There are two beliefs that instructively illustrate 1. FC Köln’s special relationship to carnival. One says that the club cannot win during the carnival season. The other promises that the FC will win every game during the carnival season, even if it hasn’t won any before. Both theorems meet the needs of professionals: If you can’t win or lose anyway, then you can go to the bar in disguise.
It will never be forgotten how Matthias Scherz once made use of this wisdom: Despite a disgraceful 0:5 loss to Rot-Weiß Essen in the second division the day before and a curfew imposed by coach Christoph Daum, Scherz was caught at the Rose Monday parade – he was wearing a sheikh Costume and sunglasses, but his striking profile gave him away in flagrante.
This time, however, the spirit of the triumvirate seems to be at 1. FC Köln’s side again: With the 2-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt, the team managed to revive the relegation battle and the first so-called threesome since a difficult 1-0 win in Darmstadt sometime in the fall, which only forefathers and foremothers remember.
At that time, Steffen Baumgart, who had recently also had special experiences with the carnival, was still in charge of the operation. Baumgart had given his players permission to celebrate all the celebrations – and the collapse came immediately: in four games before and after the celebration there was only one draw. What Baumgart vowed for the next session, abstinence and home office, is now accomplished by his successor at the Geißbockheim. “The brakes are the order of the day at carnival,” said captain Florian Kainz, repeating an instruction from coach Timo Schultz.
“I’m not here to celebrate carnival,” says coach Timo Schultz
Schultz, who, like Baumgart, comes from the coast, doesn’t have to worry about making himself unpopular in the city and in the dressing room because of his anti-funny slogan. You can still celebrate in May, “Carnival no matter what,” said Cologne’s pioneer and scorer of the 2-0 win, Jan Thielmann, alluding to the season’s goal of staying in the league. Head coach Schultz wasn’t entirely comfortable when he publicly explained his strict attitude. He knows that with his statement he “doesn’t make many friends – but I’m not here to celebrate carnival.”
The visitors from Frankfurt provided additional motivation to make sacrifices in favor of professionalism on Saturday evening. Eintracht twice helped the eager but largely harmless Cologne team to help themselves, first decimating themselves in the form of Niels Nkounkou with a sending-off and later also providing the template for Thielmann’s decisive shot – defender Hrjove Smolcic led the counterattack with a precision pass as if he wanted to earn a scorer point. Shortly before the end, Frankfurt’s Brazilian Tuta was sent off, but that was the end of it anyway. The Diva from Main invited the Diva from Rhine in solidarity to three points.
Nothing done? The referee sees it differently: Referee Timo Gerach shows yellow-red for Frankfurt’s Niels Nkounkou (right).
(Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa)
“A yellow-red card is always good,” said FC professional Thielmann gratefully. Until Nkounkou was sent off, the 0-0 score was on a stable footing, with neither side establishing superiority. Which is why, in addition to Schultz, sports director Christian Keller also considered a turnaround announcement to be hasty: apart from three points, they “gained nothing,” said Keller. It couldn’t be overlooked that the opponent had made a significant contribution to the victory. “For this reason, we are not yet a top team,” complained Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller, listing a list of deficiencies that ranged from “very, very thin in terms of football” to “catastrophic” and “unfortunately stupid”. The latter was addressed to Nkounkou.
Ironic note: The man who made the guests losers is an Eintracht player. With his fiery effort, Cologne’s Frankfurt loanee Faride Alidou not only caused the team to be sent off, but barely a minute later he also scored to make it 1-0 (67th minute). He respectfully refused to cheer, but that was of little use to his employer.
When Baumgart substituted Alidou, he usually regretted it – that’s different now
The recent development of the fast attacker from Wilhelmsburg near Hamburg also shows that FC has made progress since Steffen Baumgart’s retirement and Timo Schultz’s takeover. When Baumgart substituted Alidou, he usually regretted it. Nonsensical excesses, fearsome defensive behavior and other capers from the right winger gave him tantrums that every spectator could understand.
Schultz hasn’t been able to get Alidou out of all the nonsense, but for the time being he has managed to integrate him productively into the improvised offensive. Two goals in two games, that already makes him a contender for Cologne’s top scorer. The trained center forward Steffen Tigges, on the other hand, who has been notoriously goalless lately and yet was regularly used as a system player by Baumgart, has lost his place in the matchday squad for the time being. Schultz has modified the attack scheme, which was previously focused on crosses.
It is not only at these points that what Baumgart said when he left the club, which was provoked within the club but was nevertheless chosen by himself, is confirmed: that perhaps some players need a different coach. Baumgart also enjoyed working with Denis Huseinbasic, 22. But it was Schultz who made him a permanent fixture in the defensive midfield alongside Eric Martel. Since then, Cologne’s defense has been stable again, and since then, as much trend is allowed, 1. FC Cologne has reason to hope again.