Chapter 072: Hoffenheim's counterattack
The enthusiasm of the home fans made the Hoffenheim players very excited, and no one did not like to be cheered, especially the unreserved enthusiasm of the fans, which naturally made the Hoffenheim players even more excited, and they were all looking forward to a great victory with the support of the home fans.
Although the Hoffenheim players want to achieve this victory, although the current situation of Dortmund is not good, but they are a Bundesliga team after all, although they are now at a low point, but the heritage of the quasi-giant team is still quite awe-inspiring; There are indeed no top stars in the current Dortmund team, but there are still a group of players with good strength, although Hoffenheim is in good shape now, although Hoffenheim is indeed growing now, but it is undeniable that there are still some gaps between them and Dortmund's players.
Especially in this game, Hoffenheim attacked a lot, and Dortmund on the opposite side also put on an undisguised attack formation, which was a difficult challenge for Hoffenheim, who was not very good in defense.
In the twentieth minute of the first half, Federico scored after receiving a wonderful pass from Tinga, Dortmund led 1-0, and only three minutes later, Tinga received Federico's corner kick for Dortmund to score again, 2-0! It was less than half an hour, but Hoffenheim had already scored twice in a row; Hoffenheim completely lost ground in the midfield, their defensive ability was insufficient, coupled with the fact that the Dortmund players in this game were obviously more outstanding individual ability and team cooperation, which made the Hoffenheim players a little careless, and there were no full-time defensive players in the midfield, so Dortmund's midfielders could fully control the rhythm of the game, and they could completely feed the teammates on the forward line with a steady stream of cannonballs.
Xiao Qing and his teammates now have a deep sense of powerlessness, they have worked hard, but the effect is still very bad, they do not seem to be Dortmund's opponents at all, they are powerless in the face of Dortmund's attack, and more importantly, they have completely lost control of the midfield, so Hoffenheim can not know any threat at the offensive end. In the first 30 minutes of the game, Hoffenheim had only a handful of shots on goal, and there was only one tragic shot on goal that hit the range of the goal! Hoffenheim seem to be powerless compared to Borussia Dortmund, and they don't know how to break this extremely passive situation at this time.
But now they are a little panicked, they don't know what to do better, they don't know what to do to break the deadlock. Although there was some frustration, the Hoffenheim players were not discouraged; Now they are the leaders of the Bundesliga, and now they are experiencing this sweet winning streak.
So this has also given Hoffenheim's players more confidence, although they are still very young, maybe they will show a lot of ups and downs in the game, but they are now able to withstand pressure and show more maturity when they encounter difficulties, and they will not easily concede. Xiao Qing is also looking for a way now, he wants to help the team do more, he wants to do better in the game; Although Dortmund's strength is quite good, Xiao Qing does not think that they have no chance at all, although the current Hoffenheim is two goals behind, but Xiao Qing believes that he and the team can still find hope of equalizing.
Xiao Qing is unwilling to admit defeat, at least he can't lose like this! Dimat. The atmosphere at Hope Stadium was not as enthusiastic as before, and it was impossible for any home team fan to be happy when they were two goals down, and although they were disappointed by the team's early decline, the Hoffenheim fans persevered and did not leave the stadium early. Hoffenheim fans actually know the difficulty of this game, they believe that Dortmund is definitely the strongest opponent the team has faced this season, for this old strength is actually ready to accept the defeat, but they want to see the team show more competitiveness in this game, they hope that the team can show the true strength of Hoffenheim in this game: give hope, this is the hope home!
The team's midfield has almost completely lost momentum, and now Xiao Qing also understands that if you want to improve the attack, you first need to help the team get rid of the embarrassment of losing control of the midfield; Xiao Qing didn't admit defeat, he could see that his teammates were actually still working hard, so Xiao Qing wanted to do better. Ran to Ibisevic's side and briefly discussed a few words, Xiao Qing chose to retreat at this time, since it is difficult for our three players in the midfield to zhanzhu position, then I am retreating, although I am not a real midfielder, but with a good foot jishu, then I think I can also give some help to my teammates, at least at this time, Dortmund will not continue to firmly control the midfield to control the rhythm of the game arbitrarily.
Although Xiao Qing's retreat failed to have an immediate effect, he had to admit the fact that there were many people; Although Hoffenheim's midfielders may still have some gaps from Dortmund's players in terms of ability, but in fact, the gap is not too obvious, perhaps the team fell into passivity at the beginning and made them a little confused, but now they are working hard to adjust, coupled with some help from Xiao Qing, so at this time Hoffenheim gradually began to recover the decline of the midfield, and it cannot be denied that Dortmund also put on an attacking formation in this game, Therefore, their midfield defensive ability has also been weakened to a certain extent, which also gives Hoffenheim more opportunities.
Xiao Qing's retreat did give his teammates more opportunities, because at this time they had more space in the midfield, and they could slowly choose more gaps and passing routes, although to a certain extent, Hoffenheim's forward line was under more pressure, but at least Hoffenheim now has the opportunity to attack and counterattack with Xu Tu in the post formation.
The opportunity was not long in coming, and in the 37th minute of the game, Hoffenheim were given a huge chance shortly after Xiao Qing retreated, and they finally saw hope in this game.
Dortmund midfielder Federico took the ball in the midfield, but because Hoffenheim had an extra player in the midfield at this time, they could continue to squeeze Dortmund's space at this time, and Xiao Qing did this at this time. He suddenly stepped up, and although Federico smashed the ball past Xiao Qing, Salihovic's bag made it difficult for Federico to control the ball at his feet.
The Di Mathope Stadium was thunderous, and Xiao Qing immediately turned around and began to sprint at the moment when Salihovic broke the ball, and at this time, Salihovic also sent a short pass in a timely manner, and Hoffenheim began a sharp counterattack. Although Dortmund's players are also trying to catch up at this time, the effect is really not very good; Because they didn't have a midfielder in this game, Hoffenheim were able to counter-attack immediately when the ball broke off in midfield.
Xiao Qing didn't stick to the ball excessively, although his dribbling jishu was good, but obviously this counterattack speed was still not fast enough; In order to pursue faster speed, in order to make Dortmund's players unable to react, so Xiao Qing dribbled the ball no more than three meters, and after seeing Dortmund midfielder Tinga start to make up for the defense, Xiao Qing chose to share the ball to keep up with Eduardo for the first time.
After passing the ball, Xiao Qing did not stop his sprint, and when Tinga began to adjust the defensive object, Xiao Qing accelerated behind Tinga, and at this time, Eduardo also sent a short pass to find Xiao Qing. The successive passes made Dortmund's midfield defense tear apart in an instant, and Xiao Qing also got the opportunity to drive straight into the Dortmund backline.
Although the Dort defenders who were a little flustered at this time had already set up a defensive line, Xiao Qing, who was carrying the ball, suddenly split the ball on the right side, and Edu made a timely shot to deceive the Dort defense into the penalty area from the right side. And that's not all, the Hoffenheim players showed their fluid interplay and excellent ground passing and cutting through the ball at this time. Edu's return pass down the middle forced Dort's defenders to reorient again, and Xiao Qing dodged Amedic's attempt to steal and then went straight to Ibisevic in the heart of the penalty area in a small area.
"Force", the sharp whistle made Di Maert. The cheers at Hope Stadium reached its peak in an instant, although the Dort players at this time were trying their best to explain, but the referee still shook his head calmly and unceremoniously sent a red card.
At the moment of Xiao Qing's pass, the Dort defenders were a little panicked, and Ibisevic adjusted slightly after stopping the ball to prepare to shoot, but how did he know that Dort defender Robert Kovac was a little panicked and directly sacrificed a sliding tackle, and he failed to shovel the ball, he directly tackled Ibisevic!
Ibisevic calmly took the penalty, although Hoffenheim is still one goal behind, but at this time Hoffenheim's players are full of confidence, because they pulled one goal back, and now they are 1-2 behind! Although they were still one goal behind, Dortmund had one less man on the field, which also gave Hoffenheim's players more hope!
The current Hoffenheim players are not even satisfied with the equaliser, and they are even expecting a comeback because they look more dominant now!