1860 Munich against Duisburg: Only one very distant pursuer

DThe dreams had recently found their way back into the here and now in the sixties. Last Tuesday, the organization “Entrepreneurs for Sixty” organized a cabaret evening for the benefit of the young lions. Michael Altinger and Kevin Volland, who is better known as a footballer, provided laughs, and head coach Markus Kaczinski conducted the sixties march. Kevin Volland said the most common question he was asked by the young players was: “Kevin, how was life in Monaco?”

Together with the TSV 1860 regular player, who is 14 years younger than him and is currently the youngest regular player, he answered questions from the audience. The two of them captured the lion cosmos: a great past and a supposedly great future are currently on the pitch together. President Gernot Mang gave the team something more serious than satirical: “You’ve won five games in a row,” he said, “why shouldn’t we win the last nine games too? These are opponents who are doable.” Coach Markus Kauczinski said three days later: “The president can say anything.”

In the duel between two pursuers on Sunday afternoon, a victory was actually within the realm of possibility for a long time – but in the final phase, host MSV Duisburg showed why they are unbeaten at home in the current season: Thanks to better evaluation of chances, the Duisburg team lost 1:2 (0:0) – now the Lions, with eight match days to go, are only a very distant pursuer. “We had our opportunities and played decent football,” said Volland, who no longer felt like laughing on the magenta microphone because it was “actually one of our best games” this season.

The Lions had earned 16 points from the last six games primarily with a defensive style of play that is sometimes viewed as ugly or boring. In Duisburg, however, it wasn’t the Lions’ fault that the first half hour was boring: the Zebras simply couldn’t think of anything for a long time against the ball-confident Sixties, who had at least some good opportunities, for example after a well-taken corner from Volland (2nd). Clemens Lippmann was released once, which was worth seeing, but he hesitated for too long in a central position (24th). Volland caused the biggest upset before the break: with a no-look left-footed shot from 18 meters, he duped Duisburg goalkeeper Maximilian Braune, but only hit the inside post (35th).

Volland causes danger in Duisburg, but Thore Jacobsen scores

There was more and more a feeling of who-makes-the-first-mistake-loses, but that wasn’t true: Sixty’s youngster Lasse Faßmann made the first major mistake with a pass into the opponent’s path. Florian Krüger, standing free in front of the sixty-goal, shot against the knee of keeper Thomas Dähne (49′). In the 60th minute, when the Lions fans ritually always raise their scarves, the home team made it 1-0 because the Lions failed to defend a corner – Joshua Bitter took the dust.

Sixty continued to show their cool despite the importance of the game, the deserved equalizer only took nine minutes to arrive, then Thore Jacobsen coldly converted a penalty that Sigurd Haugen had won (69th). The final phase made up for the rather emotionless initial phase: keeper Dähne cleared a long ball with a diving header and would have been powerless if he had shot at the outside post (85′). Both coaches saw yellow for complaining, in the 90th minute Thilo Töpken scored the winning goal, also with a goal, substitute David Philipp failed with a touchdown (90+3), then Jacbobsen saw yellow-red (90+4). “We played a good game,” said Kauczinski, “but we give the ball away too easily. We can’t lose here because we weren’t the worse team.” In fact, many a victory in the undefeated series that has now ended was more undeserved than at least a draw this time.

Meanwhile, the youth team from the 1960s won 2-1 on Saturday against the bottom team, Türkgücü Munich. This meant they took the lead in the Bayernliga South. The U21’s chance of promotion is more than real; most competitors don’t even submit the license documents for the regional league. The best training aid for the young lions would of course be for the professionals to be promoted – because only then, according to the regulations, would the second team be allowed to be promoted, and the homegrown players could then gain match practice closer to professional football. But now it looks as if support evenings like that of “Entrepreneurs for Sixty” are still needed.