On Thursday, Freiburg beat Swiss first-division side FC Zürich in a friendly. Having been down 2-0 at the break, the team rallied to win 3-2 thanks to a goal from Manuel Gulde and two from Nils Petersen.

SCF were missing a few players who had gone away for international duty when they took on Zürich, who sit top of the Super League after five games. As a result, Sascha Risch, Yannik Engelhardt and Robert Wagner, three players who normally play for the U23s, all lined up for the first team.

Benjamin Uphoff started the game in goal, with a back-three in front of him. Manuel Gulde was on the right, Keven Schlotterbeck central and Dominique Heintz on the left side of defence. Janik Haberer and Maximilian Eggestein lined up in central midfield, with Christian Günter and Nishan Burkart out-wide. Vincenzo Grifo, Nils Petersen and Noah Weißhaupt completed the 3-4-3 formation.

Christian Streich’s team started well, seeing a lot of the ball, and they had two good headed opportunities through Petersen and Gulde, though both failed to test Zürich keeper Zivko Kostadinovic. The away side played on the counter, but Uphoff had very little to do in the first half hour. The only dangerous moment was a first-minute chance for Assan Ceesay which just missed the target.

In the 39th minute, SCF found themselves behind. After losing the ball outside their own penalty area it was the Swiss side who reacted quickest and found Pollero from the left wing, who was positioned in front of goal, and he beat Uphoff from close range. Burkart then had the chance to equalise, but his shot from just inside the box was saved by Kostandinovic. Instead of an equaliser, it was the visitors who would score the next goal (43’). Uphoff was unfortunate to clear the ball right into the foot of Ousmane Doumbia, and the ball ricocheted into the net. “Zürich closed off space effectively in the first half, but we played well up until the final ball. Then we conceded the two goals. We discussed it at half-time, the fact that we were doing well and just needed to carry on in the same way,” Streich said in his assessment of the first half.

Three minutes all it took to level things up

After the break, Wooyeong Jeong replaced Günter and flung himself straight into the action, making a great individual run that could only be prevented by fouling him. The first chance of the half was made by André Breitenreiter’s team, however. Uphoff initially saved with his foot before Gulde cleared off the line. The defender, not satisfied just with stopping Zürich, halved the deficit shortly after. Gulde scored from a corner, then two minutes later, Petersen deservedly levelled the scores. Grifo’s cross found the striker at the back post, where Petersen had the easiest of tasks to put the ball in the back of the net (56’). Grifo nearly gave Freiburg the lead as well, but was unlucky to hit the post from the edge of the box.

A brace for Petersen

After 70 minutes, SCF had turned the game around. After a quick switch of play and a good combination down the left, Petersen scored again to make it 3-2. Weißhaupt initiated the attack, gave it to Heintz, whose cross found Jeong. The South Korean saw that Petersen was in a better position in the middle, who then beat the Zürich goalie. “We really wanted to turn the game around and in the second half we managed to create better chances,” said Petersen after the final whistle. The forward was overjoyed with his two goals: “Every goal gives me confidence and security. I’m really happy about today.”

It remained an open game, with the better chances falling to SCF. Grifo almost scored a fourth in the 76th minute but missed the goal by inches. Five minutes before full-time, the three U23 players (Risch, Engelhardt and Wagner) entered the fray and Uphoff saved another attempt by the visitors. Streich saw the game as a good test for his team: “We played well today against a good team. We are happy and now the boys have earned a couple of days off this weekend.”

Photo: Achim Keller