Celebrating festivals as they come is a skill in which unity and its followers have developed a certain art. There has certainly been no shortage of opportunities to demonstrate their party skills in the recent past.
On the 25th Bundesliga matchday, the club strategists once again demonstrated that they have a strong sense of events to create a symbiosis of tradition and future that can be clearly marketed and thus attract the masses with a desire for another big football break.
Sunday in the arena, which was attended by 57,000 spectators, was dedicated to the club’s 125th anniversary. To honor the specialness of the moment, among other things, an illuminations show illuminated the evening Roman, there were fan walks “Uff de Gass” to important Frankfurt football locations and the team appeared in retro shirts at the end of the festival weekend to commemorate its founding on March 8, 1899.
In terms of sport, the colorful event program was enhanced by a contribution with which coach Dino Toppmöller’s players gave themselves and their followers a joy that outshone everything else: the 3-1 win over TSG Hoffenheim nurtured the hope that it would be the same in the coming season could come to the performances on the European stage that have always been particularly celebrated. The victory improved the score for Eintracht, who found themselves in sixth place in the table, to 40 points and increased the gap to their pursuers from Hoffenheim to seven points.
Sebastian Rode, Frankfurt’s captain, who is still injured, stepped onto the pitch before kick-off in jeans and a hoodie and spread a hopeful message, for which he was celebrated with chants. The knee operation went “well so far,” said the 33-year-old, who will end his professional career in the summer. He announced that his “big goal” was now to get so fit during rehabilitation by the final match day on May 18th that he could “say goodbye to the pitch as an active player”. The fact that he has been missing as a guy in the dressing room and a pacesetter in midfield since the end of the Conference League on February 23rd was also reflected in some poor performances without him.
Praise from the coach: Mario Götze stands out with a goal and an assist: Image: dpa
Against Hoffenheim, Toppmöller relied on the duo Ellyes Skhiri and Hugo Larsson at the interface between attack and defense. The TSG were only able to make it clear at the beginning that they wanted to hold back before they had to dance to the Eintracht whistle as the game progressed. They set a pinprick with their first corner kick. Anton Stach brought the ball from the right into the six-yard box, where John Anthony Brooks held his own in a header duel with central defender Robin Koch and scored the Kraichgauer’s opening goal over Kevin Trapp (6th minute).
Brooks stirred up emotions
This created an interim situation to which the Eintracht players reacted with a visible effort to immediately correct the unexpected, but they were initially too imprecise with the last pass. Dina Ebimbe in particular stood out as an asset who could have single-handedly made the result much more pleasing if she had consistently exploited opportunities in the first twenty minutes.
Brooks also took care of the second scene, which further stirred up emotions – and had a momentous impact on his ensemble. During a quick advance by Eintracht, the German-American took Omar Marmoush off his feet with an unsuccessful high-risk tackle – and was then shown a red card by referee Bastian Dankert amid Hoffenheim’s protests.
Enough reasons to celebrate: Frankfurter Ebimbe (l) and Knauff: Image: dpa
When they were outnumbered, the balance of power changed, with Hoffenheim, who were now more defensively oriented, having to give Eintracht more space. A first gap was found by Koch, who, in order to increase the pressure, often joined in further forward and scored the equalizer from 15 meters with a low shot into the corner (32nd). “That was the best game this year,” the 27-year-old later said about the “collectively good” performance. “Everything was right. It was important for us to show what the team is capable of,” said Koch, who can expect his comeback call-up to the national team this week.
On Sunday morning he had already spoken to national coach Julian Nagelsmann on the phone, and the official statement would follow in “a day or two”, which he did not want to anticipate, said Koch – and smiled.
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Mario Götze, who controlled almost everything he did, ensured that the tide turned in Eintracht’s favor early on, while TSG weakened further with a yellow-red card for Ozan Kabak (78th). Ebimbe extended Götze’s assist from his ankle with his head into the net to make it 2-1 (50′).
And then the football sophisticate rounded off his performance as a goalscorer to make it 3-1 (64th), which caused the vast majority of the special day entourage to feel a level of happiness in the stands that had not been heard for a long time: the desire for more Frankfurt celebrations -Evenings has grown.
