The start of a new Bundesliga season brings plenty of changes with it. 1. FC Köln and Hamburger SV return to the division as newly-promoted sides, while all 18 of the clubs in the league have had to integrate new players or say goodbye to others over the summer break. Six clubs are also heading into the new season with a new head coach in place, including FC Augsburg. The club have appointed Sandro Wagner as their new boss, with the former Bundesliga player naming four new signings in the starting line-up for his first league game with FCA. 

SC also had a new face in their starting XI, with Yuito Suzuki coming into the side in place of Patrick Osterhage to make his first start for the club. The midfielder, along with Niklas Beste, missed the match due to muscular problems. Igor Matanovic also isn’t fully fit yet after working on his comeback from a muscle injury. 

VAR cancels out SC opener

SC were welcomed back to the pitch by their fans with a large-scale tifo involving all four stands in the stadium featuring the club colours of red and white. On the pitch, the fans witnessed an evenly-matched start to the game against opponents who were defending deep in their own half. The match began similarly to SC’s cup clash in Lotte, with the hosts able to let the ball do the work for them on their way to recording 70% possession in the opening ten minutes of play. 

Unlike last weekend’s cup opponents, however, Augsburg were of a different calibre in transition. SC’s first shot of the game in the 16th minute looked to have hit the back of the net, before the video assistant referee intervened. Lucas Höler had chipped a shot over FCA goalkeeper Finn Dahmen, bringing the stadium to their feet. The celebrations would be short-lived, however, as the goal was disallowed due to the striker being marginally offside when receiving a pass from Johan Manzambi. 

SC continued to be the most active of the two teams, with Suzuki also coming close to netting his first goal for SC. Unfortunately for the new signing, he wasn’t able to connect fully with the ball (22’). The visitors found themselves pinned back inside their own half, as Eren Dinkci’s effort from inside the box went over the bar (25’). Kristijan Jakic was able to go close for the visitors in the 28th minute after Dinkci had given up possession, but his effort was blocked. FCA hadn’t managed to generate much of a threat on goal inside the opening 30 minutes, but we then able to take the lead through a deflected effort from Dimitrios Giannoulis in the 32nd minute. 

Suzuki goes close, FCA take their chances 

SC reacted well to the setback and were even able to record two chances in quick succession of their own in the 38th minute. First, Suzuki only narrowly missed getting on the end of a cross from Christian Günter. The new signing then found himself with plenty of space in front of goal, but leaned back too far when taking his shot, sending it high and wide. Instead, it was the visitors who would add to their lead, as Chrislain Matsima headed in following a corner to make it 2-0 (42’). 

Augsburg were able to add a third to their tally just before the break, as Marius Wolf found himself through on goal with SC having pressed high for a corner kick. The fullback slotted the ball past Atubolu to give the visitors a clear lead at the break. “Today, we saw the brutal side of football. I can’t blame the team for how they performed in either defence or attack in the first half. Our disallowed goal was a symbol of how the game went today, even if we didn’t defend well on any of the goals,” SC head coach Julian Schuster said afterwards. 

Grifo gets one back

SC came out of the dressing room seeking to find a way back into the game, and nearly managed to get one back immediately. Manzambi headed just wide following a corner from Günter (51’). Six minutes later, the VAR intervened once again, this time after spotting a handball from Augsburg captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw inside the box. Vincenzo Grifo stepped up to take the penalty, sending Dahmen the wrong way to get SC on the board (58’). 

The goal didn’t just give the fans fresh energy, but also the SC players, as they continued to press Augsburg hard. The visitors spent the majority of the second half pinned back inside their own half. Manzambi then tested Dahmen with a well-struck shot from 20 metres out (66’). Substitute Cyriaque Irié attempted a shot from the edge of the area, but his effort went over the bar (74’). Twelve minutes later, Höler was able to get off another shot inside the box which was only just cleared off the line by Matsima. The 90th minute then saw Matthias Ginter put a header on target, but it was saved by Dahmen. 

The match then headed into 11 minutes of injury time, although the hosts weren’t able to create any good chances on goal in this time. Despite the defeat, Schuster was still able to draw positives from the game, saying, “The team remained in control after the break and tried everything in order to get back into the game. There were things that we saw today which we can build on.” 

Photo: Achim Keller