Drama in the Cup: Erfurt Outnumbered but Fights on vs. ZFC Meuselwitz

Before the game, the hosts had to make another change at short notice. Dominik Bock was injured while warming up and Amer Kadric came into the starting line-up to replace him. At RWE, Artur Mergel had to go to the bench, Andrej Startsev was missing.

Trübenbach scores again – hard red card

The game didn’t need a start, both teams wanted the goal, but initially stood securely on defense. Meuselwitz owned the first ten minutes, then Erfurt got into the game better and showed some good moves. In the 25th minute it became dangerous in front of both goals, first the shot was blocked by Erfurt’s Til Linus Schwarz, then Andy Trübenbach missed the shot on the other side. Then color came into play. Black hit Nils Miatke in the head when his leg was too high. The referee, after consulting with his assistant, drew the red card, a very harsh decision. And things got even tougher for Erfurt. In the 38th minute, Trübenbach shot low from 24 meters and the ball landed in the bottom left corner to make it 1-0. Afterwards, Erfurt’s Samuel Biek had the equalizer on his head, but Lukas Sedlak was in the left corner. And the ZFC could have added more when Miatke headed from seven meters in the 45th minute, but Malcolm Badu was able to clear it on the goal line.

RWE compensates for being outnumbered

With Artur Mergel, Erfurt became more grippy and dangerous after the break and managed a not undeserved equalizer in the 56th minute. Mergel went into the penalty area on the left, passed to Michael Seaton, who turned his body and hammered the ball under the crossbar. Afterwards it was an open exchange of blows, the ZFC had two chances through Fabian Raithel and were unlucky when a possible penalty whistle failed to be blown twice. Erfurt was always dangerous when Mergel got the ball.

It went into extra time, where the ball was in the goal in the 94th minute. After a right cross, Trübenbach headed to Hansch, who headed the ball into the goal, but was just offside. There were no further big chances on either side, although the necessary space was definitely there.

Sedlak becomes a cup hero

And the penalty shootout was also hard to beat in terms of drama. First, Florian Hansch from Meuselwitz was defeated by keeper Plath, then Sedlak became a cup hero. He first parried against Kwabe Schulz and also saved Seaton’s shot. Michel Ulrich finally shot the Meuselwitzer into luck.

Voices about the game

Fabian Gerber (Erfurt coach): “I think we got into it well and didn’t allow much. We fought self-sacrificingly. The red card is incomprehensible to me. We get that every week. When the ball is high, you have to get five every game It’s a decisive situation when you’re outnumbered for 90 minutes. But we came back and believed in the equalizer. Then we still have good transition situations. It’s extremely bitter. There are phases in football where you lose games. We will pick our heads up again. Congratulations to the ZFC, even if penalties are a matter of luck.”

2023-11-18 15:05:20
#Thuringia #Cup #ZFC #Meuselwitz #wins #cup #thriller #RotWeiß #Erfurt