FCA lose feisty encounter with Stuttgart 1-0

FC Augsburg lost a closely fought game with VfB Stuttgart on Sunday afternoon, with the score ending at 1-0 to the visitors. Mario Gomez scored the game’s only goal (27’). FCA’s head coach Manuel Baum named an unchanged side to face Stuttgart, and they started with lots of ambition going forward. Marcel Haller had the game’s first shot at goal, although it went narrowly wide. FCA continued to find themselves in the opponent’s penalty area more than Stuttgart, although meaningful chances were few and far between. The visitor’s had a big stroke of luck in the 20th minute, when Ron-Robert Zieler’s attempted clearance went straight to Rani Khedira, but he was caught off guard, and the chance went begging. VfB Stuttgart took the initiative in the minutes that followed. Former FCA winger Erik Thommy pushed forward into a good position, and was hauled down by Kevin Danso to earn himself a free kick. Thommy took the resulting set piece and hit the wall. The ball bounced around and #FCA failed to clear their lines, leaving Mario Gomez to take the opportunity to smash it home into the bottom right corner (27’). At the other end of the pitch shortly after, FCA thought they had equalised. Koo’s shot from distance forced a parry from Zieler, which fell into the path of Gregoritsch to dispatch into the back of the net. Despite initially allowing the goal to stand, however, it was called back after a consultation with VAR. Gregoritsch stood in a clear offside position (37’). The visitors lead 1-0 heading into the dressing rooms.

Spectacular Hitz keeps Augsburg in the game

The visitors came out of the half time break just as hungry as they ended the first 45 minutes of play. Daniel Ginczek and Erik Thommy both had shots on goal, but Danso and Hitz got in the way. FCA pushed for the equaliser. VfB Stuttgart stood tall. Their resilient defence resulted in a plentitude of counter attacking opportunities, with one of them leaving Mario Gomez one-on-one with Marwin Hitz. The Swiss goalkeeper pulled off a spectacular reaction save to keep his side in the game, and deny Gomez from getting his second (65’). Augsburg were hanging on by a thread. Despite throwing all they could at their opponents, FCA couldn’t string passes together successfully. They lacked creativity and that would ultimately resign them to defeat. Stuttgart return home with a hard fought victory and three very important points.