Redemption after the oath of loyalty: Arminia Bielefeld and coach Frank Kramer won again after 168 long days of waiting.
Thanks to a goal from Masaya Okugawa, the East Westphalia won 1-0 (1-0) at VfB Stuttgart and re-established the connection to the non-relegation places.
The second goal of the season by the Japanese (19th) lets Coach Kramer, whom the bosses had unmistakably backed during the week, work more calmly. Arminia missed a lot in terms of play, but convinced with great commitment. Joker Andres Andrade also headed the post (71st), Amos Pieper (83rd) and Janni Serra (86th) hit the bar. At VfB, which is badly injured and only won one of the last eleven competitive games, worries are growing.
The Armines had fond memories of Stuttgart: Last season they won both games against VfB, with a 2-0 win at Neckar they made the class stay perfect on matchday 34. But that success on May 22nd was also the last one in the Bundesliga so far. The fans have lost patience with coach Kramer, but sports director Samir Arabi has now categorically ruled out a separation.
To build on past success, Kramer swapped six players. Nevertheless, the badly decimated VfB, with ten (!) Players injured or sick, determined what was going on. And that despite the fact that coach Pellegrino Matarazzo was forced to rely on the offensive duo Daniel Didavi and Roberto Massimo, who were not well-rehearsed, in view of the shortage of personnel. After a combination of the two, Amos Pieper cleared the shot from Massimo in dire need (15th).
Shortly afterwards, the ball hit the other side, unexpectedly.
After a flash of inspiration from Patrick Wimmer and his through pass, Okugawa appeared alone in front of Stuttgart's substitute goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow and pushed in from 15 meters as ice.
It took VfB a long time to recover from this shock.
Didavi (37th) had the equalizer on the foot, but Jacob Laursen deflected his shot.
In the second half, VfB went looking for gaps in the tightly staggered Arminen defense with increasing despair.
Matarazzo rebuilt, brought two fresh offensive in Wahid Faghir and Mateo Klimowicz (61.) - but it did not help much.
Bielefeld allowed little.
Massimo, meanwhile left winger, failed to goalkeeper Stefan Ortega (65th), who celebrated a flawless 29th birthday.