Third division football club 1. FC Saarbrücken did not get beyond a draw in their home game against SV Wehen Wiesbaden on Monday evening. FCS only conceded the equalizer in the last few minutes.
After three draws, two of them goalless, 1. FC Saarbrücken actually had to get three points in front of their home crowd against SV Wehen Wiesbaden on Monday evening to reduce the gap to TSV 1860 Munich – the current table leaders with 19 points.
Contrary to what coach Uwe Koschinat indicated in the press conference on Monday, top striker Adriano Grimaldi made it into the squad in the duel against SVW, but not into the starting XI. Grimaldi injured his ankle during training on Friday and has already fueled fears of a longer absence.
In terms of personnel, Koschinat hardly changed anything compared to the last game against VfL Osnabrück: Instead of Tobias Schwede, Kasim Rabihic was allowed to play on the left. In addition, the head coach relied on a back four.
Intense first half
The game started intensely and aggressively from both sides. The first yellow card came in the seventh minute – Max Reinthaler tackled Richard Neudecker, who fell to the ground. Shortly thereafter, FCS got a free kick about twenty meters from the center of the goal for a foul on Luca Kerber. But the shot was not really dangerous for the opponent.
At the beginning of the first half there weren’t any great chances to score. But then, in the 22nd minute, Sebastian Jacob relieved the tense fans: Tobias Jänicke secured the ball after Brooklyn Ezeh lost the ball, crossed him into the penalty area, Jacob was ready and headed in to make it 1-0.
However, SVW equalized in the 33rd minute. Ironically, the former FCS player Johannes Wurtz from Neunkirchen scored in the lower left corner, goalkeeper Daniel Batz had no chance.
Multiple yellow cards
The goal conceded to the home side. Both offensively and defensively, things weren’t quite as smooth for FCS as they were before they took the lead. Instead, things got hot on the outside line: Substitute Dave Gnaase and coach Koschinat saw a yellow card in the 43rd minute for complaining.
It got really dangerous for the SVW in the last minutes of the second half. After a free kick, which Neudecker had pulled sharply on goal, the ball could not be cleared directly by SVW goalkeeper Florian Stritzel. There was chaos in the five-meter area, finally the SVW was able to clarify.
Shortly after the final whistle of an exciting first half, the referee pulled out the next yellow card – this time for Ahmet Gürleyen von Wehen.
Neudecker meets almost from 60 meters
The first minutes of the second half featured several scenes in the goal area, both for the host and for the guest. Neudecker almost scored a goal from 60 meters in the 51st minute: SVW keeper Stritzel was too far in front of his goal, Neudecker tried it from his own half, but Stritzel was able to intercept the ball after a sprint.
From the 55th minute there were two changes at FCS: First Grimaldi came on for Rabihic, then captain Zeitz had to leave due to injury, Mike Frantz replaced him.
After a rather sluggish quarter of an hour, partly due to Saarbrücken’s defensive orientation, Luca Kerber put FCS back in the lead out of nowhere after a Jacob cross in the 65th minute. Shortly thereafter it could almost have been 3:1, but the goalkeeper parried.
Compensation in the last few minutes
In the 78th minute Koschinat brought on Marvin Cuni for Sebastian Jacob and Tobias Schwede for Julian Günther-Schmitt. FCS concentrated on not losing the lead by conceding a goal and made it difficult for the opponent to get through.
But then SVW managed to equalize in the 88th minute – Ivan Prtajin scored to make it 2-2. Cuni would have had a chance to make it 3-2 in injury time, but Stritzel prevented FCS from taking the lead again. The game finally ended in a draw – the fourth in a row.
FCS is currently in 4th place with a total of 13 points, three points away from SVE and six from the leader of the table.
The SR radio news also reported on this topic on September 5th, 2022.
