Thanks to Naderi’s gut decision: Hansa wins and extends the series

by Tim Osing

For the fourth time in a row, FCH managed an away win, a total of their sixth success in the last nine games. On this foggy Saturday, Ryan Naderi kept an overview and made a gut decision: the FCH top striker used this part of his body to send the ball into the goal as he fell; the strange hit was the only one of the hard-fought game.

Rostock moved within two points of second place and within one point of the relegation zone. At the end of the first half of the season and the end of the year, FCH welcomes 1. FC Saarbrücken next Saturday (2 p.m., live on NDR and on ndr.de), Stuttgart II travels to VfL Osnabrück (2 p.m.).

Results, table standings and match days at a glance.

Two top chances right at the start

In the SG Sonnenhof Großaspach stadium, where VfB’s second representative team plays its home games about 30 kilometers from Stuttgart, one of the youngest teams in the 3rd league welcomed one of the ones with the highest average age. FCH coach Daniel Brinkmann “rejuvenated” his starting eleven at least a little compared to the wild 2-2 draw against Aachen: Ahmet Gürleyen replaced the suspended Florian Carstens, Jonas Dirkner took Christian Kinsombi’s place in the center.

Dirkner was involved in the first big chance after a few minutes. Released from the right by Jan Mejdr, the 23-year-old laid it flat from the goal line back into the penalty area. Benno Dietze had a free shot from ten meters, but only hit the crossbar (5th).

Diehl hesitates too long

Less than 20 seconds later, VfB II had the opening goal in hand: FCH captain Franz Pfanne lost his header duel with Mansour Ouro-Tagba in midfield, the Togolese player played into the path of Justin Diehl, who ran alone from the halfway line towards Benjamin Uphoff. As if he had had too much time to think, Diehl missed the moment of completion and stumbled upon the great opportunity.

After the exciting start, the game shifted more to the midfield. Apart from a deflected shot from Diehl (8th) and an offside goal from Ouro-Tagba (22nd), which was immediately called back, there were hardly any scenes in the goal area in the first half.

Naderi hits with his stomach

Brinkmann changed during the break and brought in Adrien Lebeau, the best assist provider of last season, for Dietze. The Frenchman celebrated his comeback against Aachen after ankle surgery. In Aspach he immediately revived Rostock’s offensive game – and initiated the opening goal with a short corner.

Marco Schuster crossed halfway towards the goal, Mejdr extended at the first post – and at the second, Naderi decided to throw himself into the ball and press it into the net with his left side as it fell (53′). Of course Naderi: For the striker, who was courted by several second division teams, it was the seventh goal of the season, certainly his most unusual.

Uphoff prevents own goal

It remained strange after that: Gürleyen failed to pass back to his own goal so badly that Uphoff was only able to barely scrape the ball off the line in a full sprint and with a dive. Referee Martin Wilke decided on a back pass and an indirect free kick from the five-meter line. Efe Korkut took a powerful shot and Andreas Voglsammer saved on the goal line for Mecklenburg (61′).

In the last 30 minutes, the best defense in the league (18 goals conceded) lived up to its reputation: the young Stuttgart players bit their teeth against the Hansa defense and, despite having a lot of possession, were no longer able to create a clear opportunity. So Naderi’s gut hit was the only one of the day.

18th matchday, December 13th, 2025 2:00 p.m

Hellstern – Olivier, Herwerth, Groiß, Meyer (75th Nothnagel) – di Benedetto, Lüers (46th Korkut) – Penna (75th Nankishi), N. Sessa (87th Köhler), Diehl (32nd Sankoh) – Ouro-Tagba

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Uphoff – Mejdr, Pfanne, Gürleyen, Bergh (90.+3 Wallner) – M. Schuster – Dietze (46. Lebeau / 90.+5 C. Kinsombi), Fatkic – Dirkner – Voglsammer (71. Holten), Naderi (72. Hummel)

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