Challenges of Köln's Second Years: 1. Challenges of FC Köln
Jorge García
— · 3 min read
- FC Köln has completed its first year since promotion to the Bundesliga. In football it is often said that the second year is what really tries a club. Last time, in this situation, FC Köln narrowly escaped defence.
The second year is always the hardest. This saying has been around in football for decades and refers to many situations. Last year, FC St. Pauli proved this theory once again, as they fell to the division. Next season, Hamburg SV as well as 1. FC Köln have the challenge of disproving this principle.
No Koln fan can be alarmed by their past record, as only once, in the first instance in 2001/02, did they go down to the division in the second year. After this, FC became a stair club, which was promoted twice again and subsequently they always had success in the first and second years. The last time it happened was in 2020/21.
The season has been tough from the start, with FC losing the first three matches and waiting for the first win until the 9th match date. Collen initially reached 16th place, but due to a strong result from Mines, he moved directly to the dope-position in 28th match. A 2:3 loss in a direct encounter with FSV marked the final match for Markus Gidol. Friedhelm Funkel takes Collen to see a visual season finale.
In 17th place, one point behind Bremen, FC had to go to home against Schalke in the last match. While Armenia got the job done in Stuttgart (2:0) and reached 15th place, Werder Bremen opened the door in a weak performance against Gladbach (2:4). At the 67th minute Bremen already ate 0:4, while Kolen made choices, but stopped each time against the strength of Raf Fehrmann. Sebastian Andersen celebrated as Schalke's goalkeeper was beaten in the 71st minute. But that stopped the Blue Blue No.1, it was ruled out by VAR - offside, forward pressure! It was an outpouring of emotion.
For 15 more minutes, the then 18-year-old Jan Thielmann, now Collen's oldest player, deflected from Sebastian Bornau. This match took place without spectators due to the corona epidemic. "It was an in-and-out," said goalkeeper Timo Harn, who saw Ferman's comeback in a glimpse in the post-game. And the journey is not over for FC. In the relegation Holstein Kiel first came to Kolen and secured a 1:0 away win.
This became a source of new concern for other concerns in Collen. Janus Hector did a popular interview on the DAZN microphone. "Always that cheap question," said the captain. "That's your job, asking stupid questions, you do it well." Hector and FC's task was to demonstrate reactions in Kiel. And the captain set a good example. In just three minutes, he put his team ahead. Although Jae-Sung Lee also converted, Anderson converted the third and fourth in the first 13 minutes to put the game in Collen's favor. A 5:1 win in 90 minutes and - despite the old adage - a successful second year in the Bundesliga. With this goal in mind, FC wants to continue in the same vein next season.
