SGE beat Inter at Season Opening (original) (raw)
News Update
50,000 fans came to Eintracht Frankfurt's official Season Opening. The highlight of the day was the test match against FC Internazionale Milan, which the Eagles won 3-1.
Haris Seferovic scored twice today!
The test match against Inter Milan was part of Eintracht�s official Season Opening � the "Frankfurt Main Finance Cup". The gates opened at 10 a.m. and several events preceded the kick-off. As part of the opening ceremony, the entire squad was presented in front of the Commerzbank Arena and Eintracht sponsors organized activities for young and old.
Alexander Meier and Stefan Aigner were suffering from minor injuries. Hence, Eintracht manager Thomas Schaaf did not nominate them for the starting line-up, as he did not want to risk any severe injuries with the important DFB Cup match against Viktoria Berlin being just one week away. Five new signings started off for the Eagles: Aleksandar Ignjovski, Makoto Hasebe, Lucas Piazon, Nelson Valdez, and Haris Seferovic.
FIRST HALF: FOUR GOALS AFTER A SLOW START
The atmosphere of a sold-out arena seemed to motivate the players. The first ten minutes did not feature any great chances of note, but very active Eagles and some tough tackles. Manager Thomas Schaaf was constantly communicating with the team from the side-line, as his new tactic is not yet fully adopted. Many times the final pass, which would create a great chance to score, was missing and the ball was lost 30 meters away from the goal.
After twenty uneventful minutes, the fans saw two great chances from Eintracht in a row. First, Eintracht�s new striker, Haris Seferovic, played a one-two with Takashi Inui but was denied by Inter keeper Samir Handanovic. Martin Lanig then headed the following corner onto the goal but was denied again. After the double chance the game finally took off! Unfortunately, the first goal was scored by Inter. Following a cross from the left, it was Ruben Botta who scored for the Italians. However, the Eagles were not shocked and levelled the score two minutes after falling behind. Inui passed the ball to Piazon. The first attempt of Eintracht�s new midfielder hit the post, but Piazon got a hold of the rebound and pushed the ball over the goal line.
The second goal was the result of a well played attack by the Eagles. Hasebe passed the ball to Inui from outside the penalty box. Inui then passed the ball directly on to Seferovic, who had no trouble putting the ball into the net (33�). The Eagles were on fire now! Following a free kick from the right side of the field, Nelson Valdez hit the crossbar with a header. The ball bounced back into the field and was picked up by Seferovic, who made his second goal of the day (39�). At half time the score was 3-1 for Eintracht. A great result after the nervy beginning!
SECOND HALF: NO MORE GREAT CHANCES, MANY SUBSTITUTIONS
In the second half, Inui had the first chance to score for the Eagles. What seemed like a cross at first turned out to be a direct shot on goal, forcing Handanovic to dive full stretch to clear the ball. Thomas Schaaf wanted to give as many players as possible the chance to play against the Italian top team. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Timothy Chandler, Marco Russ and Vaclav Kadlec were substituted in for Aleksandar Ignjovski, Martin Lanig and Nelson Valdez. With twenty minutes left on the clock, Jan Rosenthal and Johannes Flum came in for Makoto Hasebe and Takashi Inui.
Inter had one good chance during the second half, but were stopped by the referee due to an offside position. Overall, the game slowed down a lot in the second half. Alexander Madlung and Bastian Oczipka were also given the chance to show their skills as they came in for Bamba Anderson and Constant Djakpa ten minutes before the final whistle. Finally, two Eintracht youngsters, David Kinsombi and Joel Gerezgiher, were given some field time as they came in for Lucas Piazon and Haris Seferovic. An attempt by Johannes Flum, who zipped a shot onto the goal from 25 meters distance, but was denied by the Inter keeper, was the last chance of note.
The victory over Inter Milan was a great finish to a beautiful season opening. The fans who came to the Commerzbank Arena to watch the game saw a thrilling performance from the Eagles in the first half of the game, which calmed down in the second half.
JB 10.08.2014