Matchday 13 Recap: 1. FC Union Berlin 4 - 0 SpVgg Greuther Fürth

1. FC Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Friedrich, Hübner, Reichel; Schmiedebach, Zulj, Hartel; Mees (Hedlund), Polter (Andersson), Abdullahi (Redondo)

SpVgg Greuther Fürth: Burchert; Wittek (Raum ), Magyar (Bauer), Maloca, Sauer; Gugganig, Mohr, Ernst; Green (Abouchabaka), Atanga, Keita-Ruel

Goals:

Union: Mees - 5, 10; Polter - 29, 56

Polter and Mees celebrating with Union Berlin's mascot - truly a blessed image. Source: Union Berlin. 

Union Berlin hadn’t won a game since October 1, but what was becoming an increasingly worrying and seemingly never-ending bout draws finally came to an end this past Sunday with a glorious 4-0 smashing of Greuther Fürth at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. Union had not dominated a game like this since they beat St. Pauli 4-1 on Matchday 3 -- a result that was beginning to look like a shimmering oasis in a desert of 0-0 and 1-1 draws. Yet with the goal-scoring beginning startlingly early in this game and not slowing down from there, one hopes that Union’s sputtering offense is finally kicking into high gear.

Urs Fischer made three changes to the starting 11 that had just earned Union’s fourth consecutive league draw (!!!) away to Jahn Regensburg the week prior: Christopher Trimmel made his glorious return to right back; Marcel Hartel replaced Grischa Prömel, who was serving a one-match ban for his indirect red card against Regensburg, in midfield; and on-loan winger Suleiman Abdullahi earned his first start, joining an attacking trio of Sebastian Polter and Joshua Mees. And with four goals and two assists between them, it’s clear that this trio made the difference for Union.

As previously noted, the goals started coming shockingly early for Union, a team that has tended to score in the final minutes of either half if they even bother to score at all. Union’s style so far this season has been to slowly and patiently wear down opposing teams, then seize upon mistakes to launch searing counterattacks. But Joshua Mees -- the young winger brought in from Hoffenheim this summer to essentially serve as a replacement for the departed Steven Skrzybski -- was clearly in no mood to wait. And why should he? He’s waited long enough to secure his spot in the starting 11 after injuring his hamstring against Aue on the first day of the season.

But against Fürth, Mees showed himself as a talent worth waiting for, scoring his first goal of the season from a Marcel Hartel assist in only the 5th minute. He didn’t have to wait much longer for his second: in the 10th minute, Mees’ head found the end of one of Trimmel’s perfect crosses and boom, it was 2-0 Union. Fürth had their own chances to attack, to be sure, but Gikiewicz -- as usual -- proved to be more than a match for any of their shots on target.

Naturally, the perpetually goal-hungry Sebastian Polter wasn’t content to let Mees have all the fun -- and Mees was willing to assist him in having some fun of his own, literally. Mees took a long-distance shot that was seized upon by Polter and redirected home in the 29th minute, boosting the scoreline to 3-0. It nearly became 4-0 before halftime thanks to Robert Zulj, but alas, while he did manage to get the ball in the back of the net, the goal was deemed offside.

This is the point in the game where Union Berlin fans last year might have started to squirm a bit. Yes, the team went into halftime up three goals, but as we saw all throughout the 2017-2018 season, this team’s leaky defense was more than capable of making the scoreline far less comfortable -- even at home. But, this was an instance where Union were able to once again show us exactly how far they’ve come under Urs Fischer. The back line continued to hold firm, even centerback Florian Hübner, who sported a lobster claw-like red cast on one hand (I’m told that he has since had surgery on the injury).

With the game securely in Union’s hands, the attack could feel free to keep rampaging around the pitch, which is what led to Union’s absolutely fabulous fourth goal. Abdullahi charged down the pitch and essentially lured all of Fürth’s defenders -- including goalkeeper Sascha Burchert -- away from the goal, leaving Polter open in front of an empty net. A perfectly timed pass from Abdullahi to Polter and the home side was now four goals up with little more than half an hour to go. Even last year’s Union Berlin would probably have found it hard to mess that up. Refreshed legs came on in the form of Kenny Prince Redondo, Sebastian Andersson and Simon Hedlund and the game sailed to a smooth finish.

Union Berlin's unbeaten record in the 2.Bundesliga has now been extended to 15 matches -- a club record. And while the defense has been locked in since Matchday 1, it appears that with the return of Mees and Abdullahi to full fitness, the offense might finally be clicking together too. Following this week’s international break, Union travel to top-of-the-table Hamburg for a game that definitely qualifies as a promotion six-pointer. Can Union bring der Dino’s dreams of a return to the top flight closer to extinction?  If Abdullahi, Mees and Polter can recreate the magic of this match, anything is possible.