(Un) complicated breakdown: Bad tip could save Wolfsburg


(Un) complicated breakdown
Bad tip could save Wolfsburg

Mark van Bommel and VfL Wolfsburg believed that they had survived the tremors about their entry into the second round of the DFB Cup with their win after extra time at the fourth division Prussia Münster. But the fear, it goes on. How things will turn out for the Champions League starter is open.

It could have been so easy: If Josip Brekalo hadn’t prevented the disgrace of the cup at the Westphalian fourth division Prussia Münster with his equalizer in the 90th minute, everything would be clear. One would talk about the dramatic false start of the Champions League participant today, maybe tomorrow. Then: everyday. Or would Mark van Bommel have left it with five substitutions in his first competitive game as coach of the Bundesliga club. The wolves would have got away with the 3-1 win after extra time with a black eye. A little relief, a little analysis. Then: everyday.

But instead of everyday life there is excitement and VfL Wolfsburg is threatened with the subsequent first round off. Because the Dutchman changed six times instead of the allowed five times. And if Preußen Münster, as expected, objects to the rating of the game, the case seems relatively clear. The implementation regulations of the DFB state that “five substitutions are possible in the coming DFB Cup season” and paragraph 31, point 3a continues as follows: “During the game, five players may be exchanged. One beyond that additional substitution in games with overtime is not permitted. ” Unmistakable. The DFB is thus taking a different line than UEFA: They allow six substitutions in their competitions if the game goes into overtime. That was apparently the downfall for VfL Wolfsburg.

Bad advice may protect against punishment

In Wolfsburg it is assured that they have inquired with the fourth official whether the extension had resulted in an additional change option. Van Bommel had changed three times in regular time, twice before in extra time – and then in the 103rd minute for the sixth time, it was 1-1. Before van Bommel sent Admir Mehmedi out into the field, the fourth official Tobias Fritsch reassured himself several times that it was legal, they say. That makes the case at least morally complicated and would throw a bad light on the referee team around Christian Dingert. Dingert is said to have noted the change problem according to media reports in the match report. He did not want to comment on this.

This process complicates matters. ntv referee expert Alex Feuerherdt (“Collina’s heirs”) sees the referee team as being jointly responsible: “The football rules stipulate that there is a maximum number of substitutions. How high this number is can be determined by the associations themselves in certain competitions, whereby five is the maximum. Whether an additional substitution is possible in the extension of a cup game can also be decided by the national associations – that is also stated in the rules. The referee is bound by this, “says Feuerherdt. “He is responsible for enforcing the rules. That also means that he may not agree to a change if the team in question has exhausted the change quota. It also saves everyone involved a lot of avoidable trouble.”

Now the DFB and presumably the sports court will clarify whether the change posse has consequences for VfL Wolfsburg – if Prussia Münster protests against the valuation of the game. The association does not take any initiative in these cases. “Yes, we are aware that Wolfsburg has made six changes. We will discuss this internally and decide whether and how we should proceed against it,” said Prussia manager Peter Niemeyer. It is unimaginable that the fourth division, who was still fully involved at the time of the rule violation, waived an appeal.

Where is the responsibility?

The result of a negotiation is, however, open: “In the event of a protest by Preußen Münster, the sports court will have to evaluate it. Errors have occurred here on two sides: On the one hand at VfL Wolfsburg, who should have known that a sixth change would be in extra time according to §31 of the implementation regulations of the DFB is not possible. And on the other hand with the referee team, which allowed the change, although the change contingent of the Wolfsburg was exhausted with the fifth change “, explains Feuerherdt. “The question will be to whom the sports court ascribes the main responsibility in the case of the cases. Should it be of the opinion that it lies with the referees because they should not have agreed to the change, then that could accommodate VfL Wolfsburg. That Wolfsburg even is not assigned any (joint) responsibility, but I find it difficult to imagine. “

If a coach broke down in the Bundesliga and there was a protest, the game was counted for the opponent. It doesn’t matter whether Giovanni Trapattoni once sent too many contract amateurs onto the field or whether Otto Rehhagel let a non-EU foreigner play too much in the heat of the moment. At knockout games, the situation was judged less clearly, especially internationally: Christoph Daum changed one non-EU foreigner one day too many in the Champions League against Leeds United, the progress of VfB Stuttgart was gone – because a replay was scheduled and that too high was lost.

“Should the sports court give the referee at least a share of the responsibility in the event of a protest, the question would have to be answered whether the substitution error had an influence on the outcome of the game. When the mistake happened it was 1: 1, immediately afterwards it was 1: 2, Mehmedi – the sixth substitute Wolfsburg – was not involved, “says Feuerherdt and dares a cautious look into the future:” A replay could still be conceivable, because the game was only decided after the change, in favor of the Teams that have changed too often. “

Unsightly tradition in Wolfsburg

In any case, Mark van Bommel is sure to move into a prominent ancestral gallery of German football: the Dutchman will in future be in a row with Otto Rehhagel, Giovanni Trappatoni, Klaus Augenthaler, Winfried Schäfer or Hennes Weisweiler. All of these great coaches once made mistakes. However, Mark van Bommel will not be proud of that. No matter how it turns out.

There is a certain tradition in Wolfsburg of losing cup games because of incorrectly deployed players. The “Wolfsburg Cup idiot”, as it was called in the newspapers at the time, had played in the first round in 2004 against the amateurs of 1. FC Köln and won. But because Marian Hristov, an actor who was actually blocked, backfired: The Cologne protest was processed by the DFB in a fast-track process, the Bundesliga club was out.

The cause of the problem: The VfL officials apparently missed a fax on which the DFB had listed all the players who were not eligible to play in the first round of the cup. Hristov was on this list because – while still wearing the 1. FC Kaiserslautern jersey – he had been thrown off the pitch in the cup final a few months earlier. The fax was searched feverishly and in vain at the Wolfsburg office in the morning for the “technical error” that had “damaged the image” of the club. But that didn’t change anything in any case. “Information,” admitted the then VfL spokesman Klaus Rippholz, “is an obligation to collect and not to bring.”

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