2. Bundesliga, 17. June 2020
VfB moved back into second place in Bundesliga 2, racking up five goals for the first time this season on Wednesday evening as they defeated SV Sandhausen 5-1 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Four of the goals came in a first half where the lads from Cannstatt played exhibition football, with the fifth and final strike right on the final whistle the cherry on the cake.
Personnel
VfB head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo made no fewer than six changes to the team which slipped to a disappointing 2-1 defeat in the derby with Karlsruher SC. Nathaniel Phillips, Atakan Karazor and captain Marc Oliver Kempf came in to shore up the defence, Orel Mangala and former Sandhausen player Philipp Förster were brought into midfield while Sasa Kalajdzic made his full debut up front. Wataru Endo sat out the match with a suspension, while Holger Badstuber, Pascal Stenzel, Marcin Kaminski, Clinton Mola and Hamadi Al Ghaddioui were all relegated to the bench.
| 12th minute | Philipp Klement sends a corner into the box, Nicolas Gonzalez rises highest in the six-yard box and heads home inside the near post to make it 1-0. |
| 20th minute | Sandhausen carve out their first chance of the match but Matarazzo’s men immediately go up the other end and double their lead. A clearance falls to Gonzalo Castro on the edge of the area and he volleys home to make it 2-0. |
| 28th minute | Less than half-an-hour into the match and the lads from Cannstatt are already three goals to the good, as SVS defender Tim Kister puts through his own net. |
| 31st minute | VfB find the back of the net yet again. Sandhausen’s Aleksandr Zhirov fouls Förster in the box, and Gonzalez slots the penalty home. The Argentinian’s 12th goal of the season makes it 4-0 to Stuttgart. |
| 39th minute | Castro picks up his tenth yellow card of the season, meaning that he will have to miss the forthcoming trip to Nuremberg. |
| 68th minute | Substitute Enrique Pena Zauner reduces the deficit, scoring for the visitors from around 12 yards out. |
| 90th minute +4 | Just as the final whistle is about to blow, VfB make it 5-1 courtesy of Hamadi Al Ghaddioui. |
Marc Oliver Kempf:
We now want to carry this momentum over while maintaining our focus. We need to make sure that we don’t let our levels drop in the slightest in the next two matches.
Summary
VfB took matters into their own hands against SV Sandhausen on Wednesday evening to make sure of the three points. The lads from Cannstatt were full of running, commitment and enthusiasm in the early going, creating some excellent chances right from the off. The final scoreline of 5-1 was well deserved and by no means flattered a dominant Stuttgart side.
