The conditions were anything but ideal for the VfB players for their test friendly against Kasimpasa in Kufstein on Wednesday, with persistent rain making the going on the pitch in the Kufstein-Arena extremely heavy. In spite of the circumstances, VfB looked to get forward from the outset and had a first chance to open the scoring through Berkay Özcan on the quarter-hour, but the midfielder fired just over from sixteen meters out. Just shy of the half-hour mark, Marcin Kaminski tested opposition keeper Ramazan Köse with a free-kick effort. At the other end, Kasimpasa’s Trezeguet fired into the side-netting (17') and VfB goalkeeper Mitch Langerak needed a good reflex to deny Adem Büyük. As a result, the sides went into the break locked in stalemate.
As in the previous tests, for the second-period, VfB coach Hannes Wolf made a number of changes (see 'The VfB line-up'). And the fresh VfB legs made an immediate impact, with Anastasios Donis firing home powerfully to make it 1-0 (48'). It was the Greek’s second goal in four pre-season friendly appearances.
And the Wasenelf continued to press forward – with effect! Emiliano Insua benefitted from some good play by Daniel Ginczek to make it 2-0 (59'), Josip Brekalo was on target with a low drive to add a third (67') and, in the 71st minute, Daniel Ginczek converted a delivery from Anastasios Donis to make it 4-0. In the 72nd minute, Benjamin Pavard, who had been side-lined in recent weeks with a knee problem, made his comeback. Late in the game, Daniel Ginczek could have added a fifth, but saw his effort bounce away off the outside of the post (84'). With just a minute to go, an effort from Emiliano Insua nestled in the top-corner, to make the final score 5-0 for VfB, who made a clear step forwards with a solid performance.
VfB coach Hannes Wolf’s post-match statement: "In the first half, we delivered the ball into the danger-zone quite well, but clear chances on goal didn’t materialise. Those chances were then created in the second-half and we got our goals. Just like the previous results, we must also evaluate this one correctly. We weren’t uneased by the other results going into this game and we won’t be overrating this result either."
The VfB line-up
First-half:
Mitch Langerak – Jean Zimmer, Anto Grgic, Marcin Kaminski, Ailton Ferreira Silva – Takuma Asano, Christian Gentner (C), Ebenezer Ofori, Berkay Özcan, Tobias Werner – Simon Terodde
Second-half:
Ron-Robert Zieler – Matthias Zimmermann, Timo Baumgartl, Anto Grgic (72‘ Benjamin Pavard), Emiliano Insua, Takuma Asano, Orel Mangala, Dzenis Burnic, Josip Brekalo, Anastasios Donis, Daniel Ginczek
Goals
1-0 Anastasios Donis (48'), 2-0 Emiliano Insua (59'), 3-0 Josip Brekalo (67'), 4-0 Daniel Ginczek (71'), 5-0 Emiliano Insua (89')