Again, FC Magdeburg have proven that football isn’t necessarily about scoring goals. In the match against then-league leaders Fortuna Düsseldorf a single goal by Dennis tornieporth was sufficient to secure a 1-0 win. Düsseldorf conceded their first goal of the season, and luckily for Magdeburg they also lost.
Overall the game was an entertaining affair, although that was only in part due to the performance of Fortuna. During the first half it was plain to see how they had achieved their remarkable series of 8 unbeaten games without conceding: Defense, defense, defense. Hardly ever was there any danger in front of Magdeburg’s goal, and if there was, Kallnik (in one of his better games) and Beer (ditto) solved the problem.
On the other hand, Magdeburg didn’t exactly produce a festival of goal opportunities either. This improved in the second half, when Kullmann missed a cross only by a few inches. In the dying minutes of the game, a Düsseldorf player must have been dreaming, anyhow Neumann was easily able to intercept the pass and start a run down the flank. His cross found Dennis Tornieporth standing lonely in the box and he had no problem to score. After that, Düsseldorf did everything to equalize, but Beer and their own inability came back to haunt them, as they fired the ball across the bar or almost had it in goal, only to see Kallnik hoof it off the line.
In the end it was a deserved victory for Magdeburg, as Düsseldorf had done too little to justify even one point.
Lineups
1. FC Magdeburg: Beer – Wejsfelt, Kallnik, Prest – Gerster, Habryka, Neumann, F. Müller, Lindemann (90′ A. Müller) – Kullmann (85′ Agyemang), Tornieporth
Fortuna Düssesldorf: Melka – Palikuca, Heeren, Langeneke, Christ – Anfang, Cebe (69. Hampel), Lambertz (77. Kastrati), Cakir – Hergesell (64. Heidinger), Lawaree
Score summary
82′ Tornieporth 1-0
Attendance
12,492
Video
The ARD Sportschau has a short video of the match online here.
On Monday, I went to see a 2. Bundesliga match. One of the clubs I have a soft spot for (courtesy of my dad and a friend of mine, I think) played at Erzgebirge Aue: Five time German champions Borussia Mönchengladbach. In an exciting match, Borussia dominated the first half and deservedly went two goals up. Just before halftime, they were given a penalty which German international Oliver Neuville failed to convert, heralding bad things to come.
Gladbach’s fans are used to suffering, especially in away games…what with three away wins in the past three Bundesliga seasons. And in Aue, they were also in for suffering: After the break Aue played much better and Gladbach completely lost control, resulting in a quick equalizer. The 2-2 was offside though, as shown on the stadium’s videoscreen (I’d always thought exactly these situations were the reason you don’t show game scenes on the screen, oh well), but sensationally Gladbach held on and got another goal off a corner. The remaining 24 minutes were sheer terror though, as Gladbach proved unable to defend decently – and with their history, the about 2,000 fans knew the equaliser could come any time. In the end, it was all bliss though and the 600 km round trip had not been in vain. Now I’ve seen two away matches involving Gladbach, and they’ve won one of them, a ratio many a fan would envy. 😉