Chris Richards would come off the bench to help Hoffenheim put more misery on Julian Green, Timothy Tillman, and Greuther Furth in a nine-goal thriller in this weekend’s Bundesliga action.
Greuther Furth 3-6 Hoffenheim
Hoffenheim bagged four second-half goals to lead them to the win over Greuther Furth as both teams combined to score a whopping nine goals at Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer.
Chris Richards played the final 27 minutes for Hoffenheim, completing 85 percent of his passes and winning one aerial battle. Timothy Tillman played 79 minutes for the Cloverleaves, completing 75 percent of his passes, winning one aerial battle, and putting two shots on goal. Julian Green saw no action in this game.
The goal-fest kicked off in the 22nd minute when Greuther Furth’s high pressing forced Hoffenheim to turn over the ball in their end and Jamie Leweling was on the spot to steer the ball home following a low cross from Branimir Hrgota.
After surviving a near second allowed goal, the visitors got on the scoreboard 10 minutes later with the equalizer when Ihlas Bebou slid in to guide the ball home from Georginio Rutter’s cross. Rutter would then score a goal himself in the 40th minute as he rose up to head in a cross from David Raum.
The hosts did not wait long to level the score as Tillman found the perfect time to score his first Bundesliga goal. The German-American midfielder would win the ball just inside Hoffenheim’s end before making a run towards the area. He then passed it to Hrgota, who then returned it to Tillman to put his shot past Hoffenheim goalkeeper Philipp Pentke.
That goal certainly boosted the confidence of the struggling Bundesliga bottom dwellers, but the visitor’s strength was just too much for them to withstand as they went on a three-goal tear over a nine-minute period.
Both Rutter and Bebou would net their second goals of the game before Greuther Furth’s Marco Meyerhofer scored in his own goal from a corner kick.
Hrgota grabbed a goal for the hosts in the 67th minute, but Bebou restored Hoffenheim’s three-goal lead with a strike in the 80th minute that also sealed his hat-trick.
The win moves Hoffenheim up to fifth place in the standings with 20 points, while Greuther Furth’s misery continues as they lost their 11th consecutive game.
Notes
In other Bundesliga action, Joe Scally played 81 minutes as Borussia Monchengladbach was well beaten by FC Cologne by a 4-1 scoreline.
John Brooks and Wolfsburg could not stop a returning Erling Haaland as they went down in a 3-1 loss.
Timothy Chandler played the full 90 for Eintracht Frankfurt in their 2-1 win over Union Berlin.
Tyler Adams came on to play the final 15 minutes for RB Leipzig as they fell in a 3-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
In the 2. Bundesliga, Ryan Malone got a rare start for Hansa Rostock as they shared the points with Paderborn following a 1-1 draw.
Justin Butler played the entire second half for Ingolstadt as they were blanked by Hamburg in a 3-0 defeat.
Nicolas Carrera was on the bench for Holstein Kiel as they came away with the 2-1 win over Werder Bremen.
Down in the 3. Liga, Lennard Maloney went the distance for Borussia Dortmund II as they shared the spoils with Kaiserslautern following a 0-0 draw.
Mael Corboz started while Kevin Lankford remained on the bench in a 0-0 draw between Verl and Wehen Wiesbaden.
Andrew Wooten played 57 minutes for Osnabruck as they could not find the goals in their 1-0 loss to Freiburg II.
Bryang Kayo watched all of the action from the bench as Saarbrucken handed a 2-0 loss to Viktoria Berlin.
