Only Yorbe Vertessen (M.) broke through the great Greifswald resistance with his winning goal.
Photo: imago/Leo
After progressing in the DFB Cup, the 1. FC Union footballers were celebrated by their more than 1,500 supporters in front of the packed guest block at the Volkparkstadion in Greifswald. Even though the Berliners were able to survive the first round for the ninth time in a row thanks to the narrow 1-0 win, there was still a lot of relief when the team and fans jumped and high-fived together. Because the brave fourth division team was close to a surprise against the Bundesliga professionals.
4,990 visitors in the sold-out crowd almost witnessed a sensation. »It was mainly due to the aggressive and well-organized opponent who did a great job. Greifswald presented us with real problems, especially in the first half,” admitted 1. FC Union’s new coach, Bo Svensson. »We were slow in our heads and didn’t have the understanding of what we needed offensively and defensively. The second half was a bit better. We had a little more control there.”
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Greifswalder FC made life difficult for Union in the first 45 minutes, but not only with five defenders in front of the attentive goalkeeper Jakub Jakubov. The GFC, which started the Regionalliga Nordost with two home defeats, was also able to surprise offensively. Former Union player Soufian Benyamina had the first chance of the game with a header after 39 seconds. Johannes Manske should have taken the lead later, but the Greifswald striker was unable to hit the empty goal after a misunderstanding between FCU keeper Frederik Rönnow and new defensive signing Leopold Querfeld.
Union Berlin, on the other hand, remained completely harmless in attack for a long time. Center forward Jordan Siebatcheu was never able to assert himself. Benedict Hollerbach also repeatedly got caught in the opposing defense. Coach Svensson showed his support several times during the first half. And the Greifswald supporters questioned the capital city’s membership in the first division with chants.
A week before the Bundesliga opener on Saturday at 1. FSV Mainz 05, Union lacked ideas in the build-up game. “If you always want to have the ball in your foot with your back to the goal, it’s easy for your opponent to defend forward,” said midfielder Rani Khedira. Since the long-range shots from Laszlo Benes and Andras Schäfer also missed their target, the Berliners had to be content with a zero diet at the break.
After the restart, the guests managed to shift the action more into the outsiders’ half. But it was only with the substitutions of Yorbe Vertessen and captain Christopher Trimmel that the Berliners became more determined. In the end, 7:28 shots on goal, 3:14 corners and 62 percent ball possession spoke statistically clearly for the favorites. But Vertessen’s decisive goal after 67 minutes was actually the first shot that came directly at the Greifswald goal.
However, the deficit did not allow the hosts to let up. They could have equalized just a little later through Lukas Sebastian Griebsch and the constant troublemaker Benyamina. »We did better as the game progressed. “All in all, it was a deserved victory, but also a lot of struggle,” said Khedira. That creates iron question marks before the sharp start in Mainz. After all, Union thought they were already on the right track after the dress rehearsal in the 1-1 draw against Real Sociedad San Sebastian. »We played a very good game last week. There has been a lot of movement in the last 14 days. We have to deal with it critically and use and analyze the images from the game,” said Svensson. »There is no other solution. It’s about getting much better quickly compared to the game in Greifswald. I didn’t see that coming. The curve was really going up.”
The team doesn’t seem to have fully internalized Svensson’s exhausting pressing system yet. And in the center forward position, the question arises as to whether Siebatcheu and Ivan Prtajin, who remained on the bench, can be the goal-dangerous attackers we are looking for. Union would probably have to do more in this regard by the end of the transfer period on August 30th. On the other hand, there could also be the departure of defender Robin Gosens. It remains exciting at 1. FC Union.
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