2nd league
Victory in Braunschweig: Düsseldorf jumps to first place
The Düsseldorf team around Vincent Vermeij (r) took three points from Braunschweig. photo
© Swen Pförtner/dpa
Even with a new coach, Eintracht Braunschweig had no chance against Fortuna Düsseldorf. The 2nd league therefore has a new leader for at least one night.
Fortuna Düsseldorf has taken over the lead in the 2nd Bundesliga, at least for the time being.
Daniel Thioune’s team won 4-1 (2-0) at Eintracht Braunschweig and thus spoiled the debut of the new Braunschweig coach Marc Pfitzner. Last Monday, the 39-year-old took over as an interim successor to the released Jens Härtel at the bottom of the table, which has now had eight wins in a row.
The big cheers in the stadium for the long-standing Braunschweig player legend Pfitzner quickly fell silent. Thanks to goals from Christos Tzolis (12th minute) and Vincent Vermeij (14th), Fortuna led 2-0 after just a quarter of an hour. Florian Krüger brought Eintracht closer again in the 59th minute. Just five minutes later, Jamil Siebert (64th) made it 1:3 again. Ao Tanaka (90+8) added a fourth goal in added time.
Pfitzner put ten of Braunschweig’s eleven new signings on the bench or in the stands this season. In front of 19,333 spectators, Eintracht played much more courageously under the new coach. However, the major weaknesses of the Härtel period could not be remedied in a few days. Eintracht is too unimaginative at the front and too vulnerable at the back.
The Düsseldorfers are different. Three more goals from Vermej (36th), Tzolis (57th) and Shinta Appelkamp (67th) were disallowed due to offside or foul play. Fortuna was much more relaxed and dangerous for 90 minutes.