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The 2020-21 2. Bundesliga season is officially underway! Here are the results from Matchday 1:
Hamburg 2 – Düsseldorf 1 (Friday, September 18 – Volksparkstadion)
Two goals on either side of halftime from Simon Terodde gave Daniel Thioune his first win as Hamburg manager.
Terodde made his return the second division after scoring 29 goals for champions Köln in 2018-19 and seems to have picked up exactly where he left off. He slotted home from the penalty spot in first half stoppage time after Düsseldorf’s Florian Hartherz fouled HSV’s Jeremy Dudziak in the box. He nabbed a brace at the hour mark after heading in from Dudziak’s floating cross.
Düsseldorf’s Nana Opoku Ampomah picked up the season’s first red card when he was sent off in second half stoppage time for arguing with the referee. Matthias Zimmermann salvaged some pride for Düsseldorf with a long-range strike in the final moments, but the opening match of the season belonged to Hamburg.
Regensburg 1 – Nürnberg 1 (Friday, September 18 – Jahnstadion Regensburg)
A back-and-forth affair saw Regensburg and Nürnberg share spoils in their opening match of the season.
Johannes Geis set up Tim Handwerker for Nürnberg’s opener in the 43rd minute and Max Besuschkow levelled things from the penalty spot in the 58th minute after Nürnberg’s Enrico Valentini handled the ball in the box.
Despite a flurry of late chances, neither side had another goal in them and had to settle for a point on the day.
Hannover 2 – Karlsruher 0 (Saturday, September 19 – HDI Arena)
Goals from Dominik Kaiser and Linton Maina lifted Hannover to an opening matchday win over Karlsruher.
Forwards Hendrik Weydandt and Marvin Ducksch combined to set up Kaiser’s opener in the 25th minute. Karlsruher put up a good fight to get back into the match, but couldn’t solve Die Roten keeper Michael Esser. Maina effectively put the match to bed in the 85th minute on the counter.
Hannover get their first home win of the season on their first try, a far cry from last season when it took them more than 3 months to get a home win.
Erzgebirge 3 – Würzburger 0 (Saturday, September 19 – flyeralarm Arena)
In the process of taking a rare away win, Erzgebirge gave Würzburger a rough welcome back to the second division.
A scoreless first half left it all to play for in the final 45 minutes, but at the hour mark, Erzgebirge took control. Florian Krüger nabbed two assists in the space of four minutes, first setting up John-Patrick Strauß and then substitute Pascal Testroet. Another Erzgebirge substitute, Tom Baumgart, put the icing on the cake in second half stoppage time.
Erzgebirge top the table after matchday 1, whereas Würzburger bring up the rear.
Sandhausen 3 – Damrstadt 2 (Saturday, September 19 – BWT-Stadion am Hardtwald)
Markus Anfang’s Darmstadt dominated the match, but Uwe Koschinat’s Sandhausen were more clinical with their finishing and snatched an opening matchday win.
Mathias Honsak scored the opener in the 19th minute for Darmstadt, but new Sandhausen man Daniel Keita-Ruel struck back with two goals of his own over the following 20 minutes. He first volleyed home a 29th minute free kick and then scored from the penalty spot 9 minutes later after Braydon Manu was whistled for a handball in the box.
Keita-Ruel completed his hat-trick in the 74th minute after he caught the Darmstadt defense napping, poached the ball, and slotted home. Tim Skarke pulled one back for Darmstadt in stoppage time, but it was too little too late and Sandhausen took an unexpected win.
Heidenheim 2 – Braunschweig 0 (Sunday, September 20 – Voith-Arena)
Heidenheim did Heidenheim things and consigned Braunschweig to a loss on their return to the 2. Bundesliga.
Handballs were the order of the weekend and Heidenheim got on the scoreboard first thanks to a VAR check in the 17th minute. Patrick Schmidt made his return to his parent club and scored to his right from the spot.
Braunschweig couldn’t get very much going against a well-organized Heidenheim side and when substitute Kevin Sessa scored a belter in the 75th minute, it was all over but the music.
Holstein Kiel 1 – Paderborn 0 (Sunday, September 20 – Holstein-Stadion)
Like the other 3 newbies, Paderborn’s return to the 2. Bundesliga was not a happy one.
They and Kiel went back and forth for the majority of the match, but the hosts were the only ones to find a goal and that came in the 59th minute. Fabian Reese set up Alexander Mühling to blast in from range and Paderborn ultimately couldn’t find an answer in the remaining 30 minutes.
All 4 of the new sides in this season’s 2. Bundesliga lost on Matchday 1.
Greuther Fürth 1 – Osnabrück 1 (Sunday, September 20 – Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer)
Kleeblätter were the better side on the day, but Lila-Weiß gave new manager Marco Grote a point on his debut.
Paul Seguin scored Fürth’s goal in the 15th minute, after good build up from Marco Meyerhöfer and Sebastian Ernst. Osnabrück tied it 11 minutes later when Sebastian Kirk’s delightful pass found new striker Christian Santos and the Venezuelan smashed home.
Fürth had several chances to re-take the lead, but couldn’t solve keeper Philipp Kühn. Osnabrück couldn’t find a way past Sascha Burchert at the other end, but will probably be the happier of the two sides with the result.
Bochum 2 – St Pauli 2 (Monday, September 21 – Vonovia Ruhrstadion)
Kiezkicker staged a late rally to nab a point against what had been a cruising Bochum side.
Robert Žulj gave Bochum a 26th minute lead with a free kick that eluded everyone and found the far corner. St Pauli struggled to get anything going in the first hour and Bochum duly doubled their lead on 76 minutes through Simon Zoller.
But the hosts took their foot off the accelerator too soon and St Pauli newcomer Daniel-Kofi Kyereh got them back into the match in a span of 2 minutes. First he tucked home a rebound after Bochum’s Manuel Riemann stopped Lukas Daschner’s shot, then he scored again on the break after being played in down the left hand side.
Timo Schultz gets a point in his first match as St Pauli manager, while Thomas Reis’s side goes home disappointed.