2. Bundesliga Preview: Kiel seek first win in Braunschweig, Heidenheim host Kaiserslautern

The return of 2. Bundesliga from the extended international break will commence with games in Braunschweig and Heidenheim.

Heidenheim vs. Kaiserslautern

Voith-Arena will be the host for the clash of the two promotion hopefuls. Heidenheim’s start to life back in 2. Bundesliga was shaky, including their embarrassing 5-2  cup defeat to Regionalliga side Jeddeloh, but they have collected ten points from their last four encounters.

Meanwhile, Kaiserslautern have the league’s best defense, with three of the four goals they conceded coming in a 3-0 defeat to Magdeburg. Torsten Liberknecht’s side are aiming to go one further after their positive campaign last term.

As for Heidenheim, their long-serving coach Frank Schmidt is still undecided over extending his contract. After orchestrating their first-ever promotion to Bundesliga and Europa Conference League participation, the 52-year-old is now back at the league he spent most of his career.

Both of the games ended 2-2 when these two teams last met in 2. Bundesliga back in the 2022/23 season. Kaiserslautern scored two injury-time goals to salvage a point in the most recent fixture between the sides.

Predicted Lineups

Heidenheim: Dähne; Busch, Mainka ©, Föhrenbach, Heule; Niehues, Schöppner; Hennrich, C. Conteh; Zivzivadze, Kaufmann

Kaiserslautern: Krahl; Elvedi, Gyamfi, Rasmussen; Joly, Kunze, Sahin, Haas; Ritter ©, Skyttä; Yardimci

Eintracht Braunschweig vs. Holstein Kiel

On the contrary, Braunschweig and Kiel will start their encounter with both sides having the same points as bottom-placed Darmstadt. Kiel are yet to win a game, while the hosts only picked up a single point since starting the season with a magical 6-1 victory in Magdeburg.

Former HSV and Hull City coach Tim Walter remained in his job despite Kiel’s dreadful start to the campaign. Although they have only lost twice, the expectations were big after the early promising first weeks under the 50-year-old coach last season.

As for Braunschweig, they suffered a 4-0 defeat to Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt in last week’s friendly. Since their promotion in 2022, the Lions have never finished above 15th place in 2. Bundesliga.

They’re also winless in their last four fixtures against their Friday visitors. Last season’s encounter at Eintracht-Stadion ended in a 1-1 draw, with both sides playing the last 40 minutes with ten players.

Predicted Lineups

Braunschweig: Hoffmann ©; Aydin, Ehlers, Koutsidis, Di Michele Sanchez; Flick; Di Benedetto, Marie; Opoku, Urbich, Sturm

Kiel: Weiner ©; Sekine, Nekic, Madsen, Tolkin; Meffert; de Regt, Balzi, Ugoh, Therkelsen; Harres