1. FC Union Berlin stood up to a good test against Ukrainian champions Dynamo Kiev, drawing 1-1 at the pre-season camp in Austria.
Andreas Voglsammer’s deflected strike fired Urs Fischer’s select XI in front after 36 minutes. But Benjamin Verbic equalised for the Ukrainians just after the restart.
Dynamo Kiev: Bushchan; Sydorchuk (Andriyevski 45), Shaparenko (Verbic 45 (Shkurin 58)), Tsygankov (Ferreira 45), Mykolenko (Tymchk 45), Garmasch (De Pena 45), Rodrigues (Karavaev 45), Zabatinyi (Popov 45), Syrota (Shabanov 45), Kulach (Buyalsky 45), Kedziora (Shepelev 45)
1. FC Union Berlin: Busk; Ryerson, Gießelmann, Baumgartl, Friedrich; Haraguchi, Andrich, Öztunali (Kaus 69); Endo, Voglsammer (Voglsammer 80), Awoniyi
With tomorrow’s match against OGC Nice, Urs Fischer kept his squad to just 15 in Kematen. Dynamo Kiev offered a great opportunity for the squad to get minutes in the legs against Champions League opposition, who were largely operating with a full squad including several who featured at the European Championship. Three days after signing, Taiwo Awoniyi was included in the starting line-up and made his first appearance in his second spell at the club. Mircea Lucescu’s team, winning their 16th league title in Ukraine last season, started with some good play. Dynamo Kiev had claims for a penalty kick after seven minutes but those were waved away. Despite Dynamo Kiev’s early possession, Union got closer and started to win the ball back in higher positions. On 36 minutes, Union’s decent play was rewarded with the opener. A messy situation inside the box saw Voglsammer volley the ball back towards goal and Zabarnyi’s deflection beat the goalkeeper Bushchan. Before the first half was brought to a close, Awoniyi came close. The Nigerian spun away from his marker with his back to goal but shot wide.
Lucescu’s Dynamo Kiev was completely changed at the break. Some nice link-up play saw the Union defence beaten with Verbic slamming home from close range. Dynamo Kiev’s strong start to the half could have led to a second. Verbic almost scored, while De Pena and Kavaraev threatened to beat Busk. Union stayed true to their shape from the first 45 minutes as the squad looks to build up fitness ahead of the Bundesliga restart. Levin Öztunali’s shot was deflected over in the 59th minute and from the resulting corner, there were claims for a penalty kick. On the hour mark, Union made their first change and introduced Niklas Kaus, one of the club’s youth players who has been part of the first-team squad this summer. Kaus, wearing the number 20 shirt, took the place of Öztunali. Goalscorer Voglsammer was replaced by Malick Sanogo with the final 10 minutes to play in Tirol.
Fischer’s squad will be back in action tomorrow at 16:00 against Nice.