Chris Richards was the hero for Hoffenheim over the weekend as his stoppage-time goal helped them to victory over Freiburg.
Freiburg 1-2 Hoffenheim
Chris Richard’s first Bundesliga goal came up big for Hoffenheim as they escaped with all three points with their win over Freiburg.
Richards went the distance in the game, completing 79 percent of his passes and winning four aerial battles on top of his goal to help his team move into the Champions League places.
The visitors opened the scoring just three minutes into the contest when David Raum picked up the loose ball in Freiburg’s end and sent a blistering shot into the back of the net.
Freiburg, who have played well recently to also keep themselves in the Champions League hunt, leveled the score in the 21st minute when Nico Schlotterbeck outmuscled his marker to head in Vicenzo Grifo’s corner kick.
The game went back and forth during the second half until the 60th minute when the referee pointed to the spot for a penalty for Freiburg as Hoffenheim’s Kevin Apkoguma bad tackle brought down Christian Gunter in the area.
It was an opportune moment for Grifo to put Freiburg in the lead, but his attempt from the spot was saved by goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.
Just when it looked like the two teams would have to settle on sharing the points, Richards made his presence known in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Raum’s corner kick would find the young American center-back as he got away from his marker to give him all the time to head the ball into the goal.
Richards’ winner also keeps Hoffenheim’s winning streak going as they have made it four in a row now.
The team now sits in fourth place in the standings with 2 points.
Notes
In other Bundesliga action, Tyler Adams started life at RB Leipzig without Jesse Marsch as he came off the bench to play the final 20 minutes in their 4-1 win over Joe Scally and Borussia Dortmund.
Timothy Tillman played 85 minutes while Julian Green remained on the bench as some gloom was finally lifted from Greuther Furth as they came away with a 1-0 win over Union Berlin.
John Brooks was relegated to the bench for Wolfsburg as they lost their third consecutive game following a 2-0 defeat to Pellegrino Matarazzo’s VfB Stuttgart.
Timothy Chandler was a spectator on the bench for Eintracht Frankfurt’s 5-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
In the 2. Bundesliga, Ryan Malone played the full 90 for Hansa Rostock as they proved to be no match for Hamburg in a 3-0 defeat.
Both Jalen Hawkins and Justin Butler came off the bench for Ingolstadt but could not find the equalizer in their 2-1 loss to Hannover.
Nicolas Carrera was on the bench for Holstein Kiel in their 2-2 draw with Sandhausen.
Down in the 3. Liga, Lennard Maloney and Borussia Dortmund could not get on the board as they fell in a 2-0 loss to 1860 Munich.
Terrence Boyd could not get on the scoresheet as Hallescher suffered a 2-1 loss to Kevin Lankford and Wehen Wiesbaden.
Johan Gomez was a second-half substitute for Zwickau as they shared the points with Wurzburger Kickers following a 2-2 draw.
Maximilian Dietz saw his first minutes on the field for Freiburg II in their 1-0 loss to Saarbrucken.
Bryang Kayo remained on the bench for Viktoria Berlin in their 3-0 defeat to Meppen.
