Arguably Germany’s second most famous failing infrastructure project (behind Berlin-Brandenburg airport, obvs), Stuttgart 21 was supposed to overhaul the transport system of South-West Germany’s economic powerhouse. Announced in 1994 and yet still far from completion, the project has long been a fiasco to shame the home of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
The city’s football fans are familiar with such error-strewn decision-making, however. Since losing to Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League in 2010, Vfb Stuttgart have seen a decade of decline – as well as 15 coaches since Bruno Labbadia left in August 2013. In 2016 the two-time Bundesliga champions were, unthinkably, relegated for the first time since 1975. Having regained their place in the Bundesliga the following year, a team including Mario Gomez and Benjamin Pavard was relegated again in 2019 – reaching their nadir in a 6-0 defeat to traditional minnows Augsburg.
Amidst the on-pitch chaos, some order was restored behind the scenes in that second relegation season. Club legend Thomas Hitzlsperger – the scorer of the decisive goal in their 2007 title win – was appointed CEO in February 2019. The former Aston Villa and West Ham midfielder has impressed since taking the job and is now running to be club president (albeit latterly amid some controversy). When their bid to return to the Bundesliga faltered towards the end of 2019, Hitzlsperger appointed Pellegrino Matarazzo as head coach.
Matarazzo is hardly an archetypal top-flight manager. A maths graduate from Columbia University, he spent a decade as a central defender in the German lower leagues. But the Ivy League man joined Hoffenheim after retirement and, like his former boss Julian Nagelsmann, seems to have a knack of fostering success. After tightening Vfb’s defence, the Italian-American nudged the Swabian promotion train back on track and, making the most of a late HSV slip-up, achieved promotion on the final day of the season.
Matarazzo’s charges have carried their form into the Bundesliga and racked up some impressive results. They have been particularly strong away from home, hammering Mainz, Hertha and Borussia Dortmund in a series of dazzling counter-attacking displays – with the 5-1 win at Signal Iduna Park spelling the end for Dortmund coach Lucian Favre. Direct, pacy and full of goals, those away performances have repeatedly highlighted some of the outstanding attacking talent within the Stuttgart squad.
This includes Congo international Silas Wamangituka, who has 8 goals so far this season. His goal in the dying minutes in Wolfsburg highlighted his willingness to push forward opportunistically from midfield – although his playground approach to walking the ball into the net did not exactly endear him to his opponents.
22 year-old Argentinian Nicolas Gonzalez is another on the radar of the major European clubs, with Spurs and Juventus reportedly showing interest. The scorer of decisive goals in Vfb’s promotion campaign, Gonzalez has an easy quality on the ball which was evident in last weekend’s 4-1 win in Augsburg. Consistently creative in the style of a young Christian Eriksen, he looks comfortable in elite company.
Stuttgart may struggle to hold on to precocious talents such as Wamangituka, Gonzalez or Orel Mangala. But, given the way the squad has progressed under his tutelage, Matarazzo may be worth more to the club than any of his players. As with the city’s rail upgrade, there is now light at the end of the tunnel for its football.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
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