Bochum celebrates first win of the season in Darmstadt
Takuma Asano has almost single-handedly ended VfL Bochum's winning streak. Coach Thomas Letsch's team won the basement duel in the Bundesliga with newly promoted Darmstadt 98 2:1 (1:1).
The Japanese international scored both goals (25th and 54th minute) for VfL. Hesse, on the other hand, were unable to make amends for their 8-0 defeat at FC Bayern in front of 17,810 spectators. Fabian Nürnberger (43') had scored the equalizer in between, while Lilies captain Fabian Holland was shown the red card after an emergency brake (70').
Darmstadt coach Torsten Lieberknecht presumably went into the match with fond memories. In October 1992, he had scored his only Bundesliga goal against Bochum as a player in the jersey of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He had announced for Friday evening that the fans would "not necessarily get to see a treat".
Tim Skarke almost proved his coach's theory wrong in the opening stages, the 27-year-old hitting the post with a shot from distance. The ball bounced off the post onto the head of VfL goalkeeper Manuel Riemann and then past the goal and out of play (9'). The great chance also seemed to have a brief liberating effect, with the Lilies showing commitment and courage in this phase.
Christoph Zimmermann and Jannik Müller came on for the suspended Matej Maglica and Klaus Gjasula following their red cards in the Bayern game. Holland also returned to the starting eleven after suffering from back problems. VfL coach Letsch tried to create the conditions for the first win of the season with two changes.
Bochum struggled to create any real danger in front of the hosts' goal in the first 20 minutes - and then profited from a momentous misunderstanding between Müller and Darmstadt goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen. Asano reacted quickly and scored past Schuhen to take the lead.
Now the expected battle developed on the deep pitch at the Böllenfalltor stadium. Both teams made many misplaced passes and the spectators hardly saw any combinations. Darmstadt rarely got into the Bochum penalty area, but this one chance shortly before half-time was enough: Nürnberger headed in the equalizer from Luca Pfeiffer's pass.
Asano shocked the hosts early on after the break with a low shot from a good 20 meters. The Bochum fans, who had caused a lot of smoke and a good one-minute interruption with pyrotechnics at the start, were now particularly loud again. Darmstadt responded to the renewed deficit with shots from Skarke, Pfeiffer (61st) and Nürnberger (68th), among others.
Holland then had to resort to a foul to stop Moritz Kwarteng on his way to goal. Referee Marco Fritz immediately showed the red card. The match then became more disjointed, with Bochum missing counter-attacking opportunities in the closing stages.
The victory over Darmstadt 98 in the Bundesliga marked VfL Bochum's first win of the season, with Takuma Asano scoring both goals. Despite Darmstadt 98's captain Fabian Holland returning to the starting eleven, they struggled to contain Bochum's attacks, especially after Asano's first goal in the 25th minute.
Source: www.dpa.com
