Preview: FC Augsburg v. 1. FC Union Berlin

WWK Arena, Augsburg

Saturday, August 23

9:30 a.m. EDT, 15:30 CEST

• Match Officials
• Referee: Robert Schröder
• Assistants: Jan Nietzel-Petersen and Guido Kleve
• 4th Official: Patrick Alt
• Video Review: Bibiana Steinhaus
• All-Time in All Competitions: 1 Augsburg win, 3 draws
• Union Berlin's League Form: L-W-D // D-D // L
• Augsburg's League Form: W-L-D-L-L // L

I mean, this rain couldn't have helped...

Well, Union Berlin come into this match following their worst Bundesliga loss in history... so, there's only one way to go from here, right? Right?!

To earn safety in the Bundesliga and avoid the relegation playoff for that matter, you need to finish no worse than 15th, which means finding three teams in the league that will finish below you. I'm probably not going to harp on that point every week, but it'll also take at least a month to really figure out who Union fans should be hoping loses week-in, week-out.

But there's a really good chance that Augsburg are one of those teams. This will be Augsburg's ninth consecutive season in the top flight, but they've finished between 12th and 15th in six of the previous eight. Urs Fischer yesterday asked "how can you call them a relegation candidate when they've held their own in the league [for so long]," but, I don't know, tell that to Hamburg...

Point is, this fixture is going to tell us a lot more about how this season's battle for Klassenerhalt will look for Union than last week did. It's unfortunate to have such a potentially critical fixture so early in the year, but I'd say it's better for that to be the road game than the home game. Union have their home games against the likes of Augsburg, Paderborn, Mainz, and Düsseldorf all in the Rückrunde, though who knows where each of those clubs will be in the table by the time those matches come up.

Union Team News

• I'm not positive on how helpful the comments in Urs Fischer's press conference are going to be anymore regarding injuries. Last week, he commented that Suleiman Abdullahi was two weeks behind everyone else due to the late start of his summer training and then Abdullahi started anyway (and looked rusty!)
• That said, the report is that Florian Hübner is likely still out as he "needs a little break on the way back." At least the center back is still in training with the team.
• Maurice Opfermann "took a heavy knock on Tuesday," in the Baltic Cup friendly against Nordsjaelland. I wouldn't have expected the 19-year-old to be anywhere near selection anyway, however...
• ...Christian Gentner "left training early with a knock" (Wednesday? Thursday?)
• Gentner played farther forward than I would have expected against RB Leipzig last week anyway. If Gentner's not available Saturday, perhaps Fischer sticks with the formation he used in the second half rather than the first, utilizing two central midfielders, two wingers, and two forwards.

Augsburg Team News

• Augsburg have responded to their early season woes (more on that in the section below) by bringing in two more defenders this week, including Swiss international Stephan Lichtsteiner on a free after he was released from Arsenal last year, and Crotian international Tin Jedvaj on loan from Leverkusen.
• They brought in goalkeeper Tomas Koubek from Rennes over the summer, though, if I recall hearing this correctly from the broadcast of their loss to Dortmund last weekend, he doesn't speak enough German yet, which is not ideal for communicating with your back line in the Bundesliga.
• Therefore, Union's best chances to get off the mark with their Bundesliga goal scoring will hopefully be at the expense of some continued miscommunication at the back for the hosts.
• In terms of injuries, Martin Schmidt mentioned that the only players currently in the "rehab stages" are Jeff Gouweleeuw and Iago. Felix Götze (younger brother of Mario) is "out for a bit longer" and Sergio Córdova "starts training on Sunday."
• Florian Niederlechner will lead the attack line for Augsburg. He got off the mark in the first minute against Dortmund last week, to score his first Augsburg goal after joining from Freiburg this summer. He's got 18 Bundesliga goals in his career now, which also saw him suit up for Mainz.

Current Form

• Union's April 28th win over Hamburg is currently the last time they've won a competitive fixture against a team that is, at this moment in time, higher than the 3. Liga.
• That's probably a weird way of putting it, a roundabout way to make things appear worse than they actually are for the purpose of managing expectations.
• Since that win, Union have lost at Darmstadt, won over Magdeburg to relegate them, drawn at Bochum, secured two draws with Stuttgart to win promotion themselves, beaten fourth tier Germania Halberstadt in the Pokal, and then, you know, whatever happened last week which currently escapes me...
• Ah, right, the four goals conceded. The last time Union allowed the ball into their own net four times, it was a snowy Friday night in March of 2018, Sebastian Polter injured his Achilles in warmups, and Union lost 4-3 at Kaiserslautern.
• The last time Union lost by four? 6-2 at Nürnberg on April 23, 2016. Niclas Füllkrug, now at Bremen, had a hat trick. Union led that game 2-0 at halftime.
• Union's away form is a worry, of course. They only won three times on their travels in the 2. Bundesliga last year: at Ingolstadt, Duisburg, and Kiel. And two of those clubs were relegated!
• Augsburg have not won a competitive fixture since a critical 6-0 win over Stuttgart in the last relegation six-pointer they played at home, on April 20.
• They closed out the season by losing 4-1 to Leverkusen, playing a scoreless draw at Schalke, then losing to Hertha and Wolfsburg.
• They've opened this year with two demoralizing results. First, they fell in the first round of the Pokal 2-1 at SC Verl, of the Regionalliga West. A week later, despite scoring in the opening minute, they then shipped five goals to title hopefuls Borussia Dortmund.
• As such, both clubs enter this match with a -4 goal differential and zero points, with Augsburg ahead of Union on the table by virtue of scoring a goal in their loss.

Match Facts

• Since the third division used to be a Regionalliga and since Augsburg is in Bavaria in the south, Union did not face Augsburg prior to 2009, when Union won promotion from the newly-nationwide 3. Liga to the 2. Bundesliga. Augsburg had been in a lower tier during Union's earlier spell in the second division.
• That said, Union have never beaten Augsburg, as they were one of the better sides in the 2. Bundesliga at the time, winning promotion to the Bundesliga in 2011.
• It's not all bad results, though. Union and Augsburg drew both fixtures in 2009/10, when Augsburg finished 3rd and Union finished 12th. Kenan Sahin scored for Union in Augsburg, but Tobias Werner equalized for a 1-1 draw. At Alte Försterei, the match ended scoreless.
• The following year, Augsburg won their home game, 2-1, through a 93rd minute Stephan Hain winner. Karim Benyamina had given Union a 1-0 halftime lead before Uwe Möhrle equalized in the 69th.
• Again, at Alte Försterei, the match ended scoreless. Augsburg were promoted that year, finishing 2nd. Union came in 11th.
• Union had a record of one win and two draws last year on their travels to Bavaria, winning at Ingolstadt, but settling for draws in Regensburg and Fürth.

The Referee

• The referee is Robert Schröder, from Hannover.
• Union's record all-time with Schröder is two wins, two draws, and one loss.
• The two wins have come in the most recent two Union matches he has worked, which were both incidentally the final home games of each of the last two seasons: 3-0 over Magdeburg last year and 3-1 over Bochum the year before that.
• In the one draw, 2-2 at Nürnberg at the beginning of 2017/18, he sent off Grisch Prömel in injury time, shortly after Nürnberg had come from behind to equalize for a second time. Prömel had been on the pitch all of 10 minutes, but I forgot what he did to get sent off. I do recall that I was watching it on my phone...
• Schröder was the fourth official for the second leg of the promotion play-off against Stuttgart last year.
• Augsburg have only seen Schröder twice, as he has only recently been working top flight fixtures. They were both matches last season against Hoffenheim and Augsburg lost both: 2-1 away last November and 4-0 at home in April.

Around the Bundesliga

• Friday (night): 1. FC Köln v. Borussia Dortmund; RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne
• Saturday: TSG 1899 Hoffenheim v. Werder Bremen; PreZero Arena, Sinsheim
• Saturday: 1. FSV Mainz 05 v. Borussia Mönchengladbach; Opel Arena, Mainz
• Saturday: Fortuna Düsseldorf v. Bayer 04 Leverkusen; Merkur Spiel-Arena, Düsseldorf
• Saturday: SC Paderborn 07 v. SC Freiburg; Benteler-Arena, Paderborn
• Saturday (late): FC Schalke 04 v. FC Bayern München; Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen
• Sunday (early): RB Leipzig v. Eintracht Frankfurt; Red Bull Arena, Leipzig
• Sunday (late): Hertha BSC v. VfL Wolfsburg; Olympiastadion, Berlin

--
John Painting is a contributing writer and co-founder of Eisern NYC. He can be found on Twitter @zorrocat.