Suzuki initiates victory
©IMAGO
FC St. Pauli is sinking deeper and deeper into the sporting crisis. The deserved 1:2 (0:1) at SC Freiburg was the seventh defeat in a row in everyday championship life – there has never been a longer losing streak for Hamburg in the Bundesliga.
A good week after the shock 4-0 defeat against Borussia Mönchengladbach, Hamburg had to accept goals from Yuito Suzuki (40th minute) and Maximilian Eggestein (50th). And so they suffered the next setback. Louis Oppie’s goal (69th) was not enough for the visitors.
FC St. Pauli enters the international break with serious concerns and in the relegation zone of the table, Freiburg sits in tenth place. On the day of honor for captain and former national player Christian Günter, the sports club won again for the first time since September 20 and the 3-0 victory in Bremen after five league matches without a victory.
The Breisgauers were able to approach the match inspired by their upcoming success in the European Cup in Nice. Additional motivation could have been that Günter, with 441 competitive appearances, became the only SC record holder ahead of Andreas Zeyer and was honored for this before kick-off. Günter was replaced after just under an hour, celebrated with songs. He previously announced plenty of free drinks for fans. By then, his team had already laid the groundwork to soften his emotional afternoon.
The action quickly moved to half of the guests. Against the compact Hamburgers, the South Baden team was only able to turn their numerous possessions into something countable a few minutes before the end of the first half.
After a corner from Niklas Beste, Suzuki sent the ball into the back of the net. Guest goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj became the unwanted passer, whose punch landed on the SC offensive player. The Baden team managed their seventh corner of the match, after using set pieces too little. Beste (14th) and Suzuki (28th) missed their chances to take the lead from the match.
The Northern guests focused on defense after the unexpected slowdown in recent weeks. Threat of own goal? None. Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu was largely unemployed. « We don’t need to talk about beautiful (Site notre bureau spécialisé) now, it’s about simple things, » Pauli coach Blessin said before the match, calling for a certain « asshole mentality ».
But shortly after the break, the defense was no match for 0-2. Once again, goalkeeper Vasilj blocked the Freiburg attacker, but Eggestein also finished flawlessly from five meters. As with the first goal, the cross came from Beste.
A good twenty minutes before the end, the atmosphere became exciting again, with Pauli’s first opportunity. Oppie finished after Freiburg’s sloppy defensive behavior and at least ended the goal drought after four league matches without scoring a goal of his own. In the final push, the visitors narrowly missed the equalizer.
