Football United

The Wolves were seconds away from victory in their Bundesliga round 2 clash away to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday afternoon. Mike Hanke had given his side the lead on 41 minutes in front of 41,026 in the Borussen Park stadium and despite losing striker Diego Klimowicz to a yellow/red card on the stroke of half time, the Wolves continued to dominate. Then, just as everyone present thought that the Wolves would be taking maximum points for the first time this season, disaster struck in injury time, as Kasper Bögelund equalised for the home side to rob the Wolves of what would have been a deserved victory...

Both coaches make changes
The home coach Horst Köppel made one change to the side which lost the first game of the new season 0-3 away to Bayern Munich. Central defender Helveg who suffered a hardened muscle in Munich, was replaced in the starting line-up by Zé Antonio. Brazilian striker Elber took his place on the Gladbach bench as he had done against Bayern. Wolves coach Holger Fach made tow changes to his side which drew 2-2 at home to Dortmund in round 2. Belgian Peter Van der Heyden was missing through a knee injury, and Hans Sarpei was also not in his team. Those players were replaced by Weiser and Menseguez respectively.

Wolves ride early storm
Without a point so far this season, the home side laid into the Wolves from the off. The first chance of the match on 8 minutes fell to Zé Antonio, who headed over the Wolfsburg crossbar. Gladbach won seven corners within the opening 15 minutes, without being able to threaten from any of them. Although Horst Köppel’s side had the lion’s share of possession, they were unable to make the most of it. The Wolves took a while to find their feet in the game, and concentrated on defensive work at first.

Hanke gives the Wolves the lead!
Towards the middle of the first half, the home side seemed to run out of steam, which gave the Wolves the chance to get into the game which they did, but to little effect. Just as the 41,026 crowd in Gladbach thought that the teams would be taking their half time tea without a goal to show for their endeavour, the Wolves took the lead out of the blue, as fine combination work put Klimowicz through down the right. The Wolves’ all-time record goal scorer played a low ball into the box, where Mike Hanke was waiting to score his first Bundeslliga goal for his new club from close range.

Klimo off
There was more drama to come in the same minute, as Klimowicz received his marching orders for what must be described as silly behaviour. The Argentinean striker argued with the referee about an offside decision for which he picked up a yellow card. The striker greeted the card with cynical applause and was promptly sent off. The Wolves were down to ten men at half time and their coach Holger Fach was furious.

More of the same
Both teams started the second half unchanged; only the Wolves had a man less on the pitch. The home side was unable to trouble the visiting side and lacked ideas going forward. There was very little goalmouth action of any note, ad the home crowd acknowledged that fact by booing their own team. Horst Köppel brought on Kastrati and El-Fakiri for Sverkos and Broich on 64 minutes, but the fresh legs could not make any difference.

Lucky Gladbach…
Ten minutes from time, Elber was brought on for his home debut since his return from France. The former Bayern striker didn’t score himself, but watched as Bögelund fired in a shot into the Wolfsburg penalty area two minutes into injury time, which was unluckily deflected by Kevin Hofland past his helpless keeper Jentzch to give the home side what was an extremely lucky point. The referee blew for time, and the Wolves were left wondering what could have been had they been at full strength for the second half…

M'GLADBACH: Keller; Bögelund, Zé Antonio, Strasser, Jansen; Oude Kamphuis; Broich, Kluge; Heinz; Sverkos, Neuville.

WOLFSBURG: Jentzsch; Karhan, Quiroga, Hofland, Weiser; Thiam; Menseguez, Tskitishvili; d'Alessandro; Hanke, Klimowicz

GOALS: 0-1, Hanke (41'); 1-1, Bögelund (90')

BUNDESLIGA

Pos. Team Pld Pts
1. Bayern 2 6
2. Bremen 2 6
3. Hamburg 2 6
4. Schalke 2 6
5. Köln 2 6
...
9. Wolfsburg 2 2

Source: vfl-wolfsburg.de