After just nine minutes, VfL Bochum took the lead thanks to a Cologne own goal. Up to the 88th minute it looks like the first win of the season in the Bundesliga. But then Linton hits Maina, but VfL with interim coach Heiko Butscher can at least prevent a negative record.
In Bochum’s constant rain, Heiko Butscher shrugged his shoulders briefly and then high-fived everyone on the bench. The interim coach of VfL Bochum didn’t know what to think of the result after the 1-1 (1-0) win against 1. FC Köln. After the big fight and the first Bundesliga point, his team was celebrated by the fans on Sunday.
“We got through it well almost to the end. Of course it’s extremely bitter when this equalizer comes so late. It’s a shame that we didn’t fully reward ourselves,” said Butscher at DAZN. “It’s good for us as a team,” said Bochum’s Simon Zoller. “It was a big fight. I would have liked to have taken three points, but one point is okay.” Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart said: “I could have imagined that we wouldn’t leave the field as undeserved winners. But once you’ve seen how Bochum fought, we can live with the point.”
Despite an early opponent’s own goal and an almost 80-minute lead, bottom-placed Bochum missed their first win of the season. In the first and probably only game under interim coach Butscher, the Westphalians took the first point, but due to Linton Maina’s late equalizer (88th), the result was again a disappointment for VfL.
Bochum had lost the first six games and then parted ways with promotion coach Thomas Reis. The seventh loss in a row at the beginning of the season would have been a new negative record in the league. After the early mishap of Benno Schmitz (9th) with Maina’s first competitive goal for FC, Cologne prevented them from going into the international break with two defeats in a row. After that, things continue with challenging duels against Borussia Dortmund and in the derby at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
How things will continue at VfL is open. A new coach should be on the bench until the next game on October 1st in Leipzig. The new sports director Patrick Fabian admitted “initial talks” with candidates before the game, but Butscher should first continue to train the team. However, the U19 coach himself had ruled out that it would become a permanent solution. Traded are, among others, Dimitrios Grammozis, Uwe Neuhaus and Hannes Wolf.
Butscher had made four changes compared to the 1:3 in the last game under Reis at Schalke. The only surprise was that he replaced both central defenders and also helped Tim Oermann from his U19 team to make their Bundesliga debut. The 18-year-old did well. VfL acted highly motivated from the first second and were immediately rewarded in a very happy way.
A cross from Gerrit Holtmann would not have found a taker, but the ball bounced off captain Jonas Hector’s leg in heavy rain against Schmitz’s leg and from there it was unstoppable for Marvin Schwäbe into the goal. Next curiosity: Five minutes later, a Cologne player prevented the equalizer when Ellyes Skhiri got in the way of a header from Bundesliga debutant Nikola Soldo. Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart first applauded encouragingly, then, despite the nasty weather, he took off his fishing vest and from then on stood at the edge of the field in a T-shirt. That he had to change at the break.
After the change, Cologne tried everything. Hector could hardly be stopped at the back left, Baumgart made a triple substitution after an hour and threw in all available offensive players in the final phase. But the people of Bochum passionately opposed it. Sargis Adamyan also hit the post (77′) before Joker Maina hit through the legs of goalkeeper Manuel Riemann.
