Friendly #1: 3-2 victory vs Lecce!

Friendly time in South Tyrol. VfL left Gais to head to our friendly pitch in Brixen, about an hour away – U.S. Lecce were 4 the opponent. Reis’ eleven turned the match around with a 3-2 win despite being down 0-2. Kevin Stöger, Gerrit Holtmann and Silvère Ganvoula scored.

Day 4 at the training camp in Bruneck, time for the first friendly. VfL Bochum 1848 faced Serie A side US Lecce on Wednesday evening. The match was played in the Raiffeisen Arena in Bressanone. Head coach Thomas Reis relied for the most part on the eleven that recently started at SC Paderborn. The only two changes: Bruno Esser was in goal instead of Manuel Riemann and newcomer Ivan Ordets made his debut for VfL in central defence.

Here’s how the game went:

1′ The ball is rolling. Let’s go, lads!

3′ 150 seconds on the clock, already the first chance for Blue-White! Free kick from the half field, Hofmann climbs highest, good opportunity.

7′ Next strong attack by VfL. Stafylidis is sent up the left flank and brings the ball sharply into the middle, Hofmann just misses.

8′ US Lecce has also arrived in this match. Strefezza takes off from distance, dangerous.

13′ Long ball to Gamboa. Our right-back is known to be quick as an arrow, but even he can’t reach it.

14′ Lecce takes the lead. VfL debutant Ordets is on Lecce’s Colombo, Esser keeps the first attempt, but is powerless with the follow-up shot.

16′ Watch out now. Lecce uses the momentum, almost 0:2.

17′ Now it’s happened – 0:2. Esser saves again, then Colombo appears again and heads in the rebound.

19′ Colombo almost with the triple. Very important phase, not to give the game out of hand too early.

22′ First change for VfL due to injury. Lampropoulos comes in for Ordets.

26′ We are better in the game now. Holtmann is able to get through three opponents and then passes to Stöger. Shot is blocked.

27′ Colombo is again through, but Esser is there and clears for a corner!

33′ TOOOR for VfL! Here we go again! Stöger scores. Really good attack, starting from Förster, who drives the ball forward. Gamboa crosses into the middle, Hofmann extends, Stöger nets – 1:2.

39′ Next strong action from the blue and white. Asano uses his speed and sees Holtmann in the sixteenth. Leke’s keeper gets to the ball beforehand.

42′ TOOOR for VfL! Holtmann does what he does best: Scoring dream goals! Asano sets up the ball wonderfully and Holtmann takes a shot from 16 meters, the ball hits the corner. 2:2!

Half-time:2-2 at the break in Bressanone. It took a while for the Blue and Whites to get into the game. At the beginning it was noticeable that our defensive line was weak – which played together like this for the first time – simply can not be rehearsed. After about 25 minutes, it looked much better. Stöger and Holtmann completed two wonderful attacks beautifully. It can go on like this!

46′ The ball is rolling again. Head coach Thomas Reis brings on six fresh players for the second half. Grave, Osei-Tutu, Oermann, Osterhage, Zoller and Zolba are now in the game. Zolli takes over the captain’s armband from Toto.

52′ Grave has to go for the first time. Corner from Lecce, header, Grave has it safe.

54′ Helgason scores for Lecce, but was offside. Luck for the blue and white.

55′ Crossbar shot from Lecce, bounces out from the bottom edge. Again luck, no goal.

60′ Lecce remains in full throttle mode, Grave saves brilliantly!

61′ Double change for VfL. Bonga and Ganvoula come in, Holtmann and Hofmann go down.

64′ TOOOR for VfL! Ganvoula is barely in and scores! Ganvoula is ice-cold and scores the lead for Blue-White – 3:2!

70′ Grave excels again and keeps the lead!

79′ We’re keeping the Italians well away from their own goal at the moment, keep it up!

85′ Not long left to play. We are present in the duels, hardly let anything happen.

88′ Förster is down for several minutes, then gets up and plays through.

90′ It should be over in a minute!

Full-time:3-2 to VfL! The first victory in Bruneck! Crazy game with many goals. We needed the initial phase to get into it. After trailing 0-2, we showed finer qualities and scored nice goals to make it 2-2 before the break. Substitute Ganvoula was the match-winner with his decisive goal.

The friendly of the training camp is over, the second one is already fast approaching. On Saturday afternoon, we’ll be back in action at the Raiffeisen Arena in Bressanone, where we’ll face Serie A side Spezia Calcio (Saturday, July 16, 4:30pm (CEST)).

VfL Bochum 1848, 1st half: Esser – Gamboa, Mašović, Stöger, Losilla, Förster, Asano, Stafylidis, Holtmann, Ordets, Hofmann

VfL Bochum 1848, 2nd Half: Grave – Osei-Tutu, Oermann, Stöger, Osterhage, Förster, Zoller, Tolba, Holtmann (61st Bonga), Lampropoulos, Hofmann (61st Ganvoula).

Goals: 0-1, 0-2 Lorenzo Colombo (14th, 17th), 2-1 Kevin Stöger (33rd), 2-2 Gerrit Holtmann (42nd), 3-2 Silvére Ganvoula (64th)