1. FC Union Berlin lost 2-1 to Turbine Potsdam on a wet Sunday afternoon in their one and only home friendly of the pre-season. Despite going down to an early lead, and seeing their guests double that before the break, Union were much improved in the second half, Sophie Trojahn scoring the goal.
1. FC Union Berlin: Wagner (46. Hornschuch) – Weiß, Niesler (57. Youssef), K. Orschmann – Metzker (65. Bach), Blaschka (46. Becker), Frank (65. Görsdorf), Heiseler (65. Trojahn), Moraitou – Rurack (65. Abu Sabbah), D. Orschmann (65. Lange)
1. FFC Turbine Potsdam: Fischer – Kuznezov (70. Schmidt), Cramer, Vianden (70. Heisen) – Jordan, Grincenco (70. Hahn), Rouse, Ito, Schwalm – Taslidza (70. Kyokawa), Deutsch (70. Selimhodzic)
Tore: 0:1 Deutsch (3.), 0:2 Taslidza (42.), 1:2 Trojahn (72.)
Zuschauer: 300
The dawning of a new era
This was it, the first chance for the 300 or so Union fans to see the new side that Ailien Poese and Jennifer Zietz have put together. The first chance to see their professional women footballers up close. And if the weather didn’t play along with the sense of occasion – and neither did the result – there was certainly something auspicious about it, There is a feeling in the air that the progress Union have made over the last years is building towards something far bigger.
They have now played a Budesliga side and a 2. Bundesliga side, and lost both narrowly. They have been punching above their weight and doing well.
There were five newcomers in the eleven sent out onto the Fritz-Letsch Sportplatz pitch by head coach, Poese. Anna Weiß and Charleen Niesler joined Katja Orschmann – who, herself, only arrived in the winter, but has established herself at centre-back so comprehensively it feels as if she’s been here for years – in the back three. Pia Metzker and Athanasia Moraitou were the wingbacks. Anouk Blaschka came into the base of midfield. further ahead. Comfort was given to the 300 fans in the presence of Orschmann’s twin, Dina, up front alongside Zita Rurack, and with skipper Lisa Heiseler and Celine Frank in midfield.
Turbine assert themselves, take an early lead.
If the occasion was auspicious, then, for the home side at least, the opening moments were decidedly less so. Turbine – who, despite having been relegated from the Bundesliga last year remain a league ahead of Union – imposed themselves immediately. And within three minutes they had taken the lead.
There was a moment of confusion in the box as a ball came in from the right, it fell into a crowd where Pauline Deutsch was able to backheel it past a desperate Melanie Wagner, who just couldn’t get across in time to stop the ball rolling regretfully over the line.
There were shades of Alessia Russo against Sweden in last year’s Euros about it.
Turbine looked the better side immediately. In Deutsch they had a robust centre-forward with a sure touch, in Adrienne Jordan they had a technical and determined midfielder, and captain, Viktoria Schwalm was strong and utterly indefatigable. One fifty-fifty challenge from a ball that fell between her, and Pia Metzker had a crunch audible a mile away. Metzker was left in a heap.
Union struggled to impose themselves. Niesler gave the ball away to Deutsch, who should have done better with her finish. Blaschka tried a backheel deep inside her own half which didn’t come off, and then gave the ball away with a more sober attempt at a pass a moment later.
But when they got their things in order, Union were superb. After 15 minutes Metzker started a break on the right-hand side, she found Frank with a diagonal ball who, in turn, laid it off for Dina Orschmann. She passed to Heiseler whose shot was ultimately saved by Vanessa Fischer in the Turbine goal, but it had been a sign of the potential in this side.
The rain came down, and swifts darted an inch over the sodden pitch and the Turbine drummers rattled the fence on the far touchline as the three hundred Union fans dotted the raised bank of the Sportplatz. Marco Gebhardt, an Union legend in his own right as the midfield genius at the heart of over a hundred of Uwe Neuhaus’s earliest sides, kept his head down, preferring to leave the barking and wailing to his baseball capped number two. Poese, in comparison just along the touchline, was an image only of exemplary calm.
Though Union had largely neutralised their attacking threat, Turbine made it two with only four minutes of the half to go, the move somewhat inevitably started by Schwalm on the left, who beat Metzker before hitting a superb ball to Jordan who hared out to the right, and hit a perfect ball into the box that was despatched by Ena Taslidza with consummate ease.
The pair should have had a third just after after, when Wagner saved Jordan’s shot, but Schwalm missed the target from the rebound.
Union stronger, Trojahn finishes.
Union came out for the second half far better, they looked more confident, their shoulders back, and were joined by Marie Becker at centre-half as they ran out. They took the game to Turbine and were an inch from scoring when Dina Orschmann hit the bar with an absurd, swinging, dipping shot from the right-hand side that, had she not done it before, could have been misconstrued as a mis-hit cross. Orschmann was at the heart of everything now as Union attacked with much greater regularity, and it was the foul on her as she scampered towards the box that led to a free kick that Zurack hit just inches past the top corner.
And after 75 minutes it was 2-1, after Trojahn’s excellent finish from within the crowd in the box, she rifled it home, the ball rising all the way up towards the grey skies of Adlershof.
Poese made more changes, and Sarah Abu Sabbah made an immediate impact, drifting into the box where she met a ball from the right with a superb header, artfully directed inside the back post, that Fischer just managed to get to, diving full stretch to her left. She then saw a delicately chipped shot scrambled off the line only a minute later.
Sarah Hornschuch came on for Wagner in goal and, too, was drawn into action, saving from Maya Hahn as she dived to her right, and then from Noa Selimhodzic, but despite their efforts neither side could make another significant breakthrough.
Poese said after the final whistle that it was a shame her side hadn’t equalised, but that she was happy nonetheless, particularly with their performance in the second half.
It had been engaging and entertaining, and could also give great cause for optimism. It’s a big year for this Union side, and despite the loss – there is one more friendly to go, away at Bremen next week – they seem to be better prepared than ever.