Saturday, February 21, 2009

Eintracht takes three points from KSC

Eintracht's worrisome run of late ended with a hard fought 1-0 defeat of KSC, with the lone goal coming from Caio eight minutes into the second half. Not pleased with the play of Alexander Meier and Markus Steinhöfer, Friedhelm Funkel replaced them in the starting eleven with by Junichi Inamoto and Mehdi Mahdavikia for a more defensive stance and utilized Nikos Liberopoulos as the lone striker. Defending was the mark of this match with most opportunities, albeit limited ones, before the break coming from KSC.

Looking for improved attacking pulse Caio came in for Nikola Petković at the break and Benjamin Köhler moved over to the Serbian's defensive position. Die Adler were immediately more inspired after the break, first with Inamoto's drive just missing and then eight minutes in Michael Fink headed Nikos Liberopolous' cross back with Caio volleying in. Martin Fenin narrowly missed doubling the margin shortly after but slowly KSC began to attack more and in the final twenty minutes tested Markus Pröll on a number of occasions. Lars Stindl, Giovanni Federico and Edmond Kapllani threatened just under twenty minutes but each was denied and Eintracht walked away with its first victory of the Rückrunde