Fixtures

FCK - 1. FC Köln

FCK boss Kurz made four changes to the side that defeated Werder Bremen in the last game of the year 2010, naming Pierre De Wit and Jessen for Tiffert and Bugera, who both served a one-match suspension. Chadli Amri took over from Kirch and Rodnei replaced Abel. Kurz had his men line up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Amedick alongside Rodnei in central defense, and Jessen and Dick at full-back, and Sippel in goal. Petsos anchored central midfield, with Moravek and De Wit in attacking midfield. Amri and Ilicevic patrolled the flanks, with Lakic as the nominal target man.

Once referee Winkmann whistled play underway on a sunny late afternoon in Kaiserslautern, the hosts created the first scoring opportunity as Jessen swung a neat cross into Köln’s penalty area, but Andrezinho was able to block the attempt. The Red Devils swiftly gained the upper hand, and there was work to do for Rensing in the visitors’ goal when FCK created some dangerous situations from a series of corner kicks. Rodnei could have opened the scoring with ten minutes on the clock but dragged his header narrowly wide of the post.

At the other end, Novakovic created the first half chance for 1. FC Köln but failed to connect with a cross from Clemens. Midway through the half, the visitors battled their way into the game and Peszko directed a shot wide of the post on 23 minutes. With the half-hour mark approaching, a Lukas Podolski free-kick smacked against the bar and only two minutes later, the visitors’ skipper had the ball in the net as he capitalized on sloppy work by Rodnei, who miskicked a back pass forcing Sippel to pull out a stunning reaction as the ball smacked against the right post, and Podolski simply slot home from the rebound.

Obviously shocked by the goal conceded, there was confusion in the FCK defense and Clemens almost immediately doubled the visitors’ advantage but directed his long shot narrowly wide of the post.

And there was worse to come for Kurz’s men when Lakic picked up a straight red card after 40 minutes following a one on one with Eichner inside Köln’s penalty area. Eichner had felled Lakic and the Croat angrily called for a penalty kick just to be sent off. Petit fired in the last chance of the half, but his free-kick missed the target.

Kurz reacted and replaced De Wit by Nemec for the second half. Ten-man FCK hit their stride right away with Nemec feeding Ilicevic in the box, but the Croat’s header only hit the side netting. The home side equalized six minutes after the restart as Moravek put the ball past Rensing from a brilliant Rodnei header.

The goal brought the Red Devils and their fans to life, and they were almost celebrating again when Ilicevic swung a neat cross into the penalty area for Nemec, but instead of putting the ball past Rensing, the Czech forward’s shot was blocked by Geromel. 

The home side dominated possession and pressed for the second goal afterwards. Florian Dick thundered a hammering long shot from almost 30 yards against the bar.

Kirch took over from Amri after 70 minutes and although they were one man down, the Red Devils battled bravely. Nemec displayed a nice solo but was stopped before being able to send a shot on goal.

In an attempt to score the crucial goal, Moravek hared into the penalty area but failed to get his shot on target, and Nemec was wasteful as he directed a header wide of the post.

Ten minutes from time, Köln created its first chance after the restart and almost took the lead, but Jessen cleared a Podolski shot off the line.

The 42.295 crowd at the Betzenberg saw a lively closing spell, with the home side launching a heavy assault on Köln’s goal. First, Petsos found himself with only Rensing to beat but dragged his shot over the bar, before Martin Amedick failed to bury his header in the net.

Thanks to a committed second-half performance, 10-man FCK earned one utterly merited point in their restart fixture against 1. FC Köln.