John Brooks led the charge for Hoffenheim as he scored the equalizing goal that pushed them to claim all three points over Wolfsburg, while Paxten Aaronson provided the assist to help Eintracht Frankfurt save a point in their game with Cologne.
Hoffenheim 3-1 Wolfsburg
Hoffenheim earned their second win of the young season to keep them in the top half of the standings as they defeated Wolfsburg at the PreZero Arena.
John Brooks started for the Blues in Pellegrino Matarazzo’s three-man backline and went the distance, completing 74 percent of his passes, winning two duels and putting two shots on target. On the other side, Kevin Paredes came on to play the final 22 minutes for the Wolves, completing 83 percent of his passes, winning two duels, making one tackle, and creating one chance.
The visitors would break the scoreless deadlock after 36 minutes when Jonas Wind collected the ball at midfield following a long pass from goalkeeper Koen Casteels. The Dane then spotted Tiago Tomas making a run on the left and he put the ball into space for the Portuguese attacker to put away.
Hoffenheim leveled the score in first-half stoppage time when Brooks was on the spot to sweep home a low cross from Marius Bulter.
The hosts took command of the game in the 60th minute when they grabbed their second goal on the day. The team took control of the ball at midfield and started a counterattack. Robert Skov sent a nice pass into the 18-yard box for Maximilian Beier to bury in the back of the net.
Skov then turned from provider to goal scorer in the 74th minute after Andrej Kramaric toyed with his marker before passing the ball to the Danish winger to put his shot past a flat-footed Casteels.
The win moves Hoffenheim up to sixth place in the standings with six points, while Wolfsburg are just behind them in seventh.
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 FC Cologne
The Eagles would snatch a point in the dying minutes of the game as they settled for the draw in their game with Cologne at Deutsche Bank Park.
Paxten Aaronson came off the bench to play the final 10 minutes for the hosts and would play a vital role in their goal.
The hosts found themselves in a hole when the referee pointed to the spot for a penalty. Philipp Max was the culprit as he brought down Cologne’s Eric Martel in the area. Florian Kainz then stepped up to put away the spot-kick in the 43rd minute.
The visitors were able to hold onto their slim lead despite wave after wave of attacks from Frankfurt, but the former Europa League winners found a breakthrough in the 87th minute. Jessic Ngankamp would play the ball to Mario Goetze at the top of the 18-yard box. The former German international passed it to Aaronson in the center who then found a wide-open Niels Nkounkou to score.
Frankfurt sits in 10th place with five points.
Borussia Monchengladbach 1-2 Bayern Munich
The Foals had the lead, but they could not capitalize on their advantage as they allowed the reigning Bundesliga champions to strike back and take all three points at Borussia Park.
Jordan Pefok would make his debut for ‘Gladbach on the day following his move on loan from Union Berlin as he came off the bench to play 30 minutes, completing 82 percent of his passes and winning three duels. His U.S. teammate Joe Scally played 83 minutes, completing 78 percent of his passes, winning three duels, and making three tackles.
The hosts took the game to the champions and were rewarded with the opening goal on the half-hour mark. Alassane Plea’s corner kick found Maximilian Wober in the 18-yard box and his glancing header found Ko Itakura to guide home.
The goal should have given ‘Gladbach some confidence going into the second half, but Bayern turned to another gear as they leveled the score in the 58th minute. Joshua Kimmich played the ball over the top to Leroy Sane and the German winger just got his shot past goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas.
Kimmich provided the assist again to give his team the lead once and for all in the 70th minute when his corner kick found Mathys Tel to head into the goal.
Monchengladbach falls to 16th place in the standings with just one point.
Notes
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Lennard Maloney played the full 90 minutes as Heidenheim clawed their way back to earn a 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund and claim their first-ever point in the top flight.
In 2. Bundesliga, Terrence Boyd played the final 30 minutes for Kaiserslautern as they did the damage in the first half to record a 3-1 win over 10-man Nurnberg with potential Yank Nathaniel Brown starting for the opposition.
Both Julian Green and Maximilian Dietz started for Greuther Furth with the former scoring the Cloverleaves’ goal in their 3-1 defeat to Hannover.
Johan Gomez played 76 minutes for Eintracht Braunschweig as they saved a point in their 1-1 draw with St. Pauli.
Down in the 3. Liga, Isaiah Young started and played 90 minutes for Rot-Weis Essen as took three points on the road with their 2-0 win over Freiburg II.
Santiago Castaneda started his first game for Duisburg and played 72 minutes in a narrow 2-1 loss to Jahn Regensburg.
Andrew Wooten played 19 minutes for Preussen Munster in their 3-1 loss to Waldhof Mannheim with Jalen Hawkins remaining on the bench for the winners.
Ryan Malone had a long day at the office as Ingolstadt played with 10 men during their 2-0 defeat to Dynamo Dresden.
Justin Butler played the entire first half for Borussia Dortmund II as they proved to be no match for Saarbrucken in their 2-0 loss.
Mael Corboz went the distance for Verl as they shared the points with Unterhaching following a 0-0 draw.
Joseph Richardson did not come off the bench as Sandhausen was thrashed 4-1 by Hallescher FC.
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