A place for the trainer should not have been kept free in Augsburg on the guest bench.
Friedhelm Funkel – who was a guest with 1. FC Köln in Fuggerstadt on Friday evening – hardly used his seat. Instead, he paced up and down his coaching zone and left it one or the other time. One would have thought that the 67-year-old was at least 20 years younger.
The firefighter was allowed to cheer three times in the first round, in the end the Cologne team trembled to a 3-2 victory in Augsburg – and that could be really important in the relegation battle. Suddenly the almost dead FC is only one point behind the saving bank. One main reason: the transition coach. (Service: table of the Bundesliga)
Sparkle has “made us all hot”
“He gave us new motivation. He talked to each and every one of us and made us all hot,” Cologne’s Marius Wolf praised the experienced coach. And that’s exactly what was clearly seen in the last few games.
Funkels balance sheet: A 0: 3 bankruptcy at Bayer Leverkusen, a 2: 1 win against RB Leipzig and now the important success with the direct competitor from Augsburg.
“We put in a very, very good first half. We played forward effectively and quickly and scored fantastic goals,” Funkel praised his team after the final whistle in Augsburg DAZN.
He also had a few things to complain about: “In the second half we pulled back too far and had to accept two goals. But we defended it with passion and were still a little lucky. what we did wrong. The important thing now is that we have won. The players really went to their limits. I stand by my players 100 percent. You can ignore one thing or the other. ”
Funkel: “We haven’t achieved anything yet”
Clearly: Funkel breathed life back into the FC. In purely sporting terms, the retirement seems to have already paid off for the passionate trainer.
The CHECK24 one-two with Roman Weidenfeller and Peter Neururer on Sunday from 11 a.m. on TV on SPORT1
But he also knows that his mission in Cologne is far from being fulfilled. “Cologne is alive, we saw that in Leverkusen and against Leipzig. But we haven’t achieved anything yet. 29 points are not enough to stay in the Bundesliga,” said Funkel in Augsburg.
His team now has until May 9th to recover from the exertions of the past few days. Then the next trend-setting home game is against SC Freiburg. After that, there will probably be a real final at Hertha BSC before Cologne ends the season against FC Schalke 04, who have already been relegated. (Service: Bundesliga match schedule)
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