“A lot possible with this group”
Trainer brakes the Lauterer promotion hope
Trainer brakes the Lauterer promotion hope
30.03.2025, 11:22 a.m.
Is the four-time German champion back to the Bundesliga? The 1. FC Kaiserslautern is working hard on it. The victory against Düsseldorf arouses additional hope. Coach Markus starts at patience.
An “incredibly beautiful football evening” – that’s what Marlon Ritter says – gives hope for more: The 1. FC Kaiserslautern continues to mix strongly in the narrow promotion race of the 2nd Bundesliga. The team of coach Markus Begin defeated Fortuna Düsseldorf 3: 1 (1-0) and climbed the relegation place seven game days before the end of the season.
Ritter (14th), Ragnar Ache (73.) and Luca Sirch (90.+3) scored the hosts. For Düsseldorf, it will be difficult for Kaiserslautern to intervene again at five points behind Kaiserslautern. Tim Oberdorf (60th) achieved the interim compensation.
“In the end, it was a deserved victory today,” said Sirch. “There were two different halves. I think we played the first half very well. Düsseldorf put a lot of pressure in the second half, so we had to cope with that. We did the 2-1 at the right moment and then defended everything away.”
Furious start of Kaiserslautern
The hosts started furiously. Goal scorer Ache headed just by (14th), seconds later Ritter scored the lead with his sixth goal of the season. The red devils stayed on the pusher, Ache gave Florian Kastenmeier in the Fortuna goal but no problems with his conclusion (24th). Eight minutes later, the Palatinate cheered again, but Jan Elvedi’s header was revoked after studying the video images. Maximilian Bauer had previously played the ball by hand. The strongly weakened guests did not take offensive in the first half.
That changed in the second half. Düsseldorf now acted braver and often stuck in the opposing half. A header by Jamil Siebert (54th) was too harmless, Dawid Kownacki (57th) aimed too high. The compensation from Oberdorf to a corner was logical. At Kaiserslautern, nothing ran together in the game, then Ache took a head with his 16th Sizeontor for the leadership. Joker Jona Niemiec missed the great chance of compensation (81st), in added time Kaiserslautern put the lid on it.
Fans ready for the first division
Where can that lead for Kaiserslautern? “We want to get the best possible out. But I would say that it is possible with this troop,” said Ache at Sky. “In this 2nd league you never know what happens.” After 27 out of 34 games, his team is third – and would go to the relegation for the ascent. The team does not seem to be averse. Only the coach advertises patience: “Let’s develop further and if it goes positively, we’ll get a few more victories.”
Only one point separates Kaiserslautern from the fourth, SC Paderborn. But there are also only three points on the second, 1. FC Köln, and four points up to the leaders HSV. Everything is in it-and the backdrop in the sold-out Fritz-Walter Stadium was ready for the first division: “It was just fun to be here in this stadium today. Many always talk about what you have experienced in the past. But we can also talk about what we have experienced today. It was just fantastic,” said start.