In the second friendly of pre-season, FC Augsburg were looking to build on the 9-0 victory over Heimstetten. However the match ended goalless, with FCA hitting the woodwork late on. FCA went into the friendly against third-tier Unterhaching with the same XI that started the pre-season opener four days ago. This meant that Florian Niederlecher, who was involved in four goals last time out, earned another start in addition to new addition Daniel Caliguiri. The opposition included a familiar face, as Stephan Hain ran out for Unterhaching. It was Hain’s goal which secured promotion to the Bundesliga for FCA in 2011.

In 30-degree heat, FC Augsburg, wearing the new white home kit, began the game on the front foot but encountered some tough resistance from Unterhaching, before the third-division side also managed to put the FCA defence under some pressure of their own. The first real opportunity of the game came with a long ball into the penalty area, which Marco Richter could not process properly (8’), before a remarkable solo effort by Ruben Vargas narrowly missed the target (10’ Augsburg continued to pile on the pressure as they looked to play the game in Unterhaching’s half. The third-league team’s looked to combat this with long balls over the top. However, it was FCA who continued to control the game and had two impressive efforts in as many minutes, with Richter’s long shot (18’) and Udiokhai’s header (19’). The next chance of the game fell the way of former Augsburg man Hain, who picked up on a misplaced back pass from Marco Richter. Hain found himself one-on-one and looked to round goalkeeper Rafał Gikiewicz, only to be denied by Carlos Gruezo who blocked the shot before it crossed the line.

Philipp Max fired a free kick narrowly over the bar (28’), before another long shot went close to putting FCA ahead (32’). Unterhaching continually tried to play deep balls upon winning possession which resulted in another effort falling to Hain, but Augsburg bodies got between the goal (38’). Towards the end of the half, the third-tier side began to show more and more courage and despite chanceas at both ends, the first half ended scoreless.

Jensen strikes the post

Heiko Herrlich made eleven changes at the break, seeing goalkeeper Benjamin Leneis and attacker Sergio Córdova introduced, among others. The second half began just as the first did, with FCA on the attack. The first chance of the half fell to Frederik Jensen, whose shot was blocked. Once again, Unterhaching became more adventurous and looked to attack more often, but FCA continued to be enjoy the better portion of chances. On the hour mark, Finnbogason won the ball but stuck his effort straight into goalkeeper Nico Mantl. 

Augsburg continued to dominate and shots continued to pepper the Unterhaching goal, unfortunately to no avail. Unterhaching finally got another chance via a free kick, but missed the target. With the final whistle just around the corner, Gregoritsch found Jensen with a chipped ball, but the 22 year old’s effort hit the inside of the post. Shortly after, Lineis was called into action once again in order to keep the scores equal.
FCA will next be in action on Saturday, 15th August (15:30 CEST) when they travel to FC Nürnberg.

FCA: Gikiewicz (46' Leneis) – Framberger (46' Stanić), Gouweleeuw (46' Oxford), Uduokhai (46' Suchý), Max (46' Iago) – Khedira (46' Civeja), Gruezo (46' Löwen) – Caligiuri (46' Córdova), Richter (46' Gregoritsch), Vargas (46' Jensen) – Niederlechner (46' Finnbogason)

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