Round 19, Feb 6-9
The 2.Liga restarted after the winterbreak, but several clubs still seem like they want to be on vacation. Greuther Fürth is clearly one of those, as they have forgot how to score. Now roughly 6+ hours without hitting the back of the net. Meanwhile Audi-sponsored leaders Ingolstadt keep marching along, as they did just enough to take all the points from Fürth, and it really looks like a Bundesliga promotion is inevitable.
Erzgebirge Aue however is one club that *was* ready. The “Veilchen” were dead-last, so they needed to do something. Obviously they put the winterbreak to good use. They hosted moneybags Leipzig in a crucial Sachsenderby. The Auer raised their game and pushed the RedBulls around, and came up with a solid win that gives them hope for staying up. The Rasenballers spent all sorts of RedBull money in the break, but were beaten down by a side that wanted it more.
Aalen is battling relegation, but was ready to play against Darmstadt, who might be thinking of sneaking into the top flight. Based on gthis result, maybe they should come back to earth. The favored side perhaps had the better chances, but really didn’t show much, so Aalen was easily able to secure an important point against relegation.
Sandhausen and St.Pauli had a snoozer in a relegation 6-pointer. The visitors started off brightly enough, but then the match tailed off into a tense, but boring, struggle. The Paulistas now prop up the table, almost a Dortmund-nesque situation. The hosts remain in danger, but continue float above the drop.
Despite having a lead, Bochum wasn’t impressive at Berlin. Instead, Union dominated the match and pressed throughout, and were eventually rewarded with a winner late. This should end any relegation worries Union might have had, and although Bochum has a cushion, they shouldn’t get too arrogant.
The big match was in Braunschweig. The hosts celebrated their 500th 2.Liga match, and a promotion spot was at stake against Kaiserslautern. A full house, drama, but that was about it for Eintracht. FCK was clearly superior and deserved the away win, which vaults them into the coveted 2nd spot.
A strong performance by Fortuna Düsseldorf at Karlsruhe. Not only was Fortuna the underdog, but they were down a man for almost an hour and were trailing. And yet through great effort, they fought back and drew the match. KSC has to be disappointed, as they had an opportunity to seize 2nd place, but they were outplayed and shouldn’t complain too loudly.
A poor performance by Nürnberg, and they got dumped by the mini-frankfurters. FCN was outplayed in the first half, but wer fortunate to have a draw. In the 2nd half they began to assert control, but wasted a couple of good chances. They were then stunned as FSV took the lead, and basically couldn’t regroup. Good win for Frankfurt, giving them breathing room against relegation.
SpVgg Greuther Fürth - FC Ingolstadt 04 0:1 (0:1) 10,620
0:1 P. Groß (30., Lex)
VfR Aalen - SV Darmstadt 98 0:0 (0:0) 5,287
Erzgebirge Aue - RasenB. Leipzig 2:0 (1:0) 13,600
1:0 Alibaz (45., Novikovas)
2:0 Schönfeld (59., Hand penalty)
1. FC Union Berlin - VfL Bochum 2:1 (0:1) 19,015
0:1 Gündüz (32., Cwielong)
1:1 Kobylanski (50., Kreilach)
2:1 Kreilach (86.)
SV Sandhausen - FC St. Pauli 0:0 (0:0) 7,364
Eintr. Braunschweig - 1. FC Kaiserslautern 0:2 (0:1) 22,775 *
0:1 P. Hofmann (35., Jenssen)
0:2 Ring (73., Zoller)
Karlsruher SC - Fortuna Düsseldorf 1:1 (0:0) 15,806
1:0 Hennings (55., penalty, Yamada)
1:1 O. Fink (60., Liendl)
FSV Frankfurt - 1. FC Nürnberg 2:1 (1:1) 9,152
1:0 Roshi (21., Kruska)
1:1 Hovland (41., Kerk)
2:1 Grifo (60., M. Engels)
Monday:
1860 München - 1. FC Heidenheim 1:2 (1:0) 15,100
1:0 Okotie (29., Hand penalty)
1:1 Göhlert (54., Schnatterer)
1:2 Niederlechner (66., Titsch-Rivero)
1 FC Ingolstadt 04 20 12 7 1 33:14 +19 43
2 1. FC Kaiserslautern 20 9 8 3 29:19 +10 35
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3 Karlsruher SC 20 9 7 4 29:17 +12 34
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4 SV Darmstadt 98 (N) 20 8 10 2 25:15 +10 34
5 Eintracht Braunschweig (A) 20 10 3 7 28:22 +6 33
6 Fortuna Düsseldorf 20 8 8 4 30:23 +7 32
7 RasenBallsport Leipzig (N) 20 7 8 5 22:14 +8 29
8 1. FC Heidenheim (N) 20 7 7 6 30:21 +9 28
9 1. FC Union Berlin 20 7 6 7 24:30 -6 27
10 1. FC Nürnberg (A) 20 8 3 9 22:30 -8 27
11 FSV Frankfurt 20 7 3 10 26:34 -8 24
12 VfL Bochum 20 4 11 5 29:30 -1 23
13 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 20 5 8 7 22:24 -2 23
14 SV Sandhausen 20 5 6 9 15:25 -10 21
15 VfR Aalen 20 4 6 10 15:25 -10 18
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16 1860 München 20 4 5 11 25:33 -8 17
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17 Erzgebirge Aue 20 4 5 11 18:29 -11 17
18 FC St. Pauli 20 4 5 11 22:39 -17 17
1st line: Promotion to Bundesliga
2nd line: Playoff with 16th Bundesliga
3rd line: Playoff with no.3 of 3.Liga
4th line: Relegation to 3.Liga
A = Absteiger just relegated
N = Neuling just promoted