FC Augsburg took a point from their final game of 2021, drawing 0-0 away to SpVgg Greuther Fürth.

Head coach Markus Weinzierl freshened things up after the 1-1 draw against RB Leipzig on Wednesday, making five changes to the team. Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, Arne Maier, Daniel Caligiuri, Mads Pedersen and Andi Zeqiri started in place of Raphael Framberger, Jan Morávek, Ruben Vargas and Michael Gregoritsch (all on the bench), plus the injured Fredrik Jensen (back problems).

The game began at a slow pace, with Augsburg sitting back early on and letting Fürth come on to them. The hosts had more of the ball in the opening stages, though they struggled to pose any threat in the final third. The first chance of the game came from a set piece. Reece Oxford headed just over from an Arne Maier corner (17’).

FCA took control of the game more as the first half went on, but, like the home side, were lacking that cutting edge. André Hahn was denied from a narrow angle by goalkeeper Sascha Burchert (31’). Aside from that, the first 45 minutes saw lots of challenges put in.

Vargas injects some life into the game – Burchert keeps out Hahn

Weinzierl brought on Vargas for Pedersen at the start of the second half and the Swiss attacker immediately helped set up a chance, playing it through to Iago. His cross found Hahn, however Burchert kept him out from close range (48’). Despite this bright start to the second half, the action quickly died down again.

The closing stages were hard-fought, as FCA were closer to finding the decisive goal to win it. Vargas narrowly missed the target (67’), before Burchert just got to a long ball ahead of Noah Sarenren Bazee (81’). The final opportunity fell to Vargas, whose deflected effort only hit the side-netting (86’), meaning it finished 0-0.

As a result of today’s game, the Fuggerstädter have ended the first half of the season on 18 points. The first game of 2022 will be away to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Saturday, 8th January (15:30 CET).

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