starke und aggressive

Eintracht held 1899 to a 1-1 draw Saturday afternoon that while not completely satisfying, given the difficult injury situation there is a great deal to be said of the result and how they played the second half with aggression. In the match Friedhelm Funkel had few changes although he handed Sebastian Jung his first assignment in the starting eleven and the eighteen year-old showed extremely well in Patrick Ochs forced absence.

The match did not start well for those at Commerzbank Arena as Hoffenheim attacked at will early on. Under siege from the opening whistle Oka Nikolov did well to ward off 1899 but was helpless ten minutes in when Marvin Compper's long pass to Carlos Eduardo was chipped over and into the net. The visitors swarmed endlessly looking for their next goal and without a serious threat Eintracht was on their heels for most of the first forty-five. With three minutes left to the whistle the situation took an ominous tone as Oka Nikolov had to be replaced by Markus Pröll due to injury. Coming back from a chorus of whistles at the break die Adler changed their course 180° and found the equalizer as Markus Steinhöfer's cross from distance we headed in by Michael Fink from ten metres. Quickly the match had a different tone as where the attacking tables had turned and Alexander Meier and Markus Steinhöfer created a number of solid link-ups in the attack. With their packed home behind them Eintracht looked for the winner and nearly had it in the final twenty minutes when Martin Fenin's shot cannoned off the crossbar from twelve metres however it was not to be and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.