1. FC Köln won their fourth friendly in a row thanks to a 3:0 victory against Belgian Pro League side, VV St. Truiden on Friday evening. Tim Lemperle, Damion Downs and Florian Dietz were on the scoresheet in a very promising performance.
Lemperle lobs FC into the lead
FC started the game brightly and were looking to set the tone in the newly-named Heinz Flohe Stadion. However, despite the strong start, there was a somewhat bitter taste as Max Finkgräfe was forced off early on with injury.
That didn’t halt the FC momentum and Gerhard Struber’s side went ahead thanks to Tim Lemperle’s fine finish in the 17th minute. A perfectly played long-ball from Jonas Urbig sent the striker through on goal and he lobbed the oncoming Jan Coppens to give FC a deserved lead.
It could have been more before the break had it not been for Coppens. He did well to deny Florian Kainz after a curling, dipping free-kick looked destined to find the top corner from 25 yards. Moments later, Timo Hübers got his head on a deep cross, with Coppens again on hand to claw the ball away from his goal.
Strong second 45
The second-half continued in a similar fashion where the first left off. After a stunning spinning volley was chalked off a minute prior, Damion Downs got on the scoresheet after he rounded off a tidy move involving Dejan Ljubicic and Denis Huseinbasic.
Despite nine changes from Struber on the hour-mark, it didn’t take away any FC momentum. Florian Dietz grabbed a third after 78 minutes, poking home past the oncoming Coppens following Mathias Olesen’s through ball.
FC are next in action on Saturday, 20th July. Less than 24 hours after today’s friendly, it’s a trip across the Rhein to take on Viktoria Köln at Sportpark Höhenberg. Kick-off is at 14:00 CEST.
Line-ups
1. FC Köln (4-2-2-2): Urbig – Thielmann, Hübers, Pauli, Finkgräfe (Wäschenbach 13’) – Huseinbasic, Martel – Ljubicic, Kainz (Adamyan 46’) – Lemperle, Downs.
1. FC Köln from 60th minute (4-2-2-2): Urbig – Schmid, Heintz, Smajic, Pacarada – Christensen, Olesen – Potocnik, Adamyan – Dietz, Tigges.
VV St. Truiden (4-2-3-1): Coppens – van Helden, Janssens, Godeau, Ogawa – Vanwesemael, Diriken (Angong 58’) – Ito (Nhaili 75’), Bertaccini (Zahiroleslam 70’) Dumont – Barnes.
Goals: 1:0, Lemperle 17’. 2:0, Downs 54’. 3:0, Dietz 78’.
Attendance: 3,500 (sold-out).
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