Lautern’s new coach Dirk Schuster had predicted a game that would be shaped by tactics. And he was right. In the 0-0 relegation match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Dynamo Dresden, the backdrop was first class, but the game was largely without chances. Dresden’s Michael Sollbauer readily admitted that such a result may be more deplorable for the neutral spectator than for the players themselves: “No one wanted to take too much risk here, which explains the lack of opportunities. From the backdrop it was attractive today , otherwise maybe not like that.” Lautern’s attacker Terence Boyd also saw a certain discrepancy between the ranks and what was happening on the pitch: “It was mentally ill what the fans delivered. We played well, that makes you want more. Of course we have planned more, especially with You want to win such support.”
After all: In the first round, the third division was not only the more active, but also the better team. While Dresden shied away from all offensive risks and limited themselves to securing goals, Lautern initially acted more courageously than many had expected. In the 13th minute, Daniel Hanslik and Terence Boyd missed a sharp cross from Marlon Ritter. It was also the midfielder who initiated the second Lauterer half-chance through Kenny Prince Redondo, who, however, shot the ball well over the goal. Boyd, who scored 15 times in the third division season just ended, was then left to miss the last chance of the first half (44′).
Dynamo, who had been accompanied by 5,000 supporters to the West Palatinate, could feel confirmed in their tactics of hoping for the second leg in front of their own audience. The way in which the few offensive actions were completed in the last third of the field also showed why the team had not managed a single win in the entire second division second half. Dynamo veteran Chris Löwe had urgently warned his teammates before the game – especially in front of the opponent’s stadium. The defender spent three and a half years at Kaiserslautern before coming to Dynamo via Huddersfield. Not least because of the atmosphere at the “Betze”, FCK was “the toughest opponent we could face”, said Löwe.
In fact, the joy of both fan camps at the prestige duel between the two spectator magnets was palpable. The city was already full of parked cars two and a half hours before kick-off and tens of thousands were already waiting in front of the stadium to be admitted. The fact that there was hailing and lightning an hour before kick-off seemed staged by a club that calls its stadium magazine “In the Devil’s Name” and in which an ultra group is called “Generation Lucifer”.
Dresden relies on its own audience in the second leg
The FCK fans, who had thanked the coaching team led by Marco Antwerpen (“Thank you for your passion and commitment”), who had been ousted before the relegation games with a banner, had to endure a moment of shock at the beginning of the second half when Daferner shot FCK- Keeper Raab forced to make a great save (56th). Otherwise, the offensive efforts on both sides were mostly fruitless because the pace of play was mostly rather leisurely even for a game in the gray area between the second and third division and both sides repeatedly interrupted the flow of the game with tactical fouls.
However, the Lauterer stadium announcer did not have to announce any more goals until the final whistle, but he was also busy enough warning both fan camps more than a dozen times, both urgently and unsuccessfully, not to ignite any pyrotechnics.
Next Tuesday, in the second leg in Dresden, FCK are likely to face a much more offensive Dynamo team. Fortunately, it is also to be expected that the game will be more exciting than the first leg in Lautern. “There will be fireworks on Tuesday,” predicted Dresden’s Sollbauer. With 90 percent of their own fans behind them, they will also live up to the role of favourites: “We are second division, we are professional footballers.” But FCK coach Schuster gratefully returned this challenge: “Nothing happened today and we will be well prepared for Dresden.”