Mainz thank Far East connection for win in Augsburg
Augsburg - 1. FSV Mainz 05 eased their relegation concerns with two goals made in the Far East in a 2-0 win at FC Augsburg.
Far East double for Mainz
Japan's Shinji Okazaki got the first for Martin Schmidt's men before South Korea's Ja-Cheol Koo ended Augsburg's hopes late on to deal his former club's hopes of playing in Europe next season a blow.
Both sides were clearly determined to win in an end-to-end encounter, although the attacks tended to break down before either goalkeeper was called on to intervene. The hosts were looking the livelier, but it was Mainz who took the lead after half an hour when Okazaki gave them a 1-0 advantage for the fifth time this season, pinging his shot into the far corner of Marwin Hitz's goal. Daniel Baier made a mistake in the run-up to that goal and he tried to make amends with a long-range effort, which was not enough even to test Loris Karius.
After Raul Bobadilla had got closer on the stroke off half-time, Augsburg came out fighting in the second half, and Bobadilla should have scored but was unable to get the ball under control with the goal at his mercy. The hosts were understandably doing all of the attacking, but there were still plenty of chances at the other end with Yunus Malli denied by Hitz. One of those breaks resulted in a second goal for the guests with Koo drilling a powerful shot into the roof of the net with a minute to go.
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