Analysis: “In 10 minutes we give the game away”

The 1-1. Undoubtedly, Naatan Skyttä’s equaliser in the 84th minute. The Finn’s goal turned the tide of the second half on its head and simultaneously ushered in a final phase in which SV 98 lost control of a game that Florian Kohfeldt’s team had controlled up to that point. „We had everything under control,“ Marcel Schuhen explained accordingly, adding: „The stadium was quiet. But after the 1-1, things naturally heated up again. Then it was a prime example of what can happen at the Betze.“

The captain of the South Hesse side also spoke about the decisions made on the field in the run-up to the equaliser that made Skyttä’s goal possible in the first place. „We played the wrong game there. Before that, we defended really well the entire time.“

Florian Kohfeldt saw a „switching action that we should never let go of.“ It was frustrating that the Lilies, while leading away, were caught in this counterattack by FCK. It was doubly bitter that the hosts‘ first real attack after the break promptly found its way into the net. What followed was a final phase the Fritz-Walter-Stadion has seen many times before. Hectic activity, a heated atmosphere, and a late winner for FCK. More on that in the „That didn’t go well“ section. But this phase was ushered in by the 1-1 draw. The scene of the game. Unfortunately.

The performance up until the 84th minute. With a whopping 23 points at home, FCK had already secured the status of the strongest home team in the second division in 2025 before kickoff. The Betzenberg is a fortress that visitors regularly find difficult to overcome. This made the performance of the Lilies for much of the game all the more remarkable. „We had the reins in our hands,“ analysed Luca Marseiler, while his head coach elaborated a little more in his description: „For 80 minutes, we were clearly better, were mature, had the better structure and more scoring chances. For a long time, the game went exactly the way we wanted it to. We didn’t want any back-and-forth, no hecticness. We wanted to maintain the structure. We succeeded in doing that well.

„Even before the match, Kohfeldt had emphasised that Kaiserslautern adopts an offensive and aggressive approach in home games, which SV 98 would have to adapt to. They succeeded. Although the South Hesse team needed just under ten minutes to gain control of the game, after Merveille Papela’s shot hit the crossbar, Darmstadt took control. And they didn’t let go for a long time. Until the 84th minute, to be precise. „Up until then, we were really strong,“ said Kohfeldt, introducing our next section with his following sentence: „Then came the phase in which we did what we wanted to avoid.“

The performance from the 84th minute onward. „We didn’t read the game properly at the end.“ Kohfeldt used these words to describe the final phase of the game at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion. „We gave the game away in 10 minutes. We didn’t stick to our structure and allowed the game to become hectic.“

FCK took advantage of this disorganised phase to take control of the game. The 1-1 break followed by a situation in which the Lilies lacked man-marking, allowing Faride Alidou to score.

The final moments resulted in an „absolutely unnecessary defeat,“ as Schuhen rightly noted. Kohfeldt spoke of his team still having phases in their game where they don’t act „maturely.“ While these phases have been drastically reduced compared to last year, at second-division level, sometimes even ten minutes are enough to turn a game on its head. Sunday provided painful proof of this. „This game hurts,“ Kohfeldt admitted frankly, but also placed the events in the context of the overall impression of the past few weeks: „We have seven points and are through in the cup. Before the season, we would never have called it a difficult start. Rather, the opposite.“

Now it’s time to internalise the lessons learned from Lautern during the international break and then collect the next points in the home game against Eintracht Braunschweig.