A week ago, Nikola Vasilj played a decisive role in St. Pauli’s first defeat in Magdeburg with a mistake in the build-up of the game. On Sunday against Braunschweig, the keeper was the guarantee for the hard-earned 1-0 win.
The St. Paulians celebrate with their match winner Nikola Vasilj. IMAGO/Eibner
It was the 40th minute of the game at the Millerntor and the leaders had only recently taken the lead through Oladapo Afolayan when Nikola Vasilj defused a ball from Braunschweig’s Robert Ivanov from close range with a legendary act – a huge factor for their success and their own self-confidence in Magdeburg important parade, but for defender Hauke Wahl it was a representation of the normal situation. “Niko,” says the ex-Kiel player, “is an incredibly good goalkeeper who simply has to cope with a very high demand profile in our game. He simply radiates something.” And recorded a victory on Sunday that wasn’t entirely typical for St. Pauli.
Outnumbered labor victory
The frontrunners have proven for months that they are the strongest team in the lower house, and against Eintracht they demonstrated that they can achieve victories. Even when outnumbered. What was striking was that after the justified yellow-red card against Elias Saad (67th), Fabian Hürzeler’s team didn’t allow anything, and the coach proudly states: “That we had such a long phase after the first defeat in Magdeburg Getting through ten men gives us an extra boost.”
“It’s important to keep the balance”
The table configuration is already comfortable. They are three points ahead of their upcoming opponents, the second Holstein Kiel, and seven points ahead of the third HSV. Hürzeler is noticeably holding back from commenting on the advances; he still advises that the content should be brought to the foreground. “It’s important to keep the balance. Being too euphoric and too self-confident because of the table can also be dangerous. That’s why our focus is on training.”
The fact that a statement that sounds suspiciously like an empty phrase is being lived at St. Pauli and especially by the coach has become particularly evident in the past few weeks and days, as non-sporting topics threaten to gain the upper hand. The Mallorca trip in the week before Braunschweig was a central topic, but it was overshadowed by the poker surrounding the 30-year-old’s future.
Hürzeler focuses on work on the pitch
“For me it’s about which topics I can influence directly. And that’s the work on the pitch, that’s the only thing I try to focus on. I consciously keep all other topics away from the team.” If this continues to succeed as it did recently and even if the increasingly logical decision to separate becomes official in the summer, St. Pauli will be unstoppable this season