Cheering at Energy Cottbus: Head coach Klaus Dieter Woelitz’s side beat VFB Krichau 2-0 (0-0) in a Lausitz duel in Lokenwalde on Saturday afternoon and were the winners of the Brandenburg State Cup. This is the 10th time the Cottbus team has won the cup, tying with previous record winner SV Babelsberg 03.

“If we perform well, we will have every chance of winning,” Cottbus coach Klaus-Dieter Woelitz said before the match. And it was clear that his team was willing to do just that. In the sixth minute, Kericho saved a Cottbus free kick from a half-right on the edge of the penalty area, with Yannick Meader grabbing the ball straight – and firing wide.

Unsurprisingly, Cottbus had more of the match against Oberliga and in the 17th minute they had the following opportunity: Axel Burgmann’s shot from distance and VFB goalkeeper Fritz Pflüge was able to save it. The weak will not be defeated. On the contrary: soon after he almost cheered. Jonas Zickert – like most Krieschow players with a Cottbus past – fired from over 30 meters and the rebound resulted in Toni Stahl getting into a serious problem on FCE’s goal.

Energy is becoming increasingly difficult. Again, it was really tight in the first half. After a cross from the right, Erik Engelhardt put the ball in the middle, but Maximilian Pronichev could not arrange his legs at the penalty point and shot far from the left post (20′). After that, the spectators at Werner-Seelenbinder-Stadion, which sold out with 2,832 spectators, saw stops until the break, which at best deserved the rating of “Half Chance”.

After the break, there was a lot of excitement – and there was a lot of luck for Kericho: Erich Jeske dropped Jonas Hoffmann in the penalty area in the 46th minute. However, the penalty whistle did not materialize. A very controversial decision, to say the least. Oberliga continued to defend himself bravely when the score was 0-0 and came sporadically in front of the opponent’s goal. Zickert tested the steel again – now from 18m (67).

Then Cottbus increased the pressure. It almost paid off in the 69th minute: after 1-2 with Englehart, Bronischev hit the crossbar from long range. Six minutes later, it was right-back Tobias Haas who scored the acclaimed 1-0 goal for the candidates.

However, the duel has not yet been decided. After a good 80 minutes, Krieschow was very close to achieving the score 1-1: left winger VfB Leo Felgenträger hit the post (82). Cottbus finally managed to celebrate at last in the fourth minute of extra time: Fritz Pflug keeper Kericho slashed wide to force the equalizer from a corner kick into the opponent’s penalty area. But Energie defended, and Niklas Zografakis single-handedly rushed into the lonely VfB goal and set the final point to win the cup 2-0.

Broadcast: rbb24, May 21, 2022, 6:15 p.m.