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Stuttgart 3-1 Unirea Urziceni: New-Look Stuttgart Hammer Romanians
Stuttgart were up 3-0 inside 11 minutes today, and the Germans coasted into the round of 16.
Dec 9, 2009 4:46:04 PM
In his first match as Stuttgart head coach, Christian Gross made several changes to the squad that drew 1-1 with Bochum last weekend. In attack, Julian Schieber and Cacau were replaced by Pavel Pogrebnyak and Ciprian Marica. Timo Gebhart won a starting berth in right midfield ahead of Sebastian Rudy, and Sami Khedira and Christian Traesch earned starts ahead of central midfielders Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Thomas Hitzlsperger.
Needing only a draw to advance, Unirea coach Dan Petrescu sent out his squad in a conservative 4-2-3-1 setup, with Tiberiu Balan, Marius Onofras and Antonio Semedo supporting lone hitman Marius Bilasco.
The new look seemed to suit Stuttgart well, as it took less than five minutes for Khedira and Marica to link up to produce the opening goal. The 22-year old German midfielder played an inch-perfect cross to the Romanian striker, who struck a powerful header past Giedrius Arlauskis.
Unirea responded positively and nearly drew level a minute after the restart. Bilasco was first to a ball over the top and did well to strike as defenders bore down on him. Jens Lehmann did well to parry the shot wide, and the chance went begging.
Seconds later, Traesch was quick to realize the Unirea defense had come too far forward, and Timo Gebhart picked out the midfielder making a run from deep. As Traesch approached the Unirea penalty area, it looked as though he would be cut off, but he fired a real piledriver towards the left post, and again beat Arlauskis.
Stuttgart were not yet done. The Swabians played with real flare as they sought to put the match away early. For their efforts, the hosts were rewarded: Pogrebnyak made it 3-0 within 11 minutes after some deceptive play. After receiving a pass on the right side of the penalty area, the Russian faked left, then ran straight forward and slipped his shot under Arlauskis.
Even after taking a commanding lead, Stuttgart pressed forward. Controlling the vast majority of possession, the hosts werer able to control the tempo while maintaining pressure. Unirea almost never were able to enter their attacking third, and efforts from Gebhart (19) and Khedira (36) flashed wide.
To be fair, Unirea gained some composure after the first quarter hour. Given that they were facing elimination, however, much was left to be desired.
After a rather uneventful final ten minutes of the first half, the two sides left the pitch in markedly different spirits. While Stuttgart were fully satisfied, Unirea raced a mountain to climb in the second half.
At the half, Dacian Varga replaced the ineffective Onofras in attack. As has often been the case this year, Stuttgart were their own worst enemies. Seconds after the restart, Boka's clearance was weakly tapped off Semedo. The Portuguese winger pounced and raced into the penalty area, beating Lehmann to pull an important goal back.
A minute later, Marica's cross was parried, and Arlauskis did very well to hold onto Khedira's follow-up.
After a very eventful opening phase, the pace slowed and once more, the majority of the exchanges were made in midfield. With the match fully in Stuttgart's control, Gross opted to give chances to the stars he had omitted from his starting lineup. For Hleb, Sebastian Rudy came on in a like-for-like substitution, and Kuzmanovic replaced Khedira in central midfield.
Rudy made an immediate impact when he linked well with Marica, but Arlauskis made an excellent save. With a half hour to go, Petrescu rolled the dice and brought on Raul Rusescu, a full-fledged striker, for Balan, a winger.
Accompanying the visitors' change of tactical setup was a gap between midfield and the defensive line, and Stuttgart's midfielders bombed forward. Most notably, Gebhart stumbled into open space before curling a shot off the right post with 18 minutes to go in regulation. A pair of close-ranged efforts from the ex-1860 Munich youth product also missed shortly thereafter.
With time running out, Unirea went all out in attack, but had little to show for it. Lehmann was able to save an effort from Dacian Varga, and Ersen Mehmedovic' header late was off target.
In the end, it was a well-deserved win for Stuttgart, who leapfrog their opponents to take second place in group G. Unirea will be disappointed to have missed out on the Champions League knockout stage, but now have a chance to make a splash in the Europa League.
Clark Whitney, Goal.com
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