If you can hear a sonorous hum from the speakers in the otherwise atmospheric Ruhr Stadium, then something is wrong. Then the audience is missing. Then during the game you can hear some of the fans honking their cars outside on Castroper Strasse. In protest, as a greeting, as an incentive.
These brave fans should have heard from the car radio shortly before 7 p.m. on Sunday that their VfL Bochum scored the golden goal in the 65th minute to win 1-0 (0-0) against VfL Wolfsburg. This beautiful moment by Milos Pantovic was the first Bochum Bundesliga goal after almost five hours of low goals, because VfL lost the last two games of the old year without a goal of their own. The start of the year was all the more gratifying for Bochum, but it was sad for Wolfsburg with the sixth Bundesliga defeat in a row. This is a historic negative club record.
“There’s no point in talking everything to death on the 18th matchday,” said Wolfsburg’s Maximilian Arnold
It was also the eighth Wolfsburg defeat in a row. That sounds like a lot of worry. “But it doesn’t do any good to talk it all out on the 18th matchday,” warned midfielder Maximilian Arnold afterwards. Unsurprisingly, for Bochum’s overjoyed captain Anthony Losilla, the key to victory was “defensive stability”.
Why so quiet? Shooters Milos Pantovic (right) and Gerrit Holtmann cheer Bochum’s opening goal, which will also be the final result
(Photo: Rauch / imago images / Nordphoto)
The biggest surprise before this Sunday game was certainly that the promoted Bochum with its 24 million euro budget and the recently eliminated Champions League participant Wolfsburg with its three to fourfold expenses were tied at the kick-off. And now the Bochumers have even passed by. Both clubs fought to distance themselves from the relegation zone and the two coaches Thomas Reis and Florian Kohfeldt, who graduated seven years ago in a joint course, had to show who would cut a better figure under such stressful conditions.
At first it clearly looked as if the hosts would be able to cope better with the difficult overall situation. They hit the third corner in front of the Wolfsburg goal after four minutes. But before the break, a game should develop that seemed easy to consume for people with high blood pressure. Harmless ball rotation in midfield was practically celebrated, which led to a certain impatience among strikers Sebastian Polter (Bochum) and Wout Weghorst (Wolfsburg). Both players were and will remain top scorer of their club with six goals each. This is a positive number for Polter, but absolutely not for Weghorst.
The next basement duel is now waiting for Wolfsburg
Judging by the fact that scoring opportunities in the first half were deflationary, Bochum’s leading player Losilla, who has just extended his contract to 2023, should have been very annoyed about a missed header opportunity shortly after the restart. The only reason he didn’t do it was because when he was six in front of the defense in the central defensive midfield, he immediately had to organize the defensive work again. His latent presence of mind paid off after a good hour, because it was the French who initiated Bochum’s lead in the 65th minute with a ball win in midfield. A cross from the right from the speed miracle Gerrit Holtmann reached the attacker Pantovic, who became famous as a long-distance shooter, in the six-yard area, who was now allowed to contribute a header hit for his personal best-of video. Only the slow motion revealed that Pantovic’s Wolfsburg header duel Maxence Lacroix was involuntarily involved in the hit.
Shortly before, Kohfeldt had brought Renato Steffen and Felix Nmecha in double substitution for his disappointing wingers Maximilian Philipp and Luca Waldschmidt, but Wolfsburg’s offensive game lacked creativity and effectiveness regardless of the line-up. This shortcoming could also fall back on the coach when accounting for the club. Next Saturday the Wolfsburg-based Hertha BSC Berlin will receive the next basement bang.