MSV Duisburg defeated SC Verl and now sits in second place in the 3. Liga. MSV was clinical in front of the goal, while Verl was unable to capitalize on its dominance on the field.
Top match in Duisburg. To wrap up the 3. Liga matchday, MSV Duisburg faced SC Verl. Earlier, Hansa Rostock and Rot-Weiss Essen failed to win, and Energie Cottbus also managed only one point over the weekend.
The perfect setup for MSV and Verl. A win would have propelled the Meiderich-based team into second place. A win would have even sent Verl to the top of the table.
After 90 minutes, MSV was celebrating a 4-1 (3-1) home victory in front of 20,327 spectators and is now back in a direct promotion spot.
MSV coach Dietmar Hirsch made four changes to the starting lineup compared to the 0–1 loss in Ulm: Captain Hahn, suspended for a yellow card, was replaced by Ben Schlicke; Gabriel Sadlek was not in the squad; and Can Coskun returned to the left side of the back four after serving his yellow-card suspension. In addition, Jan-Simon Symalla and Dennis Borkowski joined the starting lineup in place of Jesse Tugbenyo and Cono Noß.
And the four newcomers got off to a flying start. After Verl’s Berkan Taz lost the ball twice in quick succession, Lex-Tyger Lobinger scored the 1–0 for MSV as early as the second minute.
The joy lasted less than two minutes before the score was already tied at 1–1. It was Oualid Mhamdi who equalized the score after four minutes. After the 1–1 tie, Verl took control and completely dominated the game. After a quarter of an hour, they were nearly rewarded with the lead.
Taz played a through ball to Dennis Waidner, whose low cross was deflected out of bounds at the last moment by Joshua Bitter—with a Verl player standing right behind him, ready to shoot.
MSV weathered the visitors’ spell of pressure and launched a brilliant counterattack. First, it was Borkowski who surprisingly put MSV up 2–1. Set up by Symalla, he put the “Zebras” in the lead. Shortly afterward, the game was over for Borkowski, who had only just worked his way back from a protracted injury. Before halftime, he had to leave the field—supported by the medical staff.
But that wasn’t the end of the first half. Just before the halftime whistle, Lobinger scored his second goal—3–1 for MSV at halftime, a result that was unexpected given how the game had unfolded.
And the action picked right up after the break. On his 25th birthday, it was Patrick Sussek who sealed the deal early in the second half with the 4–1 goal in this top-of-the-table clash.
The MSV proved extremely efficient, converting four of their five shots on goal. It was a completely different story for Verl, whose finishing was abysmal. Niko Kijewski also missed a chance for the SCV in the 57th minute—that should have been the goal to get them back in the game. In the 65th minute, Alessio Besio hit the post; it just wasn’t meant to be for Verl.
Nevertheless, the visitors kept pressing. Their efforts were rewarded when Julian Stark capitalized on one of Verl’s many chances to cut the lead to 2–4 (74th minute). Four minutes later, the visitors nearly tied it up again, but after Jonas Arweiler’s shot, the crossbar came to MSV’s rescue for the second time.
After that, MSV confidently saw out the match and can now celebrate returning to second place. MSV’s next match is this coming Saturday (February 14, 2 p.m.) at SV Wehen Wiesbaden. At the same time, SC Verl will face TSG Hoffenheim’s U23 team.