Almost nothing at all reminded one of the hot May 2018 on Wednesday evening, when these two teams met for the last time in the Grünwalder Stadium: Only seven of the 22 starting XI players were left from the nerve-wracking game at the time. And above all, there were no fanatical spectators this time, neither those from TSV 1860 Munich, nor those from 1. FC Saarbrücken. In May it was about promotion to the third division, the Munich team prevailed in a dramatic second leg, Saarbrücken followed in professional football last summer. Now it was about the game of the front runner against the table third.
But with increasing playing time, something reminded of the relegation: Saarbrücken went 2-0 this time too, TSV 1860 Munich found their way back into the game thanks to a foul penalty – but now the game did not end with a saving draw, but with a narrow one , overall unfortunate 1: 2 (0: 2) defeat for the Lions.
It was the first defeat of the season for Michael Köllner’s team. “It was a classy game, but we didn’t bring enough speed into the game in the first half,” said the coach.
The promoted team conceded just two goals in their first four games. At first it wasn’t entirely clear why. Because already in the fifth minute, Sascha Mölders and Stefan Lex, two attackers ran alone towards the Saarbrücker Tor. Mölders led the ball, laid it across his teammate – and he shot goalkeeper Daniel Batz. But then only long-range shots from Richard Neudecker and Quirin Moll followed until the break. Saarbrücken’s players, on the other hand, showed what they mean by consistent defense: They constantly clarified corner kicks that didn’t bring in anything, they let the sixties run offside or consistently hit the ball on the empty seats on the back straight. However, they were extremely accurate in front of the opposing goal – two chances, two goals: First Sebastian Jacob hit his head after a free kick from the left half-field (14th), then Jayson Breitenbach overcame sixty goalkeeper Marco Hiller in a one-on-one ( 40.).
The goal was preceded by one of the great weaknesses of the sixties that evening: The switching game just didn’t want to get going, in this case the ball was lost early. Incidentally, the 20-year-old Leon Klassen, who was in the starting line-up for Phillipp Steinhart, who was suspended from yellow and red, was not to blame for the goals against. The TSV 1860 seemed superior over long stretches, but rarely came to dangerous deals. The two final minutes before half-time were typical: The lions pushed the ball to each other, but without any space gain. “We didn’t show our face in the first half, that was miserable,” Neudecker said later.
At the beginning of the second half, coach Michael Köllner brought Martin Pusic into play for Lex – the new attacker from the sixties had never been substituted so early. Immediately the game shifted towards the Saarbrücken penalty area. After a quick one-two through the center, Erik Tallig was cleared in the 51st minute, and he was knocked off his feet with an impetuous tackle from guest captain Bone Uaferro. Uaferro was visibly angry about his action. Saarbrücken’s coach Lukas Kwasniok later got angry with him Magenta Sports about the fact that Sechzig’s coach Köllner called his player “stupid”. “What we played was more stupid,” Köllner replied when asked. Otherwise one shouldn’t put “every word on the gold scales” in heated phases. Quirin Moll certainly didn’t care, he scored with a hearty shot to make it 1: 2.
The hosts got closer and closer to the opposing goal. Neudecker narrowly missed the target in the 56th minute, Moll failed with a free kick on goal (69th), Dennis Dressel hesitated a little too long from ten meters away, his shot was deflected (82nd). In the final phase, Sixty was overwhelmingly superior, the guests seemed to be exhausted. A remarkable parade by the strong Batz after Neudeckers shot from close range made the Munich officials in the main stand desperate (86th). Köllner threw defender Dennis Erdmann into the game as the third striker, but the 2-2 from then just didn’t want to repeat itself this time. “We exerted immense pressure, but left many top-class players behind. It’s a shame,” said Köllner at the end.
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