FSV Mainz 05 capped a furious first half against Augsburg and won a treble after four previous winless games. The attacking duo, in particular, had a strong day
Fearful opponents Augsburg? No way! The Fuggerstädter had won five times in a row against FSV before the matchday 9 game, and their last away win was against the Mainzers. But after half an hour at the latest, all these statistics had disappeared somewhere in the archives.
FSV coach Bo Svensson made a whopping five changes after the 3-1 defeat in Dortmund, the fourth game in a row without a win: Hack, Kohr, Aaron, Lee and Burkardt joined the team, while Tauer (not in the squad), Lucoqui, Barreiro, Stach and Ingvartsen (all on the bench) were initially absent.
Augsburg coach Markus Weinzierl made three changes from the 1-1 draw with Arminia Bielefeld, with Gruezo, Iago and Cordova coming into the first eleven in place of Strobl, Pedersen (both on the bench) and Zeqiri (not in the squad).
Onisiwo and Burkardt have desire – Bell pops up front and scores
Despite the many changes, Mainz started the game strongly, Burkardt failing to beat Gikiewicz as early as the second minute. But this chance set the tone for the first 45 minutes. After that, only one team played – and that was the hosts. Burkardt and Onisiwo ran the Augsburg side, who wanted to surprise with a 4-2-3-1 and Caligiuri on the ten, high and thus overtaxed FCA at times.
The creation of the 1:0 was significant, for example, when Gumny made a hole in the air with a cross from Widmer and Onisiwo finished for the lead (1:0). After that, attack after attack rolled towards Gikiewicz, but the Fuggerstädter’s defence was not up to scratch in the first 45 minutes either. Boetius won the ball from Vargas, Burkardt made a perfect pass into the penalty area to Bell – 2:0 (15th).
Burkardt rewards himself for a strong first half
After a quarter of an hour, the result was well deserved, the Mainzers still had the desire for the game and wanted to add to it. Burkardt, in his 50th Bundesliga match for FSV, showed enormous enthusiasm and was rewarded with a goal after less than half an hour: Onisiwo was given too much time in the penalty area, lifted the ball to the second post, where Burkardt headed in from a few metres for 3:0 (26.).
Nothing more came from FCA until the break, instead Augsburg could thank keeper Gikiewicz, who thwarted two more great chances against Onisiwo (35.) and Burkardt (40.) and prevented even worse. It was a half to forget for the guests.
Weinzierl changed to a three-man defence at the break and brought on Strobl for more security. Strobl had the better of Onisiwo in a sprint duel, but the Mainz attacker missed the goal (48th).
Afterwards, the hosts took a bit of pace out of their own actions and let FCA participate a bit more. As a result, FCA had a few half-chances, but didn’t really manage to find the back of the net.
Zeqiri scores – but the hope doesn’t last two minutes
The goal was partially saved, but before hope could be raised, Mainz scored again. Substitute Zeqiri briefly made it 1:3 (69th), but the Onisiwo-Burkardt combination struck again shortly afterwards, Burkardt providing the three-goal lead again with a well-placed finish (71st).
The Augsburgs’ will was broken at the latest after this goal, and until the final whistle Onisiwo (81st) and Vargas (83rd) both missed great chances, but it remained 4:1. The Fuggerstädter thus set a new negative record, remaining without a three-goal win in the eleventh away game in a row – this has never happened before in the Bundesliga. Mainz can breathe a sigh of relief again after previously going four games without a three-pointer and keeping the competition out of the lower regions.
FSV’s campaign continues next Tuesday (8.45pm) with a DFB Cup home match against league rivals Bielefeld. FCA are guests at VfL Bochum in the same competition the following day (6.30 p.m.).
