Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart was only partially happy after the hard-fought advancement in the DFB Cup. After all, the FC coach complained about two injured players after the 3-1 after extra time at the second division football club VfL Osnabrück. Both Mark Uth and Davie Selke had to retire from Monday night’s game due to hamstring injuries.
A serious injury would be particularly bitter for Uth, after all, the former national player missed the entire past season with an injury to his pubic bone. The attacker came on as a substitute in the 87th minute in Osnabrück, but had to leave the field prematurely in extra time, meaning that the Cologne side had to end the match with ten players because they had already used up their allotment.
How long the 31-year-old Uth will be out this time is still unclear. The only thing that is certain is that he will not be available to the Rhinelanders for the start of the league on Saturday evening (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) at Borussia Dortmund. “With Mark, we can clearly say that it won’t be enough for the weekend,” said Baumgart.
Selke still has hope
“It’s something we expected. If you’re out for a year, you first have to get used to the intensity again, especially the muscles. “He hopes that the injury isn’t that bad,” said Baumgart. In the case of Selke, on the other hand, the Cologne coach hopes that the striker will be available for Saturday’s second place in the championship last season. “He also felt a tugging in his thigh. But I hope he got out in time.”
In addition to the two injuries, the schedule for the cup game on Monday evening also caused Baumgart displeasure. “I think the first and second leagues clearly advocated against Monday games – but we played on Monday,” said the Cologne coach. “Our next opponent not only had the easier opponent, but also two days more time,” said Baumgart. “That’s something that annoys me.” Dortmund easily won 6-1 at regional league club TSV Schott Mainz on Saturday.
Thanks to an early double strike in extra time, Cologne narrowly avoided an early end in the DFB Cup, unlike last year. Benno Schmitz gave the Rhinelanders the lead in the 43rd minute with a fantastic long-range shot. But in the 73rd minute, in front of 15,741 spectators in the sold-out stadium at the Bremer Brücke, Charalambos Makridis scored the deserved equalizer for the underdog when he scored from the margin after a penalty he had missed.
With difficulty, the Cologne team saved themselves in extra time, where they were wide awake at the beginning. First Sargis Adamyan scored from close range to give Cologne the lead again (93′), then Julian Chabot made everything clear with a long-range shot (96′). In the period that followed, the hosts lacked the strength to come back again.
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From the start, Osnabrück showed little respect for the first division club and put Cologne under pressure a few times. The favorite from the Rhineland had the better chances before the break. Davie Selke alone failed twice at Osnabrück goalkeeper Philipp Kühn (12, 29.), who, unlike in the league, was preferred to regular goalkeeper Lennart Grill. In addition, Eric Martel was unlucky that he only hit the outer post of the Osnabrück goal (33rd).
Although VfL acted courageously, they only posed a threat once through a free-kick from Makridis (23′). Cologne’s lead at the break was hard-fought but deserved: Schmitz plucked up courage just before the break and scored a dream goal from long-range to make it 1-0. The resistance of the Osnabrück team, who last season had only made the promotion perfect on the last day of the game in added time, was by no means broken.
Driven by the frenetic crowd, the Lower Saxony even had more possession of the ball in the second half and were rewarded a good quarter of an hour before the end. After a foul by Luca Waldschmidt, Makridis converted the penalty in the margin. After that, VfL pushed for the winning goal, but Cologne saved themselves in extra time, where they then struck twice ice-cold. VfL’s resistance flagged in the final minutes.
