The referee had apparently just blown the whistle for the game. At least that’s how the body language of some players from both teams, who lowered their heads or fell to the ground, could be interpreted. The players’ body language showed disappointment on one side and disappointment on the other, even though the disappointed Stuttgart team had been cheering a few seconds before. And the disappointed people from Heidenheim perhaps already suspected at that moment that their spontaneous sobering would turn into a certain satisfaction the next morning.
But before we could begin an emotional and technical analysis of this sensational 3:3 (2:0) between VfB Stuttgart and 1. FC Heidenheim, which was sensational in many respects, two smaller questions still had to be clarified. Was this game even over yet? And if so, how did it end? Deniz Undav stood there in the middle of all the variously disappointed people, he raised his thumb, then lowered it again, his gaze formed a huge question mark. My goal counted, right?
The goal to make it 3-3 was the punchline to a game that didn’t look like it needed a punchline for a long time. Not only that Undav scored in the eighth minute of injury time, even though only six minutes were announced. It wasn’t just that his goal sent all the emotional states intended for football through the stadium at high speed. In the middle of this wild rush of emotions, the scoreboard suddenly read: “Goal check due to foul”. If silence can erupt loudly, it did exactly that in the arena in Bad Cannstatt, but then the next message followed: “Goal check due to hand”.
Only when Sebastian Hoeneß and Frank Schmidt, the coaches of both teams, later spoke in the press conference about a 3-3 draw, did the feeling gradually solidify that this game could actually have ended that way.
“This game had everything that a neutral spectator would want to see on Easter Sunday,” said Heidenheim captain Patrick Mainka later, who, however, was no more a neutral spectator than the 60,000 people in the finally completed Stuttgart World Cup arena. Maybe people don’t do April Fools’ Day pranks these days because humanity may no longer have a taste for practical jokes, which made the humor that this game developed on the eve of April Fools’ Day all the more fascinating. It was a humor that transcended time, place and occasion, perhaps even reaching the fabled Asian market.
There is a certain irony in the Bundesliga game Stuttgart against Heidenheim
That was the irony of this game: While the active Stuttgart fan scene was silent for ten minutes in protest against the alleged erosion of members’ rights and the influence of the new investor Porsche, dressed all in black, a football game down there became a frenzy, which should delight every potential league and other investor. If Singapore saw this game, Singapore will definitely be raving about Angelo Stiller and Tim Kleindienst. Singapore, on the other hand, doesn’t know who Claus Vogt and Christian Riedmüller are, although the Stuttgart presidium members were asked to resign by the dark figures in the curve on banners several kilometers long, presumably quite rightly. But one must also say: If Singapore has not understood anything about this small-scale conflict, Singapore has not missed anything.
The game as such reclaimed its right on this early evening in Central European time; it presented itself in a variant that was ideal for attracting the attention of the Asian market. It was a buy-one-get-one-free game: there were two events for the price of one. The first part lasted about an hour and was characterized by the highest artistry, the second, shorter part was louder, louder and much more direct: first a string orchestra from Stuttgart played, then hard rock from Heidenheim followed. In addition to five impressive goals, this Swabian crossover included an odd own goal, a red card for Heidenheim’s Dovedan (too hard), a yellow card for Heidenheim’s coach Schmidt (too hard) and the fifth yellow card for Stuttgart’s captain Waldemar Anton ( too unnecessary).
But what made this game fascinating was that its result was inexplicable. After an hour, no one would have come up with the idea of leaving the game 3-3. Without being guilty of gross exaggeration, one can say that VfB Stuttgart from 1893 rarely played such fine football in the club’s history as in this first hour, and anyone looking for a benchmark in the 131-year history may end up with 3rd place :0 away win in Hoffenheim two weeks ago.
What seemed to be a run at the beginning of the season has developed into a stable class under the guidance of coach Hoeneß. With almost shocking aplomb, VfB dominated every corner of the pitch; Serhou Guirassy, Deniz Undav, Chris Führich and Enzo Millot didn’t even give the Heidenheim team, who are actually very familiar with duels, the chance to lead one. There was always a space somewhere for a pass or a tiny ball forward, and the sports friend Stiller kept rushing up from the center, cheekily ignoring the limiting factor that he wasn’t actually that fast. This resulted in two style-defining VfB goals, suddenly accelerated from a calm phase of the game, with through passes (Stiller) and two back-heel assists (Guirassy, Undav) before Guirassy’s 1-0 (41st); with small header relays in midfield and Stiller’s one-two with Undav before Stiller’s 2-0 (53rd).
It was “unbelievable how they let the ball run,” said Heidenheim’s captain Mainka about “the absolute top team” from Stuttgart. And then goalkeeper Nübel couldn’t get hold of the ball.
The quick goal (63′) “kissed the Heidenheimers awake,” said VfB sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth, and goalkeeper Nübel also made a full confession. “If I don’t make the mistake, it will be difficult for Heidenheim to come back,” said Nübel, remembering Kleindienst’s header as one that he intercepted “like in 99 percent of cases.” He was already looking forward with the intention of initiating a quick counterattack, “and then the ball somehow slipped through me.”
Opinions later differed as to why VfB lost their sovereignty after this goal and conceded two more goals from Tim Kleindienst (84th, 85th). “It was arrogant the way we played,” said Deniz Undav angrily immediately after the game, “nobody did anything defensively.” Everyone “tried to score their own goal instead of looking for the other person or playing as a team.” Later, in the mixed zone, he followed the milder line of coach Hoeneß, who expressed “mixed feelings” about his team’s loss of control. “This is a young team that is doing a lot of things right. I would like to give them credit for that – and once again express how outstanding it is that we are still playing 3-3 here.”
While Hoeneß said this, the main argument for the strange course of the game was sitting next to him. Frank Schmidt’s Heidenheimers love nothing better than coming back from behind, ideally like in Stuttgart after sharp crosses (Beste made it 2-2, Dinkci made it 2-3) to center forward Kleindienst. However, it is unlikely that Heidenheim will fall behind again on the next match day. Then only FC Bayern comes.