An evening when everything went well: Cologne striker Steffen Tigges scored the goal from 45 meters past Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka (left).
Photo: IMAGO / Team 2
The game was decided long ago, 1. FC Köln led 5-1 at half-time against Werder Bremen and some spectators were already preparing for a relaxed second half. After all, the Cologne team is already playing at FC Bayern Munich on Tuesday evening, so the idea of saving a few strength for this game was obvious. But such considerations are taboo under coach Steffen Baumgart, who set a typical Baumgart sign in the icy winter cold. After the break, the coach came out of the dressing room without his black hoodie and T-shirt and continued to perform a particularly wild coach dance on the sidelines for another 45 minutes. He kept pushing his players, never giving anyone a moment’s slack and in the end FC won 7-1. It was the club’s highest Bundesliga win in 40 years. “Today you can enjoy that for a moment,” said the coach later, “but you shouldn’t overestimate that,” his team just “had that little something” that is necessary for games like this.
That was quite an understatement, because Cologne came out of a kind of autumn crisis with just one point from the five Bundesliga games before the World Cup break. But now your foot is back on the gas pedal. It goes on, always on, that is a main theme of the Baumgart years, which are already a small era. Because it’s now clear to everyone that this isn’t simply the next coach in the line-up of the Gisdols, Beginners and Beierlorzers, but a man who can really make a difference. In the first half of the season it was still difficult because, due to our participation in the Conference League, we constantly had to compete, there was hardly any time for exercises and a lot of strength was lost. After the spectacle against Bremen, Baumgart said: “We knew that when the boys had their batteries full again, we would get back on track. The big difference to the first half of the season is that we could simply train in the winter.« Because FC is a »development team«, the many cheap players, who mostly come from the lower leagues, need many hours on the training ground.
They had that time in the long break and it was good to see on Saturday night. The young midfielder Eric Martel, 20, played just as well as the central defender Julian Chabot, 24. Steffen Tigges, 24, started the 1-0 with a won duel and two clever passes, scored the 2-0, but later became in front of everyone Things celebrated because of his hit from 45 meters to 3-0. “Today everything worked in all areas,” said Tigges, who came to FC from Borussia Dortmund last summer.
Winger Linton Maina, 23, played well in the first half but missed too many chances. Before Christmas he “was still missing the goal, we work on that every day,” he said. Obviously with success – Maina scored 1-0 against Bremen. Denis Huseinbašić, who came from Kickers Offenbach, is also becoming a key figure in this team because Baumgart simply has the ability to let players grow. And the emotional impact that both he and the Cologne audience can develop helps a lot in this process.
At the end of the evening, there was a sentimental, proud carnival atmosphere in Müngersdorf and people sang, alluding to the upcoming trip to the leaders of the table: “Take off Bayern’s lederhosen.” The duel in Munich could be an interesting game, because anyone can do Cologne’s intensity cause problems for the team. “We will also try to win against Bayern,” announced Baumgart, who fits in fascinatingly well with this football club. Most recently, he even hinted that he was ready to extend his contract, which ends in 2024, without asking for more money.
Shortly before carnival, the level of euphoria in Cologne football is once again close to the maximum, with Baumgart repeatedly reminding us that his team is actually in the middle of a relegation battle. However, the fact that the development work continues to work so well and that the new football year has started so convincingly is a very reassuring sign for all fans of FC.
