Draw against Hoffenheim in final friendly

Mainz drew 2-2 against TSG Hoffenheim in a 150-minute friendly on Saturday afternoon. Angelo Fulgini gave FSV the lead after 28 minutes, before Justin Isiah Che equalised for TSG (63’). Mainz regained the lead through Leandro Barreiro in the 106th minute. Munas Dabbur scored the final goal of the game to make it 2-2 with a header in the 131st minute. “There were some positives today, but also things we need to work on. I’m really happy that nobody got injured,” summarised FSV coach Bo Svensson after the game.

A deserved lead

The two sides played two halves of 75 minutes at the Bruchwegstadion in Mainz on Saturday afternoon. Mainz began with a 5-3-2 formation and looked to press their opponents high up the pitch. This tactic saw FSV have early chances after TSG lost the ball, but Ben Bobzien (2’, 8’) and Karim Onisiwo (3’) failed to capitalise. Hoffenheim mainly threatened from counter-attacks via Ihlas Bebou, from which Tom Bischof had their first notable shots (21’, 25’).

Mainz scored first through Angelo Fulgini in the 28th minute. His first touch to control Bobzien’s cross was sublime and he then picked out the top corner with a lovely finish to match. Eight minutes later, Jae sung Lee was in a great position clean through in front of Oliver Baumann, but was muscled off the ball at the last moment by Bebou (36’).

Hoffenheim get back on level terms

André Breitenreiter’s side took control of the game in the second half of the first period and started to carve out some good chances. Finn Dahmen was firstly called upon to save a long-range shot from Bischof (52’), Stanley Nsoki hit the post with a header from a corner (60’) and then substitute Che finally got TSG’s equaliser (63’). Dahmen was on his toes twice from another corner a minute later, meaning the first half ended 1-1, a fair scoreline.

2-1 and a debut for Hanche-Olsen

Mainz resumed again with a five-man defence, though Svensson made 11 changes to his team. The first notable moment of the second 75 minutes came after some good work from David Mamutovic (84’). Barreiro narrowly failed to get on the end of the 22-year-old’s cross and then Nelson Weiper fired a shot straight at Luca Dante Philipp in the TSG goal. The away side were on top despite that, and Lasse Rieß in the Mainz goal had to react well to deny Munas Dabbur (99’).

At the other end, Mainz regained the lead thanks to Leandro Barreiro. Brajan Gruda sent in an enticing free-kick and that was flicked on by Marcus Ingvartsen. Barreiro then nodded in from close range to make it 2-1 (106’). Shortly afterwards, Mainz fans got a glimpse of new signing Andreas Hanche-Olsen as he made his first appearance for the club after joining yesterday (113’).

Another TSG equaliser

As Mainz started to enjoy more of the play, the side from Sinsheim levelled the game once again. Robert Skov floated in a cross from the left and Dabbur headed in from a few yards out (131’). The final noteworthy moment was when Rieß made a good save from another Dabbur shot, again set up by Skov (140’).

One week to go until the return of the Bundesliga

Mainz will return to Bundesliga action next Saturday (15:30 CET) away to VfB Stuttgart.

FSV first half: Dahmen – Aarón, Caci, Hack, Fernandes, Widmer – Lee, Kohr, Fulgini – Bobzien, Onisiwo

FSV second half: Rieß – Mamutovic, Leitsch (113’ Hanche-Olsen), Laux, Wilhelm, da Costa – Barreiro, Barkok – Weiper (129’ Bierschenk), Gruda, Ingvartsen

Goals: 1-0 Fulgini (28’), 1-1 Che (63’), 2-1 Barreiro (106’), 2-2 Dabbur (131’)

Referee: Timo Gerach / Fabienne Michel