Sunday 17th October 2021
Standstill in the table basement
Difficult draw in Augsburg
Augsburg and Bielefeld conclude the eighth game day of the Bundesliga in the early evening. In a broken game, it looks like the hosts will win for a long time. Then Laursen hits powerfully from a distance. The East Westphalia remain without a victory, but keep the connection in the basement.
Arminia Bielefeld could not win the direct duel with table neighbors FC Augsburg and has to wait for his first win of the season in the Bundesliga. In the basement encounter, Arminia did not get past a 1: 1 (0: 1) at the end of the 8th matchday at the Swabians and remains penultimate with five points – one position behind the FCA. The Bielefelder missed the first competitive game against Augsburg in the seventh attempt.
Defender Reece Oxford (19th) brought the home side, dangerous in set pieces, in front of 17,500 spectators with his first Bundesliga goal. Jacob Laursen (77th) equalized for the guests. The signs of a goal spectacle were bad even before the game began, as the weakest attacking teams in the league met each other with three goals. Looking at the balance sheet – Augsburg won five of the six competitive games against Arminia – and with confidence in a recently re-strengthened U21 European champion Arne Maier, the FCA was nevertheless able to start the neighborhood duel with confidence. Janni Serra made his debut at Arminia. Both were hardly noticeable.
A powerful start, at least
The home side opened the game much more powerfully and courageously and heated up the atmosphere in the WWK Arena in the first few minutes. Daniel Caligiuri (9th) twisted the ball after a corner against the first post, where Thomas Strobl threw himself into the ball with the back of his head – Bielefeld goalkeeper Stefan Ortega raised his arm at lightning speed and prevented the FCA lead.
As a result, the Swabians remained the game-determining team. After Andi Zeqiri (17th) and Caligiuri (18th) initially failed, Oxford climbed up after another corner on the five meter space limit and headed a powerfully – no chance for Ortega.
With the lead in their backs, the Augsburgers controlled the game until the end of the first half, which ended without a single scoring chance for Frank Kramer’s harmless team. The shot from captain Manuel Prietl (40th) from around 20 meters was more like an act of desperation than anything else.
Laursen hits late
The substitutes Alessandro Schöpf and Edimilson Fernandes brought a little more momentum into the game of Bielefeld after the restart, who acted more offensively overall. But the initial euphoria quickly fizzled out and both teams equalized.
The best chance initially had ex-Bielefeld Maier (68th), whose shot ricocheted off Ortega from an acute angle. A little later, however, defender Laursen equalized for Bielefeld – with a wonderful volley. In return, a goal by Augsburg’s Jan Moravek (78th) was rejected for offside, and the hit by Noah Joel Sarenren Bazee (89th) was also not counted.