Chapter 88 Hoffenheim, are you finished yet?
In the just-concluded league round, although Hoffenheim lost the ball, the Bundesliga giants were still worried.
In the match between Bayern Munich and Schalke 04, the first time there was a scene where Bayern fans and Schalke fans cheered together - at that time, the big screen above the center of the stadium was showing the game in Berlin: Hertha Berlin 1 to 0 Hoffenheim. This feeling of celebrating Hertha Berlin is from the heart, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. This time, it was no longer Hoffenheim's goal and victory. There was no need to continue to be surprised and whispered, everything was over.
Yes, Hoffenheim's loss made many people feel at ease - the Bundesliga that they recognize has finally returned to normal. Hoffenheim is just a dark horse that has disrupted the situation, but does not have the ability to threaten the strong. The Bundesliga, dominated by traditional strong teams such as Bayern Munich, Schalke 04, Hamburg, Wolfsburg, etc., is the Bundesliga that they are familiar with. Only such Bundesliga can make them feel at ease. The nouveau riche finally does not threaten the richest families with a long history...
But in fact, Hoffenheim has a much more impact on the Bundesliga than this. Some of them are unaware of it, or are unwilling to admit it:
Everyone saw how Hoffenheim broke the old order of the Bundesliga and rebuilt new rules as a small team, and how he had the courage to invite top players, and then built his own system with their exclusive coaching philosophy and football philosophy and achieved success.
This made the Bundesliga champions start to feel fear.
If Hoffenheim continues to make trouble like this, then these traditional Bundesliga teams will be lost. What's more, the Bundesliga may have a new situation. By that time, it will be unclear whether there will be traditional Bundesliga teams.
So, at this time, news of victory came from Hertha Berlin. Fans of these traditional Bundesliga teams celebrated. At the same time, his family was thinking that they would continue to carry forward this style so that nouveau riche Hoffenheim knew what the real Bundesliga and what the pattern of the Bundesliga was.
However, although Hoffenheim lost in this game and ended his five consecutive wins, they did not fall behind in the standings. Leverkusen, who was behind Hoffenheim in this game, did not seize the opportunity. They tied and only got one point. In this way, Hoffenheim scored 25 points with Leverkusen, but Leverkusen ranked first in the league with a goal difference.
Although Leverkusen's goal number is not as high as Hoffenheim, their conceded far fewer goals than Hoffenheim. Therefore, Leverkusen returned to lead Hoffenheim in goal difference. Hoffenheim, who has been at the top of the list in three consecutive rounds, gave up the top spot in the league, which made all traditional Bundesliga teams breathe a sigh of relief.
The rankings after the twelve rounds of the Bundesliga are like this: Leverkusen won eight wins, one draw and three losses, accumulated twenty-five points, and defeated Hoffenheim, who also had eight wins, one draw and three losses with a goal difference, ranking first in the league, and Hoffenheim ranked second.
Behind Hoffenheim is Bayern Munich, who has a bad start in the league. They have seven wins, three draws and two losses, ranking third in the league, and ranked fourth in the league, Hamburg, which has seven wins, two draws and three losses, and 23 points. Behind are Hertha Berlin with 21 points and Schalke 04 Club. There are two nineteen points behind, one eighteen points and two seventeen points.
By this time, the score difference between the teams in the Bundesliga is not big, and a game can lead to earth-shaking changes in the standings, so everyone thinks this will be the beginning of Hoffenheim's collapse.
Hoffenheim's opponent in the next round is Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg is now ranked behind Schalke 04 Club with 19 points, ranking seventh in the Bundesliga, but their attacking ability is good and their current goals can rank in the top five. Therefore, this team is not a soft persimmon, they have some strength.
These traditional strong teams in Germany hope that Wolfsburg can take over Hertha Berlin, completely slapped Hoffenheim, and kill Hoffenheim, so that Hoffenheim understands that the Bundesliga is not that simple.
Hoffenheim is at home in this game, and they will welcome Wolfsburg in the Karl Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Before the game, Ralph Rangnick emphasized the offense. In this game, Hoffenheim will attack wildly because Andreas Ibertsberger on the defense was injured and will miss the game. However, the team did not have a good substitute, so Ralph Rangnick wanted to use offense to replace defense, and attacked from the beginning, so Wolfsburg could not pass the half.
In this game, there was a Japanese player in Wolfsburg. The Japanese media hyped the game. They called this game a "Japanese derby" because in the eyes of Japanese media, Gong Zheng, a typical oriental man, had their Japanese blood in his body, so they called this game a "Japanese derby". This allows Chinese media and fans to see the shameless nature of the Japanese.
At the beginning of the game, Hoffenheim took advantage of his home advantage and attacked Wolfsburg's goal frantically. In the seventh minute, Baker assisted and stuffed the football into the right side of the penalty area. Ibissevic shot high.
Wolfsburg is also a team that pays great attention to offense. They hope to attack wildly from the beginning of the game, but Hoffenheim's attacks crazy from the beginning of the game made them feel a little breathless, let alone over half the game.
Hoffenheim players are like mad dogs, attacking frantically without any effort. This is the characteristic of Hoffenheim football. Wolfsburg has done detailed research and has also thought of many plans to deal with Hoffenheim football.
But in actual combat, they had no chance at all. They were completely suppressed by Hoffenheim. They rarely got the ball. Even if they got the ball, they were quickly cut off by Hoffenheim's mad dog-style pressing. From the beginning of the first half, Wolfsburg fell into a passive position.
In the 21st minute of the first half, Hoffenheim midfielder Luis Gustavo suddenly dribbled the ball forward, and after passing Wolfsburg Hasegawa Makoto and Josue, he divided the football to the right in the middle. Salihovic on the right kept stopping the ball and directly pushed the football into the middle. Gong Zheng in the middle received the ball into the penalty area and shot, and the ball hit Wolfsburg's central defender Ricardo Costa's foot and bounced high. Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benario could not save it, so he could only watch the football fly into the far corner!
This is Gong Zheng's 18th goal this season! One to zero, Hoffenheim led the Wolfsburg team from afar with one goal at home. Carl Mercedes-Benz Stadium burst into loud cheers.
The area where Hoffenheim is located is the Rhine-Neckar region, which is located at the junction of three states - Baden Württemberg, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. This is one of the most economically developed regions in Germany. It has a large population, with about 2.4 million people. However, fans in this region cannot enjoy the local team's Bundesliga matches. Because before that, there was no Bundesliga team in the Rhine-Neckar region. Now Hoffenheim has appeared, and they have fulfilled all the fans here to watch the Bundesliga matches. After entering the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim's performance was very eye-catching and amazing. Therefore, Hoffenheim has also received the support of many Rhine-Neckar fans. The Karl-Benz stadium, which can accommodate 26,300 people in each home game, is full.
Now it is not only Hoffenheim, Sinsheim, Mannheim and other places that are flocking here, but also Stuttgart, Tauber Bisshovsheim and other places that have flocked to Hoffenheim's temporary home court Karl Mercedes-Benz Stadium to watch Hoffenheim's game, so every game Karl Mercedes-Benz Stadium is full of stuff. There are even many fans who have to gather in the square outside the stadium because they have not bought tickets to watch Hoffenheim's game on the big screen of the square.
So, after Hoffenheim scored, cheers broke out at Carl Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The cheers of Hoffenheim fans exploded in Carl Mercedes-Benz Stadium like a thunderclap on the ground, but they ran through Germany.
After scoring the goal, Hoffenheim did not give up the offensive. They still attacked wildly, suppressing Wolfsburg and continuing to attack Wolfsburg's goal, hoping to continue scoring and completely establish the victory of the game.
After conceding the ball, Wolfsburg immediately launched a crazy counterattack, hoping to win the score back as soon as possible. Wolfsburg immediately pushed out frantically, which gave Hoffenheim a chance.
In the 36th minute of the first half, Hoffenheim scored again. This time it was Hoffenheim's full-back Andreas Baker who dribbled the ball and assisted it, and the Wolfsburg defender immediately rushed over.
Andreas Baker immediately took the ball into the penalty area. Gong Zheng in the penalty area jumped high and threw the ball to Vedad Ibissevic who was inserted on the side. Vedad Ibissevic wanted to shoot directly, but Wolfsburg's defensive players came up too quickly, so he had to use his body to resist the opponent's defensive players, and then immediately picked up the ball. The football immediately flew to the other side of the penalty area. Hoffenheim's Demba Ba rushed in quickly, shook his head, and smashed the ball into Wolfsburg's goal, 2-0.
When the news that Hoffenheim led Wolfsburg two goals, the traditional strong teams in the Bundesliga were stunned. The country bumpkin, Hoffenheim, still has no end to this nouveau riche. From Hoffenheim, they immediately gave them a lot of pressure, and they gritted their teeth and held on.
At the end of the first half, Hoffenheim led Wolfsburg two goals, and Hoffenheim fans were determined to win this game. Just as the second half began, Wolfsburg broke Hoffenheim's goal.
The ball came from Wolfsburg's center Dzeko's header, Brazilian forward Grafitte inserted the ball and shot the ball into Hoffenheim's goal, one-two.
After scoring this goal, Wolfsburg's morale was shocked and he attacked Hoffenheim frantically, hoping to equalize the score as soon as possible.
The emperor paid off. The tenacious Wolfsburg equalized the score in the first minute of the second half. Misimovic's free kick in the midfield was directly hung into the penalty area. In the small penalty area, central defender Costa blocked the ball with his body. Dzeko next to him immediately sent the ball into the empty goal with his left foot, 2-2.
Wolfsburg equalized the score, which made fans of traditional strong teams in the Bundesliga shouted. They hoped that Wolfsburg would continue to work hard and score another goal, completely bringing Hoffenheim back to the amateur league.
But at this moment, the crazy Hoffenheim woke up from a dream, attacking wildly, attacking Wolfsburg's goal.
In the 34th minute of the second half, Hoffenheim took a high ball directly in the backcourt. Gong Zheng pulled the ball in the penalty area and pushed the ball towards the front of the penalty area. Carlos Eduardo, who followed the ball directly and volleyed the ball towards Wolfsburg's goal. Wolfsburg's Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benario failed to react, and the ball flew into Wolfsburg's goal like thunder, three to two.
Chapter completed!