Friday October 15, 2021
Ilhas Bebou with a double pack
Hoffenheim clears Cologne in the Friday game
Instead of jumping to a Champions League place, 1. FC Köln have to lick wounds after their heavy defeat at TSG Hoffenheim. Ilhas Bebou in particular makes life difficult for the people of the cathedral. For their part, the Kraichgauer climb to eighth place.
A hefty clap at the feared opponent brought 1. FC Köln back to the ground of the Bundesliga facts rather roughly. The so far strong Rhinelander lost 0: 5 (0: 1) at TSG Hoffenheim at the start of the 8th matchday and thus missed the leap into the top group. Ihlas Bebou (31st and 49th), Christoph Baumgartner (51st), Dennis Geiger (74th) and Stefan Posch (87th) scored for the Hoffenheim team.
The Kraichgauer have not lost eleven games in a row against FC and have won all of the past seven matches. While TSG coach Sebastian Hoeneß, who was recently under pressure, has taken a breather, the Cologne team are still waiting for their first away win of the current season. In addition, the FC conceded another bankruptcy after five games without defeat.
The 14,309 spectators in the Rhein-Neckar-Arena saw after a short phase of scanning in the 8th minute a blatant bad pass from the Cologne defense chief Rafael Czichos. TSG star striker Andrej Kramaric, who scored five goals against Cologne last season, did not accept the gift. The Croatian vice world champion failed because of the strongly reacting FC goalkeeper Timo Horn. After this scene the game picked up speed. Both teams made good pace. The self-confidence from the successes of the past weeks could be seen in the Cologne team – although the captain Jonas Hector, Dejan Ljubicic and Ellyes Skhiri, who fell ill at short notice, were missing.
Hoffenheim initially sloppy, then efficient
The hosts, who had to do without Ermin Bicakcic, Benjamin Hübner, Marco John and Havard Nordtveit, couldn’t get the game under control. The Hoffenheim team made too many mistakes. So it was only enough for short TSG printing phases. After about half an hour, Kramaric showed his class as a preparer. Bebou used the perfect pass. Shortly afterwards, Hoffenheim’s full-back Pavel Kaderabek was forced out after sustaining an injury in a foul he committed.
At the beginning of the second round, the guests broke all dams without warning. Almost effortlessly, Bebou and Baumgartner shot the Hoffenheimers on the winning road, the Cologne defense only existed on paper in this phase. Only after about an hour did the Cologne team seriously take part in the game again. After all, the protégés of trainer Steffen Baumgart didn’t let themselves down despite the clear residue, the team tried to limit the damage. Geiger and Posch nevertheless increased the result.
The next games are tough for both teams. Hoffenheim have to go to Bayern, FC is expecting the top team from Bayer Leverkusen for the derby.