Ice-cold FCA wins 2-0 after Essende’s brace

When the FC Augsburg players started the second half of the Bundesliga season late on Sunday afternoon with the away game at Werder Bremen, it was clear that the bottom half of the table had tightened this weekend. Union Berlin had defeated Mainz 2-1 and had only passed once with 20 points. St. Pauli and Hoffenheim had come closer with wins and 17 points each. So it was clear that if the first away win of the season didn’t just fizzle out in the table, something had to be done. And the FCA achieved this with a 2-0 (2-0) win, their second win away from home within five days. The FCA has thus expanded its points account to 22 points.

As in East Berlin, FCA took an early lead in Bremen’s Weserstadion. Samuel Essende completed FCA’s first serious trip into the Werder half with a 1-0 score (5th). Kristijan Jakic had won the ball, Arne Maier passed it on to Essende and he slotted in just as coolly as the outside temperatures.

Samuel Essende scores again against his favorite opponent Bremen

The addition of Jess Thorup to the starting eleven had already paid off. He had nominated Maier as a replacement for the suspended Frank Onyeka and also retained Samuel Essende over Phillip Tietz. “Samuel gives us the speed and depth up front, that’s why he plays,” Thorup added before the game DAZN explained. And the striker repaid the trust in hard currency. In stoppage time in the first half, he headed in a fine cross from Dimitrios Giannoulis to make it 2-0 (45th+1). What effectiveness. For the second time, Essende formed a W (his nickname is Wolf) when celebrating the goal. It was the third W against Bremen, as Essende had already scored in the 2-2 draw at the season opener.

But there were an exciting 36 minutes between the two FCA goals, with the 400 FCA fans traveling with them holding their breath several times. Because two Werder goals were justifiably disallowed by referee Benjamin Brand from Schwebheim, Franconia, due to offside positions.

VAR intervenes when Jakic supposedly uses the emergency brake

In addition, some Augsburg fans have certainly converted to ardent supporters of VAR since Sunday. In the 39th minute, Brand withdrew the red card against Kristijan Jakic after intervention by video referee Tobias Welz and self-study. Marvin Ducksch fell during a counterattack in a duel with Jakic. As the close-up showed, it was a swallow from Bremen, who then received a yellow card. Welz also decided in favor of Augsburg when Elvis Rexhbecaj (45th + 5) was supposedly handballed in the FCA penalty area.

After the change, Bremen responded with angry attacks on what they saw as the referee’s decisions, which were of course wrong. Werder pressed, caused excitement in the FCA penalty area, but it also caused needle pricks. Once the inside post saved FCA (55′), once the crossbar saved Bremen (59′). After that, things calmed down in both penalty areas without the game becoming boring. But FCA cleverly defended their second win in a row, something they had not managed to do so far this season.

FC Augsburg is looking into the return of Mergim Berisha

But FCA also caused a stir off the pitch. Jacob Friis will soon leave his assistant coach position and become the national coach of Finland. The Finns have announced that they will present their new head coach on Monday. Friis has a contract with FCA until the summer, and the Finnish association will have to pay a transfer fee accordingly. Friis’ previous tasks in Jess Thorup’s coaching team will initially be distributed among the remaining assistant coaches. In the upcoming home game on Saturday (3:30 p.m.) Friis will be available for the Augsburg team one last time.

In addition, according to information from our editorial team, the speculation about Mergim Berisha’s return is confirmed. The FCA is seriously looking into this. Berisha left FCA for Hoffenheim in the summer of 2023, but never really got along there. Berisha’s advantage: He knows both the club and the league and would therefore not need any time to get used to it. However, the question arises as to whether the Augsburg team can and wants to afford the transfer fee. A loan with a later purchase option should also be an issue. Berisha still has a contract with Hoffenheim until the summer of 2027. However, Werder Bremen and AC Monza from Italy are also said to be interested in the striker. Compared to Bremen, FCA definitely submitted the better application letter on Sunday.

FC Augsburg: Dahmen – Matsima, Gouweleeuw (65th Banks), Zesiger – Koudossou (86th Wolf), Rexhbecaj, Jakic, Maier (65th Kömur), Giannoulis – Claude-Maurice (77th Jensen), Essende (65th Tietz)