Wolfsburg defeat industrious Augsburg
VfL Wolfsburg got off to the perfect start with an impressive win that soured Dirk Schuster's debut as coach of FC Augsburg.
Goals: 0-1 Didavi (34'), 0-2 Rodriguez (89')
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Dirk Schuster received the coach of the year award before kick-off but that was all the new Augsburg coach had to celebrate in the opening stages. Wolfsburg’s new signing Daniel Didavi opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark, hammering a low cross from Daniel Caligiuri past Marwin Hitz. Augsburg had been enjoying the majority of possession, but failed to force Wolfsburg keeper Koen Casteels into making a single save.
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Augsburg came out of the dressing room in determined fashion and were the more industrious of the two teams. But Wolfsburg's defence, with the impressive new signing Jeffrey Bruma at the heart of the action, kept the home side at bay. Instead it was Wolfsburg's Ricardo Rodriguez who sealed all three points for the visitors with a wonderful free kick just before the final whistle.
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Man of the match
Daniel Didavi had a strong first game for Wolfsburg, pulling the strings in attack and getting off the mark for his new club at the first time of asking.
Talking point
Dieter Hecking chose to start Koen Casteels ahead of Wolfsburg’s captain Diego Benaglio in goal and the Belgian stopper did more than enough to give his coach a selection headache in weeks to come.
Match stats
- Daniel Didavi scored with his first shot on goal for Wolfsburg. Last year, he also scored on the opening day of the season for Stuttgart.Rodriguez’s goal was his first from a direct free kick goal in over a year, the last one coming in April 2015 in a 3-1 win against Stuttgart.Koen Casteels recorded his fifth clean sheet since joining VfL Wolfsburg from Werder Bremen.
Line-ups
Augsburg: Hitz, Gouweleeuw, Stafylidis, Janker, Verhaegh (c.), Baier, Caiuby, Kohr (Altintop 83'), Koo (Usami 82'), Finnbogason (Ji 63'), Bobadilla
Coach: Dirk Schuster
Wolfsburg: Casteels, Rodriguez, Knoche, Bruma, Caligiuri, Gerhardt (Arnold 60'), Blaszczykowksi, Luiz Gustavo (c.), Draxler, Didavi (Träsch 72'), Dost (Henrique 81')
Coach: Dieter Hecking