Chapter 01: Hoffenheim's European debut (subscription requested)
Hoffenheim picked up a big win away from home and their Bundesliga debut was undoubtedly quite a success; And the victory of a game also makes Hoffenheim's players even more excited, although Cottage is only a middle and lower team, but being able to beat Cottage away from home is enough to make the players happy, no one does not like to win, especially this game is Hoffenheim's Bundesliga debut, is their opening game victory!
The Hoffenheim players, who won over Cottage Fort, are still methodically preparing for the second round of the league, their first home game in the Bundesliga, albeit only at home on temporary loan. Mercedes Stadium. Hoffenheim's promotion to the Bundesliga has undoubtedly excited fans in the Sinsheim region, and now more fans in the region have chosen to support Hoffenheim. Although there are three Bundesliga teams in Serie A in the state, Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt and Karlsruhe, it is not only the fans in the Sinsheim area who are excited about the grassroots Hoffenheim, but even the fans in their home state of Baden-Württemberg are a little curious about Hoffenheim. So here 30,000 fans cheered enthusiastically to show their support for Hoffenheim, especially after Hoffenheim's first Bundesliga victory.
It was the first time Hoffenheim had played with so many home fans and their first home top-flight appearance; As for their opponents, they are also promoted polo teams, who were pressed under Mönchengladbach by Hoffenheim last season!
Borussia Mönchengladbach, like most Bundesliga teams, have not made many big signings this summer, so their more important goal this season is to avoid relegation, and they were beaten 3-3 at home to Stuttgart in the opening game of the league. It's just the second round of the league. Their opponent is Hoffenheim. It's a contest between promoted horses. It's also a game that Borussia Mönchengladbach wants to be ashamed of!
However, Hoffenheim will not give Borussia Mönchengladbach a chance, they can understand the joy of victory in the Bundesliga, and they do not want Borussia Mönchengladbach, who is likely to be in direct competition with them in the next league games, to get their first win of the season. It has to be said that Hoffenheim is only a promoted horse, although they are confident that they do not need to fight for relegation, but they still need to be cautious when they are not able to clearly know the depth of the Bundesliga for the time being.
Hoffenheim's players continued their pressing tactics, pushing the tempo of the game to the highest level with the home team's fans cheering them on. It's just that compared to other teams, maybe the old rival Mönchenchen is more familiar with Hoffenheim, so they didn't mess around, and they can still play a stalemate with Hoffenheim.
Although it was a bit regrettable that the first half of the game did not score. However, Hoffenheim launched a surprise attack at the beginning of the game in the second half, and Eduardo and Salihovic scored in succession of short balls into the front; Xiao Qing, who was in the front court, naturally knew that his luck did not seem to be very good now, and his four shots failed to hit the frame of the goal, so Xiao Qing took the initiative to change in the second half of the game, and Eduardo's pass found Xiao Qing just right, but Xiao Qing cleanly sent the ball to the feet of the relatively weak defense on the right side of the penalty area.
Hoffenheim won at home, making it two wins in a row in the Bundesliga thanks to Ibisevic's goal, and although the score may not seem to be a big advantage, winning this game is the best result for Hoffenheim, not to mention that they still dominated most of the game. This also makes the Hoffenheim players more confident!
Hoffenheim have six points after two league games, and they and Schalke 04 both won 3-0 in the first round; However, in this round, Schalke 04 reached a draw in a strong conversation with Werder Bremen; Among the opponents who won in the first round were Wolfsburg and Bochum. Karlsruhe was defeated by Hamburg and Stuttgart was routed by Bayer Leverkusen. Now that the two league rounds are over, Hoffenheim has miraculously become the only team in the Bundesliga to win all of them so far, and there are several teams with four points, but only Hoffenheim is temporarily at the top of the table with six points!
But at this time, Hoffenheim's players simply don't have the heart to taste the joy of the first consecutive victory in the Bundesliga, because it is only two rounds of the league, which is too unconvincing, and they still need to rush to Italy non-stop, they will need to start the qualifying round of the League Cup with the old Bundesliga powerhouse Wuji Udinese, and only win in the two qualifying matches, then Hoffenheim can enter the main match of the League Cup!
The League Cup is actually a big temptation for many teams, and the general top league middle and upper teams attach great importance to this qualifying position; Hoffenheim, who was in the Bundesliga last season, was lucky enough to reach the final of the German Cup, and it was precisely because of Bayern's teammates who qualified for the Champions League that Hoffenheim was lucky enough to qualify for the League Cup, which is extremely precious to them! Although for many teams, playing in the League Cup is a "thankless" task, with limited prize money and a lot of effort, so it is always difficult to get good results. But for Hoffenheim, to be able to play on the European stage is already a great thing.
Although Udinese is not a weak opponent, and even to a certain extent, Udinese is a team that may be more dominant in terms of strength, but Hoffenheim also have Hoffenheim's advantage. Although you are one of the seven sisters of Serie A, although they used to be a competitive team in the small Shijie Cup, but the decline of Serie A after the phone door is quite obvious, although the family in the past two seasons is constantly trying to get out of the downturn, but they still have a tendency to go to the second-rate league.
Udinese are not very competitive now, their performance in the league can only be described as tepid, and in the summer the main defender Dosena left Liverpool, injury-plagued former main striker Gian Asamoah also went to Ligue 1, and even the loan Mesto played in Udinese was redeemed by the home team. Coupled with Udinese's financial constraints, they simply didn't have much to make this summer and now they have to rely more on young players to try and get out of the slump.
Udinese, as an old powerhouse, basically has no secrets in their tactics, especially when the team has taken two main defenders, which is naturally more likely for Hoffenheim, who is sharp in attack. And I have to say that the opening match of the new season of Serie A is still at the end of August, so although the current Udinese Serie A training camp is early, it is really difficult to guarantee their form.
As for Hoffenheim, it's basically dark for Udinese; This is the first time in Hoffenheim's history to play against a foreign team, and more importantly, although there are not many videos of Hoffenheim's game in the German second division last season, they can still be found, but now Hoffenheim have changed their tactics in the first two rounds of the league, which makes Udinese's pre-match preparation a little insufficient, because they find that Hoffenheim are more familiar with the 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 formations. For Udinese, Hoffenheim is really a mysterious team they know very little about, although it is away, Hoffenheim are fearless!
goalkeeper Handanovic; Ferronetti, Coda, Alexander. Lukovic and Pasquale line up from left to right; In midfield, midfielder Dagstino and attackers Isla and Simeone. Pepe appeared on both flanks, with Inle in the middle to organize the dispatch; Up front, Quagliarella and Di Natale play as attackers.
Udinese did not underestimate Hoffenheim because they were just a little-known Bundesliga promotion horse, in this game Udinese carefully chose a balanced 4-2-2 formation, there is no doubt that in this game Udinese want to make as little mistake as possible at home, they want to completely grasp the initiative in this game to qualify.
As for Hoffenheim, there is no need for them to change their squad, and their two consecutive wins in the league have also made them full of confidence; Although Udinese is an old Serie A powerhouse, the current Udinese is declining, and although they have a glorious history, they are not necessarily outstanding in strength.
The goalkeeper is still Ozcan; Baker, Nelsson, Kompa and Ibosberg on the back line; As for the midfield, it is naturally the basically stereotyped Gustavo, Eduardo and Salihovic; As for the forward line, there are the three undisputed main players of the current team: Xiao Qing, Edu and Ibisevic. Although it is away from home, they will continue to stick to the crazy 4-3-3 tactics, and now Hoffenheim will continue to adjust their new tactics for the better!
This is Hoffenheim's first European competition in history, and although it will be a big shame to be at the Friuli Stadium, the home of Udinese, the Hoffenheim players are completely newborn calves and tigers, and they are not afraid of a once-strong team that has fallen into a slump.
It's also depressing to say, the Bundesliga debut is away, and the European debut is also away, although they can't give them a win in front of the home fans, but I believe that the away win against Udinese may be a bigger victory, because away goal difference will be a key factor in the two-legged contest! (To be continued......)