The men’s team of 1. FC Union Berlin lost to Pogon Szczecin in their friendly on Thursday afternoon. After Tim Skarke’s cool finish gave Union the lead, the guests from Poland equalised before half-time, before scoring two more goals in the second half to sel the win.
1. FC Union Berlin: Schwolow (46. Klaus) – Trimmel (46. Preu), Kühling, Vogt (66. Lehmann), Leite (66. Asanji), Skov (66. Prosche) – Khedira (66. Olufemi), Jeong (66. Sliskovic) – Vertessen (66. Prtajin), Siebatcheu (46. Ilic), Skarke (66. Volland)
Pogon Szczecin: Cojocaru (46. Kaminski) – Wahlqvist (60. Korczakowski), Keramitsis (75. Wedrychowski), Borges (87. Kaczorek), Koutris (66. Wojc iechowski) – Kurzawa (66. Smolinski), Zech (60. Lisowski), Gamboa – Grosicki (46. Ulvestad), Koulouris (70. Klukowski (87. Bak)), Lukasiak (46. Gorgon)
Personnel matters:
Union’s head coach Bo Svensson had to do without those players who are active for their national teams during the international break, including András Schäfer (Hungary), Leopold Querfeld (Austria), Oluwaseun Ogbemudia (Germany U19’s), László Bénes (Slovakia), Jérôme Roussillon (Guadeloupe), Aljoscha Kemlein (Germany U20’s) and Tom Rothe (Germany U21’s). The injured Josip Juranović and Yannic Stein were also missing.
Goals: 1:0 Skarke (22‘), 1:1 Grosicki (33’), 1:2 Koulouris (55‘), 1:3 Klukowski (82’)
Skarke takes the lead – Pogon’s dream goal draws level
On a blustery day on the farthest flung training pitch at the Alte Försterei, the friendly between 1. FC Union Berlin and Pogon Szczecin started with a bang, as Pogon’s centre back Dimitros Keramitsis rose high and saw the ball crash off the back post from a corner after only six minutes. The guests, cheered, continued attacking and Alexander Schwolow was only able to clear a cross from the right side after an almisghty scarmble in the box.
Szczecin continued to put Union under pressure with their high pressing, but in the 22nd minute Union broke free of their shackles. Kevin Vogt hit a long ball to Jordan Siebatcheu, who cleverly shielded the ball, allowing Yorbe Vertessen to use his speed to get through. Vertessen unselfishly crossed and Tim Skarke kept his cool to slide the ball home for the 1-0 lead.
Half an hour had been played when Pogon outwitted the Berlin defence with a long ball to Kamil Grosicki, however, the former Poland international was denied by Schwolow, who produced a superb save with his foot, parrying the ball away to safety. Three minutes later, however, Schwolow was powerless as Pogon equalised.
After a throw-in, Grosicki broke away from his marker and shot powerfully from 25 yards into the top left-hand corner to make it 1-1. The teams went in at half-time with the scores level.
Many changes – Szczecin turn the game around
After the break, Szczecin took advantage of their first opportunity to turn the game around. A neat piece of play ended up with centre-forward Efthymios Koulouris on the edge of the box, who sent two Union players sprawling with a body feint before hitting t the back of the net with a low shot inside the back post to give the guests the lead after 55 minutes.
Otherwise, apart from Yorbe vertessen’s free kick that dropped an inch over the bar, the second half largely took place in midfield, with the sides largely cancelling each other out. The flow of the game was hardly helped by the many substitutions from either side.
But as the game reached its final phases, a long ball resulted in the third goal for the guests. Substitute Antoni Klukowski burst between the centre-backs and goalkeeper, rounded the latter and slid the ball into the empty net with eight minutes to play.Despite Union’s rally, things would end that way.
