Goalless friendly against Sparta

FC Augsburg's fourth pre-season friendly against Sparta Rotterdam, who were recently promoted to the Dutch Eredivise, ended 0-0 in Allgäu on Saturday, as neither team could find a way through. The events from the night before in Munich were evident at the game as the FCA players honoured the victims by wearing black armbands. Before kick off a minute's silence was held to think about the people who lost their lives. Augsburg's head coach Dirk Schuster used the match as an opportunity for all of the fully fit players in his squad to get some playing time. FCA were on top for the opening stages of the match and had the first clear opportunity as Caiuby's header found the side netting from a Daniel Baier corner. Sparta Rotterdam replied with a chance of their own though as Ryan Sanusi's free-kick from 25 yards rattled the crossbar of Andreas Luthe's goal. However, it was an uneventful first half for the most part and it wasn't until the closing stages of the first period that the game flickered into life again. Andreas Luthe was needed to save from another Sparta free-kick in the 44th minute before Tim Matavz tested Rotterdam's goalkeeper Roy Kortsmit a minute later. The teams went into the break level. Dirk Schuster gave his team talk out on the pitch at half time and introduced nine new players. Only Andreas Luthe and Daniel Opare at left-back played on from the first half. FCA came out positively after the restart and caged Sparta Rotterdam into their own half. Rather than fight their way out of their own territory the Dutch side focused on defending their goal. The first opportunity for Augsburg to take the lead was from a ball into the box from shawn Parker that went just wide of the far post. Raul Bobadilla then tested Rotterdam's goalkeeper, Kortsmits. with a free-kick in the 70th minute. Two more chances fell to Raul Bobadilla in the closing stages. He hit the side netting with a long-range effort before firing over the crossbar on the turn in the 86th minute. The best chance of the half fell to Shawn Parker, whose late attempt was headed off the line. With a number of chances going unused the match ended goalless.