“Got to yell at someone”
Baumgart also escalates in front of the television
2/6/2022 11:51 am
1. FC Köln dreams of Europe, and coach Steffen Baumgart’s absence from Corona doesn’t change that. He has to follow the home win against SC Freiburg in front of the TV. But that doesn’t make him calmer. On the contrary, as a video of his daughter shows.
Steffen Baumgart paced back and forth in front of his couch, shouted instructions and kept adjusting his flat cap. Without further ado, he had turned his living room into a coaching zone and was in his element despite the corona quarantine. “I walked up and down in the apartment. I was just as loud as ever,” the 1. FC Köln coach reported to the “Bild” newspaper after the difficult 1-0 win over SC Freiburg.
At times even the family dog tried to calm the emotional and loud FC coach. Baumgart’s daughter Emilia filmed the wild Saturday afternoon and shared it on social media. “I was moving a lot and screaming at the TV,” admitted the coach. “I hope the neighbors don’t complain.”
Should the neighbors be FC fans, they would have no reason to complain. After all, the coach, who tested positive on Wednesday, lets you dream of international football. Cologne now has 32 points and is in sixth place – Freiburg (33) and Union Berlin (34) in fourth place are within striking distance.
Video call on break
But at FC they are far from talking about Europe. Assistant coach André Pawlak, who represented his boss on the sidelines, repeated the goal of 40 points several times. “Even if everyone would like to hear something else. We want to achieve this goal, and if something is still possible, we’ll see,” he said, describing the current place in the table as “outstanding”.
Baumgart also deserves the credit for FC being able to celebrate their eighth win of the season after Anthony Modeste’s opening goal (24′). The coach joined in via video call during the break and discussed tactical changes with his assistants because Freiburg had seized control in the final minutes of the first half and FC were looking for an answer.
He gave this in the second half, held back passionately and was also lucky when referee Felix Brych made a decision, who did not recognize Freiburg’s equalizer by Roland Sallai (50th) because Nico Schlotterbeck, who was offside, lost Cologne goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe took sight. “We shouldn’t have complained if it ended 1-1. This time we had the necessary bit of luck,” admitted the strong defender Timo Hübers, who led the defense especially in the final phase and was one of the guarantors of victory.
Time delay in transmission
The other was Schwäbe, who parried outstandingly against Maximilian Eggestein and national player Christian Günter. Once again he proved why he ousted the long-time goalkeeper Timo Horn from the Cologne goal.
Baumgart himself couldn’t stand the tension in the last few minutes, reported Jörg Jakobs. “Steffen had a delay of almost a minute in his transmission, at the end he was in radio contact with our people,” said the interim sports director with a smile: “When the final whistle sounded, he knew that he could watch the last few seconds in a relaxed manner . And of course we all gave him that.”
On Friday (8.30 p.m./DAZN and in the ntv.de live ticker) FC goes to direct competitor RB Leipzig. Then Baumgart will probably be there again. His neighbors will thank him.