St Pauli climbs out of the bottom as they top Hoffenheim in Senheim #2391
St Pauli 2 Hoffenheim 0FT
Pre-Zero, Arena
On Saturday afternoon, a battle between the bottom half of the table would commence as Hoffenheim clashes with St Pauli. We are in the smallest city in the Bundesliga. Hoffenheim in the grand scheme of things is miniscule. In comparison to the other Bundesliga counterparts. The city itself has only 3,200 population. In the region of Sinheim, there is a population of 35,219. There are 2,056 cities in Germany Sinheim is in the bottom 20. They are the smallest populated city in Germany’s football pyramid. Quite surprising considering Hoffenheim has a good reputation in German football. This region is so small that you could fit 90% of the entire population inside the PreZero Arena Which has a capacity of a little over 30,000. This city isn’t exactly a tourist hotbed. Any tourist that travels to Germany would hardly consider Hoffenheim as a place to visit. Visiting fans and residents make up the entire city every week. It is not free of landmarks, The First one would be the Burg Steinberg which is a tower. They also have a museum called the Kilma Arena It is a museum that is related to topics surrounding climate change and has an indoor exhibition and outdoor theme park with a lot to discover about the climate. That would have to be your very specific interest to come there, but for those that do this would be a thing to do in the city. The last thing would be Technikmuseum It is a technology museum opened in 1981. It is run by a registered association called Auto and Technic which also runs a nearby museum. As of 2004, the museum had more than 3,000 exhibits and an exhibition area of more than 5400,000 ft² indoors and outdoors in addition to exhibits, the museum has an IMAX 3D theater that receives more than 1 million visitors per year. It is the largest privately owned museum in Europe. So obviously that would be the main attraction to Hoffenheim. However, considering the size of the city, tourism isn’t exactly booming. It happens to be a lovely city, but it is not the location of tourist mania. On Sunday night we would be at the PreZero Arena as Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim has been completely underwhelming this season. They have found themselves in the relegation zone with only eight points this campaign. Their atrocious defensive play has been highlighted in their recent struggles. However, they are finding some issues finding the back of the net regularly despite Andrej Kramaric's five goals this season. They took a 2-1 victory against Nuremberg. Then this past weekend they took a goalless draw against Heidenheim Still somewhat struggling for points as a huge opportunity sits in front of them in what feels like a relegation six-pointer against St Pauli. The Hamburg-based side came in Saturday afternoon with just five points this season. They have earned those five points in their last five League matches. However, they have been taken to task the rest of the time. They were beaten in the cup against Leipzig earlier this week but did manage to score twice. Perhaps it's a sign of things to come as they will look to try to exit the relegation zone with A potential victory away from home. Two sides in the bottom half of the table are ready to dual in Senheim as kickoff approaches.
Hoffenheim being at home and having not lost in the league for a few weeks came into it with a bit of confidence. It took some time before the match opened up as they eventually got it off the ground. In the 14th minute. The home side as expected tried to peel At the defensive area looking to take a level of advantage. Florian Grillitsch delivers a cross into the box Adam Hlozek makes a run inside before his header glides into the grasp of the goalkeeper. However, the match was about to flip on its head in a big way. In the 20th minute, Jackson Irvine sends a delivery into the box as he tries to find a recipient Oladapo Afolayan collects it on the left side before he slides it into the back of the net past Oliver Baumann As Hoffenheim lets one in early St Pauli pushes their head in front taking a 1-0 lead. The newly promoted side has struggled for a result this season against a potential relegation competitor away from home. Now putting a lot of pressure on Hoffenheim to try to find a quick turnaround and get the train back on the tracks. They were kicked in the mouth unexpectedly with very limited possession. In the 22nd minute, They work it through the air again. Tom Bischof drops it into the box Anton Stach drags his foot on the end of it ends up making the save to keep St Pauli In front. In the 26th minute, Adam Hlozek opens up his body before sending a strike from outside the box, unfortunately. Deflects against the opposition's defense the Hoffenheim continued with their aggressive play while St Pauli persisted with their defense. In the 27th minute they go right down the other end Oladapo Afolayan tries to guide his head on The end of a ball played inside but he can't double his advantage As he collides with the opposition before, it eventually turns over to Hoffenheim as they take it up the other way. Although the visitors have not had much of the ball and have been under pressure most of the time they do find themselves in the lead and considering Hoffenheim's horrid defense, there certainly could be a bit of space for them to hit again. Hoffenheim looked the stronger of the two sides However St Pauli certainly showed their quality. In the 36th minute, the newly promoted side looks to try to test the resolve from a distance Manolis Saliakas unloads a strike but Hoffenheim defends themselves as well and their positioning gets in the way of the attempt from outside the box. Keeping this in a narrow deficit will prove to be very important as they soldier through this first half. In the late stages of the first half, Hoffenheim had a double chance. In the 43rd minute, Andrej Kramaric follows through striking the ball well it is saved only for Marius Butler To pick it up before taking the follow-up, it is struck at an obscure angle as he can't direct the ball on target. It ends up in the grasp of the goalkeeper as the first half comes to a close with Hoffenheim behind at the pre-zero Arena St Pauli holding a 1-0 lead.
St Pauli has taken their chances this far and they have been rewarded for them. Even though Hoffenheim in a lot of ways has been the better team in the first half. The visitors cashed in inside 20 minutes and handled the match extremely well. Hoffenheim needs to provide some spark to find themselves back within it in hopes of swaying the result. In the 47th minute, Morgan Guilavogui takes a quick-fire strike That once again is deflected off of the Hoffenheim defense as they close down on it. Hoffenheim dealt with the situation well as they persisted in trying to regain A little bit of momentum as they attempted to rally back. In the 48th minute, Florian Grillitsch strikes from a distance Nikola Vasilj comes up with the Save. Hoffenheim knock on the door as they are on a mission to grab The Equalizer. This would only be the beginning as the pressure would continually be amped up. In the 54th minute, Valentin Gendrey drags a ball into the box coming from the wing Haris Tabakovic gets his head on the end of it but unfortunately, it flies into the hands of Nikola Vasilj As the Bosnian manages to get on top of it. We saw an immediate response from the visitors in the 55th minute Morgan Guilavogui strikes one from the left side as he attempts to drive it into the corner. Oliver Baumann Read the situation well as he was able to collect it. St Pauli continued to show their versatility as they started to hit back against Hoffenheim with the lead. Hoping to find another moment that would ultimately capture the points for them. Hoffenheim has the quality however haven't put their best foot forward as the visitors have had a very decent performance away from home. In the 62nd minute Jackson Irvine facilitates Lars Ritzka As he strikes from a distance He drags his foot against the end of it as it hooks over the quarter but comes very close. They have handled the challenge away at Hoffenheim very well as they continue to grow belief through each moment. Hoffenheim makes several changes and pulls out all the stops. In the 75th minute, Young rising star Tom Bischof sends one from a distance. He drives it towards the bottom corner but unfortunately, Nikola Vasilj Once again makes a big save as he has been very important to the visitors Saturday afternoon. Hoffenheim persisted with their aggressiveness late on. They nearly capitalized off a set piece in the 85th minute Andrej Kramaric coming off a corner, drove the ball into the area Haris Tabakovic directed his header from close range as he merrily hooked the ball around the corner as time was starting to run out for Hoffenheim. In the 93rd minute, Hoffenheim had one last roll of the dice Pavel Kaderábek struck from the side of the box but put way too much power on it as it coasted over. In the death of the match In the 93rd minute St Pauli comes through on the counterattacks. Jackson Irvine drives it into the box for Andreas Albers As he sticks it into the back of the net to kill It off and grab the result ones and bro. The full-time whistle goes as newly promoted St Pauli exits the relegation zone with a 2-1 victory away from home at the pre-zero Saturday afternoon.
St Pauli has temporarily escaped the relegation zone. The newly promoted side will be a part of the relegation zone for much of the season. However, they have temporarily climbed out of it even if it's just for the moment. They came into the season with one of the worst-assembled teams in the Bundesliga in recent memory. A draw against Leipzig beating Freiburg and now an important three points as they beat Hoffenheim in Sinheim. There were suggestions that they would get less than 15 points this season. They are already overachieving slightly. The expectations were low expectations that many people had of them. They don't have a very good side, but they have a few decent pieces that have worked well for them. They nearly took a point from Dortmund showing their quality on that Friday night a few weeks ago. They have enough to stay up but I do contend it will be very difficult to pull off. However, They were outplayed for a good portion of the match, but they picked their spots accordingly and ended up very narrowly escaping a comeback attempt from Hoffenheim. Jackson, Irvine has been one of the bright spots this season as he has shown it with a two-assist performance. They are still level on points with Hoffeninehim and are only three points in front of the bottom of the table. This is only gearing up for a fight. However, this result in particular could be very important, particularly against the teams that may be in their direct competition to survive this season. Only their second victory this campaign but they are still awaiting a home victory which was supposed to be their stomping ground. Much work To do but they certainly have done their part In what was an outstanding performance and result. For Hoffenheim, the questions continue to arise. They are tremendously talented and have a very well-balanced squad. However, they are sitting at the bottom of the table with just eight points. Now. There are a couple of other teams with the same amount of points or less and they're not too far out from climbing out of the bottom. However, the problem is the personnel and materials that they possess are far superior to anyone in their portion of the table. Hoffenheim season has gone from bad to worse and it's been the same old story All Season. Atrocious defense, below. Average Midfield and a decent attack. Now Hoffenheim has good players in all of their positions, but the problem is they're not playing up to their standard and they're suffering because of it. The newly promoted side who hadn't been in the Bundesliga in over a decade rolls up into town scores inside 20 minutes to take the lead and then holds off Hoffenheim at home. It is not a good look for the Blues even though they have very good players in their squad. Some things are just not quite right here and if results don't start to change there may be changes coming as they fall on their face to St Pauli At the pre-zero arena.
