Bundesliga: Wolfsburg and Kovac Escape Darmstadt's Clutches with Narrow Victory
To the delight of coach Niko Kovac and VfL Wolfsburg, they claimed a fortuitous and uninspiring 1-0 victory over SV Darmstadt 98 in the Bundesliga on Saturday, ending a dismal run of three consecutive defeats in all competitions. Lovro Majer netted the decisive goal in the 63rd minute, but the Lower Saxony club had little to offer before a home crowd of 16,900 at the Böllenfalltor. Gamely defying their dire recent form, an early red card for Maxence Lacroix left dangerously short-handed Darmstadt even in better spirits.
Having taken only one win from the previous eight league games, Wolfsburg can now approach their last game of the year, a tussle with FC Bayern, with a little more conviction. Dismally situated at the foot of the Bundesliga table, Darmstadt have gone without a win in eight games themselves.
As in numerous stadia around the country, Darmstadt fans made their disquiet known, with slogans and verbal abuse directed against the influx of investors into the German Football League. Some brief disruption was also caused by a quarter-hour delay due to pyrotechnics being set off by Wolfsburg supporters in their own stands.
Persevering with passion and discipline, unsurprisingly given their dire rank, Darmstadt looked to buck their recent misfortunes in their quest for a precious three-pointer. "We're howling from the deepest pits," coach Torsten Lieberknecht declared pre-match. At last tasting success in Augsburg with a thrilling 2-1 result on October 7, the Lilies suffered another galling setback this time around.
Aware of the gravity of their situation, the beleaguered Kovac knew better than to downplay it. "At the moment, everything is heading in the wrong direction. I know that, and so do the players," he conceded on Sky TV before the start. Even if the club's managing director Marcel Schäfer and supervisory board president Frank Witter had recently thrown their support behind their beleaguered head coach.
For a time, Wolfsburg found few openings to trouble their determined hosts, adversely affected by the absences of captain Maximilian Arnold, sidelined due to yellow card suspension, and early red-carded Lacroix. As half-time approached, the tightest period of the match came when the dangerous Lucas Pfeiffer found himself in one-on-one with Koen Casteels only to be denied by his opposite number's save.
Soon after the break, the visitors should have assumed a decisive lead when Riedle Baku surged forward and dispatched an inviting pass to Majer, but the chance went begging. An electrocuting effort from Jonas Wind flew just wide in response, before Majer finally broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute, thanks to a well-worked assist from Wind. Third-choice goalkeeper Koen Casteels sustained his side's margin of victory with a sublime save from Pfeiffer in the dying moments.
Bundesliga Table & Squads
| Pos. | Team | Pts. | W | D | L | GF | GA | |------|-----------------------|------|-----|-----|-----|------|------| | 9th | VfL Wolfsburg | 30 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 43 | 35 | | 13th | SV Darmstadt 98 | 25 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 38 | 37 |
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- Against the backdrop of their hard-fought defeat, the 9th-placed Wolfsburg will head into their UEFA Champions League finale against FC Bayern Munich, searching for some redemption in Bavaria.
- Occupying bottom place in the Bundesliga, Darmstadt will look to halt the bleak run of eight consecutive defeats in their upcoming fixture to salvage their campaign in Hesse.
- Widespread backlash against the incursion of foreign investors into the German Football League has been a consistent theme at many sports venues across the nation, with the Darmstadt match just the latest instance.
- Having lost their captain and one member of their last line of defense, Darmstadt found themselves facing an uphill challenge but refused to surrender before a home crowd infused with hope of victory.
- Torsten Lieberknecht, in his quest to maintain his charges' resolve, emphasized their motto, "As long as we can still whine, we are still alive," before the start of the encounter against a perennially more superior side.
- Efforts from both teams were relatively limited in the first half, but in the second period, Wolfsburg capitalized on Darmstadt's weaknesses, with Lovro Majer eventually breaking through their resolute defense.
- Dramatically poised on the brink of slipping into relegation, VfL Wolfsburg tightened their grip on their Bundesliga position with narrow one-goal victory, buoyed by dramatic late saves from their stand-in keeper, Koen Casteels.
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Enrichment Data:
VfL Wolfsburg have gained 30 points from 22 Bundesliga outings this season, with eight victories, six draws, and seven defeats. They have netted 43 times and let in 35 goals so far[1].
SV Darmstadt 98 have amassed a total of 25 points from their 22 matches in the 2. Bundesliga this term, having won six, drawn seven, and lost nine - scoring 38 times and conceding 37 goals in the process[2].
- Bundesliga table standing for VfL Wolfsburg.
- Bundesliga position, scoring and conceding statistics for SV Darmstadt 98.
