Fortuna Düsseldorf only managed a draw against SV Elversberg in the 2nd Bundesliga and is continuing to lose ground in the promotion battle.
In front of around 33,000 spectators, Isak Bergmann Johannesson (19th) scored the goal for Fortuna, Joseph Boyamba (53rd) equalized for Elversberg. As a result of the draw, coach Daniel Thioune’s team slipped to sixth place. Elversberg, trained by Horst Steffen, climbs to eighth place.
Düsseldorf with a strong first half
The Fortuna took command from the start. First Vincent Vermeij tried a powerful shot from 16 meters after a nice combination, but hit just over the goal.
Then Christos Tzolis headed the ball past the goal after a nice cross from the right side from Matthias Zimmermann. There wasn’t much missing either. Ten minutes had been played. A little later Tzolis himself hit a cross from the left, this time it was Jona Niemiec who narrowly missed the goal with his head.
Post! Quarshie missed the 2-0
And a little later, in the 19th minute, it happened. Vermeij extended a cross from the left from Nicolas Gavory with his head, Johannesson was lurking at the second post and shot from a tight angle and very close range.
The second goal almost came in the 31st minute, but Ao Tanaka was denied by goalkeeper Nicolas Kristof a few meters from the goal. And it continued like this. And after debutant Joshua Quarshie headed the ball onto the post after a Tzolis corner from the right, Elversberg could be happy that the score was only 0-1 at the break.
However, the Saarlanders almost equalized out of nowhere in stoppage time in the first half through Robin Fellhauer. But goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier was at his post.
Equalizer shortly after the break
“Something is happening here,” the Elverbergers may have thought during the break, because shortly after halftime the score was 1-1. Jannik Rochelt asserted himself strongly on the left side all the way to the baseline and then kept track of things. With a flat pass into the middle, he found the completely free Boyamba, who didn’t miss the opportunity from around six meters.
Weak second half
Afterwards the game petered out. This was mainly because Fortuna was a little shocked by the equalizer and Elversberg initially withdrew. But it didn’t get any better. In contrast to the first half, the second half was characterized by a lot of piecemeal work and numerous half-chances – and therefore downright boring. Fortuna was lucky that Wahid Faghir was just offside shortly before the end of what was supposed to be the winning goal for Elversberg.
Fortuna has to play against Karlsruher SC on the next matchday on Saturday (February 17, 2024/8:30 p.m.), Elversberg awaits VfL Osnabrück on Sunday (1:30 p.m.).