Captain Endo beheads Stuttgart for direct relegation
Created: 05/14/2022Updated: 05/14/2022, 17:45
Cologne's Florian Kainz (l) in action against Stuttgart's Konstantinos Mavropanos (r).
© Tom Weller/dpa
VfB Stuttgart made it and managed to stay up directly on the last day of the Bundesliga soccer match.
The Swabians won the task against 1. FC Köln 2-1 (1-0) with a last-minute goal from Wataru Endo and benefited from a defeat on Saturday in the parallel game between Hertha BSC and Borussia Dortmund (1-2). .
As a result, VfB climbed to 15th thanks to the better goal difference.
Stuttgart square.
The Berliners have to be relegated.
Cologne, however, missed the leap into the Europa League, but is seventh in the coming season in the Conference League.
Sasa Kalajdzic gave VfB hope for a 1-0 lead with his header (12') after missing a penalty seconds earlier.
Goalscorer Anthony Modeste equalized after an hour.
He benefited from the fact that keeper Müller did not hold on to a cross.
In the second minute of stoppage time, captain Endo saved the home side with a header.
Driven on by the majority of the 58,453 fans in the sold-out arena, the Stuttgarters started with a lot of pressure in the traditional jerseys of the 1992 championship team.
This forced them to win the ball quickly.
But they didn't get any chances at first.
The words of coach Pellegrino Matarazzo, who had hoped for a high level of intensity from the start the day before, were followed by action.
Borna Sosa shot from distance (8') and a minute later Tiago Tomás tested Cologne keeper Marvin Schwäbe, who let the ball rebound.
Matarazzo clapped contentedly and continued to whip his team forward.
The 44-year-old had said on the pay TV channel Sky that she should tackle the task with "emotions and the heart".
And so did the southern Germans, who were rewarded for their effort.
Tomás won a penalty which Kalajdzic missed.
The Austrian did better in the subsequent corner kick.
However, it was still 0-0 in Dortmund at this point.
A draw there would not have been enough for VfB.
A few minutes later it got even worse.
Hertha's opening goal was not announced in Stuttgart.
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VfB didn't let up.
Endo (34th/36th) and Tomás (45th +2) missed the greatest opportunities for a more comfortable lead.
Because VfB missed numerous chances, despite clearly dominating the game, they only went into the break 1-0.
Immediately after the change of sides, both teams lacked accuracy in the game forward.
This was also the case with Kalajdzic's shot from a promising position (53').
Surprisingly it was 1:1.
Modeste was there with her head and let the Cologne fans who had traveled with her cheer.
Dortmund's equalizer was shown on the video screen and heated up the mood in the stands once more.
The VfB professionals threw everything forward on the field and after Borussia's opening goal, they also scored the winning goal themselves, which triggered a storm.
dpa
