For his solo against Mainz 05, which Lionel Messi would also have been proud of, Gerrit Holtmann received the goal of the month award on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, the fast wingman of VfL Bochum did another work of great rarity – he fired a shot on goal with which he hit the corner flag. The special thing about it: The ball then stayed on the line.
Otherwise, the encounter between VfL and VfB Stuttgart was more of a part of everyday life in the Bundesliga. On Castroper Strasse, two teams faced each other who have to fight hard for their existence in the top division, and that’s what it looked like during the 94 minutes. VfL took more initiative than VfB to score a goal, but it was just as unsuccessful as the adversary. So they split with 0-0, and there was more friendly than joyful applause from the stands.
After the shocking 7-0 at Bayern, coach Thomas Reis had extensively rebuilt his first team, the new right-back Herbert Bockhorn and his front man Christopher Antwi-Adjej brought a lot of speed into the Bochum game. The stormy Bockhorn alone, which Reis had mysteriously hidden from the public up to now, forced three yellow cards from the Stuttgarters, who were constantly chasing after them, and Antwi-Adjei one more. With the top sprinter Holtmann on the left wing, VfL regularly pinched the rather intimidated-looking opponent, but at least in the center, VfB held tight. Waldemar Anton, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Atakan Karazor did their job carefully and reliably and made life difficult for VfL attacker Sebastian Polter. The center forward acted skillfully as a pass and distribution station, but when the ball got into the penalty area, Polter was usually still on his way to his work place.
The Stuttgart only sporadically looked past the opponent’s penalty area during the first half, their first chance to score – a header from Mavropanos after the corner from Borna Sosa (4th minute) – remained the last for a long time. The false start to the season was clearly reflected in VfB’s game, there was no lack of commitment, but esprit and a matter of course. The energetic pressing and duel program of the home side did the rest.
The video referee takes back a Stuttgart gate – rightly
The VfL was more dangerous as it was driven by 14,000 spectators who were easily flammable at all times. Serious goalscoring chances remained rare, however, enormous zeal and great passion often stood in the way of a certain hectic pace, so VfB goalkeeper Florian Müller had to intervene rarely. With Eduard Löwen’s good shot (18th) it was enough for the goalkeeper to be solidly on the spot.
The second half presented more or less the same picture, with a now somewhat more stable VfB, who found the attack a little more often and even became dangerous now and then. When Mavropanos celebrated the 1-0 after a free kick by Sosa and large parts of the stadium fell silent in horror, the ball was already on the center line at the restart. But then the Cologne cellar rightly contacted us. Mavropanos had used his arm to get the ball ready. The jubilation over the withdrawal of the goal was enormous, the local audience celebrated. But it was the only great moment of joy that Sunday afternoon.
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