Enlarge image
László Bénes: Hamburg's goalscorer to make it 1-0
Photo: Henning Rohlfs / Lobeca / IMAGO
Four days after reaching the DFB Cup final, 1. FC Kaiserslautern had to admit defeat at Hamburger SV. The Lauterers lost 1:2 (1:1) on the 28th matchday of the 2nd Bundesliga and thus slipped to 17th place in the table. HSV, on the other hand, is now back in third place in the relegation zone, but Fortuna Düsseldorf can follow suit on Sunday.
Holstein Kiel played in the majority at 1. FC Nürnberg from the 12th minute and won 4-0 (3-0). The Kiel team consolidated second place and promotion was getting closer and closer. The weak teams SV Elversberg and FC Magdeburg drew 0-0.
Both teams were under pressure before the game: HSV wanted to return to third place, while Kaiserslautern's fear of relegation replaced cup euphoria. Hamburg was the more dominant team at the beginning, but gave the guests chances due to errors in the build-up of the game (8th minute/11th/27th minute). László Bénes first hit the post for HSV (32nd) – and was able to celebrate two minutes later.
Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer's shot was slightly deflected into the path of Bénes, who had started into the six-yard box and scored from close range through the goalkeeper's legs (34').
In stoppage time in the first half, HSV once again lost the ball on the halfway line, Aaron Opoku crossed flatly to Ragnar Ache, who pushed the ball over the line at the second post (45th + 1).
After the break the picture was the same: the home side mostly had the ball, but destroyed any hint of sovereignty with defensive errors. Kaiserslautern's Almamy Touré failed to get the ball into the goal from close range twice, but Hamburg struck in return. The guests didn't get the ball cleared, Łukasz Poręba shot from the edge of the penalty area and his shot rolled into the net for the 2-1 winner (61').
Kiel, the strongest away team in the league, started the game in a dominant manner. FCN goalkeeper Carl Klaus put the ball too far in front of him, Kiel's Alexander Bernhardsson intervened, went around the keeper, but shot over the goal (3rd minute). Shortly afterwards, Joseph Hungbo saw the yellow card (5th) - and had to leave the field seven minutes later with a yellow-red card after he was too impetuous in a duel again (12th). The 24-year-old, who was a new starter, left the field visibly shaken.
After a corner, Marko Ivezić scored Kiel's deserved lead with a header (20'). Before the break, Shuto Machino curled the ball into the far corner from 15 meters (34'). Bernhardsson did the same as the Japanese and increased the score to 3-0 with a well-placed long-range shot (43'). Substitute Nicolai Remberg brought the final point of a one-sided game after a Nuremberg defensive mistake (79').
Elversberg was the more active and dangerous team in the first half. Magdeburg's coach Christian Titz had set up his team with a four-man chain in a more defensively oriented manner, which was also expressed in offensive harmlessness.
Hugo Vandermersch (27th) and captain Luca Schnellbacher (56th/74th) could have put Elversberg in the lead. On the other hand, substitute Bryan Teixeira failed (70').
Both teams had suffered a lot of setbacks recently. Elversberg has now been waiting for a goal for 273 minutes, Magdeburg even for 495. The SVE remains eleventh due to the draw. Magdeburg is behind in twelfth place, but could still be overtaken by Eintracht Braunschweig and FC Schalke 04 on Sunday.
mlb