Relief at VfB Stuttgart: VfB celebrated their first win of the season on the tenth day of the Bundesliga match and defeated VfL Bochum 4-1 (2-1) in a basement duel.
The Stuttgarters, who are coached by interim coach Michael Wimmer, have even left the relegation zone and now have eight points on their account. At VfL Bochum, however, the short interim high after the 3-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt last week has already ended. VfL remains bottom of the table with four points. It was the second defeat in the third game under new coach Thomas Letsch.
Man of the match was Stuttgart’s Silas Katompa Mvumpa, who scored two goals himself (3’/penalty kick, 64′) and set up Naouriou Ahmada’s goal (22′). Wataru Endo scored the fourth goal in Stuttgart. Simon Zoller scored for VfL Bochum in the 29th minute to make it 2-1.
Silas hits early from the point
VfB started furiously and showed commitment and determination from the start and was rewarded early on. In the third minute, the fast Silas got the ball on the right side, let two Bochum players out and then was brought down by Danilo Soares in the penalty area. Silas took responsibility himself and safely converted the penalty due to give Stuttgart the lead (4th).
As a result, Bochum were the more active team and had more possession, but failed to create scoring chances. Instead, the guests invited Stuttgart to score a goal. In the 22nd minute, VfL goalkeeper Manuel Riemann unnecessarily went into a header duel outside the penalty area. Silas took advantage of the brief confusion in Bochum’s defense and put the ball through to Ahmada, who shot the ball into the far corner from twelve yards. Although Riemann was back in goal, he was powerless against the well-placed shot.
Müller shoots at Zoller
But VfB was not without mistakes defensively either and thus brought VfL back into play. In the 29th minute, Stöger played the ball sharply in front of the Stuttgart goal. Goalkeeper Florian Müller tried to defend himself with his feet, but shot Zoller instead. The ball bounced off his foot from six meters into the empty goal.
Despite the setback, Stuttgart remained the more dangerous team. Because Sosa fired a free kick just over the goal in injury time in the first half, the home side remained 2-1 at half-time.
Immediately after the restart, Bochum started to work on the equaliser. It almost happened in the 60th minute. Gerrit Holtmann took advantage of a misunderstanding between Waldemar Anton and goalkeeper Müller and stole the ball in the penalty area. Müller was there with his foot and prevented worse things from happening.
Stuttgart mercilessly effective
In the second half, VfB barely got out of their own half, but showed themselves to be mercilessly effective in the 63rd minute. Substitute Chris Führich sent Sosa out and his cross landed at Silas’ feet. He had a lot of space 14 meters in front of goal and hit the bottom left corner dry.
However, Bochum did not give up and continued to play forward. The goal was made by VfB again. After a free kick from the half field, the ball landed after a little ping-pong in the penalty area at Endo, who hit the goal powerfully (71st) – the decision. Silas almost scored his third goal in the 87th minute, but it hit the crossbar.
Stuttgart in Dortmund, Bochum receives Union
Both teams will continue in the DFB Cup during the week. VfL Bochum is visiting third division club SV Elversberg on Tuesday (18.10.2022, 6.45 p.m.). One day later (October 19th, 2022, 8.45 p.m.), VfB Stuttgart welcomes second division side Arminia Bielefeld. On Bundesliga 11. On the 7th matchday, VfB Stuttgart must pass in Dortmund (Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 3:30 p.m.). A day later, VfL Bochum is fighting at home against Union Berlin for important points in the relegation battle (3:30 p.m.).