Mammoth Match against Saarbrücken

At temperatures of 30 degrees, an extremely entertaining encounter developed in the Viktoria stadium from Herxheim. After just a few seconds, Luca Marseiler backheeled a ball into the path of Oscar Vilhelmsson, but the Swede was denied by Saarbrücken keeper Phillip Menzel. In direct response, it was the Saarlanders who came dangerously in front of the box and were awarded a penalty after a foul by Klaus Gjasula on Julian Günther-Schmidt. Patrick Schmidt saw his spot kick saved by Marcel Schuhen, but used the follow-up shot to take the early FCS lead on 3 minutes.

SV 98 was unimpressed and continued to play forward. South Hesse’s actions were rewarded with an equaliser in the 7th minute. Aleksandar Vukotic headed a Marseiler corner into the net.

As a result, the Lilies took control of the game and almost took the lead after a good quarter of an hour with a shot from Fraser Hornby, the shot missed the far corner by a few centimetres. Since Menzel was also able to direct a long-range shot from Paul Will over the crossbar, it was Saarbrücken who were able to take the lead again in the 27th minute. Captain Manuel Seitz scored a volley from a corner.

Until the half-time whistle, it was the very agile Marseiler who repeatedly tormented the defence before feeding Kai Klefisch, who also denied by Menzel.

So after 45 minutes we went into the dressing room with the narrow deficit from Lilien’s point of view.

In the run-up to the encounter, both clubs had agreed at short notice to hold an additional thirty-minute training session and competition conditions following the 90 minutes. The total game duration was 90+30 minutes, so both coaches decided not to make any changes at the start of the second half. The only exception was Marvin Mehlem, who came into the game for Marseiler. The lively changeover took place after an hour, with both teams replacing most of the personnel.

Overall, the game was much more reserved after the first restart than in the fast-paced three quarters of an hour at the beginning, and scoring opportunities remained limited for a long time. It took until the 74th minute before Sebastian Vasiliadis tested Lilien keeper Karol Niemczycki with an attempt from distance. The substitution of Matej Maglica, who had to leave the field after 78 minutes of the game, was bitter from the Lilies‘ point of view. The young Max Pfister replaced the tall Croatian. A little later, Clemens Riedel almost managed to equalise, but his attempt was blocked at the last second. Shortly before the end of the 90 official minutes, Mohamed Naifi hit the top of the crossbar.

Othomane El Idrissi also came for the additional half hour. Nico Baier and Fabio Torsiello came into the game for Matthias Bader, Sergio Lopez and Clemens Riedel. Since referee Nicolas Winter and his team called it a day after 90 minutes, the additional 30 minutes were led by FCS kit manager Rüdiger Schmidt.

Kai Brünker initially missed another goal on the Saarbrücken side (95th), a little later both Torsiello and Stojilkovic sniffed the equaliser. Fynn Lakenmacher had the best opportunity to make it 2-2 when he fired past the goal after 108 minutes. Saarbrücken’s Chafik Gourichy did better two minutes later, increasing the score to 3-1 for the Saarlanders.

Line Up: Schuhen (60., Niemczycki) – Lopez (90. El Idrissi), Marseiler (45. Mehlem, 105. Arania), Hornby (60. Lakenmacher), Klefisch (60. Kempe), Vukotic (60. Zimmermann), Gjasula (C) (60. Maglica, 78. Pfister), Bader (90. Torsiello), Will (60. A. Müller), Vilhelmsson (60. Stojilkovic), Riedel (90. Baier).