15.30 Kickoffs: Freiburg and Dortmund deliver walloping victories
Two command performances from home teams in the latest set of Bundesliga 15:30 kickoffs. Freiburg crushed visiting Bochum 3-0 in a totally dominant fashion. Roland Sallai registered a brace in the victory.
Over in Dortmund, a most unexpected power surge from the BVB saw Marco Rose's men demolish Wolfsburg 6-1 with a hail of goals.
Club academy player Thomas Rothe led the way with the opening goal. Erling Haaland also ended his scoring drought with a brace of his own.
Over in Dortmund, a most unexpected power surge from the BVB saw Marco Rose's men demolish Wolfsburg 6-1 with a hail of goals.
Club academy player Thomas Rothe led the way with the opening goal. Erling Haaland also ended his scoring drought with a brace of his own.
| Woo-yeong Jeong. | Photo: SC Freiburg |
SCF trainer Streich made two changes to his XI, both in attack. Freiburg's ever-reliable "super sub" Nils Petersen started over Ermedin Demirovic to spearhead the attack. Working behind Petersen, the always exciting Woo-Yeong Jeong got the nod over Lucas Höler in the service striker role. The Breisgauer lined up in the exact same 4-4-1-1 as last week against Frankfurt. VfL gaffer Reis made just one change to his 4-2-3-1, sending on Eduard Löwen in place of Elvis Rexhbecaj.
The home side definitely began the match in a more determined fashion. A Vincenzo Grifo ball forward ball for Petersen didn't miss by much in the 2nd. Maximilian Eggestein forced VfL keeper Manuel Riemann into action with the first save of the match less than a minute later. Some two minutes after that, Freiburg had the deserved 1-0 lead. SCF midfielder Nicolas Höfler unlocked Lukas Kübler on the right side of the penalty area. The fullback finished emphatically into the top far corner.
The next ten minutes belonged almost exclusively to the hosts, though Bochum's Takuma Asano was able to exert a little pressure on the left. Roland Sallai engineered the next Freiburg goal in the 16th, dispossessing Germany U21 international Maxim Leitsch quite skillfully. At the end of a lightning quick counter, Jeong was able to get the ball back to Sallai in space. The Hungarian winger finished from a patch on the right side of the penalty area not far from where Kübler scored the first goal.
The poisonous Freiburg press created several more chances before the half was out. Petersen narrowly missed the 3-0 in the 25th. Grifo and Jeong saw efforts blocked. Sallai headed the ball just past the post in the 36th. Though the match lost some of its tempo as half-time approached, all the chances remained with Streich's men. Reis' 1848ers were barely able to get the ball past the halfway line. The visibly frustrated VfL head-coach pulled the trigger on a triple change at the half.
Rexhbecaj, Danny Blum, and the recently returned from a long injury layoff striker Simon Zoller replaced Asano, Danilo Soares, and Milos Pantovic. The total tactical re-format seemed to unsettle the guests more than anything. Apart from a Rexhbecaj shot well off the mark in the 51st, no fresh offensive impetus resulted from the change. Sallai secured a brace in the 53rd with a headed finish. The decisive 3-0 goal was once again serviced by Jeong. Eager to complete his hat trick, Sallai got another (deflected) effort off one minute later.
Bochum genuinely couldn't manage anything in response. The guests were very lucky to escape the 0-4 at the hour mark when Nico Schlotterbeck missed a fabulous opportunity from close range. Frustration boiled over eight minutes later when Konstantinos Stafylidis clipped Sallai's ankle with a reckless challenge. Bochum's midfielder saw a straight red for the poor tackle. So too did his trainer. Match official Sascha Stegemann sent Reis off for arguing the call.
Freiburg showed mercy after the double red cards in the 68th, though some of Streich's subs did attempt to grab their own glory in the final minutes. Riemann had to parry efforts from Höler and Jonathan Schmid. The 3-0 decision concluded without any injury time. Freiburg's second consecutive victory sees them draw level with Leipzig on points in the race for the final Champions' League spot. The German Red Bulls nevertheless still retain an insurmountable advantage in terms of goal differential.
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga's 15:30 kickoffs, a scarcely believable result came out of Dortmund. Marco Rose's Schwarzgelben delivered a 6-1 shellacking of Wolfsburg at home. Insanely enough, the BVB scored their three opening goals in the space of four minutes. Three tallies were recorded between the 24th and 28th all came from defenders. Kicking off the scoring was 17-year-old emergency call-up from the youth squad Thomas Rothe; a hitherto unheard of defender deployed at Raphaël Guerreiro's wingback position.
Manuel Akanji and Axel Witsel also scored during the spell. Emré Can added a fourth goal in the 35th. Erling Haaland ended his 400+ minute league scoring drought with a fifth Dortmund goal in the 38th to send the hosts into the tunnel with a 5-0 halftime lead. Haaland would later complete a brace in the second half. The win essentially cements a second-place finish for Dortmund this season.
There was also big news in the relegation race as Felix Magath's Hertha BSC were able to eke past Augsburg 1-0 at the WWK Arena. Pellegrino Matarazzo's VfB Stuttgart, on the other hand, were only able to manage a 0-0 draw at the MEWE Arena in Mainz. Three points for the capital city side means that Hertha leap ahead of Stuttgart and out of the relegation zone. The Swabians currently occupy the playoff place on 28 points.
