Dhe old song, with which the supporters of 1. FC Köln pay homage to their striker Anthony Modeste, now seems a little out of place. Ikke Hüftgold’s hit comes from the spring of 2017, when the world looked different. When 1. FC Köln was a different club and Modeste was a different person. The line “Who gives Donald Trump the rest – Anthony Modeste” looks as dusty as “Who bites on the counter – Anthony Modeste”.
Trump has been voted out, Modeste has become a very serious footballer, and 1. FC Köln, well: is not a European Cup participant like in 2017, but a club that no one can say exactly where it will develop. But the hopes are high, so the Cologne supporters sang the Modeste song after the 2-2 draw against Bayer Leverkusen, after all, the 33-year-old attacker had turned the afternoon into a small spectacle with two goals.
Modeste has matured, and with the trainer Steffen Baumgart he has obviously found a very harmonious connection. Again and again the trainer and the best Cologne shooter tell of their open interaction. In a conversation before the season, they both made the decision to work together with full energy and to trust each other.
Since then, they have regularly exchanged more or less hidden flatteries or teasing each other. On Sunday, Modeste reported that throws like the one before the 2-2, which Sebastian Andersson had passed on to his head, are “worked out in training”. With that he left some of the fame to the coach. Especially since Modeste had made a serious mistake when he favored Patrik Schicks 0-1 with an overambitious bad pass. It was 0: 2 after that, but the Cologne team made the game turn, equalized.
“That is our strength this season,” said Modeste, who is apparently particularly receptive to Baumgart’s messages. During the break, he “just asked his players to be courageous”. That worked. “Our topic is passion”, said the sports director Jörg Jakobs. That inspires the fans and apparently also affects the fashion trends.
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