VfL Bochum’s U19 team has wrapped up its first matches of the year in Bavaria. Coach David Siebers is heading back to the Ruhr region feeling positive.

VfL Bochum’s U19 team resumed competition with a friendly doubleheader after a break of just over a month. Coach David Siebers’ team had traveled to Bavaria for the matches against 1. FC Nürnberg this Saturday and against Bayern Munich the following day. “We gained a lot of insights,” Siebers explained after a “balanced weekend.”

After Bochum initially suffered a 2–4 (0–0) loss to the club’s youth team, they celebrated a 3–1 (1–1) victory over Bayern the following day. “We’re naturally satisfied with the goals we scored,” said Siebers. “We’re certainly not happy with the four goals we conceded in the first game against Nuremberg, nor with our performance in that first game.”

VfL quickly fell behind 0–2 after the break (56’, 59’). But they managed to equalize thanks to goals from Luis Pick (72’) and Prince Agyemang (82’). “We weren’t able to hold on to that result and ended up conceding the 2–3 goal in the closing minutes,” Siebers said. “In the end, when we had another great chance to make it 3–3 and had opened up the play, we conceded the 2–4 goal in the third minute of stoppage time.”

It was a deserved loss, “because many of our players hadn’t found their rhythm yet in the first game after the long break and were far from their best,” said Siebers. The Bochum players were able to put the results of the evening’s analysis into practice the very next day—and that’s exactly what they did.

Against Bayern, Pick once again scored Bochum’s first goal (29th minute). A powerful shot found the top left corner. Bayern gained momentum and equalized (39th minute). VfL had to work hard to avoid falling behind again and also missed a penalty kick shortly before halftime.

“We apparently found the right words at halftime and made the right adjustments,” said Siebers. “As a result, if you look at the four halves we played this weekend, we played our best half.” Many chances went unused at first, until, following two set pieces, Gustav Schjott (67′) and Daryl Tschoumy Nana (72′) sealed the final score.

“We’re heading home feeling good because we won the second game,” Siebers explained. In addition to Nana and Agyemang, Ole Van Eck and Janek Herzberg also made their comebacks for VfL.

The next friendly is scheduled for this coming weekend. VfL Bochum will then host Werder Bremen (January 25, 2 p.m.). with gp

Here’s how VfL lined up against Nuremberg:

VfL: Intven (46. Ferrara) – Meyer (46’ Weber), Schneider (46’ Van Eck, 77’ Agyemang), Boltersdorf, Gezer (46’ Kovacevic), Fischer (46’ Pick), Mbome, Zeppenfeld (60’ F. Koscierski), Brands (60’ Salamone), Santo (77’ Herzberg), Schjott (46′ Tschoumy Nana)

Here’s how VfL lined up against Bayern:

VfL: Janusch – Tschoumy Nana, Weber, Pick (87′ Agyemang), Schneider (67′ Fischer), Gerth (67. Santo), Herzberg (46. F. Koscierski, 87. Zeppenfeld), Kovacevic (46. Boltersdorf), Van Eck (46. Gezer), Salamone (87. Brands), Schjott