The assistant instructor conceived an outstanding plan... - Bochum's ingenious saving tactic unfolded there.
VfL Bochum amazed everyone with an unbelievable comeback, turning a 0:3 disadvantage from the first match against Fortuna Düsseldorf into a 6:5 victory in the penalty shootout. Hundreds of fans rejoiced with the team until the sun came up (you can read more about the celebrations here).
It's unbelievable how the Butcher squad Bochum saved themselves!
The concerning way the team lost against Bremen (1:4) and Düsseldorf in the first leg raised the question of whether Bochum could still manage to pull off anything. With his fellow coaches, Butscher had to think about how to give the demoralized team hope for a miracle. Words wouldn't be enough. It needed a clever move!
Co-trainer Kruska thought of a psychological idea
Co-trainer Marc-André Kruska (36/ex-BVB) came up with the idea: penalty kick practice, without explaining the plan to the players. The team had to be informed silently that they could achieve the impossible.
The rest is history: Bochum managed to save themselves with an outstanding display in the shootout, in which six out of seven shooters scored. Goalkeeper Andreas Luthe (37) saved a shot, and looked over the crossbar with confidence - VfL was rescued!
Butscher tells the story of the psycho-trick's origin: "It might sound crazy, but we trained it because we wanted to create faith. I told Marc he was crazy, told him we didn't need it. But we still did it."
And that turned out to be a smart decision!
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Source: symclub.org
