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Dynamo put the brakes on euphoria
No, it wasn't a soccer festival that Dynamo Dresden celebrated against relegation candidates SV Sandhausen. The 2:1 was more of a success against their own fear of failing again in the promotion battle and an encouragement. If you win games like that, you can also get promoted. "After the last few seasons, I don't want to hear any more probabilities. I want us to get over the finish line with all our might. Nothing is done yet," said goalscorer Niklas Hauptmann on MagentaSport.
The Saxons played their opponents to the ground for 30 minutes, leading 2-0 after just eight minutes and nobody in the stadium believed at that point that it would be a nail-biter. "We made it unnecessarily tense. If you look at the early stages, we should be leading 3-0, 4-0 because we had chances to score six or seven goals. When it's 3-0, the game is over," said Dynamo coach Thomas Stamm.
The performance after the break gave him food for thought. "We were in control for too long. That doesn't mean that we go forward blindly, but that we create more passing rhythm and then maybe make it 3-1," said the coach. Dresden's new quality, however, is that they managed to hold on for the win. In a week's time, everything can be put to bed at second-placed Arminia Bielefeld, the DFB Cup finalists. "We will play to win," promised Hauptmann.
Wollitz criticizes own team
With a good dose of anger in his stomach, Claus-Dieter Wollitz rounded up his team on the pitch. The players of FC Energie Cottbus were bemused and well aware of their poor performance as they listened to the criticism. "The performance in the first half was unacceptable. Simply incomprehensible," the coach continued to complain to MagentaSport minutes later.
What had happened? The Lusatians couldn't get past league bottom side SpVgg Unterhaching with a completely disappointing 1:1 (0:1). The good starting position in the fight for third place in the 3rd soccer league is gone. The team from Brandenburg are still in the relegation places and ahead of their closest rivals Saarbrücken. But only thanks to the slightly better goal difference.
Scorer Tolcay Cigerci was not happy about the equalizer deep into stoppage time. "Definitely not. We want to stay up there. It won't work with an attitude like that," criticized the attacking player and sent a meaningful message to his teammates: "Now you can see whether one or the other can handle pressure or not. You can see it on the pitch, whether you can receive the ball or not".
Hansa continue to believe in themselves
Where would FC Hansa Rostock be if they had played a consistent season? Probably in first or second place. But the constant ups and downs and the discrepancy between home and away performances have prevented that. Nevertheless, with one game less than the competition, the belief at the Baltic Sea side that they can reach the third relegation place remains alive. Especially thanks to the 1:0 win against the increasingly strong TSV 1860 Munich.
"We were the better team over 90 minutes, played much more dominantly and won many balls back relatively quickly. It's brutally difficult to score a goal against us when we take the lead," said coach Daniel Brinkmann.
The Rostockers have celebrated ten wins from 13 home games. The Kogge still have one more to go: against direct rivals Energie Cottbus, of all teams. The three remaining away games are against the current bottom three in the table Sandhausen, Unterhaching and Hannover II.
Aue 45 minutes underground
Despite the 1:5 debacle at SC Verl, FC Erzgebirge Aue are likely to avoid relegation. The lead over the competition in the bottom third of the table is (still) too big, also in view of their remaining program. Nevertheless, the performance in Verl raises questions. "We didn't play at all in the first half. I can't explain that. It was a complete system crash. Defensively, we simply lost a lot of tackles," said a stunned coach Jens Härtel.
In fact, from the 15th minute onwards, the home side had a lively shoot-out in which one could only feel sorry for goalkeeper Martin Männel. He alone prevented the score from being 7:0 or 8:0 at the break. "We have to apologize to the fans. We all have to question ourselves: the coaching team and the team," demanded Härtel.
The season and performances like the one in Verl have to be consistently reviewed in Aue. And the question must be asked as to who really fits in mentally at the Kumpelverein. Aue definitely want to make an effort with Mika Clausen, in whom Dynamo Dresden are said to be interested. "We assume that he will play for us next season. We want to develop something with him. He is an important player for us. We would like to continue with a solid core," said sporting director Matthias Heidrich.
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