Kickoff at Hafenstraße – and what a kickoff it was! Rot-Weiss Essen welcomed 1860 Munich to the start of the 3rd league. The Essen team secured a point at Hafenstraße. Euphoria, anticipation, enthusiasm – whatever you wanted to call the mood before Rot-Weiss Essen’s third division kickoff, there was real fire around the stadium on Hafenstraße. The mood among the RWE fans was difficult to gauge after the final whistle. Essen drew 1-1 (1-0) with promotion favorites TSV 1860 Munich in their opening game.

An early goal from Jose-Enrique Rios Alonso (6th minute) put the home side in front for a long time, but they largely lost their edge in the second half, which is why the point left a bitter taste in the mouth. “In general, you shouldn’t read too much into the game. 1860 had a lot of new players – they need time to gel. We didn’t play our best game, but we were solid. That’s why the 1-1 draw hurt so much. You took the lead and it didn’t look like either team was dominating. It felt like there weren’t any great chances, and then we had to take our chance.”

The defensive compactness they were aiming for in the second half seemed to bear fruit for a long time. Until the long ball over the defense, which Florian Niederlechner converted with a lob to make it 1-1—a result that both coaches said was perfectly acceptable.

“We had a very weak start to the second half. We were careless with our possession. We weren’t really on the ball during those phases. Then we got our act together, and it was precisely at that moment that we conceded the equalizer, which is a critical situation and will probably remain so,” explained coach Uwe Koschinat.

However, the celebrated man on the sidelines still has a good feeling about the last few weeks: “Overall, as I told my team before the game, it felt like a continuation of the second half of the season to me. We picked up momentum right away. Considering the quality of the opponent, we did an excellent job and delivered a strong performance. We can be proud.”

This hard-won pride should translate into three points next week as planned. RWE travels to TSV Havelse on Saturday (August 9, 2 p.m.) to bring the next points back to Hafenstraße.