2. Bundesliga: Matchday 22 Preview
The 2. Bundesliga is here for another weekend of action. Here is the preview for matchday 22 in the second division.
Friday 11th February - all kick-offs 18:30 local
FC Erzgebirge Aue vs Holstein Kiel
Aue travelled to Sandhausen for a huge relegation clash last weekend, and it may well be two teams that aren't 2. Bundesliga next season. The first half was mainly edged by the home team, playing in a 4-1-4-1. Sandhausen had more possession with 51% to Aue's 49%. They converted their 2nd big chance of the half right at the end of regulation. Anthony Barylla handled the ball in the Aue penalty area, Cebio Soukou made no mistake from the spot, scoring his 3rd goal of the season. Aue had a few opportunities at the start of the second half, Ben Zolinski had an effort saved and Prince Owusu's shot was blocked, but Sandhausen sealed the win on 69 minutes. Christian Kinsombi netted a superb solo goal with a left footed strike just inside the box. Aue only managed 3 shots on goal in the second half, and they are now last in the form table, with only one point in their last 5 matches.
Holstein Kiel faced Fortuna Düsseldorf in another clash of two teams in poor positions in the table. The match was poor for viewing (when compared with Darmstadt 0-5 HSV and Dresden 1-4 Hansa Rostock on the same day). The game looked set to end as a bore draw but Jonas Sterner had other ideas. Kiel were trying anything to get into a scoring position, and Philipp Sander's header gave Sterner a chance to shoot, and boy was it a great shot. Sterner rifled the ball in from just outside the box, crashing the crossbar and bouncing past Kastenmeier. The goal was described by the Sky Germany commentator as "Mamma Mia". Yes, that's what he said.
Kiel clearly leads the head-to-head record with eight wins to Aue's two. There have been four draws in the 14 duels between both teams. The Storks clearly won the reverse fixture at the Holstein-Stadion, a 3-0 victory. In terms of league position between both, Aue sit in 17th; Kiel 10th. There are 13 points separating the two sides. Holstein Kiel are quietly in the midst of a four game win streak, and will definitely fancy their chances against an out-of-sorts Erzgebirge Aue. Aue have only won once away from home this season. However, stats don't really mean anything in this league. Ingolstadt's away record and what they did at the Max-Morlock-Stadion will explain why stats mean nothing in this league.
Expected line-ups
Erzgebirge Aue: Männel - Strauß, Barylla, Bussmann, Carlson - Jonjic, Fandrich, Riese, Zolinski - Nazarov, Owusu
Holstein Kiel: Dähne - Neumann, Si. Lorenz, Komenda - Holtby - Korb, Mühling, Porath, Reese - Bartels, Pichler
Hansa Rostock vs SV Werder Bremen
There were many lower half battles in matchday 21, and Rostock participated in another. The game wasn't much of a battle, though. Hansa were leading 4-0 after 18 minutes. In fact, they netted 4 goals in 12 minutes. It started on 6 minutes, John Verhoek's header was perfect. Nils Fröling scored twice in three minutes and then Verhoek made it 4 just five minutes later. It really was a staggering first half. I may be wrong, but I don't think Hansa Rostock have had 14 shots in a single half until the Dynamo game. Julius Kade did get one back for Dresden on 63 minutes, but the game was decided early on.
SV Werder Bremen won their 6th match in a row last weekend. A sold-out Weserstadion came expecting a performance against Karlsruhe, and in the first half they saw. Although there were no goals, Werder completely dominated with 12 shots, 4 of those on goal. Marius Gersbeck had an excellent match, and kept Karlsruhe in the game. The first goal was on 50 minutes. Karlsruhe couldn't get out of their own half, Christian Gross won the ball back and immediately played a through ball to Ducksch, he netted his 12th goal of the season. Philipp Hofmann levelled the match just 8 minutes later from a Marvin Wanitzek corner, but Anthony Jung's header won Werder the game on 76 minutes. The win keeps Ole Werner's 100% record intact with 6 wins in his first 6 competitive matches.
Once again, the away team in this matchday has the head-to-head advantage. Werder Bremen and Hansa Rostock have battled 20 times in history, with Bremen winning 11. Hansa have beaten Werder on five occasions, with four draws. Bremen defeated Hansa 3-0 at the Weserstadion earlier in the season. Werder will be clear favorites, but Hansa will have built some confidence after last week.
Expected line-ups
Hansa Rostock: Kolke - T. Becker, Malone, Roßbach, Neidhart - Fröde, Rhein - Duljevic, H. Behrens, Fröling - Verhoek
Werder Bremen: Pavlenka - Veljkovic, Toprak, Friedl - Weiser, C. Groß, A. Jung - Bittencourt, Schmid - Füllkrug, Ducksch
Saturday 11th February - all kick-offs 13:30 local unless specified
Hamburger SV vs FC Heidenheim
HSV impressed many people when they went to Darmstadt and dominated, in true 2. Bundesliga craziness. Glatzel had 3 goals to his name by 13 minutes, one was a penalty, another was a header from a free-kick and the next was a goal from a fantastic Moritz Heyer cross. HSV quite rightly sat back, and frustrated Darmstadt. Darmstadt had more shots in the game which is quite ridiculous. As Darmstadt were throwing everything, they conceded a fourth goal. Heyer crossed the ball in perfectly again, this time it was met by Manuel Wintzheimer for his second goal of the season. Glatzel scored his fourth goal of the game with a few minutes to go, Elijah Krahn with the assist. Table toppers Darmstadt lost 5-0, which is crazy on its own. However, they had more shots in the game and lost 5-0, which is crazy. The 2. Bundesliga is a brilliant league.
Heidenheim had a perfect start last Friday, taking on Hannover 96. On 4 minutes, Jonas Föhrenbach's cross was looking for Tim Kleindienst, but there was a flurry of deflections, ultimately hitting Niklas Hult and falling into the net. The lead was doubled on 34 minutes, a shot from Dzenis Burnic was saved by Zieler, the rebound fell to Hannover defender Jannik Dehm, his clearance was poor, mis-kicked and Robert Leipertz recovered, passing to Tobias Mohr who smashed the ball home. Minutes later, Hannover scored. Niklas Hult's low cross fell to Cedric Teuchert, he didn't catch the ball well, but to Hannover's fortune the ball was perfectly passed to Maximilian Beier, he headed in from close range. VAR had a look as the linesman called for offside, but the video assistant had a lengthy look and deemed the goal to count. At the start of the second half, Heidenheim calmed the match down. Tobias Mohr silenced the whole Hannover team with an amazing, swooping long-range effort which flied into the net. FCH cruised from that point onwards, and won 3-1.
Heidenheim wins the head-to-head record with 3 wins to HSV's 2. There have been two draws between the teams. Between HSV coach Tim Walter and Heidenheim coach Frank Schmidt, there have been four draws in four duels. HSV are 4th; Heidenheim 6th. They are level on points with 37 each. This will be one of the games of the weekend, HSV are unbeaten at home while Heidenheim are mediocre on their travels. I hope there will be more than the zero goals in the reverse fixture, though.
Expected line-ups
Hamburger SV: Heuer Fernandes - Heyer, Vuskovic, Schonlau, Muheim - Meffert - Reis, Kittel - Jatta, Glatzel, Alidou
FC Heidenheim: Ke. Müller - Busch, P. Mainka, Hüsing, Föhrenbach - Theuerkauf, Burnic - Leipertz, Schöppner, T. Mohr - Kleindienst
Karlsruher SC vs 1. FC Nürnberg
I have already mentioned Karlsruhe's trip to Bremen, but the loss meant they have only won once in their last five matches. They played the rescheduled matchday 20 fixture with Sandhausen in midweek, and lost 2-0. I don’t know what this team is. One week they can beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen spectacularly in the DFB Pokal, and on another day they are outplayed by SV Sandhausen.
FC Nürnberg had a horror match last weekend. After 30 minutes they were 2-0 down, conceded 10 shots and were quite lucky to only have conceded twice. To Ingolstadt. This was a team that had only scored 5 goals on the road this season, only winning 1 match, losing 8 of 10. Ingolstadt outplayed Nürnberg on their own pitch, creating great counter-attacking opportunities. Florian Pick opened the scoring on 13 minutes with a fantastic half-volley, then Dennis Eckert-Ayensa doubled the lead to the delight and surprise of the Ingolstadt coaching staff. The goals didn't stop in Bavaria, and Ingolstadt continued to amaze. Filip Bilbija increased the FCI lead to 3 before half-time with a confident finish. Ingolstadt had scored 7 goals on the road in 10 2. Bundesliga matches, they scored 7 in one half. That's nearly half! The goals didn't stop... it was 0-4 on 48 minutes! Patrick Schmidt slotted home after an Eckert-Ayensa corner. Ingolstadt added another, this time Valmir Sulejmani scored after another Eckert-Ayensa assist. Ingolstadt won 5-0, one of the most incredible 2. Bundesliga matches of the season so far.
The head-to-head favors FC Nürnberg, they've won 5. Karlsruhe have defeated the Bavarians on 4 occasions, while a draw has been the result in 6 matches. KSC coach Eichner has never beaten FCN coach Klauß on three occasions, losing twice. The reverse fixture was a 2-1 win for Nürnberg. This is an unpredictable game. Both teams are on the back of poor defeats, and will want a reaction. Nürnberg are still a few good results away from being in the promotion fight.
Expected line-ups
Karlsruher SC: Gersbeck - Thiede, Kobald, O’Shaughnessy, Heise - Wanitzek, Breithaupt, Gondorf - Choi, P. Hofmann, Goller
1. FC Nürnberg: Mathenia - Valentini, Schindler, Sörensen, Handwerker - Geis - Krauß, Tempelmann - Möller Daehli - Köpke, Schäffler
That concludes the more in-depth look at the teams recently, a feature that will come out every week for the 2. Bundesliga preview. I will look at the first four matches in more detail. The second half of the preview will consist of statistics from the official 2. Bundesliga website.
SC Paderborn 07 vs SG Dynamo Dresden
Both teams have already met twice this season: SCP won the first half of the season 3-0 (all 3 goals were scored in the first 26 minutes), three weeks earlier Dynamo had beaten Paderborn 2-1 in the DFB Cup at home (goals: Kade, Knipping – Michel).
The two teams last faced each other in Paderborn in December 2018, when Philipp Klement put the finishing touches to SCP's 3-0 home win.
Paderborn has won the last two home games against Dynamo - previously Dresden had remained unbeaten six times at SCP (3 draws, 3 away wins). The last Dresden away win at Pader was a 2-1 in April 2009 in the 3rd division, the last second division away win at SCP was in March 2006 under Peter Pacult (2-0).
Expected line-ups
SC Paderborn 07: Huth - Ma. Schuster, Correia, Hünemeier, Justvan - Schallenberg, Yalcin - Srbeny, Klement, Muslija - Pröger
SG Dynamo Dresden: Mitryushkin - R. Becker, Sollbauer, Ehlers, C. Löwe - Y. Stark - Königsdörffer, Kade - Weihrauch - Drchal, Borrello
SSV Jahn Regensburg vs FC St. Pauli - 20:30 local
All previous eleven competitive duels between Regensburg and St. Pauli took place in the 2nd Bundesliga, there was not a single away win in this pairing! At the Millerntor there were four wins for St. Pauli and two draws, at the Jahnstadion Regensburg celebrated four home wins and the points were shared once.
Guido Burgstaller scored three times in three games against Regensburg, including a brace in the first half of the season at St. Pauli's 2-0 win - for Jahn it was the first defeat of 2021/22 after four wins in four games.
Expected line-ups
SSV Jahn Regensburg: A. Meyer - Saller, S. Breitkreuz, Kennedy, Guwara - Gimber, Besuschkow - Beste, Boukhalfa, Wekesser - Albers
FC St. Pauli: Vasilj - Zander, Ziereis, Medic, Paqarada - Smith - Irvine, Hartel - Amenyido - Burgstaller, Dittgen
Sunday 13th February - all kick-offs 13:30 local
Fortuna Düsseldorf vs FC Schalke 04
Düsseldorf have won seven points from the last three duels, including winning the last home game against S04 in May 2020 in the Bundesliga 2-1.
Düsseldorf and Schalke have faced each other 42 times in the Bundesliga, and there have only been three duels in the 2nd Bundesliga. Düsseldorf won the previously only second division home game against S04 33 years ago (February 18, 1989) 2-0, Sven Backhaus and Sven Demandt scored against Jens Lehmann.
Simon Terodde has scored six times in his last six second division games against Fortuna.
Expected line-ups
Fortuna Düsseldorf: Kastenmeier - M. Zimmermann, Hoffmann, de Wijs, Gavory - Sobottka, Ao Tanaka - Narey, Appelkamp - Ginczek, Hennings
FC Schalke 04: Fraisl - Itakura, Sané, M. Kaminski - Ranftl, Palsson, Ouwejan - Zalazar, Idrizi - Terodde, Bülter
Hannover 96 vs SV Darmstadt 98
The Lilies have won six of their last seven competitive games against Hannover and clearly won 4-0 in the first half of the season. Hannover 96 experienced a used day at Bölle, including an own goal by Luka Krajnc and a missed penalty by Florent Muslija.
Hannover's only win in the last nine competitive games against Darmstadt was a 2-1 away win in January 2021 thanks to a brace from Marvin Ducksch.
Hanover's last home win against the Lilien was almost 30 years ago! It dates from July 22, 1992, when there was a 5-0 win at Maschsee in the 2nd Bundesliga under coach Eberhard Vogel.
Expected line-ups
Hannover 96: Zieler - Dehm, M. Franke, Börner, Hult - Diemers, Ondoua - Teuchert, Kerk, Maina - Beier
SV Darmstadt 98: Schuhen - Bader, P. Pfeiffer, Isherwood, Holland - Gjasula - Skarke, Kempe, Marvin Mehlem - L. Pfeiffer, P. Tietz
FC Ingolstadt 04 vs SV Sandhausen
The 2-0 win in the first half of the season (goals: Filip Bilbija, Fatih Kaya) was Ingolstadt's only win in the first half of the season.
With the momentum of the 5-0 in Nürnberg behind them, the Schanzer now want to follow up and land a historic success: FCI has never won a home game against Sandhausen!
All five Ingolstadt victories in 15 competitive matches were away wins, at home the FCI only drew four in seven games against the Kurpfälzer and lost three times.
Expected line-ups
FC Ingolstadt 04: Stojanovic - Heinloth, Musliu, Antonitsch, D. Franke - Sarpei, Röhl - Pick, Bilbija - Pat. Schmidt, Eckert Ayensa
SV Sandhausen: Drewes - Diekmeier, Dumic, Zhirov, Okoroji - Zenga, Bachmann, Trybull - Soukou, Berko - Testroet
Expected line-ups courtesy of Kicker