The Dortmund team around Marco Reus (l.) Rarely made it dangerously in front of the Union goal. And there stood Frederik Rönnow (r.), again insurmountable this time.
Photo: imago/Jan Huebner
Before the game between 1. FC Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund, Christian Arbeit had spoken of October 16 as a Köpenick holiday – with a “greeting to the captain from Köpenick”. Union’s stadium spokesman recalled Wilhelm Voigt, who got what he was entitled to 116 years ago. “And today the boys get what they deserve,” called Arbeiter before the team roster was announced. This is how it was to be: Cleverly, courageously and with great commitment, just as the unemployed shoemaker once appropriated the contents of the city treasury, the Berlin footballers earned three points with a 2-0 win over BVB.
Opinions often differ on who deserves victories in football. For example, when it comes to possession of the ball. “They didn’t want anything,” Leipzig coach Domenico Tedesco commented almost mockingly on RB’s defeat in the Alte Försterei at the end of August. His team had the game equipment for more than two thirds of the playing time, but still lost 1:2. Tedesco has long been history in Leipzig, 1. FC Union is the leader of the Bundesliga – for five matchdays now. Even Urs Fischer finds it “incredible,” as he said on Sunday evening. “It’s crazy,” says the Berlin coach. It’s not a coincidence.
The comparison with Dortmund is quite good for describing the astonishing development in Köpenick. In February, Borussia won 3-0 at the Alte Försterei. It was 1. FC Union’s last home defeat in the Bundesliga. Throughout the season, the Berliners have only lost one of their last 17 league games. And so they were showered with praise from Dortmund on Sunday evening. “Union does it brilliantly. You don’t have to pretend that it’s mediocrity,” said defense chief Mats Hummels, who was very disappointed. Coach Edin Terzić described the opponents as a “top team” who deliberately forgo possession of the ball. His own team scored 71 percent in this statistic. But she only had really compelling scoring chances in the last quarter of an hour, when six offensive players were on the pitch.
There are only a few statistics that put the leaders in the lead, but are fundamental to their success. One of them is mileage. In the individual analysis, Rani Khedira, the first Berlin player, can only be found in tenth place, but Union runs the most kilometers as a team. This mission leads directly to the second ranking, which Union tops. Due to the team defense, in which all ten field players persistently try to take the opponent’s space and time, the Berliners only conceded six goals this season.
At the same time, the high willingness to run leads to their own offensive actions. Jannik Haberer scored twice on Sunday. The first goal resulted from a mistake by Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel, but before that the opponent was put under pressure in the build-up game. And so Haberer was also on the spot when the ball was ready for a shot in the penalty area in the eighth minute after Kobel’s slip. Twelve minutes later, the persistent attack led to a ball win in midfield. The usual fast switching game brought the game device back to Haberer, who found enough space for a well-placed shot into the goal in the unsorted Dortmund defense.
“They don’t ask why.” With these words Terzić described the winning attitude of the Berliners. The Dortmund coach did not say about his own team that nobody is too bad for anything, everyone helps everyone and everyone does things that are not necessarily fun. That he’s working on it, yes. Specifically, Union defender Timo Baumgartl put it in a nutshell: “It was a collective victory.”
The special character of this Berlin team has often been heard. At least as often, opponents point out how uncomfortable it is to play against them. This proves another statistic: no other team fouls its opponents as often as Union. But despite all aggressiveness and fighting spirit: it is rarely unfair. With just 14 yellow cards, the Köpenickers have conceded the second fewest in the Bundesliga. And no Unioner had to leave the pitch prematurely.
Wisdom in sport is such a thing. One from modern football is: ball possession doesn’t score goals. Sometimes it’s true, sometimes it’s not; when Union plays, mostly. Another seems to have been invented for the Berliners: A team is more than the sum of its parts. But after this time Baumgartl delivered the stereotypical game analysis of the incredibly good defense of the entire team, the central defender brought out a special praise: “If something does come through, Freddi is there.”
Freddi is Frederik Rönnow and has been the regular goalkeeper for the Berliners since this season. The Dane quickly let the fan favorite Andreas Luthe forget between the posts. With performance: he saved 75 percent of the balls that came at his goal and is thus well ahead in the ranking. And Rönnow has kept four clean sheets – because he responded brilliantly against Dortmund’s Marco Reus and Youssoufa Moukoko in the final stages. The strong record of only six goals in total also leads back to the team. Because Rönnow’s front men don’t let much through, with 26 saved shots on goal he only ranks 13th in the goalkeeper ranking.
Due to the acute accumulation of football holidays, Urs Fischer has already been described as the new captain of Köpenick. Hardly any coach can look as skeptical after a win as the Swiss. And he immediately referred to the difficult cup game on Wednesday at second division Heidenheim.
