Hiroki Yamada scored 1 and set up 2 for Rouwen Hennings as his side fought hard for a vital win in terms of the promotion race. 1860 meanwhile could fall into the automatic relegation play off places if St. Pauli pull off an upset against SV Darmstadt 98 tomorrow.
Two former Bundesliga sides met at the Allianz Arena with different agendas on their minds but both in need of 3 points. KSC sat 3rd before today’s game and knew that with a win they could close the gap on leaders FC Ingolstadt to just 3 points before they played tomorrow. 1860 meanwhile were languishing in the relegation play-off spot and had lost their last 2 games against Nürnberg and fellow relegation candidates FSV Frankfurt.
Markus von Ahlen made 4 changes to his side after the defeat to Nürnberg with Christopher Schindler, Martin Angha (suspended), Yannick Stark and Fejsal Mulić all being cut from the starting line up to make room for Gary Kagelmacher, Gregorz Wojtkowiak, Ilie Sanchez and Rubin Okotie. Unsurprisingly KSC’s head coach Markus Kauczinski decided no changes were needed after they beat Eintracht Braunschweig in the previous round of fixtures.
The opening period of the game was extremely disappointing for both sides as neither was able to create any noteworthy opportunities. After this however the game began in earnest, the opening opportunity fell to Manuel Torres who ran right to the by-line before cutting inside, beating left back Maxim Wittek too easily and going for goal only to see his effort hit the outside of the post from a tight angle.
1860 subsequently went up the other end and won a corner that was initially dealt with well but the ball fell to Wittek who from his advanced position fired home a wonderful effort right into the top corner leaving KSC keeper Dirk Orlishausen with barely any time to move. This added some spice to the game and not long after the challenges started to fly in.
Enrico Valentini was the first player to be cautioned as the KSC defender rather lunged into a challenge with Marius Wolf before 1860 defender Vallori was booked harshly for a challenge on Torres when he clearly won the ball. The remainder of the half was a more cautious affair with a few costless kicks to break up the play but thanks to poor deliveries they came to nothing.
Kauczinski was clearly unhappy with the way his team played in the first half and as a result made 2 changes at half time, Reinhold Yabo and Ilijan Mitsanski came on for Dima Nazarov and Dominic Peitz.
The star man in the 2nd half was undoubtedly Yamada as he saw much more of the ball in the second period and was able to create a number of opportunities not just for himself but for his fellow teammates as well. He had the first effort of the second 45 when his initial touch from a Torres pass caused the ball to bounce high in the air and the Japanese midfielder span inside the box before firing his effort towards the bottom corner only to be denied by a brilliant stop from Stefan Ortega.
1860 did have one chance in the early stages courtesy of a superb solo effort from Valdet Rama who from 30 yards out drove into the box before cutting back firing just past the post. Before KSC equalised they had a penalty claim turned down after Manuel Torres went over in the box under pressure from the afore-mentioned Rama. Replays showed that Torres had leant into Rama before falling to the ground justifying the referee’s decision.
Only a minute later however KSC had their first goal and again Yamada was involved in the build-up. The 25-year old received the ball inside the centre circle and spun wonderfully before driving straight at the heart of the 1860 defence and sliding it out wide for Hennings. The German winger took a touch and fired past Ortega at his near post which will frustrate 1860’s coach von Ahlen.
Following the opening KSC goal the Die Löwen’s defence crumbled, 6 minutes after the first goal Yamada broke clear inside the box and despite being pulled down by Kagelmacher he still managed to poke it past Ortega and into the net to send his side into the lead. Only 60 seconds later the away side had a third. Yet again Yamada broke clear down the left and as Ortega came out to meet him the KSC midfielder lifted it over him but could only find the crossbar before the rebound fell to Hennings. Hennings controlled the ball with his chest and found a gap between the 2 defenders on the goal line.
The drama was set to continue as Die Löwen pulled one back 5 minutes later thanks to the league’s top scorer Rubin Okotie. A cross from the left-hand side found Okotie inside the 6-yard box but he sent his headed effort into the back of a KSC defender before it went out for a corner. The corner came in and was headed on by Marius Wolf allowing to Okotie rise above the defence to head home from close range.
However just as soon as they scored Munich nearly conceded another as Hennings fired just wide from inside the box for what would’ve been his hat-trick. The game then took on a back and forth feel as KSC tried to re-establish their 2-goal lead whilst Munich were looking to equalise. Torres managed to get into the Munich box and pull it back for Mitsanski but the Bulgarian fired straight at Ortega.
In the final 10 minutes Kagelmacher moved upfront for von Ahlen’s side as they became increasingly desperate for a 3rd goal and Kagelmacher nearly gave it to them in the 84th minue when a cross from Wojtkowiak found him unmarked in the box but the ball was slightly high and he could only head wide. In the 91st minute 1860 thought they had got their equaliser and the players were off celebrating when referee Thorsten Schriever gave a costless kick against Okotie for a foul on the keeper. This seemed harsh as it looked like Orlishausen was blocked off by his own player before Okotie even made contact.
Ortega then pulled off the saves of the game at the other end as Mitsanski broke clear and was 1-on-1 but the German keeper stood tall and pushed the effort off to the right. Torres collected the rebound and fired it back across the 6-yard box for Mitsanski but Ortega once again denied him, this time with his foot.