Bremen are a formidable opponent, and although they are not even in the top 10 in the standings, they are not to be underestimated, not because of the luxury of the squad they have, but because of the tactics of this team. Before this season, Bremen was represented by attacking teams in the Bundesliga, and when it came to Bremen, it was attacking football.

Although Hoffenheim's sudden rise this season has brought them more attention, although Hoffenheim now carry the banner of attacking football; But for Bremen, Hoffenheim did not dare to underestimate it at all. Bremen's inconsistent performances make it difficult for them to move further in the standings, but when it comes to their sudden outburst, even top giants such as Bayern Munich will find it difficult to suppress the crazy Bremen.

In the first half of the game, Hoffenheim and Bremen staged a crazy goal shootout, the two teams played to a 5-5 draw, and scored ten goals in a single game, and the two teams joined hands to give the Bundesliga fans a wonderful crazy game. The sixth round of the season was the only meeting between the two teams in their history, with Bremen drawing 5-5 at home to Hoffenheim, the most scored game in the Bundesliga this season. Now that Hoffenheim are at home to Bremen, they naturally dare not slack off, because Bremen are really a maddening team, because no one knows when they will break out.

Hoffenheim are in a very delicate situation right now, Hoffenheim drew 0-0 at Borussia Dortmund last time out, suffered three consecutive draws away and are at the top of the table, but now they do not have much advantage. Now face Hertha Berlin in hot form. Hoffenheim will not be able to break the embarrassing situation of not being able to win for a long time. Then their advantage in the table could end there, and now they must win, and only then can they be guaranteed to dominate the table.

Werder Bremen also drew 0-0 at home to Bayern Munich in the last round with one man less in the opening game, thanks to Fandel's excellent performance, but they are only 11th in the standings. However, it seems to be in good form now, with Bremen relying on two shots and two passes from Pizarro in the German Cup to beat Wolfsburg 5-2 away to advance to the last four.

Both teams have not been in good shape lately, with Hoffenheim not winning in three games. If it weren't for the excellent performance in the first half of the season, I am afraid it will be really difficult for them to sit at the top of the table now. Bremen played nine games after the winter break, only two German Cup games were won, the others were draws or losses, and the league has been winless in five consecutive rounds, and away from home is seven rounds without a win and four consecutive defeats!

Hoffenheim's squad is seriously out of order, with Tebel and Gustavo suspended for five yellow cards, and Weiss will also be on the sidelines because of the red cards in the last round. But for Hoffenheim it still seems acceptable, because it's something that can be controlled; But there are some things that are out of your control, such as injuries.

Salihovic tackles Boca from behind. As a result, the latter suffered a serious injury to his right knee and was immediately taken off on a stretcher. The referee on duty showed only a yellow card to the Hoffenheim midfielder. The first test showed that Boca had partially torn the medial ligament in his right knee and could require six to eight weeks of rest. just tackled Boca, although he escaped the referee's punishment, but Salihovic was really uncomfortable, and the 'punishment' was quite cruel for him.

After the winter break, the Bundesliga halfway title has not been smooth. After the top scorer Ibisevic was seriously injured and bid farewell to this season early, the Hoffenheim midfielder also suffered an injury; Salihovic sprained his left knee in the warm-up for the match, but after a check-up by the team doctor, he continued to play the full 90 minutes. However, after a post-match MRI, the Bosnia-Herzegovina international suffered a torn lateral ligament in his left knee and will have to be sidelined for three to four weeks.

With two major midfield bans and Salihovic's injury, the already thin Hoffenheim midfielder will be stretched thin in terms of line-up, with only Carlos Eduardo and Volsa available in the current first-team squad.

Rangnick is also very frustrated and helpless about Salihovic's injury: "Yes, we will have three midfielders who will not be able to play in this round of games, but we will try to solve this problem. We're facing a lot of difficulties at the moment and now we have to stick together even closer. ”

However, Hoffenheim's problems seem to be quite big at the moment, and in addition to injuries and bans, they are also in other troubles, and they are likely to encounter some penalties such as fines and points deductions. Because they made a fatal mistake, their negligence could have caused huge problems for the team, and now it looks like trouble is coming.

Although Hoffenheim now occupies the top position in the standings, head coach Rangnick is still upset, because it is his negligence that Hoffenheim may be punished heavily, and even two Hoffenheim players will face a horrific heavy penalty of a year-long ban!

Two weeks ago, Hoffenheim played at Ping Mönchenchen, and after that game, the DFB's flight drug test was drawn for Yankel and Ibertsberger. Rangnick was in the dressing room for a meeting with the players when he was notified, and out of respect for the manager, Jankel and Ibertsberger walked out of the dressing room to take a drug test, which was a full 10 minutes later than required by the DFB, and the official in charge of the drug test recorded their tardiness.

The seemingly innocuous 10 minutes brought endless consequences, and the German Football Association vice-president, the anti-doping commissioner, warned Hoffenheim with a recent case in Italy. Brescia's Manini and Persacchini were sentenced to a one-year ban each at the end of January 2009 by the International Sports Court on suspicion of doping for being late for a urine test in December 2007. Now the German Football Association is also considering whether to catch the medicine according to the prescription to punish Hoffenheim! Who called the current Hoffenheim to be in the limelight, and who called the current Hoffenheim to have crazy attention; It's just that although this is very showy, when you get into trouble, this is the typical opposite.

Rangnick found it difficult to accept this, because the punishment of the two Italian players came from the International Court of Sport, and with the help of the Italian Football Federation, he appealed to the International Anti-Doping Agency and Zuihou reduced his sentence to 15 days, and the German Football Association wants to take care of its own people in this matter. Who made the current Hoffenheim too showy, who let the current sudden rise disrupt the old order of the Bundesliga, and who let them offend many people without any foundation!

Rangnick was reluctant to talk too much about it so as not to offend the Football Association, but he confidently said: "Don't talk about doping, because no one in Hoffenheim has anything to do with it!" It is common in German football for players to return to the dressing room first when they are notified to take a urine test, rather than directly after the final whistle. And even the doping test officials promised that the players could go back to the locker room and change into clean clothes before going for a doping test. ”

The German Football Association's anti-doping commissioner, Koch, did not listen to Rangnick's argument and said: "He is quibbling, there is no doubt that the anti-doping policy of the German Football Association must be strictly observed, and there is nothing negotiable." ”

The International Anti-Doping Agency (IADA) clearly stipulates that the urine test must be taken immediately after the game, and theoretically, many doping residues or metabolites in the urine can be disguised by ingesting other drugs, or the players directly use the urine samples of their teammates to change the pillars, so the two Hoffenheim players were ten minutes late, enough to be suspected of tampering with the urine test, and Rangnick's locker room meeting was also suspected of deliberately obstructing the doping test.

Perhaps Hoffenheim's excellent results this season are envied, and his Bundesliga colleagues are still guilty of him when they hear about it. Bremen's sporting director Alofs said: "It is clear that Hoffenheim made a mistake that could not be annoyed. ”

Hertha Berlin's sporting director said: "Doping tests should be strictly followed, it was a long time ago to go to the shower before being tested, everything has long since changed, the system is better and there are no loopholes." ”

Although it was only a seemingly insignificant ten minutes, the problems caused by those 10 minutes were far more serious than Hoffenheim expected. The German Football Association (DFB) has already begun an investigation into the two players involved for "possible doping", and now Hoffenheim has received a written notice from the DFB, the DFB has launched a comprehensive sports judicial investigation into the matter, and head coach Rangnick has been added as a defendant involved in the "anti-doping test".

Late hearings on the urine tests of Ebeltsberg and Yankel are also imminent, and if the ban is announced, it will undoubtedly be even worse for the team.

The focal point of the game will be Ivory Coast striker Sanogo, who has been on loan from Bremen to Hoffenheim in the winter, but he has continued his usual high-pitched and low-pitched performances, with the exception of scoring on his debut to give his side a win over Ivbus in the rest of the game, and he is now in difficult form in training to maintain, which is why he was pressed to the bench after an exciting performance on his debut; It's not that Rangnick only believes in Xiao Qing, but only Xiao Qing is in good enough shape on the current Hoffenheim forward line, and only he can still play now.

As for Edu, although his performance this season may not be very impressive, it is generally good; It's just a pity that he is still struggling with injuries, although he is not injured now, but there seem to be a lot of minor problems, so he has very little playing time in the second half of the game. (To be continued......)