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Successful endurance test in Elversberg: 3-0 win
Coach Markus Babbel made the right choice with Elversberg. The fourth division side, who began their season last weekend, started strongly and didn't shy away from stopping the Hoffenheim attacks early. Nevertheless, Roberto Firmino scored in the ninth, and then again in the 12th minute, to the put TSG on the right course. Firstly, Tobias Weis played a superb pass behind the defence which Sven Schipplock left for the Brazilian winger, whose brilliant shot gave his side a 1-0 lead. Then just three minutes later, Andreas Beck created the next chance: his pass found Kevin Volland on the byline with his back to goal, but his was able to lay the ball off to Firmino in the six yard box, who made use of only the second chance of the game.
The rest of the first half became a much more even affair. The Elversberg keeper was only troubled once more, but he required little effort to save Firmino's shot form distance. Elversberg had a big chance themselves just before half time, with Tim Wiese forced into a brilliant save from Kevin Feiersinger.
Markus Babbel began the second half with the same line-up. Yet again it was the hosts who had a chance to pull one back, but Tim Wiese saved once more, this time from Christian Grimm. Boris Vukcevic was quick to respond though: a counterattacking move on the right hand side saw him skip past two defenders, but his fantastic shot smacked against the crossbar.
Babbel eventually brought on the rest of the team who had travelled to the game, and TSG continued to be the dominant side, still searching for a third. Finally, Tobias Weis was able to crown his good performance with a goal. The 27 year old picked up the ball from a throw in, and his long distance shot got deflected on its way into the Elversberg net for a 3-0 final result.
SV 07 Elversberg – TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 0-3 (0-2)
SV 07 Elversberg:
Daniel Kläs (46' Kenneth Kronholm) – Marc Groß, Lukas Billick, Timo Wenzel, Sebastian Wolf – Milad Salem (68' Marcel Schug), Daniel Jungwirth, Thorsten Reiß (46' Moussa Dansoko), Christian Grimm (68' Alfonso Marte) – Maurice Deville (80' Mifail Kadrija), Kevin Feiersinger (62' Abedin Krasniqi).
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim:
Tim Wiese (60' Jens Grahl) – Andreas Beck, Jannik Vestergaard, Matthieu Delpierre, Fabian Johnson (70' Marvin Compper) – Boris Vukcevic (70' Stephan Schröck), Tobias Weis, Sebastian Rudy (57' Daniel Williams), Roberto Firmino – Kevin Volland (70' Sejad Salihovic) – Sven Schipplock (70' Joselu).
Goals: 0-1 Firmino (9'), 0-2 Firmino (12'), 0-3 Weis (80').
Attendance: 650.
Referee: Patrick Alt.
