An early goal for the opposition and several squandered chances resulted in a defeat at FC Augsburg. TSG already had to pick the ball out of the back of their own net after two minutes of their one and only winter friendly. After a loss of possession in Hoffenheim’s build-up play, FC Augsburg switched at speed and Fredrik Jensen thundered the ball into the far corner from a centre-right position (2).
But TSG quickly came back into it and had a chance to score themselves via Anton Stach’s long-range effort (6). A short while later, Maximilian Beier spurned a big opportunity to restore parity: the striker’s shot from an unmarked position in the 14th minute was kept out by Finn Dahmen in the Augsburg goal. TSG continued to apply pressure but could not score a goal, with Philip Tietz hammering the ball against the bar from 14 metres and almost making it 2-0 (27). Beier again came close to scoring an equalising on the stroke of half-time but could not take advantage of Dahmen’s error, meaning that the score stayed 1-0 until the break.
Hoffenheim changed almost their entire line-up for the second half, but the first chance fell to FC Augsburg after the hour mark: Tietz fired an indirect dree-kick over the crossbar from inside the penalty area. Following substitutions on both sides, chances were few and far between in the second half. Finn Becker had TSG’s best chance following a pass from Max Moerstedt in the 72nd minute, but the midfielder was denied by Dahmen’s strong reactions.
And so it ended in an unlucky 1-0 defeat for head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo’s team. “We want to win our friendly fixtures too, we unfortunately didn’t manage that even though we had enough chances. There were too many losses of possession, why is why we lost the game in the end. But I sensed an energy on the pitch nonetheless,” said Matarazzo after the game.
TSG will play their first competitive match of 2024 when they take on Hoffenheim a week on Friday (20:30 CET / Live Ticker at tsg-hoffenheim.de). TSG will open up the second half of the season away to Bayern Munich.
TSG Hoffenheim line-up: Baumann (Philipp, 73) – Ozan Kabak (Akpoguma, 46), Vogt (Brooks, 46), Szalai (Nsoki, 46) – Kadeřábek (Adams, 62), Grillitsch (Prömel, 46), Stach (Tohumcu, 46) – Kramarić (Becker, 46), Bülter (Justvan, 46) – Beier (Bischof, 46), Weghorst (Moerstedt, 62)
Goals: 1-0 Jensen (2)