Lots of duels, hardly any speed – and no winner: VfB Stuttgart missed a successful end to its hitherto successful English week with the 1-1 (0-0) draw against 1. FC Union Berlin.
In a game that was tough for a long time, a stroke of genius from national player Chris Führich gave the team the lead (59th minute), which Wooyeong Jeong equalized against his former colleagues in the final phase (83rd).
The DFB Cup winners failed to climb to third place in the Bundesliga and gain further self-confidence before the upcoming Europa League duel at AS Roma. In front of 59,500 spectators, Union presented themselves poisonously in the duels for long stretches and thus earned their third draw in a row.
Plan taken too seriously
“Bring the ball forward, have clarity and try to get the thing towards the goal. That’s what it’s going to be about: defend deep, defend hard,” Union coach Steffen Baumgart described his plan before the game on “DAZN”.
However, his team took the task a little too seriously in the first action: After a long ball from Diogo Leite into the Stuttgart half, Livan Burcu roughly knocked his opponent Maximilian Mittelstädt off his feet – he was well served with a yellow card.
Contrary to expectations, the Swabians rarely dominated the game. Josha Vagnoman brought them into their first dangerous situation (6th). But the Berliners also appeared again and again in front of the VfB goal – and not just at set pieces. After a mistake by Stuttgart’s defense chief Jeff Chabot, Andrej Ilic wanted to be too precise and hit the post (14th).
Favorite without control
Coach Sebastian Hoeneß had explained that VfB was “to some extent the favorite”. But it was also clear to him that if his team missed the transition moments, the Unioners would quickly be compact again in their deep, almost insurmountable block. “Then it’s not that easy to create things there,” explained the coach. Because the hosts rarely caused unrest with their moves, Mittelstädt tried unsuccessfully from a distance (26th).
VfB made an unusually large number of mistakes in the build-up to the game and in combination play. Goalkeeper Alexander Nübel was in no way inferior to his teammates in this respect and made a slip. However, the rushing Ilic was unable to take advantage this time either (31′).
Double chance for VfB
The Stuttgart team came out of the locker room more actively. First, Führich worked his way into the penalty area, but couldn’t find a teammate. A little later, with a bit of luck, the ball reached Undav, who was denied by Frederik Rönnow (49′).
Hoeneß’s troops quickly lost the momentum they had gained for a short time and from then on Union made more progress again. Burcu was only a few centimeters short of getting to the ball in the six-yard box. Janik Haberer also narrowly missed the visitors’ lead. It was all the more surprising that the hosts were able to celebrate – thanks to Führich’s shot.
Union did not give up, but the capital city team initially lacked penetration. But because Angelo Stiller left VfB 2-0 up (80th), Union equalized shortly afterwards. Jeong drove the ball into the Stuttgart goal from ten meters with his left hand on an assist from Stanley Nsoki to make it 1-1, Nübel was powerless. When Jeong appeared in front of the VfB goalkeeper again, he made a strong save (88′).
