The boss did a sprint like he hasn’t done since his active career – and it ended more than 26 years ago. When Boipelo Mashigo scored the decisive 2-0 in injury time of the DFB Cup game against FC Augsburg on Sunday, Manfred Schwabl was just as unstoppable as everyone else who supported Spielvereinigung Unterhaching. He was right in the middle of the jubilation on the pitch and didn’t know what to do with all the emotions.
Normally you would have found him hours after the game in the beer garden in front of the stadium, but the club president made an appearance on Bavarian television and had to leave, although he was obviously slightly physically handicapped by the sprint. None of the players were to be found in the sports restaurant either, the team had arranged to meet in the dressing room for a spontaneous party instead – and it should have been violent: “Between two and eight halves are fine,” said the president’s son and right-back Markus Schwabl of the game – and when asked if that was even allowed, Schwabl junior, recently also sports director at Hachinger, replied with a broad grin: “I can decide it myself.”
Goalkeeper René Vollath, who had saved his team from the 1-1 equalization with a spectacular reflex action against Augsburg striker Ermedin Demirovic shortly before the break, was a little more cautious in his forecast: “Two to four halves” he is aiming for, he but had to hold back because his wife was heavily pregnant and a spontaneous transport to the clinic might be necessary.
And 1-0 goalscorer Mathias Fetsch, who proudly presented his trophy for the “Man of the Match”, was very happy that there was still beer in the fridge in the locker room, otherwise he would have had to spend one. The 34-year-old couldn’t take the smile off his face: “There were a few highlights for me today, I’m very happy,” said the striker, who was under contract with FCA between 2013 and 2015, but only in one Bundesliga game considered. It is quite conceivable that a shot of satisfaction shot through him when Fetsch celebrated his goal against the former employer.
Born in Baden, he played for TSV 1860 Munich almost 15 years ago and was promoted to the second division with Eintracht Braunschweig and Holstein Kiel last season we grew close together, everyone fights for the other,” said Fetsch.
“We’re the underdog in every game, even in the league,” says captain Josef Welzmüller
That is also the prerequisite for being able to keep up the class as a promoted team with an extremely young team, everyone in Unterhaching agrees. Because the cup success against the Swabians was good for the reputation, after all, it was the first time since the 2017/18 season that they were there again and they survived the first round for the first time since 2015/16. And the victory was also a blessing for the club’s treasury, from the 215,000 euros signing bonus, the people from Haching quickly made almost 650,000 euros in cup revenue.
But it is much more important to quickly concentrate on the league again. On Saturday, fellow climbers SSV Ulm (2 p.m.) are guests in the sports park. “We’re the underdog in every game, even in the league,” warned captain Josef Welzmüller. It is necessary in the remaining 37 third division games to call up a performance like against Augsburg or in the relegation games against Cottbus. “And we want to let as many young players as possible play it, so we have to approach the task with humility,” said the 33-year-old. Coach Marc Unterberger, just a year older than the captain, also said modestly: “We have to think about how we want to play football in this third division, then we’ll see where it all can lead.” Either way, the goal remains relegation. “With the upheaval per youth, it will be a very exciting but also difficult task.”
