EIt had already become quite contemplative in the Grünwald stadium. Last week there was an Advent singing here with a record participation of around 2,000 visitors, many blue 1860 Santa hats could be seen and much more peaceful things were heard than usual. On Saturday, the fans set off a contemplative fireworks display outside the stadium at the home game against SC Verl, the west curve was covered with sparklers.
In the past few weeks, many people have been mild on 1860 Munich after the team played poorly for months. “It’s getting dark, the lights are coming on,” said Sixty’s new coach Markus Kauczinski, who was looking forward to a year-end game under floodlights. But in the second half against Verl things got really heated again, with an open exchange of blows that the Lions clearly lost: With the 0:2 (0:1) a winning streak against a top team that they would have overtaken with another win ended abruptly.
“We weren’t that active, we lost a lot of balls and weren’t that present,” said Kauczinski, summing up the first half. At the end of the year, he also found conciliatory words on the Magenta Sports microphone: “We managed to reach the top.” The gap to the top may have increased again, but in the second half of the season the Lions are still fighting for the top spots.
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Before this game, Verl had already scored more goals away from home (22) than in their own stadium (20), and coach Tobias Strobl said before the game: “I hope for an active Lions team.” Because that would accommodate Verl’s offensive style of play, which is very unusual for the third division. It turned out completely differently: Verl dominated the first half for long stretches, Sixty was easily pushed onto the defensive. On top of that, the home team was overwhelmed by the guests’ many standard variations. The early deserved lead fell after a well-rehearsed corner: Oualid Mhamdi had run in unmarked from the edge of the penalty area because Sixty’s David Philipp was blocked far too easily, Mhamdi hit a remarkable volley under the crossbar (12′).
At times it seemed as if the team had to find itself again after Kauczinski was forced to make several changes to the starting line-up after four series in a row. The 55-year-old is an often level-headed coach who likes to make an “oooch” face in press conferences and dismisses most of the statistics he is confronted with as unimportant (such as the fact that there have not been five Lions victories in a row for a very long time). But there hasn’t been such a personnel situation at Sixty for a long time: the best striker, Sigurd Haugen, is out for a long time with a broken jaw – during the week he was shopping in a large media store, his yellow cheek shining through the huge sales hall. Kevin Volland will not be out for that long, but was still missing on Saturday; Defender Siemen Voet also had to sit out due to a controversial fifth yellow card. And these are just those who have joined those already injured.
After falling behind, Sixty returned to his fighting skills. The team remained inferior in terms of play, but Patrick Hobsch almost equalized after a cross from Kilian Jakob (36th), who had replaced Voet in the starting line-up. After the break, the game even seemed to be overturned for a moment, also thanks to the frenetic spectators who had hoped so much for a jump to third place in the relegation zone.
But a sloppy cross pass from Clemens Lippmann resulted in the team being outnumbered, as it was in the 2-1 win in Ingolstadt a week ago. Thore Jacobsen only knew how to clear up the situation with a foul in the center circle. The captain, whose appearance had been questionable for a long time due to illness, had to leave the field after 55 minutes with a yellow-red card. Curiously, one of the best chances of the game followed shortly afterwards with a volley from Philipp Maier (58′). Sixty was now forced to be active, the losers got more and more space – consequently the 2-0 fell to Alessio Besio (76′). Now it was quieter in the stadium, although not necessarily more contemplative.
After the game, everyone went on a winter break with immediate effect, which for Kauczinski is not a real break: On January 3rd, the Lions will fly to the training camp in Turkey, and even then many of the injured players will still be missing. Florian Niederlechner, who had not been used for a long time, gave something forgiving during the time out. Last week, his contract was automatically extended until 2027 with a short stint. “I’m not completely satisfied, of course,” he said about his role as a replacement, but he would give “everything until the last day” for Sixty. That sounded at least a little contemplative – and like a good resolution for the New Year.
