Mainz curse continues for 1899

Trainer Marco Pezzaiuoli was forced into a change, as Matthias Jaissle was handed only his second start of the season in the absence of Isaac Vorsah. Thomas Tuchel on the other hand continued to be without long-term absentees Adam Szalai and Bo Svensson, but stayed true to rotation, bringing in 3 new faces in comparison to their last match against FC Bayern München.

In the opening exchanges both teams lived up to expectations by attacking at break neck speed, but it was Mainz who had the better chances inside ten minutes. If it weren't for the heroics of Tom Starke 1899 could have twice found themselves behind after efforts from André Schürrle in the 5th minute and Sami Allagui four minutes later. The home side, however, were lacking the final ball on any attacking moves they were putting together as Mainz held them comfortably at bay. Then in the 21st minute Allagui was allowed to break forward once again, but this time he could only clip the outside of the post. 2 minutes later though, and the deadlock was deservedly broken by the visitors after a mistake by youngster Matthias Jaissle allowed Allagui to get onto the end of a long ball forward. The Tunisian international rode the recovery tackle by Jaissle only for Compper to stop him in his tracks. Unfortunately, the ball rolled kindly into the path of Andreas Ivanschitz whose powerful effort gave Starke no chance of preventing the ball finding the bottom corner. The Sinsheim side had their first real chances in front of goal moments later when Ryan Babel and Vedad Ibisevic both had efforts saved by Heinz Müller in goal for Mainz. 1899 began exerting themselves on the match, but lacked any sort of end product. The closest they came before half time was in the 40th minute when Jan Kirchhoff almost put the ball past his own keeper as he tried to deal with a cross by Salihovic. The Kraichgau outfit won't have wanted to hear the half time whistle as the teams went in with the match finely poised at 0-1.

Pezzaiuoli reacted during the break and brought on fans favourite Gylfi Sigurdsson for Boris Vukcevic. Mainz then made change early in the second half when Allagui picked up a knock and hobbled off the pitch to make way for Marcel Risse and it was the visitors that got out of the blocks fastest once again. Starke, however, was on hand to keep his team in the match making saves in the 55th and 56th minute, but clear cut chances for either side were far and few between. In the 65th minute Peniel Mlapa was brought on for the luckless Vedad Ibisevic to make an impact, which he almost did immediately. Mlapa found Sigurdsson whose first time pass went to Babel, but Kirchhoff was on hand to clear the Dutch forward's pull back in one of the most dangerous moves of the whole match for the home side. In the 75th minute Pezzaiuoli opted to bring on winter signing Roberto Firmino to make his Bundesliga debut. With time winding down 1899 were throwing everything forward and got their just rewards with 7 minutes remaining. Gylfi Sigurdsson's free-kick was played into the perfect area evading everyone and fell awkwardly in front of Müller who ended up palming the ball into the path of David Alaba to poke home for the equalizer. The happiness didn't last long for the home crowd, though, as two minutes later Hoffenheim were once again behind in the match as Elkin Soto left captain Andreas Beck for dead to get on the end of Risse's low cross to recapture the lead. 1899 tried to get back into it as Mlapa had a header cleared off the line, Jaissle saw his saved by Müller, but it just wasn't to be as their jinx against Mainz continued.

 

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