A narrow defeat in our first friendly: S04 beaten 3-2 by Wolfsburg

Brilliant Terodde goal but Wolfsburg score twice

The first chance of the game fell to the Knappen. Marcin Kaminski got his head onto Thomas Ouwejan’s free kick, but his effort from about 13 yards could not beat VfL goalkeeper Koen Casteels.

Aside from this opportunity, the majority of the first half went by without much incident, with the ball staying mostly in the middle third of the pitch. Wolfsburg, who are currently preparing for the second half of the season in Almancil (the action gets going in the Bundesliga a week before the 2. Bundesliga), were recording more possession.

After half an hour, the match began to liven up a bit – and Wolfsburg, for whom former Knappe Moritz Jenz was named in the starting eleven, went ahead through a somewhat bizarre goal. After a cross in from the right, Joakim Maehle tried to bring the ball down close to the penalty spot, but failed to take it under control. Jakub Kaminski however ran through to the touchline and finished from a tight angle (31’).

The Royal Blues hit back almost immediately through Simon Terodde. The striker took down the ball calmly in the six-yard box before nutmegging Koen Casteels to make it 1-1 (34’). S04 were not level for long however. Two minutes before half time, Vaclav Cerny put VfL ahead once again. The Czechia international hammered the ball from the left into the net from around 13 yards. The Wolves went in 2-1 up at the break.

Baumgartl’s volley finds the far corner

Head coach Karel Geraerts made three substitutions at the beginning of the second half, whilst the Belgian made eight further changes in the 63rd minute. Four young talents in the form of Niklas Castelle, Jimmy Kaparos and Steven van der Sloot (all U23s) and Vitalie Becker (U19s) were given the chance to show their talents. The opposition also made lots of changes during the second half.

Unlike in the first half, VfL had the first chance on this occasion. Maximilian Arnold took aim from distance in the 53rd minute, but he narrowly missed the target. Justin Heekeren was called into action shortly afterwards. The substitute goalkeeper saved an effort from Lovro Majer from close range (57’), whilst the 23-year-old was also on hand to make another save from the resulting corner.

The game became less action-packed after that – that was until Jonas Wind threatened again fifteen minutes from time. The Dane plucked a ball into the box out of the air, but his effort was crucially deflected. However, VfL found the net again in the 80th minute. The recently introduced Dzenan Pejcinovic turned in the rebound after Justin Heekeren had made a strong save from the Wolfsburg striker’s volley.

Another game planned

Another training game is planned for Tuesday (9th January) during our stay in the Algarve. Information on the opponent, venue and kick-off time will follow.