Maurizio Jacobacci threw up his arms and roared his joy at the sky. The lions had never seen their new coach as hot-blooded as in the 3-1 (2-0) victory in Aue.
Aue/Munich – His jubilation after the final whistle was reminiscent of the triumphant gesture of a professional cyclist after crossing the finish line. And Jacobacci must have felt something similar – like a winner at the Giro d’Italia.
After a weak start against Cologne (0:1), the draws in Duisburg and against Elversberg showed that Jacobacci’s team can keep up with the main field of the 3rd division. Then on Saturday the long-awaited stage win. “There’s not much left to win,” the Italian had suspected two days before the trip to the Ore Mountains.
TSV 1860 defeated Aue – despite different shape curves
Hard to believe, but true: until Saturday, the lions were the only team in the 3rd division that hadn’t scored a three-pointer. Just as amazing: Jacobacci’s team won against an opponent who was actually just going through his best phase of the season.
The Saxons had won five of the previous six games, also against promotion contenders such as Mannheim, Wiesbaden and Saarbrücken. Then came 1860, a crashed climber. But there was no sign of that. The lions started as if there had never been a crisiswhich had started immediately after the first leg win (3:1).
TSV 1860 convinces collectively – “We’re having fun again!”
Impressive how every player suddenly moved back to the rehearsed paths, how quickly they switched and purposefully stormed forward. And above all: how suddenly opportunities were not only combined, but how callous they were used. Not only captain Stefan Lex, who contributed two goals as well as the assist to make it 2-0, played like he was unleashed. Joseph Boyamba also continued his upward trend with courageous actions.
Contagious joy in playing, in which Albion Vrenezi, scorer of the 2:0, was happy to participate, supported by the powerful six-man duo Moll/Wörl. “I’m enormously proud of the boys,” enthused Jacobacci. Vrenezi, the new creative director, said: “We deserved this today. Everyone fights, makes the meters for the other – that’s what distinguishes us. We’re having fun again!”
TSV 1860: Game against Dortmund II on the brink
Double goalscorer Lex, who even missed the best of his chances, admitted with a view to the leaden winter months: “It’s no fun if you just get your face in the face for weeks – rightly so, because we just couldn’t manage it in terms of results. You can see that the new coach has brought in a good drive; we had lost something. Now we have to maintain our performance – then we can beat a lot of teams in the league.” A total of ten games are still to come, especially from Easter onwards there will be a series of matches against teams that are in front of the lions in the table (including Osnabrück, Wiesbaden, Saarbrücken).
Dortmund II will start on Sunday (1 p.m.) – if the game is not postponed at short notice. That happens when, alongside Leandro Morgalla, Marius Wörl, who is in strong form, is called up for the German U19s’ final European Championship qualifying hat-trick. The lion of the hour is currently on call – but that could change before the first game on Wednesday against Italy. Meanwhile, there was praise for Jacobacci’s development work from a third division veteran. Aue’s coach Pavel Dotchev, 57, said after the end of his team’s successful streak: “Some things certainly didn’t work out for us, but that was also due to a strong opponent. That sixty has quality – they proved that today.” (ulk)