Tietz makes the difference as Augsburg defeat Wolfsburg

It was a crucial Saturday afternoon matchup at the WWK Arena, as FC Augsburg (9-8-8, 11th) hosted VfL Wolfsburg (10-8-7, 7th). The two teams were separated by just three points going into this match, and both of them are in intense competition, with the focus being to qualify for the still available Champions League, Europa League, or Europa Conference League places.

Wolfsburg had a few chances early that just missed wide of the goal, the most notable being a Jonas Wind attempt that sailed to the right, off a ground pass from Mohamed Amoura on the inside edge of the penalty area at the three-minute mark. Once the tenth minute arrived, Augsburg were starting to consistently generate chances, and were also excellent on the defence as they limited Wolfsburg's pass accuracy to just 59 % in their third of the pitch at one point.

It was a very quiet first half in terms of chances created, however, and this was on both sides of the field; Ogochukwu Onyeka and Elvis Rexhbecaj got the first two shots on goal between the twentieth and thirtieth minutes of the match, and Mattias Svanberg's following attempt did not test Finn Dahmen too much, rolling straight into the gloves of the Wiesbaden-born goalkeeper.

Probably the most notable moment of the first half was Mohamed Amoura's yellow card in the thirty-first minute, as it means that he will not be playing against Heidenheim at the Volkswagen Arena in two weeks. At the halftime mark, the score was 0-0, still anyone's match to win.

The first major play after the restart was Phillip Tietz's goal in the fifty-third minute, which was set up by a long ball from Cédric Zesiger in the latter's own half; once Tietz was free of the last defender, having slightly stayed onside, he allowed Kamil Grabara to close down the angle before tapping the ball to Grabara's right, landing the shot bottom-centre.

Despite Ralph Hasenhüttl making two attacking-minded changes, these being Andreas Skov Olsen and Patrick Wimmer for Bence Dárdai and Jonas Wind, Wolfsburg still remained defensive until the final fifteen minutes, when Augsburg's momentum from the opener began to fizzle out and their defence was looking slightly weaker, despite defensive-minded substitutions of their own.

VfL Wolfsburg won a corner in the eighty-second minute, after Christian Matsima made a crucial standing tackle to send the ball away from the Augsburg goal area; Patrick Wimmer would get a header on the cross from Andreas Skov Olsen, with his attempt going off the crossbar and out of play. Tiago Tomás also saw an opportunity on the right side of the Augsburg penalty area two minutes later, but Finn Dahmen kept his clean sheet by extending his reach and making the denial.

Kevin Behrens entered in place of Mattias Svanberg, and got a chance of his own around the ninetieth-minute mark; once again, Dahmen got directly in front, and denied the substitute before Behrens could chip the ball above him. The final whistle went soon after, as with 43 % possession, and outshot 9-13, FC Augsburg managed a 1-0 victory on home turf.

With that, Augsburg are now tied with Wolfsburg for eighth in the Bundesliga, and Die Wölfe dropped one spot in the table as Borussia Mönchengladbach overtook the seventh spot following a six-goal thriller in Bremen. Wolfsburg, however, are above Augsburg in the table because of their goal difference, which is +9 compared to Augsburg's -6.

After the international break comes to an end, VfL Wolfsburg hosts 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 at the Volkswagen Arena on Saturday, 29. March at 15.30 (CET); as for FC Augsburg, they will face TSG 1899 Hoffenheim at the PreZero Arena at the exact same time.