20
21:20
The pace of the game has slowed down a bit in the last few minutes.
18
21:18
Incidentally, the Cologne team will miss the assist that gave the opening goal on Sunday in the Bundesliga at VfL Bochum, because the central defender saw the yellow-red card in the game against Union Berlin. So it’s the last game for Luca Kilian before the international break, who can work out again.
16
21:16
The Rhinelanders are now the dominant team, have more and more ball possession and can thus determine the course of the game.
14
21:15
The Cologne fans demand a penalty kick from a cross from the right, but Milan Petržela did not play the ball illegally with the right part of his upper body.
13.
21:14
A good start for Cologne, who of course could now make this game a lot easier. Because now the Czechs, who are considered to be inferior, are actually challenged.
11.
21:10
Tooor for 1. FC Köln, 1-0 through Sargis Adamyan
The tour for the cathedral townsfolk! In the corner kick resulting from Schindler’s previous cross run, Luca Kilian climbs the highest and heads in the direction of the long corner. The ball would have gone wide to the left of the goal, but at the far post Adamyan eluded his keeper and unconventionally poked the ball into the net with his sole just in front of the left-hand corner.
10
21:10
Dietz picks up Schindler on the right wing, but his cross is too harmless.
9.
21:09
Small change for the Bundesliga club: By the way, there is no video evidence in the Conference League.
7.
21:08
The Czechs are starting quite offensively here and want to play along. Michal Trávník works his way through to the left, but his low cross is safely intercepted by Schwäbe.
5.
21:05
As with the action before, the Czech keeper Tomáš Fryšták is a little unsure and palms the ball half-baked out of the danger zone.
4.
21:04
And now the German hosts with the first offensive action. However, two shots by Linton Maina and Ljubicic were blocked by the Czechs, and the keeper cleared them with his fist in between.
3.
21:03
By the way, the guests play in dark blue, the Effzeh in white and red.
2.
21:01
Yellow card for Ondrej Duda (1. FC Cologne)
Duda immediately with a dark yellow card! Against Kozák, he hits the shin with a hard tackle including an open sole, is shown the yellow card and can even count himself lucky with it.
1.
21:01
It starts in Cologne-Müngersdorf – right away with a raid-like attack by the Czechs. Doski’s left-footed shot from afar flies harmlessly into the side netting after a few seconds.
20:58
The Effzeh fans are now actually giving a much better picture than last week. The two teams are welcomed peacefully but with a great atmosphere, the south stand has prepared a choreography.
20:56
At 1. FC Slovácko, one name stands out from a German perspective: Michal Kadlec. The Czech defender played for Cologne rivals Bayer 04 Leverkusen a few years ago, made 128 Bundesliga appearances for the Werkself and might be familiar to some German football fans.
20:51
The Cologne coach, who was absent at the start in Nice due to a yellow-red suspension, is allowed to coach from the sidelines again today. He continues to rotate diligently in these English weeks and, compared to the home defeat against Union Berlin, who are playing at the same time in the Europa League, he sends five new players onto the field. Schindler starts on the right back instead of Schmitz and there is a debut in central defense: 21-year-old Nikola Soldo plays for Effzeh for the first time instead of Hübers. Skhiri gets a break, Duda plays for him. Ljubicic and Adamyan also start on the offensive, with Hector and Kainz replacing them on the bench.
20:44
Steffen Baumgart also hinted that his information about today’s opponent is rather sparse and is based on “at most what we can replace in the table and what you see on TV.” He did, however, elicit a little more information: Slovácko is a “very, very experienced team”. It is difficult to assess “whether they are acting in a chain of three or a chain of four, because they vary it again and again.”
20:34
1. FC Slovácko are the most harmless opponents in Group D by name. For the first-time Czech Cup winners, participation in the Conference League is their first appearance on a larger European stage – last year they failed in the second qualifying round. And the league record in the Czech Fortuna Liga, which of course cannot be compared to the Bundesliga, should not cause any major concern, with 1. FC Slovácko in eighth place with a balanced record. After all, he wrested a 3-3 point split from Partizan Belgrade on the first day of the Conference League.
20:27
In the other two competitions, the start was a bit bumpy. FC Köln were eliminated by Jahn Regensburg in the DFB Cup, and in the Conference League qualifiers the fans had to tremble a little after the home game defeat against Fehervar before the second leg, but then won it comfortably 3-0. In the 1-1 draw against OGC Nice, the Baumgart squad could also be satisfied from a sporting point of view.
20:22
So today it shouldn’t be about such negative headlines as last week, Baumgart would like to “be able to celebrate a party together” with the fans. And that brings us to the sporty part, which is nicer from the FC point of view! Because the Rhinelanders have been playing a not all-round exciting, but decent season so far. Until last Sunday, the billy goats were one of only three remaining German teams that were still undefeated in the Bundesliga. That changed against the current, also undefeated leaders Union Berlin with a 0-1 home defeat. The bottom line is a solid start to the league with nine points from six games and currently seventh place.
20:15
For FC Köln, it’s not just about clinching the first three points of the European Cup season after the 1-1 draw in the away game against OGC Nice. The people of Domstadt also want to present themselves better all round than in Nice, where sport unfortunately took a back seat because “complete chaos”, as the managing director of sport Christian Keller called the violent Cologne fans, caused unpleasant scenes. Effzeh trainer Steffen Baumgart: “In my opinion, 99% of the spectators were reasonable and didn’t screw up. We keep talking about the 1% and unfortunately that’s the sad thing at the moment.”
20:00
Good evening and welcome to Cologne’s first home game in the Conference League! The first win is against 1. FC Slovácko from the Czech Republic, the kick-off will be at 9 p.m. in the Rhein-Energie-Stadion.