Crisis club deserves a point: Stuttgart’s lightning start shocked Cologne only briefly

Friday 23 October 2020

VfB Stuttgart got off to a furious start in the 5th matchday of the Bundesliga: After a few seconds, the Swabians are on course to lead the table. 1. FC Köln is already behind without ever having had the ball. But the basement club quickly found its way back into the game.

The chronically winless 1. FC Köln is taking small steps out of the crisis. The team of coach Markus Gisdol stayed with the strong promoted VfB Stuttgart on Friday evening even in the 15th Bundesliga game in a row without the big sense of achievement, but at least they scored 1-1 (1-1). Orel Mangala scored after just 23 seconds for the hosts. Cologne increased, Sebastian Andersson (23rd) scored the deserved equalizer with a penalty kick. However, no FC coach has been allowed to wait for a win to play as many games as Gisdol. Spectators were not allowed due to the Corona crisis – at the beginning of October almost 10,000 people cheered in the Stuttgart stadium.

“A point is a point. But we need more points. We have to win again,” said Andersson at the DAZN streaming service. “We had our chances.” Team-mate Ismail Jakobs said it was an “intense game, but in the end you are disappointed. We really wanted to win.” Driven by captain Gonzalo Castro, VfB’s young and wild ones didn’t need half a minute to score their earliest goal of the season. Mangala completed the fine combination with a right-footed shot. Daniel Didavi almost scored 2-0 a little later, but his free kick from a good 20 meters only hit the crossbar (3rd). Gisdol sat broodingly on the Cologne bench, after only a quarter of an hour he took Kingsley Ehizibue, who had already been cautioned with yellow, from the seat.

The troubled FC wanted to build on the 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in the previous week. “A start,” Gisdol had said. For the next game day, Bayern comes. In Stuttgart, the FC couldn’t cope with the early deficit – only the penalty whistle helped. VfB played faster, more directly. Atakan Karazor’s foul on Andersson in the penalty area also seemed avoidable. The fouled did not miss the opportunity to equalize.

“Grab it right!”

Another game then developed. The team from coach Pellegrino Matarazzo continued to look for the steep path towards striker Sasa Kalajdzic, but did not seem so compelling. Marc Oliver Kempf also had to be replaced (34th), after he had collided violently with Sebastiaan Bornauw in a duel and had been treated on the head (20th). In February, Kempf suffered a broken jaw.

After equalizing, the FC pros got better into the duels and the pressing. “Pack it up properly”, Gisdol called, who was now pacing back and forth on the sidelines on the lawn. Dimitrios Limnios tested VfB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel with a long shot (33rd). However, FC goalkeeper Timo Horn also had to fight the rushing Tanguy Coulibaly (45th).

“Quiet guys”, Gisdol shouted when VfB got a little stronger at the beginning of the second half. His team also remained dangerous: Andersson failed on the good standing Kobel (53rd), Elvis Rexhbecaj’s shot (60th) just missed the Stuttgart goal. In this phase, VfB was a little lacking the pace of the first half hour. Matarazzo made a double substitution a good quarter of an hour before the end, and the game flattened out a bit. Substitute Nicolás González hit the post, but would have been offside (78th).