Hoffenheim-Freiburg is a Bundesliga first day match and is played Saturday at 3:30pm: TV, lineups, predictions.
Hoffenheim is coming off a subpar season, certainly one of the worst since the Sinsheim team has been in the top flight. Kramaric and his teammates had set out with the goal of improving on the previous year’s anonymous ninth-place finish and instead had a rough go of it, risking even finding themselves in the Zweite Liga.
Fundamental to achieving salvation were the two heavyweight home victories against Eintracht Frankfurt and Union Berlin, which allowed the team coached by Pellegrino Matarazzo (formerly of Stuttgart) to pull themselves out of trouble and finish just three points ahead of third-last place. The U.S.-based but clearly Italian-born coach was confirmed on the bench, and the market conducted so far also seems to be ambitious: Hoffenheim sold trequartista Baumgartner to Leipzig for 24 million euros, but in return they will be able to count on a “pure” nine such as Dutchman Wout Weghorst, who returns to the Bundesliga after unexciting experiences with Besiktas, Burnley and Manchester United. An area raptor was affectively what has been lacking in recent seasons, in which Kramaric has frequently filled the role of false nueve. The other interesting acquisition is Attila Szalai, a Hungarian defender who arrived from Fenerbahçe for 12 million.
After mixed results in friendlies, Hoffenheim scrambled Lubeck in the first round of the German Cup, debuting with a resounding 4-1.
Gryphon
On the first day at the PreZero Arena there is immediately a litmus test: the opponent Matarazzo’s men will face is Freiburg, whose size is now European. Christian Streich’s team qualified for the Europa League for the second year in a row: the Black Forest club finished in fifth place after coming off worst in the final sprint for Champions League qualification. The coach has so far managed to retain the best: Schade and Flekken left – both heading for Brentford – and in their place came Adamu and Muller, from Leipzig and Stuttgart, respectively.
The Prediction
Freiburg’s external performance last year was not flawless, it is true. But the roster has not been overhauled, and in the preseason Grifo and his teammates gave very good signals.
It cannot be ruled out that they will be able to avoid defeat at home to an eager Hoffenheim to revive their ambitions. Both should score.
The probable lineups of Hoffenheim-Freiburg
- HOFFENHEIM (3-4-1-2): Baumann; Akpoguma, Vogt, Brooks; Kaderabek, Prömel, Grillitsch, Justvan; Kramaric; Bebou, Weghorst.
- FRIBURG (4-2-3-1): Atubolu; Kübler, Ginter, Lienhart, Günter; Keitel, Eggestein; Doan, Höler, Grifo; Gregoritsch.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
