Second win in a row: VfL Bochum wins 1-0 in Augsburg, only Christopher Antwi-Adjei could have scored three goals. The match winner is nevertheless and the fast winger may now even be rewarded by his home country.
“Jimmy” is probably the man about whom the resurrection story of VfL Bochum can best be told this autumn. Because since “Jimmy” no longer just sprints up and down the flanks, but also converts his skills into scorer points, VfL Bochum has since risen from the “dead” and is actively working again on the third football miracle in the series “anne Castroper”. The Bochum pros around their match winner Christopher “Jimmy” Antwi-Adjei walked in front of the fan curve with smiling faces and heard the call there that they hadn’t heard for so long. “Away win, away win”, echoed from the guest grandstand after the 1-0 (0-0) win at FC Augsburg. It was the first away points of the season. And they heard: “No more second division”. Well, it’s not that far (for a long time), but hope is back “anne Castroper”.
“We’re going home with three points, that’s not bad,” said Antwi-Adjei. He is not considered a top candidate for a place in Ghana’s World Cup squad. But it cannot be ruled out that national coach Otto Addo will nominate the 28-year-old on Monday. The performance on Saturday in front of 28,011 spectators, some of whom called for a World Cup boycott with a large banner, was convincing. Antwi-Adjei failed with a deflected shot by FCA keeper Rafal Gikiewicz (13′), hit the outside of the post (14′), stumbled alone in front of Gikiewicz (23′) and set up perfectly for Simon Zoller (45′ 2). Zoller’s ball just missed the goal.
It wasn’t at all surprising that Antwi-Adjei made coach Thomas Letsch celebrate the lead – and that in a foreign stadium. After a lob by former Augsburger Konstantinos Stafylidis, the ball bounced back and forth between him and Gikiewicz, who shortened the angle well – and then it was in the goal. “He has the self-confidence at the moment and is showing the quality he has with his speed,” said Letsch. “I’m extremely pleased that he got his reward.” But the entire team deserves a big compliment. And besides praise, there was also a reward. “The team knew: For every point we score here, there is one more day of vacation,” said the coach, during whose tenure twelve of Bochum’s 13 points came.
Antwi-Adjei was a particular beneficiary of the change. Under ex-coach Thomas Reis, he was only used sporadically this season. Letsch, on the other hand, relies on the immense speed of his winger, who is one of the fastest players in the league and is therefore perfect for Letsch’s system, just like his predecessor’s, by the way. But somewhere the native of Hagen could rarely contribute as much as under the new man on the sidelines. Which other players in the squad also rave about.
“The change of coach was good,” said Zoller. “We need a guiding hand and we have it.” His own action, which led to a hand penalty, surprised him a bit. “Don’t know if you have to give it,” said Zoller. But in the end it didn’t matter: Mergim Berisha didn’t put the hand penalty in the goal of penalty expert Manuel Riemann. The gripping final offensive by the Augsburgers, who never gave up, with goalkeeper Gikiewicz attacking at the end, was powerful but not crowned with success. Also because Bochum fought against it with a lot of passion. “We’re going into the break on a positive note,” said striker Philipp Hofmann before a long but certainly happy bus ride. Zoller said something similar: “Although it’s actually a pity that it’s going to be a break now.” For Bochum, but maybe not for “Jimmy”.
Meanwhile, the frustration among the Augsburgers was huge. “You win against Bayern at home – why can’t you beat Bochum,” said Gikiewicz, speaking of his team’s “dead game” at times. Manager Stefan Reuter was also disappointed. “It’s clearly not enough,” he said of the meager record of 15 points. VfL has moved up to two points. The afternoon was even more bitter for Augsburg’s Carlos Gruezo, who buried his face in his jersey when he was substituted after 30 minutes. After an injury, he has to worry about participating in the World Cup. Ecuador will nominate their tournament squad on Monday, the diagnosis was open on Saturday evening.
