The fact that Werder Bremen had a chance to keep up in July was mainly due to Union Berlin, which in the last round defeated the falling Fortune Duesseldorf (3: 0). As a thank you, the supporters of the club from Wesserstadion organized a money drop for one hundred bars of beer for Iron players. The collection is still ongoing and already reaches EUR 12,000. The surplus will be donated to charity. Nevertheless, the Bremen league existence could only be sure after a rematch with 1. FC Heidenheim, and not because of the money that the second-league player at the box office has definitely less.
The third team of the 2nd Bundesliga surprised their rivals with their stance in the first meeting, drawing a goalless draw at Wesserstadion. In a rematch she accepted Werder at the highest building in Germany. Voith-Arena is located at an altitude of 555 meters above sea level. On Sunday, second-plane coach Frank Schmidt traveled the surrounding Swabian Alb for a long time, devising a plan for this meeting. As he later revealed, he found one. Julian Kohfeldt’s charges verified him after several dozen seconds. That much Josh Sargent needed to take a close look at the first accurate shot Kevin Mueller saved. A moment later, the goalkeeper did not react even to the beautiful blow of his colleague Norman Theuerkauf, who directed the ball into the window of his own goal. Looking for subtexts, one could write that the 33-year-old defender wanted to please his home club – Werder, but the Bremen players confirmed their dominance later in the meeting.
The game was worth the candle because the club collects 50 million euros for television rights and revenues from sponsors in the Bundesliga. The next Green-White people could lose on tickets, the price of which would have to be significantly reduced after a decline. – For the city. For fans. For Werder – with this motto Kohfeldt’s players came out to meet on the new Umbro T-shirts. They didn’t disappoint anyone. The Bremen people took all their advantages with the local. Heidenheim’s best player and Bayern Munich’s pupil Niklas Dorsch were excluded. The hosts were also not helped by alternative doping in the empty Voith-Arena, i.e. single polyphonic tones knocked out from the pan and through the drums. Werder could not increase his lead. Davy Klaassen or Milot Rashica, for which RB Leipzig is seeking, wasted their opportunities. The bulls before the play-off certainly had their fingers crossed for Heidenheim, because in the face of the decline in Bremen, the amount of the fee for the Kosovian would be significantly reduced.
They probably started to watch the meeting from the second half. Only then did the second league go to work. Stefan Schimmer, introduced during the break for Denis Thomalla, a former player of Lech Poznań, needed several dozen seconds to fire two dangerous shots. Equally good entrance was made by David Otto, whose head hit was minimally past the goal guarded by Jiri Pavlenka. However, the louder the metallic sound from the stands, the greater the Werder advantage. The next minutes are the total dominance of the Bundesligowicz. Heidenheim did not lose the second goal only due to the breaking of the ball from the line by Marnon Busch and great attitude of Müller. Golkiper mainly had a patent on Sargent. The red-haired American could not beat him alone in subsequent situations. The hosts were waiting for their moment as at the beginning of the second half. They left themselves energy for one more leap. Tobias Mohr showed off a powerful shot from a distance. He hit the post with the crossbar, but the ball successfully bounced from Tim Kleindienst, who for five minutes to the end of regular time of play led to equalization. Despite several more attempts, Heidenheim could not stand up. Werder made a calculation and in the added time he confirmed his maintenance. Tim Bartels took the ball from the biggest unlucky Monday evening – Theuerkauf and put it on an empty goal for Ludwig Augustinsson, who made no mistake. Though there was no end to the match, because in the eighth minute of added time, Kleindienst used a penalty kick, but a 2: 2 draw did not change Heidenheim’s situation.
Werder did not allow a replay from 40 years ago. In 1980, for the first and only time in history, Green and White fell from the Bundesliga. After a year they came back, and the current season was their 56th in the elite. They secured the 57th time on July 6 in the Swabian Alb shortly before 10:30 PM. However, from Tuesday, there should be a meeting at the club at which Werder’s future should be discussed. With this potential, the Bremen people could not be sure of their livelihood until the end, and before the season they spoke openly about the fight for European cups. Perhaps Kohfeldt will lose his job, whose release has been talked of since the autumn round.
1.FC Heidenheim 2-2 Werder Brema (0-1)
Goals: Kleindienst (85) i (90 + 8-k) – Theuerkauf (3-sam), Augustinsson (90 + 4)
First match: 0:0
Promotion: Werder
Heidenheim: Müller – Busch (78 Multhaup), Mainka, Theuerkauf, Fohrenbach – Schnatterer (46 Otto), Griesbeck, Dorsch (68 Sessa), Leipertz (68 Mohr) – Kleindienst, Thomalla (46 Schimmer). Trener: Schmidt.
Werder: Pavlenka – Veljković (69 Langkamp), Vogt, Friedl – Gebre Selassie, M. Eggestein, Klaassen, Augustinsson – Osako (68 Bartels) – Rashica (80 filling jug), Sargent (88 Gross). Trener: Kohfeldt.
The judge: Felix Brych
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