Andreas Voglsammer (2nd from left) shot Union with his goal to 2:1 against St. Pauli a cup round further.
Photo: imago images / Ulrik Pedersen
The last words of an entertaining cup evening belonged to Timo Schultz. “And now the Champions League and cup victory,” said the coach of the FC St. Pauli after a friendly hug to Urs Fischer. Anyone who knows the coach of 1. FC Union suspects that if this sentence had been spoken publicly, all of the Swiss’s defenses would have been activated immediately. But because it was a goodbye with a wink, they both laughed and went their separate ways.
If Fischer has his way, they will soon meet again. After the 2-1 victory of his Berlin footballers in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup, he officially attested Hamburg’s good prospects in the promotion battle in the second division. “I have a gut feeling you’re going to do it,” he said late Tuesday night during the press conference. In addition to the usual opponent analysis before the game, Fischer’s appreciation was influenced above all by the impressions of the 90 minutes he had just experienced. They were hard fought and still so present that Union’s coach didn’t look like a winner. He still feels the tension, he said: “The joy comes later.”
Timo Schultz’s disappointment at being eliminated was written all over his face. The fact that he had to describe the defeat as “deserved” was mainly due to the fact that his team had lacked the penetrating power on the offensive. In the first half, St. Pauli only came twice dangerously in front of the Berlin goal. Hamburg still took the lead. Significantly, a direct free kick from Daniel Kofi Kyereh from 18 meters out, where Union Cup keeper Frederik Rönnow didn’t look too good when the ball went into his goalkeeper’s corner after 21 minutes.
Why FC St. Pauli despite well-known competitors such as Werder Bremen, Schalke 04 or city rivals Hamburger SV in the 2nd Bundesliga in third place stands, the team also showed in the Alte Försterei. The Hamburgers were never impressed, even under the great pressure of the Berliners in the first half, they remained reasonably stable and always seemed self-confident. They were equal in basic virtues such as commitment and duel strength, the build-up of the game from the defense sometimes looked better than that of the hosts. And in the game ahead, a clear plan could be seen: with short passes, little ball contact and fast and agile players, it should go variably through the middle or over the flanks in front of the opposing goal. The fact that this ultimately did not succeed was due to “the incredible presence of Union in front of and in their own penalty area,” as Schultz found.
Urs Fischer packed the praise for the opponent into appreciative sentences for his own players. “The attitude of the team to fight against resistance,” he called “terrific.” Such exuberance in the choice of words is rare for Union coaches. The reason for this was not FC St. Pauli, but the recent appearances of the Berliners. He was desperate for confirmation of last weekend’s Bundesliga win over Mainz; after three previous defeats without a goal. In order to stabilize the team again, he changed only two positions for the cup game: Rönnow for Andreas Luthe and Taiwo Awoniyi for Andreas Voglsammer. The latter two were decisive on Tuesday evening. Awoniyi prepared Sheraldo Becker’s equalizer in the 45th minute, and substitute Voglsammer scored the win half an hour later.
Timo Schultz used how these goals were scored as an opportunity to explain the difference between a first and second division team. “Small mistakes are punished by such an opponent at this level,” estimated St. Pauli’s coach. The fact that both goalkeeper Dennis Smarsch and defender Jakov Medic slipped before they conceded made the defeat even more bitter for Hamburg. Schultz created space for “disappointment and sadness” on Wednesday, this Thursday the full concentration is again on the 2nd Bundesliga. “We still have a lot to do,” he said confidently.
1. FC Union can approach the upcoming tasks a little more relaxed because, like against Mainz, the fundamentals were right. The opponent is desperate about the team’s defense work. The many ball conquests through aggressive pressing were also remarkable. A number of chances were created offensively. Fischer spoke with satisfaction about a “very good first half”. And the coach can already feel the joy at the club’s first semi-final appearance in the DFB Cup in 21 years.