In his U19 debut in the dugout, head coach Kevin Brok, who had been in charge of the U17s until a few days earlier, made two changes to the starting XI compared to the 4-1 league win at TSV Schott Mainz: Ferdinand Pohl and Ken Izekor started in place of Naba and Jeremiah Mensah. While the Werkself primarily impressed in the early stages with their tidy link-up play and had their first shot on goal through Jonah Berghoff (5th minute), the Danes demonstrated their physical advantage and used it to get forward into the visitors' penalty area.
After nine minutes, Leverkusen's Isaiah Eichie won possession in his own half and launched a swift counter-attack, which ended with Montrell Culbreath squaring the ball to Emmanuel Chigozie Owen at just the right moment, and the latter powerfully slotted home to give his side a 1-0 lead! FC Copenhagen mostly pushed forward down the left wing, but the Bayer 04 defence stood firm. At the other end, Culbreath let fly with a long-range effort that flew just wide of the target (27'), and two minutes later, Nebe Domnic just failed to link up with a cross by a hair's breadth. It was an impressive, clinical performance from the Werkself, who contained their opponents after the goal until the half-time whistle and took their narrow lead into the break in what was, all in all, an evenly matched encounter.
The second half began with a scare for Leverkusen: exactly 60 seconds had been played when a ball deflected by Ferdinand Pohl fortunately rebounded off the post instead of ending up in the net. The first big chance for Bayer 04 fell to Domnic, who failed to beat FCK keeper Oscar Buur on 55 minutes. The Werkself's next attacking affort was successful though: Dustin Buck smashed the ball against the crossbar, from where it rebounded and landed right at the feet of Chigozie Owen, who was positioned centrally and poised to shoot – 2-0 (62'). Culbreath just missed out on making it 3-0 five minutes later. The visitors were now focused on playing out a defensively solid, composed game – and kept a clean sheet until the final whistle!
"It feels a bit like a dream right now. The team and staff worked really well together today, it was a terrific start," Brok stressed afterwards. "We were very solid when we didn't have possession. And we simply have incredible quality in the final third, so we're always good for a goal." The Dutchman said of his first impression of the Youth League: "The tempo and intensity of both teams were at an extremely high level. Huge compliments for today's performance!"
Bayer 04's U19s continue their DFB youth league campaign on Sunday, 21 September (kick-off: 12:00 CEST) with a home match against FSV Frankfurt. This will be followed by another midweek fixture, as the crunch match against VfL Bochum 1848 is scheduled for Wednesday, 24 September at 17:00 CEST.
The stats:
Copenhagen: Buur - Katlego (70' Panduro), Christensen, Ankamafio, Lee - Olsen (70' Nørløv), Sarapata, Nasnas (84' Fetterlein), Daramy (70' Fenger) - Risnæs (46' Frimpong), Dadason
Bayer 04: Schlich - Eichie (23' N. Mensah), Pohl, Hawighorst, Turay - Domnic, Berghoff - Culbreath, Buck (87' Szep), Owen (87' Kurowski) - Izekor (65' J. Mensah)
Goals: 0-1 Chigozie Owen (9'), 0-2 Chigozie Owen (62')
Yellow cards: Risnæs, Frimpong - Culbreath, N. Mensah
Referee: Patryk Gryckiewicz (Poland)
Spectators: 452 at Tingbjerg Idrætspark
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