FIRST TEAM
07/15/2015

TSG maintain 100% pre-season record

Three games, three wins. TSG asserted their dominance over Neckarsulmer Sport-Union with a 5-0 win on Wednesday – the lower-league side put in a good performance, but a TSG victory was never in doubt.

With the 5-0 defeat of Neckarsulmer Sport-Union, Hoffenheim increased their total goal difference this pre-season to 35 scored, zero conceded. Recent signing Pavel Kaderabek made a first appearance for his new side at right back and put in a solid performance, always willing to join attacks and link up with his new teammates.

Hoffenheim made their mark on the game from the first whistle and were always on the front foot. The hosts defended admirably, and goalkeeper Marcel Susser made a number of excellent saves to deny the Bundesliga side.

Crosses into the box a good tactic

Markus Gisdol’s side were rewarded for their patience in the 22nd minute, when a cross from Jin-Su Kim found Jonathan Schmid and the Frenchman tucked it away to give Hoffenheim a 1-0 advantage.

Six minutes later, TSG doubled their lead in similar fashion. This time it was Adam Szalai who finished from Tarik Elyounoussi’s cross. Eugen Polanksi then had a golden opportunity from the spot to make it 3-0 before the break, after Mark Uth was brought down in the box. However, the 29-year-old blazed his spot kick over the bar and score remained 2-0 going into half time.

Gisdol introduced eight new players for the second half. Only Tobias Strobl, Fabian Schär and Jonathan Schmid remained on the field after the restart – and it was Schmid who fired home to make it 3-0 shortly after the break.

The hard work in training is paying off

Substitute Joshua Mees then showed his ability 20 minutes from time when he skipped past two defenders in the box and had the awareness to slot in Pirmin Schwegler who made it 4-0 to TSG. The 19-year-old Mees then grabbed a goal of his own, getting on the end of a Kingsley Schneider cross to score Hoffenheim’s fifth of the game and round off the rout.

Gisdol was quick to play down the fact that despite winning so emphatically, the game was won by a much smaller margin than in the two previous friendlies. "We’ve put a lot of work into our fitness in the last few days and so the boys are still quite tired. We just wanted to get a chance to play eleven against eleven on a full-size pitch. Therefore the result isn’t so important."

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