A home win at the end would have meant staying up in the league for VfB Stuttgart. But the Swabians missed the chance – and fear relegation.
VfB Stuttgart missed the redeeming victory in their relegation battle in the final of the season and has to worry about staying in the Bundesliga in the relegation.
The 1: 1 (0: 0) was not enough for the Swabians in the state duel with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Saturday. The Stuttgart team, with coach Sebastian Hoeneß as the fourth coach of the season, slipped down to 16th place in the table because VfL Bochum beat Bayer Leverkusen.
Relegation against Heidenheim or HSV
Ihlas Bebou scored the lead (75th minute) for Hoffenheim, who had been completely harmless up to that point. Tiago Tomás equalized for VfB in front of 47,500 spectators (80′). The Swabians were unable to take advantage of the chance of staying up in the league despite a few good scoring opportunities. With a win they would have had the next Bundesliga season for sure.
Now it is up to VfB Stuttgart on June 1st and 5th to prevent the third fall into the second division after 2016 and a messed-up season with several coach changes and the departure of sports director Sven Mislintat to rescue. Whether Hamburger SV or 1. FC Heidenheim will be the opponents will be decided on Sunday.
In May 2022, the rescue was still successful in a dramatic heartbeat finale. At that time, Pellegrino Matarazzo freaked out as a VfB coach. Now the current Hoffehheim coach returned to the Stuttgart stadium for the first time – and spoiled the hoped-for non-relegation party for VfB.
In principle, Hoffenheim had already secured relegation before the state duel. With a 4-1 win at FSV Mainz 05, VfB had secured a favorable starting position for the last matchday and left the relegation zone. Borna Sosa, Chris Führich and Konstantinos Mavropanos were in the starting XI for the hosts compared to last weekend. The Swabians, who were in danger of relegation, started cautiously without taking any risks. Although they had more possession of the ball and more effort towards goal than the harmless guests, they developed too little pressure on the offensive in a tough game.
Big chances in the early stages
With a great atmosphere in the dominant white crowd, the Swabians had the support of the ranks behind them right from the start. Josha Vagnoman missed the first chance when he shot from a turn after a ball from Wataru Endo, but the ball landed over the goal (11′). The opportunity was even better a few minutes later – again after a pass from the dedicated captain Endo, Vagnoman shot over the goal again (18′).
With VfL Bochum in the lead against Leverkusen, it was clear that a draw wasn’t enough for VfB to save the place in the table. For the first goal of the game, the Swabians did not succeed enough in the first half. Scorer Serhou Guirassy also failed to ease the pressure after assisting Silas Katompa Mvumpa (40′).
VfB also dominated the game in the second half, but acted too imprecisely and not compellingly enough. A few minutes after the change of sides, Silas frittered away the ball in the penalty area, and shortly afterwards Führich also missed the goal from close range (63′). The next top-class chances were left out. The gap then came out of nowhere. But the hosts didn’t give up. First, Enzo Millot failed on the crossbar, then Tomás did better. His goal counted according to video evidence.
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
