VfL Bochum fought their way back into the game after falling behind in Dortmund. But it wasn’t enough for “the greatest away game” because Matus Bero ran out of energy in the “400th sprint”.
Kevin Stöger mourned one scene in particular at the away game in Dortmund. IMAGO/Beautiful Sports
VfL Bochum played a really good away game in the small Revierderby in Dortmund. After 90 minutes, however, it was like so many times this season: there were no points for it. In ten games so far, Thomas Letsch’s team has only managed to score six points on third place, only Darmstadt (five) and Union (four) are even more unsuccessful. The 14th place in the table took a sniff. In the meantime, at least on the seventh away point – despite a bad start, because after just four minutes there was a penalty for BVB, which Niclas Füllkrug coldly converted.
Letsch was even more impressed by “the way we came back; we were certainly not the worse team in the first half.” The equalizer before the break was “lucky” in its creation – an own goal by Nico Schlotterbeck – but “but not undeserved”. The 1:1 gave the guests momentum. “Then we had them so far. The mood in the stadium was changing, we had the chances,” said Letsch.
I think it was his 400th sprint in the game.
Thomas Letsch about Matus Bero
Bero misses the great opportunity to take the lead
The best opportunity came in the 63rd minute when Matus Bero stole the ball from Ian Maatsen in the Dortmund penalty area and penetrated the penalty area alone – but was stopped there by the left-back with a risky tackle. “You have to take advantage of phases like this. Who knows what will happen then,” Letsch said angrily. Kevin Stöger also mourned this scene in particular after the game on the DAZN microphone: “If we played it more calmly and scored 2-1, it would have been the best away game.”
Ian Maatsen immediately makes up for his loss of the ball against Matus Bero. IMAGO/Beautiful Sports
Letsch expressed understanding for Bero’s lack of speed against Maatsen: “I think it was his 400th sprint in the game.” Another pass to Christopher Antwi-Adjei, who was also running along, was not possible because his teammate was offside. “We all have good ideas on the screen, but we all know what it’s like in there,” said Letsch, who also reiterated that the number “400” was meant seriously. With a bit of a smile, the VfL coach replied to the explanation that Bero “only” had 38 sprints in the database: “Then you must have miscounted.”
“We need points and don’t have any”
Dortmund made it 2-1 just a little later. Despite all their passion, sprints and determination, VfL were no longer able to make up for the renewed deficit. So once again you found yourself empty-handed in a strange place. The result gave Letsch a “mixture of pride and anger.” Although he was “absolutely proud of the boys for what they did here in this cauldron”, it was no use: “We need points and don’t have any.”
It’s good from Bochum’s point of view that there is another home game against Augsburg next Saturday (3:30 p.m.). There was only one defeat of the season at the Ruhrstadion.
2024-01-28 22:02:10
#Stöger #game
