Monday 22 November 2021
“Crossed a border”
In the draw, it crashes heavily on the coaching bench
The duel between 1. FC Köln and FSV Mainz 05 ends in a draw. What is going on on the sidelines meanwhile is much more spectacular. Bo Svensson complains of a personal insult and does not even allow the referee to calm him down.
The Dane Bo Svensson is not a guy who is about to blow up. The verbal attacks by Cologne’s assistant coach Kevin McKenna so enraged the Mainz head coach that he did not want to give in after the Bundesliga match (1-1). “I can take a lot of things that are said in the heat of the game,” said Svensson, “but I don’t get on with anyone who insults me personally at halftime. There was a limit.”
The noise was triggered by a gross foul by Stefan Bell, the right-back from FSV Mainz 05, on Cologne’s striker Anthony Modeste (41st minute). The striker had to be replaced with a bruised pelvis. “The whole Bank of Cologne called for red, that’s what I asked him about. That was the reason why it escalated,” said Svensson of the dispute at halftime.
It was really high again in the 60th minute after a clash between Mark Uth and 05 defense chief Alexander Hack: Svensson refused to shake hands with McKenna during an attempted arbitration by referee Deniz Aytekin. Both hotheads were warned with a yellow card.
“It’s over”
Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart did not want to hang the violent argument too high after the final whistle. “It was an emotional game – also on the coaching benches,” he said soothingly. “It’s over and should be shut down.” He also asked McKenna what had happened: “He said he did nothing.” Baumgart came to a different assessment than his assistant, according to the TV pictures of the Modeste foul. “I didn’t see any intention that he wanted to kick him. At first I also thought of red. The yellow card was the right decision.”
From a sporting point of view, coaches and players were able to “live well” with the division of points after a hard-fought game with lots of emotions, as the Mainz sports director Christian Heidel found. The heat didn’t bother him either. “It was a highly dramatic game with a lot of fuss. That’s what people want,” he said. “We are currently offering a lot of spectacle.”
Fifth game without a Cologne win
On the other hand, the guests from the cathedral city played much better for almost 80 minutes. In the first half alone they had three great opportunities through Ondrej Duda, but fell 0: 1 through the sixth Bundesliga goal of Jonathan Burkardt (41st). “To be honest, I hit the ball with my heel, I want to shoot it into the far corner and it goes in short,” said Burkardt, describing his shot. “The graduation was rather happy.”
Salih Özcan achieved the deserved equalization after the restart. “We just don’t manage to get games like this – and there have been several of them recently – for us across the finish line and not just play a draw,” said Baumgart after the fifth game in a row without a win. Nevertheless, he is not entirely dissatisfied: “My boys are doing a good job.”
This is something that my colleague Svensson did not want to attest to his professionals. “We missed what sets us apart,” he said – namely aggressive counter-pressing and strength in a duel. “I’ve seen my team play better.” The Mainz team did not lose their fourth game in a row, but with a win against Cologne they would have climbed to fifth place in the table.