Season Preparation: Union Loses Test Match in Jena

Football club 1. FC Union Berlin suffered a defeat in their second test match within three days, losing 0-2 to FC Carl Zeiss Jena, a team from the Regionalliga Nordost. This result follows their previous 1-1 draw against Chemnitzer FC.

In their fourth preparatory match of the season, Union Berlin delivered a disappointing performance, especially during the first half. Elias Löder scored the opening goal for Jena in the 11th minute. Jena, who finished second in the Regionalliga Nordost last season, extended their lead in the second half with a goal from Kevin Lankford in the 83rd minute.

The match, played in front of 7,015 spectators at Jena's Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld, saw Union coach Mauro Lustrinelli deploy a four-man defense. A total of 22 players were used by Union, with defender Andrik Markgraf being unavailable due to a severe knee injury sustained in a previous match.

Similar to their previous game against Chemnitz, Union Berlin experienced traffic delays, causing them to arrive late and resulting in the match starting 30 minutes behind schedule. Despite an improved performance in the second half and creating several scoring opportunities, Union was unable to find the back of the net.

For FC Carl Zeiss Jena, the match marked the home debut for their new coach Marco Grote, who previously coached various Union Berlin youth teams and served as interim coach for the first team. Union Berlin is scheduled to play two more preparation matches in Switzerland in the coming days, facing FC Winterthur on Friday and FC Aarau on Saturday.