Last week, Hoffenheim scored one on their best victories ever by beating Bayern Munich 4-1. They stopped the defending Bundesliga and UCL champions 33-game undefeated run with an impressive victory. They were trying to add to their great start to this season with a third win in as many games. They finished last week at the top of the Bundesliga first division table. Eintracht Frankfurt have had a solid start to their season as well, having drawn with Bielefeld on MD 1 and earning a convincing win against Hertha Berlin last week. Both teams have had unbeaten starts to the new season. Last season, Frankfurt swept both games against Hoffenheim.
Frankfurt nearly got on the board first. Dutch forward Bas Dost began the attack with a quick outlet pass to defender Almany Touré running down the right side. Touré passed it back to Dost, who was centered in the Hoffenheim penalty area. Dost headed the ball to forward André Silva, but the two didn’t connect. Touré’s pass to Dost was on the money, but Dost couldn’t seal it. A good effort, but no score. For the next ten minutes, Frankfurt kept pressing Hoffenheim’s defense but couldn’t quite find the mark. Despite all of Frankfurt’s pressure, it was Hoffenheim who struck first at the eighteenth minute. After a free kick, Croatian forward Andrej Kramarić found himself inside the Frankfurt penalty area to the right of the goalie, and he curled it inside the left post just out of reach of Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp. It was Kramarić’s sixth goal of the season, his first career goal against Frankfurt. Kramarić’s goal was the only score of the first half.
Frankfurt finally even the score at the 54th minute when
they finally cracked open Hoffenheim’s defense.
Ex-Hoffenheim midfielder Steven Zuber, substituting for the injured
Filip Kostić,
whipped a stunning ball into the Hoffenheim box, where a waiting Bas Dost
flicked it to midfielder Daichi Kamada, who put the ball past Hoffenheim keeper
Oliver Baumann. Score tied, 1-1. On the ensuing kickoff, sloppy Hoffenheim
play almost resulted in a second Frankfurt score in two minutes. Luckily for Hoffenheim Zuber and Touré couldn’t quite connect in the
box. There was miscommunication on
Hoffenheim’s defense.
I don’t
know what Frankfurt coach Adi Hütter said to his players at halftime, but whatever
it was it worked. Frankfurt’s attack was
relentless. After they scored the
equalizer, Frankfurt didn’t let Hoffenheim settle into any kind of offensive
rhythm. Hoffenheim keeper Oliver
Baumann was screaming at his defense for much of the second half. Frankfurt often had Hoffenheim on their back
foot, but Hoffenheim refused to go away.
They managed to mount a challenge to Frankfurt’s defense, but at the 71st
Frankfurt scored again on a counterattack.
Things got a bit crowded in front of Hoffenheim’s net, but Bas Dost was
able to make sense of the chaos and scored, putting Frankfurt in front 2-1. It
was Dost’s sixth career goal against Hoffenheim. The score stood at 2-1 when the referee blew
the final whistle.
Postscript
I wrote this on Saturday thinking “there won’t be a better game than this tomorrow. Not for the first time, I was wrong. I was traveling today and didn’t watch anything live today. I kept an eye on the Augsburg-Wolfsburg match, which ended on a goalless draw. “So far, good”. Then Bayern Munich played Hertha Berlin at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Hertha always gives Bayern a good game. Last year on Matchday 1, Hertha drew with Bayern, which began Niko Kovač’s slide toward unemployment. What did I miss? Not much, just a 7-goal thriller that was decided by a Robert Lewandowski penalty kick in stoppage time. Lewandowski scored all four of Bayern’s goals today. What else did I miss? Bayern coach Hansi Flick smiled today. 😊
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