SC Freiburg narrowly lost its home game in the Europa League against West Ham United. In the end, a strong second half wasn’t enough for the Breisgau team.
“This is a big challenge for us,” SC Freiburg coach Christian Streich warned before the game against West Ham United. After just eight minutes, the guests proved in front of 34,700 spectators in Freiburg’s Europa Park Stadium that Streich had correctly warned. After a cross from Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta rose up in the penalty area and nodded the ball into the Freiburg goal. SC goalkeeper Noah Atubolu got the ball with his fingertips, but was no longer able to prevent the score from going 0-1 down (8th minute of the game).
The Freiburg team tried not to show any signs of uncertainty, but just four minutes later it could have been 0-2 from the hosts’ perspective. After Freiburg lost the ball in the forward movement, West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus moved into the Freiburg penalty area from the right, but Atubolu directed his shot onto the post with a strong reflex (12th).
Offside goal by West Ham’s Pacqueta
Now the Freiburgers were clearly nervous. In the 15th minute, the ball was in Noah Atubolu’s goal again: Paqueta, however, was just offside when he scored. The 0:2 still seemed to be in the air.
As a result, Freiburg increasingly freed itself from the English grip without achieving any significant conclusions. Nevertheless: The Freiburg team, who had to make do without the long-term injured Christian Günter as well as the ailing Michael Gregoritsch and Yannik Keitel, increasingly earned more and more of the game. Towards the end of the first half, the Breisgauer finally established themselves in the guests’ half. However, the Sport Club did not have any chances to score. So it went into the break 0-1.
Doan comes on for Adamu – quick equalizer
The second half started with a much more offensive SC Freiburg. The Freiburg team rewarded themselves for their offensive drive in the 48th minute. After a strong pass from substitute Ritsu Doan (45th for Junior Adamu), Roland Sallai appeared alone in front of West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. Sallai’s shot was parried strongly, but the blocked ball landed at the feet of Kübler, whose blocked shot in pool mode landed back at Sallai. The Hungarian didn’t miss his second attempt and nailed the ball unstoppably under the crossbar from five meters – 1-1 (48th). SC Freiburg was suddenly back in the game.
The British, whose fans were excluded from the European Cup game against Freiburg due to riots surrounding the Conference Cup final against Florence, were subsequently no longer able to get in front of the Freiburg goal. Instead, Freiburg turned up the heat and should have taken the lead in the 54th minute through Lucas Höler. After a header from Kiliann Sildillia, the ball bounced off the post back to Höler, who, however, aimed too high from five meters.
Freiburg presses for the lead – West Ham scores
In the period that followed, the SC showed itself to be significantly more agile, started early and was able to force West Ham United to make mistakes again and again. Nevertheless, West Ham remained dangerous. In the 61st minute, Bowen was denied by Atubolu from a tight angle. The game became more and more open, both teams kept coming up with good moves.
A standard situation then caused the deficit to fall again. When a corner came from the left, SC goalkeeper Atubolu didn’t come out of his box consistently enough. West Ham’s Nayef Aguerd jumped over Atubolu’s fists, got to the ball a moment earlier than the Freiburg goalkeeper and headed into the goal to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. A bitter setback for Freiburg, who had largely had the game under control until then.
More offensive Triple change from Freiburg
A quarter of an hour before the end, Christian Streich made three substitutions. Merlin Röhl, Maximilian Philipp and Noah Weißhaupt came in for Maximilian Eggestein, Lucas Höler and Lukas Kübler – an offensive announcement from Christian Streich. On the Freiburg bench they still believed in an equalizer. Although Freiburg pressed for an equalizer in the final minutes, there were no longer any significant chances. In the 87th minute, Streich brought on another striker, 23-year-old Maximilian Breunig (for Grifo), but the motto “long and wide” was unsuccessful. On the other side, Bowen had the chance to make it 3-1 after a counterattack, but narrowly missed the Freiburg goal (90th).
In the end, SC Freiburg lost 1:2 in an even game. A defeat that should still make Christian Streich optimistic given his performance. SC Freiburg’s Bundesliga home game against FC Bayern Munich is scheduled for next Sunday (5:30 p.m.). The Breisgauers will meet in the Europa League on October 26th. at home to the Serbian representative TSC Backa Topola. West Ham face Olympiacos Piraeus in Greece on the same day.
