FC Schalke 04 has a huge following. But he had stayed in Gelsenkirchen for the big promotion party, only about a dozen royal blues accompanied the second team to the decisive regional league game for relegation to Uerdingen. They had reason to be happy because the guests won 4:3 (2:0) in the end.
However, the Grotenburg stadium was also sold out. The fans of the long-relegated KFC are overjoyed that the team can now play in Krefeld again after four years in exile in Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Lotte and Velbert. For safety reasons, more than 2,000 spectators are not allowed in the arena, which is still in urgent need of renovation.
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“We want to show a performance that is independent of the result so that no spectator regrets coming,” said KFC coach Alexander Voigt after he had missed running and commitment in the Grotenburg comeback against VfB Homberg (0: 4). . He only changed the starting line-up to two positions compared to the 3-0 defeat at Preussen Münster last week: Justin Ospelt stood between the posts for Jovan Jovic and striker Charles Atsina came on for defender Jesse Sierck.
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The hosts showed in the early stages that they wanted to say goodbye to the season and their home fans. There was even a lot to see that had been a rarity in the past few weeks: combinations, cross changes and scenes in the penalty area – but no goal. The guests, who then got into the game better and absolutely had to score, did better. In the 23rd minute Niklas Castelle was allowed to shoot unchallenged from 15 meters and he didn’t let the chance pass him by. Five minutes later, the second Schalke goal came after a capital blunder by keeper Ospelt, who was lucky that the referee had recognized an alleged foul on him.
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The Uerdingers didn’t give up, but wanted to score. Schalke’s goalkeeper just deflected a shot from Tom Fladung over the crossbar, but the following corner equalized (34′). Tim Brdaric headed in from a Levna Kenya corner. It was the first goal in the Grotenburg since May 5, 2018, which was of course celebrated by the fans – but the joy was short-lived. Only three minutes later, Scienza Weschenfelder gave Schalke the lead again. The fact that the long-suffering Uerdinger fans are less concerned with what’s happening on the pitch was also evident at half-time, when they just didn’t stop singing. The stadium director played along and left out the music. Pure fan culture.
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After the change, the blue-red got off to a good start. Abdul Fesenmeyer, whose qualities lie more in the sprint, proved to be a header monster and scored against his former club to make it 2-2 (49th). It was his eighth goal of the season in his 21st game. The Uerdingers stayed on the trigger and the keeper was just able to parry a shot by substitute Marcel Kretschmer. Fifteen minutes before the end, the guests struck for the third time. Weschenfelder circled the ball exactly into the corner. Three minutes later, Rufat Dadashov made the preliminary decision with the 2:4. But the KFC didn’t give up and came back through Charles Atsina (84th).
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The defeat was bitter for KFC, who had their most notable player in the hard-working Levan Kenya, but the fans had no regrets attending the entertaining seven-goal game. The Uerdingers will play their last game of the season next Saturday at SV Lippstadt.
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