Football, Bundesliga: VfB Stuttgart beat 1. FC Köln even without Geraci’s goal

Stuttgart can win even without goals from Serho Geraci. In a 2-0 (0-0) win over 1. FC Cologne in the sixth round of the Bundesliga, substitute Deniz Undav (68th and 88th places) gave the Swabian side three points.

With its fourth consecutive victory, Stuttgart advanced to second place with 15 points. After a third defeat in a row, Cologne is in 16th place with just one point and still without a win.

After the recent negative run, it was clear that the Rhinelands were trying not to concede a goal. From the start on Saturday (September 30, 2023), the club focused on defensive work and left the field to the visitors for long periods. With the self-confidence borne out of their recent run of success, Stuttgart were always combining well to get into the box, but little was happening towards goal.

Geraci is barely finished

Guirassi in particular was always good at scoring near the penalty area, so, except for a header over the crossbar (seventh) from the Stuttgart ten-goal player, there were no shots to be seen and in the end he was left without a goal for the first time. Time this season. Cologne did not believe in themselves a little more until midway through the first half and got good goals with shots from Davy Selke (24′) and Dejan Ljubicic (31′).

In the second half, not much changed in the direction of the match. Cologne waited for a counterattack, while Stuttgart waited for a hole in the home team’s defence. This came in the 68th minute. Chris Fuhrich broke through the ball from the left side of the penalty area and passed the ball back to Undav, who had just been substituted. He was criminally free and put the ball past Cologne from eight metres.

Cologne attack is very harmless

The hosts then struggled for an answer. But as in the previous season, the Billy Goats barely managed to get anything on target from the game. Attempts by Ljubicic (84) and Fred Alidou (85) were blocked by VFB goalkeeper Aleksandar Nubel. But Stuttgart settled the matter with a counter-attack: Silas Katumba Mvumba moved in the middle of the field and Undav hit the post to make it 2-0.

For VfB, the next opponent in the Bundesliga is VfL Wolfsburg (Saturday 7 October 2023, 3:30pm). Not far from its city limits, Cologne faces away to Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Sunday 8 October 2023, 3:30pm).