In the final phase of the game, the cameras in the Ostseestadion caught the Nuremberg sports director. With pursed lips and a fairly red complexion, which provided a stark contrast to his light blue shirt, Dieter Hecking followed what was happening on the pitch. The mood was bad because the club messed up the season opener in the second Bundesliga. At least as far as the result is concerned, because the new coach Christian Fiél wasn’t completely dissatisfied with his team’s performance in the 0: 2 (0: 1) against Hansa Rostock: “We definitely got into the situations that we wanted to have, but the effectiveness was with Hansa today,” he said on Sky. “We could have played two more games and the ball wouldn’t have gone over the line.”
FCN had put in a really good first half hour, in the ninth minute Rostock’s John-Patrick Strauss had to clear in front of the line when Nuremberg’s new central defender Ivan Marquez tried, the Spaniard then had to leave after half an hour due to a shoulder injury go place. At this point, the Franks still had everything under control, but Tim Handwerker did not manage to overcome Markus Kolke with a long-range shot, after the following corner Kanji Okunuki, another FCN access, also failed at the Hansa goalkeeper.
Gradually, Rostock got better into the game, the guests were able to defuse a first precarious situation with their last strength (34th); but eight minutes later nothing could be saved: After a supposedly clear corner kick, Kevin Schumacher brought the second cross to the middle, Damian Roßbach put it off and Strauss shoveled the ball into the corner of the goal from 14 meters.
The club conceded the goals shortly before and shortly after the break
And after the break, the second goal was conceded: Swede Svante Ingelsson served his compatriot Nils Fröling, who had just come on as a substitute, and he made it 2-0 for Hansa. No wonder that Nuremberg’s second new central defender Ahmet Gürleyen later quarreled: “You don’t usually get that many chances away from home. We have to push one in. Instead we get one. And the quick goal after the break was a blow to the neck.”
As a result, the Japanese substitute Daichi Hayashi again brought danger into the Nuremberg game, but a goal was rightly called away because of a handball (67th), then he failed once to Kolke (73rd) and later missed with a header the goal (86th). Ultimately, the club conceded a defeat for the first time in eleven competitive games against Rostock. Captain Enrico Valentini took it easy: “That was the first of 34 games. We lost, analyze that and then we’ll continue.”
