenheim had won 0-3 in Bielefeld on the last day of the regular season, while Bremen went into the relegation with a 6-1 win over Cologne in the back. But that no longer played a decisive role in lightning, thunder and rain.
Heidenheim surprised Werder with an unusual tactic. In defense, the club from the Ostalb acted with a chain of three. Bremen did not manage to show the dominance over the entire season, which it had presented last Saturday at the gala in the Bundesliga. Not a notable goal opportunity jumped out in 95 minutes. Accordingly, trainer Florian Kohfeldt was disappointed. “It was a very bad game from us,” he said bluntly. “The only advantage is that it is 0-0 at half time. Heidenheim didn’t score an away goal. “
The captain will be missing
And Werder failed to score a home goal. In addition, the Bremen lost their captain. Defender Niklas Moisander made an unnecessary foul in midfield and saw the yellow-red card. On Monday, he is therefore missing in the decisive duel. “We have a final on Monday and have to score an away goal and improve incredibly,” said Kohfeldt, praising the opponent. “Heidenheim pulled it through brutally. We didn’t do what we wanted – purely tactically, purely football. We didn’t play our plan. It was too little of us. “
This must not happen again in Heidenheim, in the highest stadium of German professional football, otherwise Bremen will crash into the second Bundesliga. Niklas Füllkrug, the traditional club’s storming hope, which had been injured for a long time and was only able to intervene in the final phase of the season, did not give a good hair to the performance of his team. “We didn’t do it well in the first half. We did better in the second half, but then unfortunately lost the thread. We can take away that we are weak at home and strong abroad. ”
Which also has to be proven in nerve-racking on Monday. In the Bundesliga, it actually worked better in foreign games in 17 games each. 22 away points are opposed to nine in the Weser Stadium. “We didn’t play well today,” said Maximilian Eggestein. “We have to be honest with ourselves there. That’s why we take the 0-0 away and we urgently need to improve in the second leg. If we can take something positive with us today, it’s that we didn’t concede a clean sheet. And we have to improve everything else. Everything is open. “
Heidenheim’s trainer Schmidt also saw it that way. “We showed a very disciplined performance from the first to the last second,” he said. “It was one wheel in the other. We defended very well. But we have to leave the church in the village: It’s not so easy here, even in the situation. ”But the team solved it excellently. “We’re not going crazy now. Nothing has been achieved yet. We have to be careful. We know that this will also be an extremely dangerous game for us. ”Bremen’s fear of losing is likely to be greater.
The chairman of the board, Holger Sanwald, recalled the game in the DFB Cup that Heidenheim had brought to Bremen last year and that apparently served as the drive. “In the cup game, we were shown here in the first half. We had sworn that this would not happen to us again. ”At that time it was already 4: 1 for Werder at break. “This is a great opportunity for us now. The 0-0 is a very good result, but also a dangerous one. One goal can be enough, at the same time you need two for a Bremen goal. ”
Not only did the Heidenheimers remarkably oppose this on the pitch, they also showed a smart idea off the grass. From the stands, the second division club was acoustically supported by a chute, rattle and even a cowbell. “We have observed that Werder works with drums,” said Sanwald in support of ghost games without spectators. “We wanted to counter this with bells. That was the trainer’s idea, it was part of the plan. We’ll see if there will be any more bells in the second leg. ”For the promotion, a goal is needed.
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