Union fans immediately looked ahead; they didn’t hesitate to celebrate the 2-1 win against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Because as soon as he got to the files, a chorus formed that referred to the coming Wednesday. To be more precise: to the cup game at neighboring Hertha BSC in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, 23 kilometers away.
“City champion, city champion/Berlin’s number one…”, sang the 3,000 fans who were admitted to the An der Alten Försterei stadium in Köpenick. In doing so, they picked up a style they had already had on their lips at the end of November when they won 2-0 in the league against Hertha. The message from Saturday was this: The Unioner will appear in Berlin’s Westend without ballast. Because by beating Hoffenheim, Union jumped to fifth place in the table. Or, to put it in the diction of Union coach Urs Fischer: 15 games before the end, you are only nine points away from the non-relegation mark of 40 points.
The Unioners can pride themselves on the win against Hoffenheim more than you might think. Because Sebastian Hoeneß’ team delivered a really good performance in an overall stimulating game. Alone: Probably the most beautiful move of the game was a classic Made-in-Köpenick product. Defender Dominique Heintz, who immigrated to East Berlin from Freiburg and replaced Marvin Friedrich, who had emigrated to Gladbach, calmed the game with two intelligent back passes to goalkeeper Andreas Luthe. And when the keeper could be sure that Hoffenheim had sniffed enough chloroform, he made a deadly change of rhythm.
Luthe hit the ball into midfield, Andreas Voglsammer extended it to Max Kruse, who in turn served the substitute Sheraldo Becker on the left. The overwhelmed Hoffenheim defense could no longer prevent Kruse getting the ball back in the six-yard box through a pass from Becker to the back of the defense. Kruse’s shot landed – deflected – on the crossbar, Grischa Prömel then pushed the rebound over the line in the style of Klaus Fischer, he dived over the ground (73.).
And now? Higher ambitions? “The coach is too nagging for us for that”
“We had the moments on our side today,” said Union coach Fischer, not only looking at the win but also at the equalizer in the 22nd minute. Because there was a header from Voglsammer after a cross from the remarkably playing left-back Bastian Oczipka from the lower edge of the crossbar into the back of Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann and from there jumped over the line.
This interim 1:1 did not turn events upside down. But the fact that Fischer later said in his usual nebulous way that “one or the other thing had to be addressed” had to do with Hoffenheim’s superiority. “There wasn’t much wrong,” said national player David Raum, referring to his own team’s game. Only: The Unioners also provided the umpteenth proof of their resilience. That not only Friedrich or the regular left-back Niko Gießelmann were missing, but also the Nigerian goalgetter Taiwo Awoniyi, who had disappeared for the Africa Cup of Nations? It’s like that. They put that away as well as an extremely unfortunate opening goal by Hoffenheim, who happily combined and made a complex start: Ihlas Bebou had prevailed against Robin Knoche on the right attacking side and then crossed back from the baseline; Union central defender Timo Baumgartl headed the ball into his own goal in his 100th Bundesliga game (16′). But, as I said: Union turned the game.
This was favored by the fact that Hoffenheim sometimes suffered from stage fright in the attacking third. Or, to put it positively, there was always a Unioner who, in solidarity, corrected the mistake of a neighbor. In the first half, that was true of goalkeeper Luthe, when he made a world-class save when he headed Posch (11′), or captain Christopher Trimmel, when he tipped the ball away from Andrej Kramaric’s foot in the second half (51′). And even if they were only moderately satisfied with their performance, they defeated one of the strongest teams in the league: Hoffenheim had recently gone seven games in a row without defeat.
Only: That’s why you don’t go crazy in Köpenick. “The coach is too nagging for that. He preaches to us not to forget where we come from – three years ago we were still watching second division football here,” said match winner Prömel. Which doesn’t mean that the team doesn’t look ahead and think about the trip to Berlin’s Westend, about the cup game at Hertha on Wednesday. “I’m looking forward to this cup game, it’s an interesting and difficult task,” said coach Fischer.