Seven-goal friendly thriller

Following on from the 7-1 triumph over WSG Tirol, VfL ended their training camp with victory in their second friendly too. Head coach Niko Kovac’s charges overcame Belgian top-flight side KV Mechelen 4-3, largely thanks to a strong first-half display. Lukas Nmecha (9’), Luca Waldschmidt (11’), Omar Marmoush (33’) and Ridle Baku (36’) were all on target for the Green-and-Whites, while Mechelen replied through Maryan Shved, who scored directly from a corner in the 43rd minute, as well as efforts from Jorge Hernandez (57’) and Geoffrey Hairemans (78’)

After returning from Belgium and concluding their summer training camp in the Austrian town of Seefeld, the Wolves face English Premier League outfit FC Brentford on Saturday 23 July (kick-off 16:00 CEST, live on Wölfe TV) as part of the VfL Family Fest and VfL Kids Days, in what will be their final friendly before the start of the new season.

Head coach Niko Kovac: “I’ve got mixed feelings. We played really well in the first half, especially the way we created the goals, as well as our movement and understanding. I didn’t like the second half though. If you’re winning 4-1 you can’t start playing at half pace. We made life hard for ourselves by doing so. We’ve made a lot of progress compared to last week but we still have plenty to do. There’s still room for improvement.”

KV Mechelen: Coucke – Wouters (75‘ Bolingoli), Walsh, Hairemans (83’ Engvall), Ngoy (46’ Da Cruz, 83’ Van Hecke), Storm (46‘ Hernandez), Lavalee, Schoofs, Hoorenbeeck, Vanlerberghe, Shved

VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels (46’ Pervan) – Baku (64’, Fischer), Bornauw (64’ Guilavogui), van de Ven (64’ Vranckx), Franjic (64’ Roussillon) – Arnold (64‘, Rexhbecaj), Wimmer (64‘ Philipp), Marmoush (64’ Paredes) – Brekalo (64’ Kruse), L. Nmecha (64‘ Wind), Waldschmidt (64‘ Steffen)

Goals: 0-1 L. Nmecha (9‘), 0-2 Waldschmidt (11‘), 0-3 Marmoush (33‘), 0-4 Baku (36‘), 1-4 Shved (43‘), 2-4 Hernandez (57‘), 3-4 Hairemans (78‘)

Yellow cards: Vanlerberghe / –

2022/23 Friendlis

Wölfe TV: Goals and highlights