There are supposed to be people to whom you first have to explain that a derby is a completely different event than any league game. However, the 49,000 people who watched 1. FC Kaiserslautern’s 3-1 win against Karlsruher SC had no need for clarification in this regard.
It was loud, as loud and emotional as legend has it it always is at Betzenberg, but in reality it only happens three or four times a season. There were the two fans who insulted each other with a “son of a bitch” vocabulary that was already stupid in 1990, but was much more widespread back then than it is today. But there was also the slightly frightened group of pensioners from Karlsruhe who had packed their scarves in their handbags on the regional express and were immediately noticed because of their dialect. The punishment was friendly ridicule and a can of Saarland beer for each of the women. More international friendship is not possible. At least not in the southwest.
FCK coach Markus beginning also saw a “worthy derby with a lot of passion and power”, whose team was in second place in the second division table after the game. If the KSC (seventh place) had won clearly, the rankings of the two clubs would have been exactly mirrored. This season you have to be a fan of a first division club not to find this extremely tight second division much more exciting.
Even on the Betzenberg, things were not as clear as the result suggests. Marcel Franke and David Herold had good opportunities for Karlsruhe, Georgian Budu Zivzivadze headed a goal offside. In terms of play, the KSC was at least equal at times and even superior in the early stages. The latter was astonishing, after all, the team had fought bravely in the DFB Cup for more than two hours of play on Wednesday, only to lose to FC Augsburg in the end. A 1:3 against Hamburger SV, the cup exit, now the 1:3 defeat in the derby – you could understand KSC captain Marvin Wanitzek, who found it all “brutal”: “It was a shitty week,” said the scorer of the 1:3 (88th minute), “and you could have beaten all three teams.”
“We wanted to give everyone the same playing time”
But things turned out differently because the young KSC defender Enes Zengin was so clumsy in his first professional game that there was an early penalty for Kaiserslautern, which Boris Tomiak converted (13th). Kenny Redondo (73′) and Jannis Heuer (75′) later did the rest. And anyone who defends as poorly as KSC did before is not allowed to make any claims, as Wanitzek also knew: “Our goal average says it all.”
Last season, the FCK lost the derby 0-4, but those responsible have learned from the scary last season and created a new cohesion. In fact, it is impressive how the team always manages to replace suspended and injured players. Marlon Ritter, Jannik Mause and Almamy Touré started on Saturday for the top scorer Ragnar Ache (nine goals), the suspended Filip Kaloc and the ill Daniel Hanslik. And without any noticeable loss of quality.
In the summer, coach first patiently tested different formations on the pitch, over and over again. “We wanted to give everyone the same playing time,” he explained. This process took time. In the early phase of the season his team was not yet well-coordinated, but this course is finally paying off. “Now everyone is on the same level.” Some of his players have also developed extremely well. Watching the offensive man Daisuke Yokota is just fun. “We have slowly arrived at the football we want to play,” said Heuer. “We have become closer together as a team – perhaps due to the failure at the beginning when things didn’t go so well.”
On average, more than 30,000 come to the second division games
The FCK is particularly helped by the fact that the squad is much better staffed than in the previous season. The KSC, in turn, is explicitly struggling with a deficit in this regard. Even in a week with three games in six days, the starting eleven was only changed in one position – forced because Dzenis Burnic had to serve a yellow card suspension. In a storm, the situation would quickly become even more precarious if one of the two players got injured. She already is in central defense.
Meanwhile, FCK awaits 1. FC Köln for a special duel in their next home game, two days before Christmas Eve. At the end of the game, both clubs could be in the promotion ranks. Cologne was in eleventh place four match days ago. That says a lot about the balance of a league in which four clubs have already been in first place in 15 match days: Düsseldorf, Hanover, Paderborn, Schalke. And then everyone promptly lost again. It is always astonishing how many spectators the second league moves. On average, more than 30,000 come to the games. Of course, the Lauterer game against Cologne will also be sold out.
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