2. Bundesliga Is Off And Running For the 2021/22 season
The 2. Bundesliga season began this weekend. Relegated Schalke and Werder Bremen began their quest to gain promotion at the first time of asking, while newly promoted Dynamo Dresden, Hansa Rostock and FC Ingolstadt all began their season in Germany’s second division.
Schalke 04 1-3 Hamburger SV
Friday night saw Schalke face Hamburg, who themselves are looking for promotion after spending three seasons in the second division. Hamburg got their season off to a winning start with a 3-1 victory over Schalke.
Schalke took the lead, when striker Simon Terodde scored against the side he left in the summer. Terodde managed to lift the ball over the onrushing Daniel Heuer Fernandes with his left foot.
Hamburg’s Robert Glatzel missed a penalty when Schalke’s keeper Michael Langer saved smartly down his left. Glatzel did make amends in the 53rd minute when he followed up a free kick that was parried to poke the ball home and level the game.
Substitute Moritz Heyer put Hamburg ahead in the 86th minute. Heyer found some space in the box to latch onto a cutback from Maximilian Rohr and swept the ball past Langer with his left foot.
The win was sealed in the 89th minute, when Bakery Jatta met Sonny Kittel’s cross with a lovely half volley to seal a 3-1 win for Hamburg.
SG Dynamo Dresden 3-0 FC Ingolstadt 04
On Saturday afternoon, both newly promoted Dynamo Dresden and Ingolstadt faced off at Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion the home of Dynamo Dresden with 7,102 fans in attendance.
Dynamo Dresden dominated the match with 65% possession, and they made their domination count in the 41st minute when they took the lead. Christoph Daferner scored for the home side when he managed to meet a cross from Morris Schröter.
Daferner managed to find the net once again in the 56th minute. Substitute Panagiotis Vlachodimos managed to dance and wriggle past the Ingolstadt defence to fire a shot from close range, which was parried out to Daferner who blasted the ball past the despairing Ingolstadt keeper.
The win was wrapped up in the 67th minute when Daferner turned provider, when he cut the ball back from the right side for Heinz Mörschel to score, to seal a 3-0 win for the home side.
SV Werder Bremen 1-1 Hannover 96
Werder Bremen began their season with a home game against Hannover.
Werder Bremen went into the lead in the 49th minute when Simon Falette deflected the ball into his own net. Niklas Schmidt whipped in a corner, which Falette attempted to head clear, but unfortunately for the Hannover defender the ball glanced off the back of his head.
Hannover equalised six minutes later when the ball was played in behind by Sei Muroya, who spotted the run of Marvin Ducksch. Ducksch found himself one on one with Werder keeper Michael Zetterer and finished sublimely with a glorious chip over Zetterer.
FC Hansa Rostock 1-3 Karlsruher SC
The other newly promoted side was Hansa Rostock and their season started with a home game against Karlsruher. Hansa Rostock had a goal ruled out in the 16th minute, when VAR ruled Streli Mamba was in an offside position while hindering the view of Marius Gersbeck in the Karlsruher goal.
In the 42nd minute, the away side took the lead, when the ball fell the way of Christopher Kobald, who finished first time from close range.
Two minutes later, Hansa Rostock played themselves into trouble, when a heavy touch from Thomas Meißner allowed Lucas Cueto to collect the ball and advance into the box, where he squared it to Philip Hofmann who placed the ball into the empty net to put the away side two goals up.
Hansa Rostock pulled a goal back in the 52nd minute, when a free-kick drifted to the back post for Damian Roßbach to control and pass the ball across for a simple tap-in for forward John Verhoek.
Karlsruher sealed the win in the 79th minute, when Sebastian Jung latched onto a ball over the top, and struck the ball into the net.
Rest of the Opening Fixtures
On Saturday, SSV Jahn Regensburg won 2-0 away at SV Darmstadt 98. Defender Benedikt Gimber and Bayern Munich loanee Sarpreet Singh were the players who got their names on the scoresheet.
1. FC Heidenheim 1846 played out a goalless draw with SC Paderborn 07.
Another goalless draw took place on Sunday when 1. FC Nuremberg hosted FC Erzgebirge Aue.
Fortuna Dusseldorf travelled to Sandhausen and managed to pick up a 2-0 victory, with Rouwen Hennings scoring both goals for the away side.
FC St Pauli won at home 3-0 against Holstein Kiel. The goals for St Pauli came from Leart Paqarada, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh and Guido Burgstaller.
