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1. FSV Mainz 05 vs 1. FC Union Berlin

Bundesliga, 1. Matchday

Mainz vs 1. FC Union

Bundesliga, 1. Matchday

Sat., 24. August 2024, 15:30 Uhr
MEWA ARENA
1 : 1
31.500
SR: Harm Osmers

Union Hold Mainz to a 1-1 Draw

Match report

1. FC Union and FSV Mainz 05 played out an excellent, intense 1-1 draw in the devastating heat of the carnival capital in Saturday afternoon. Having gone a goal down to Nadiem Amiri’s 53rd minute opener, László Bénes opened his account for Union with the equaliser in the 74th minute

1. FC Union Berlin: Rönnow – Trimmel (72. Haberer), Doekhi, Vogt (83. Querfeld), Leite, Gosens – Tousart (65. Vertessen), Khedira, Schäfer (72. Bénes) – Hollerbach (72. Skarke), Siebatcheu 
 
1. FSV Mainz 05: Zentner – Kohr, Leitsch (31. Bell), Hanche-Oslen – Caci (85. Nebel), Sano (86. Weiper), Amiri, Mwene – Onisiwo (76. Sieb), J.-S. Lee – Burkardt 

The starting XI

Bo Svensson started his first league match in charge of Union with Frederick Rönnow in goal, behind the reassuringly familiar back three of Diogo Leite, Kevin Vogt and Danilho Doekhi. Robin Gosens and Christopher Trimmel were given the flanks, left and right respectively, either side of a midfield pairing of Rani Khedira and Lucas Tousart. Jordan Siebatcheu was joined by Benedict Hollerbach and Andras Schäfer up front.

Attendance: 31 500 

Goals: 1-0 Amiri (53.), 1-1 Bénes (74.) 

A goalless half in blistering temperatures

This time last year Union kicked off their Bundesliga season away at Mainz, but with Bo Svensson in the home dug out, a game that Union, of course, won convincingly, 4-1. But it’s funny how things change in football, it can be the most unremittingly, unforgivingly forward moving of sports, but if anything, this resembled not so much that encounter, but – certainly for the first half - more the game here the goalless draw the previous year, when the thermometers were fit to bursting.

The sunshine was brutal here in the MEWA Arena on the season’s starter, just as it was back then, but if that one looked like it could have been played for a hundred days without anyone scoring, this took on a wholly new character in the second half. Both sides ran themselves into the ground in the pursuit of a winner.

Svensson said afterwards how he knew that it would be an intense game, but beforehand how little he would allow his focus to be taken from his current task on his return to the club he had served so well. Indeed, Union started brightly, with Benedict Hollerbach, typically full of running, trying to carve out an opening down the inside right after only two minutes played.

But it was a battle from the off, and he continued, saying “that in the first half both sides balanced each other out.”

 Rani Khedira got a tough challenge in on Maxim Leitsch early, just to let him know he was there, and when Kaishu Sano dared to try to enter the Union box, Danilho Doekhi and Diogo Leite were both there to shoo the ball away with all the required menace. Phillipp Mwene caught Lucas Tousart in a similar manner to that of Khedira on Leitsch, but this one was higher up on the thigh. He winced in pain.

Dominik Kohr then went in on Schäfer straight afterwards, getting a yellow card after only six minutes played. No-one was giving an inch. Union had a free kick that Trimmel took, but it was cleared without causing too much danger.

At the other end, Rönnow – who had an excellent day - did well to punch clear a dangerous cross from the right, Jonathan Burkardt, looming, as he’d hold Anthony Caci’s long throw with significantly more ease after 25 minutes. He then was ready as Sano’s shot took a flick off the lunging boot of Gosens, and out for another corner, while at the other end both Schäfer and Khedira saw shots parried away.

Jordan, leading the line, looked to have turned Leitsch after 15 minutes, but shrugged off the defender’s attentions when he could have made more of the tugging on his shirt, the ball running just too far ahead of him. Hollerbach then couldn’t get hold of his own shot as it dropped onto his right foot after a series of headers in the middle of the pitch, the ball spending as much time in the air as it did on the ground for a moment.

It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but was utterly gripping, with neither side buckling from the heat or the pressure.

Jae Sung Lee then had a huge chance after Karim Onisiwo’s superb cross from the right, but while he seemed to have the height on his jump to take his free header, his timing was just out, and the ball flicked off the Korean’s forehead tamely.

Neither side threatened too much after that, but Gosens was a constant whir of energy on the left, and he almost played Hollerbach in with half an hour played, his ball hit perfectly, but Dominik Kohr came across in the nick of time. Kohr then seemed to pull Leite to the ground from the ensuing corner, when Robin Zentner had to punch clear as the box was reduced to a sea of flailing, tumbling limbs. He had to do so again two minutes later, fisting the ball out of the sky as Vogt looked to beat him in the air.

It then took a wonderful tackle from Doekhi to stop Phillipp Mwene as he hit the byline down the left-hand side; Rönnow cleared the corner with substitute, Steffen Bell, and Andreas Hanche-Olson both joining him in going for the ball. Onisiwo and Leite then tussled just outside the box, both with as much on each other as the other.

The picture of them both, fists full of shirt, almost summed up the half, until Hollerbach had the best shot of the day for the guests, beating Burkardt, and forcing Zentner to tip his drive over the bar acrobatically.

Gosens, superb all day, hit another dangerous low ball towards the near post, and Union won their sixth corner of the day, but again Trimmel’s set-piece couldn’t escape the bedlam in the box.

Tousart got a yellow card for a foul on Burkardt as the three minutes added on were over. Amiri whipped the ball in, but Burkardt, sneaking in around the back of the wall, couldn’t get his shot on target.

The players left the pitch, dripping. The tie was goalless so far.

Amiri’s wonder free kick is balanced out by Bénes’ brilliance

Mainz had the first effort of the second half as Onisiwo blazed one over the bar first time, having been superbly fed by Burkard’s knock-down from just outside the D. He had seen another header fly just over before the break, he was dangerous, and was involved as Mwene played a one-two, ending in a shot that Rönnow did well to parry.

Union’s number one did even better from the corner that followed, as it looked to suddenly be dipping underneath his bar. Then, when Caci lofted a deep cross in from the right, the Dane not only held it firmly in both hands but was aware enough to keep it from going out for another corner.

But Mainz were now in the ascendancy as the half went through its early phases, and again Onisiwo was involved, this time drawing a necessary foul from Doekhi, 25 yards out. He had little choice, but it would lead to the opener for the hosts.

Amiri took a few steps back and looked up. He struck it superbly, leaving Rönnow for dead, as he chipped the ball over the wall, bending away from the keeper, and into the back of the net. Mainz were ahead.

Union were chasing shadows; Burkardt and Onisiwo at the heart of everything, and after 64 minutes Svensson brought on Yorbe Vertessen for Lucas Tousart, memories strong of his wonderful goal a week ago in the cup at Greifswald. But Mainz were standing firm, and it would be another change that would make the difference. His first dribble was ended perfunctorily by Sano, while Hollerbach’s next was stopped by Bell.

They went into the pause for drinks wondering where their own break would come from, and Svensson immediately rolled his dice once more, this time bringing on Tim Skarke, Janik Haberer and László Bénes for Schäfer, Trimmel and Hollerbach

And just as his substitutions had worked last week, they did so again here. It is as if they are charmed.

Union had advanced patiently, unerringly, the ball coming all the way from Rönnow originally, until it made its way as far as Skarke, taking the ball from Gosens. He laid it off for Bénes, who turned superbly, rolling the ball with the outside of his right, anticlockwise, and let fly with the same boot. The ball took a slight deflection on the way, but with practically his first touch, in his league debut, he had dragged Union back into the game.

Rani Khedira smiled through the sweat on his face when he looked back on it after the final whilstle. “When I look at the 90 minutes,” he said, “I'm satisfied. Even after going behind, we did well, didn't lose our heads and rightly came back. Everyone who came on today made us better again and I'm also pleased for Laszlo.”

It was a fantastic finish to a beautifully worked goal. Suddenly the game took on a whole new dimension, and within minutes Jordan was well stopped by Zentner as he tried to lift the ball over him, and Doekhi almost steered another chance goalwards. Vertessen then took too long when Skarke found him in the box.

Svensson then brought on Leopold Querfeld for the injured Vogt, and again the new man was almost immediately involved, setting up Bénes, whose shot was tipped brilliantly over the bar by a flying Zentner.

There were seven minutes added on, but whereas two years ago both sides looked like they were ready to roll over and die, this time they continued to go full pelt; Armindo Sieb put his volley into the ground and over the bar when he had been found by Amiri as Mainz once again looked to hit back, but that was nothing as to the chance that Burkardt put over the goal with 94 minutes played, and Rönnow out of the picture having parried Sieb’s stabbed shot.

Or when Bénes flashed a harder header over when Gosens crossed from the left, having won the ball through sheer determination alone.

But finally, the whistle blew to end a tumultuous, excellent game. It may have been an emotional return to his old home for Svensson. But it brought him a point that was worth all the sweat that had gone into it.

Union Kick-off in Mainz

Match preview

1. FC Union Berlin start their 2024/25 Bundesliga season with an away game at 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday, 24 August. Kick off at the MEWA Arena is at 15:30.

The lie of the land

Mainz won their DFB Pokal first round match against neighbours SV Wehen Wiesbaden. After falling behind early on, they  equalised in normal time and secured their place in the next round in extra time thanks to 113th and 120th minute goals from goals from Jonathan Burkardt and Nadiem Amiri.

1. FC Union Berlin, meanwhile, beat Regionalliga side Greifswalder FC in the Cup thanks to substitute Yorbe Vertessen’s superb second half strike.

The opponents

A year ago, Union's current head coach Bo Svensson was still on the touchline in Mainz. Under his leadership, the club had finished eighth and ninth in the two previous seasons, before Svensson stepped down on 2 November last year. At the time, Mainz were bottom of the table with just three points from nine games.

His successor, Jan Siewert, was unable to halt the downward trend and was replaced by Bo Henriksen in mid-February 2024. Under Henriksen's leadership, the team stabilised significantly, losing just two further league games and collecting 23 points from the final 13 matches to finish thirteenth in the table.

The side from the carnival town start the new season with five wins and one defeat from their pre-season preparations. Three friendlies against amateur teams, including two wins and a 3-0 loss against SV Eintracht Trier 05, were followed by successful games against second-division club SC Preußen Münster (3-1) and the recently promoted Bundesliga side SV Holstein Kiel (2-0). They rounded off their summer with a 3-1 win against French first division team Montpellier HSC.

The personnel

Union head coach Svensson is still without Kevin Volland, and the injured Josip Juranović and Yannic Stein. Goalkeeping coach Michael Gspurning is also missing due to receiving a red card in the last Bundesliga matchday.

The reunions

The season’s opener in Mainz marks a special return for Bo Svensson and co-coaches Babak Keyhanfar and Tijan Njie. Svensson, who made 122 appearances for Mainz as a player, was initially an assistant coach under Kasper Hjulmand and Martin Schmidt after retiring before taking charge of various FSV youth teams. After two years coaching in Austria, he returned in January 2021 and managed Mainz’s first team until November 2023.

Since 2018, he has been assisted by the Mainz born Keyhanfar, who played for FSV himself at youth level and is an integral part of Svensson's coaching team. Njie is also returning to his old club. He joined Mainz as a match analyst in the summer of 2017, first in the youth programme and later for the first team.

The coaches’ views ahead of the game

“After a very good week of training, we are looking forward to an intense match that will be characterised by many duels,” said Union head coach, Svensson, during his press conference on Thursday afternoon. “Since both sides know each other, it will certainly be an exciting duel. Mainz is a special place for me and it will be a difficult task, as they are particularly strong at home.”

Meanwhile his opposite number, Henriksen, had this to say about Saturday’s clash. “I'm happy with the preparations. The players know what they can, and what they have to do. I'm just looking forward to this good game on Saturday. We know that Union Berlin are a good team. Of course, I hope that the whole season is exciting and that we get a good result on Saturday.’

Service information

The Union players can count on the support of a good 2,600 fans travelling to support them in Mainz. The mobile Union Zeughaus will also be there. Information on attending the stadium can be found here (German).

The match will be broadcast live by Sky. There will also be an audio stream on rbb24 Inforadio and rbb24. As usual, Union will also provide information about the match via the club's own live ticker, as well as in English and Spanish on Twitter.

 

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MatchStatistics

1. FSV Mainz 05 vs 1. FC Union Berlin

54 % Possession 46 %
77 % Pass Completion Rate 72 %
57 % Successful Tackle Rate 43 %
14 Shots on Goal 15
9 Crosses 13
1 Caught Offside 1
1 Yellow Cards 3
0 Yellow-Red Cards 0
0 Red Cards 0

Last match

Date Home Result Away