YouSecond afternoon in which the FSV Mainz 05 football professionals left the field with very long faces. Also against Union Berlin They were unable to end their winless streak on Wednesday and the 1-1 draw in the Bundesliga recovery match did not help the penultimate team in the fight against relegation.
“This is disappointing,” defenseman Tom Krauss said of the result. “We need three-pointers, otherwise we won't be able to get out of there.” The Mainz team seemed to be on the right track: for the first time since the game in Hoffenheim at the end of November they took the lead. However, it didn't last long.
What happened in the Europakreisel stadium for a long time after the 37th minute had nothing to do with football. Players from both teams formed groups, others chatted with the referee, warmed up on the spot or fought against the unpleasant cold with their arms in circles. The reason: at various stages, Union fans threw tennis balls on the grass, dissatisfied with the investors' plans. DFL (“You are destroying our sport”), just as fans of their hated city rivals did over the weekend.
Mainz angry at the draw
The Mainz team apparently withstood the forced break better: when the match continued in 13-minute extra time, they won a corner that Nadiem Amiri hit at the near post, where Jonathan Burkardt ran to head it in and put the ball into the area. . The angle furthest from the Berlin goal is expanded. “We just have to take a 1-0 score like that to halftime,” Tom Krauss said later, citing a sticking point for why nothing came of the second win of the season.
In the last action before the break, the Berliners equalized. After a throw-in on the right, a very high cross from Janik Haberer fell to the far post, where Robin Gosens pushed the ball into the near corner. Robin Zentner failed to reduce the distance between him and the aluminum, Danny da Costa did not disturb the national player's shot. “We should have put pressure on the one who gave the cross,” the coach complained. Jan Siewert.
Da Costa was one of three new players in Mainz's starting eleven compared to the game against Bremen last Saturday. Coach Siewert also brought in Edimilson Fernandes and Ludovic Ajorque, replacing Silvan Widmer and Phillipp Mwene at the back and Jessic Ngankam up front.
The game seemed to end early for the tall French striker: in the tenth minute, after a corner kick, Robin Knoche hit him in the face while trying to head a shot and he had to be treated for a serious nosebleed, but he was able to continue . Siewert and sports director of 05 Martin Schmidt After the final whistle, they discussed the penalty foul with referee Martin Petersen. “I don't understand why the penalty is not sanctioned,” said the visibly excited coach at the press conference.
Siewert encourages fans
The scene was one of the many emotions of the opening phase, in which the Berliners at the beginning became dangerous: Benedict Hollerbach tested goalkeeper Zentner with a shot from 15 meters, Kevin Volland launched a cross with his outside instep, the The ball bounced off the underside of the crossbar on the field.
On the rain-soaked grass, where puddles determined the fate of many passes, Mainz went on the attack in the ninth minute: both Sepp van den Berg and Leandro Barreiro were denied by goalkeeper Rönnow after a corner kick; Coach Siewert took advantage of the first approaches to the goal to encourage the main stands by waving his arms, and it was not the last time.
The biggest opportunity for Onisiwo
The Berliners shot more in the first half, 05 goalkeeper Zentner was questioned more than Union goalkeeper Rönnow on the other side, without any offensive fireworks being called into question. After the break, Widmer replaced da Costa in Mainz and Siewert also formed a chain of five with Tom Krauß, who had abandoned the six position. And his people continued to play always forward, Rönnow only managed to defend himself with an arm from a header from Widmer (52').
Karim Onisiwo's best chance to take the lead again came unexpectedly after a rebound from Berlin's Aissa Laidouni: the forward headed home from five meters next to the goal.