It has been a while since the international press reported on eleven men in connection with TSV 1860 Munich. Almost 23 years ago to the day, English newspapers reported that the Lions from Munich had failed to qualify for the Champions League against Leeds United. With those glorious lion days long gone, it’s worth noting that Italian gazettes have now taken an interest in the wider entourage of the third division club from Munich.
The occasion is not the most recent league appearance of the sixties. The 0:3 (0:2) on the fourth matchday in Sandhausen indicated that the supporters of Munich with ambitions for higher league spheres will probably have to be patient a little longer. And so it is hardly surprising that the Italian reporters are less concerned with TSV’s sporting roller coaster ride.
The subject in question is black spray paint, which was discovered this week in Florence on the famous columns of the Vasari Corridor, a much-respected cultural monument created in 1565 by the Italian architect Giorgio Vasari. However, the paint residues were not identified as works of art in Italy. According to investigators, young men from Germany are said to have left the lettering “DKS 1860” on a total of seven pillars in the historic corridor – which could be a cipher of sixties fans. The mayor of Florence Dario Nardella spoke of a “shameful act of vandalism”.
Rumor has it that 60-year-old President Robert Reisinger also wants to resign
A lot is coming together this English Lions Week. After the surprising 2-1 home defeat against newly promoted Lübeck on Tuesday evening, rumors spread around the Grünwald stadium that 1860 President Robert Reisinger was considering his resignation. According to reports, Reisinger is in a permanent clinch with both his deputies and investor Hasan Ismaik. Reisinger has not confirmed the murmur of resignation in Giesing, apparently he is on vacation. Similar to probably the alleged Florence paint scribblers. And because that wasn’t enough for a lion’s week, Sandhausen gave another one afterwards.
The Munich showed two completely different halves. From the start, coach Maurizio Jacobacci’s team recalled bad times from the previous season. Like a Romanesque building, unadorned, but also full of holes like a ruin. In the fourth minute, the first Sandhausen ball hit the lions’ net. Munich’s attacker Vrenezi lost the ball in the build-up game, Neu-Sandhausen’s Rouwen Hennings took aim, goalkeeper Hiller parried the deflected ball, but right in front of Lion Schuster’s feet: 1:0. The next setback followed in the 44th minute: David Otto, after fine dribbling, put it down to Christoph Ehlich, whose shot found its way through a winding corridor of lion columns and legs to make it 2-0.
After the break, the Lions fans who had traveled with them saw a changed eleven, which was also, but not only, due to three substitutions. There was nothing more to be seen of conservative Romanesque with the lions: midfielder Julian Guttau, who came for Manfred Starke, brought momentum – and the sixties got their first chances. Attacker Joël Zwarts has now been staged several times. Once again it was clear that Zwarts posed an always lurking danger. Which, however, yields little if he shoots the ball at the goalkeeper (65th) or against the crossbar (67th). “In the second half we were playfully in control,” explained captain Jesper Verlaat after the game. “If you do one there, it looks completely different.”
The coach rules out new transfers, mainly due to a lack of opportunities
Verlaat might have been right about that. However, only the Sandhausen players were responsible for goals this Saturday, most recently the substitute Sebastian Stolze, who played around the lion goalkeeper Hiller, failed in the first attempt and threw his second attempt under the bar (87.)
Coach Jacobacci, who after 18 advances and 13 arrivals has to put together many colorful pieces of the puzzle to form a mosaic, had clearly criticized his team after what he said was a “missed” Lübeck game. Now he chose mild words. He even saw “a great second half from our side,” said the trainer on the Magenta TV microphone. “We put the opponent under pressure” and “tried a lot”. He “saw a lot of good things”. According to the coach, there will be no more new transfers, mainly due to a lack of “possibilities”.
Speaking of possibilities: The possibilities for the Italian investigators are greater than the authors of the sixty lettering might have guessed. According to the dpa agency, the carabinieri in Florence have now succeeded in identifying the alleged perpetrators on video recordings. Accordingly, the investigators could see how the two suspects entered a house in the Piazza della Signoria. The carabinieri broke into the house and found two spray paint cans in an apartment – and a total of eleven men who made it into the Italian newspapers.
