Cologne is staggering towards the 2nd division (nd currently)

The message from the Kiel match winner Simon Lorenz to the defeated first division club 1. FC Köln sounded a bit cheeky. The 24-year-old emphasized that his goal for the 1-0 first leg win in the cathedral city was “not worth much” for the decision in the relegation. He interpreted the supposedly greater degree of exhaustion of his team a lot more aggressively.

The game on Wednesday evening was the tenth game in 34 days for the involuntary quarantine specialists from the lower house. The higher-class opponents only competed half as often in the same period. Goal scorer Lorenz now turned this situation into a positive: “For me it is quite normal that we play again in three days.” The body got used to the constant stress “a little”, reported the trained defender – and looked up accordingly the decisive duel with the Cologne team on Saturday evening: “I don’t care whether we play on Saturday, Sunday or in a week.”

The fresh experiences in Cologne certainly gave his sentences additional momentum. After all, Lorenz had decided the game in the World Cup arena after an hour, with a header that he had succeeded in following a corner after winning an aerial duel with Cologne’s captain Jonas Hector – exactly 19 seconds after being substituted on.

Cologne’s sports director Horst Heldt touched his head in horror at the moment. For his club it was the 18th goal against standards this season. As successfully as they act offensively in this discipline, the Rhinelander often defend such situations badly. Friedhelm Funkel, who was hired as a paramedic in April and a recognized expert in this football field, was apparently unable to completely cure the Cologne team of their defensive weaknesses. Although his team had played twice at Hertha BSC and against Schalke to zero.

“We have to do that against Kiel as well – we mustn’t concede a goal,” Funkel had formulated as a mantra before the game. But his plan failed, and that’s why the 67-year-old coach is now looking for a formula in the short interim phase until the return visit to the Baltic Sea to prevent the club from relegating the club to the seventh Bundesliga.

A problem that has accompanied the Cologne team throughout the season – their crippling offensive game – became clear again against Kiel. Because center forward Sebastian Andersson was only partially operational and initially sat on the bench, Funkel sent midfielder Hector into the attack. On the day before his 31st birthday, the FC leader received support in this role from Ondrej Duda. Accordingly, the hosts lacked creativity in setting up the game.

And so a wrong football world was revealed in Cologne: The first division team tried very hard, but achieved no income despite all the effort, while the highly efficient second division team was there at the crucial moment.

But he wouldn’t be sparkling if he didn’t tackle the complicated task in the second leg with the habit of an experienced fur seal. “The result on Wednesday can neither shock nor satisfy me,” he said calmly at first, before emphasizing: “But we have the quality and the opportunities to make up for this 0: 1 gap.”

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The coach, who will return to his seven-week retirement on Sunday, has already given the first hints as to which plan he could fall back on. On the one hand, so his demand, the people of Kiel have to face more problems – and also make better use of their own standards. “We were relatively harmless, gave too many balls frivolously,” Funkel complained. And the team, which scored 41 percent of its goals from corners and free kicks in the Bundesliga, should definitely do better at the showdown in the far north.