Borussia Dortmund substitute Jonas Hofmann scored one goal and earned a penalty in an unconvincing 2-1 win over promoted Eintracht Braunschweig in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Seven minutes after coming on, Hofmann broke the deadlock with 15 minutes remaining when he played a one-two with Mats Hummels and scored off the far post from a tight angle.
The 21-year-old midfielder went down under Ermin Bicakcic’s challenge to earn the penalty. Marco Reus converted the spot-kick in the 86th minute.
Photo: AFP
Braunschweig’s consolation in the 89th minute came from Kevin Kratz, though his effort from Mirko Boland’s corner took a deflection off Robert Lewandowski.
“Give it gas and have fun,” Hofmann said about his instructions from Juergen Klopp, who celebrated his 100th victory as Dortmund coach.
It was the first time since Klopp took over in 2008 that Dortmund have started the season with two wins.
Off-season signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan made his Bundesliga debut, but was twice thwarted on the line by Braunschweig goalkeeper Daniel Davari in the second half.
“The most important thing today was that we won the game,” Mkhitaryan said.
Dortmund started well, dominating possession and not allowing Braunschweig any space or time on the ball, but once the visitors had weathered the storm, Klopp’s side seemed to run out of ideas.
Indeed, Norman Theuerkauf nearly scored in a rare burst forward for Braunschweig in the 33rd minute, when his volley from a rebound flew narrowly wide of the right post.
Braunschweig remained organized defensively after the break, but Dortmund increased the pressure and the breakthrough, when it came, was deserved.
Braunschweig were left to rue their second defeat in as many games on their return to the top flight after 28 years.
“We played a good game again, but again it’s the wrong result. It’s very disappointing,” Braunschweig captain Dennis Kruppke said.
Earlier, Japan international midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake struck late to salvage a 2-2 draw for Nuremberg over Hertha BSC, denying the newly promoted visitors two wins from two games.
“We left two points behind,” Hertha coach Jos Luhukay said. “We had the game completely under control in the second half.”
Kiyotake scored with a free-kick in the 89th minute, 10 minutes after a penalty by substitute Ronny looked to have given Hertha their first win in Nuremberg for a decade.
Nuremberg striker Josip Drmic opened the scoring in the 40th minute when Daniel Ginczek did well to hold off two defenders and set him up.
Ginczek had already struck the post with a header.
Sami Allagui equalized with a deflected effort in the 61st minute when his shot bounced off Berkay Dabanli’s chest beyond Nuremberg goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer.
Hertha midfielder Alexander Baumjohann had the chance to make it 2-1 minutes later, only to shoot straight at Schaefer.
“I can live with the point,” Baumjohann said. “The coach sent a signal with [substitutes] Ronny and Sandro [Wagner]. We wanted to win.”
Baumjohann was somewhat fortunate to be on the pitch after shoving Javier Pinola in the face in retaliation as the two went head-to-head in disagreement. Both players were shown yellow cards in the 53rd minute.
They were involved again for Hertha’s penalty, when Baumjohann went down under Pinola’s challenge.
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
RSS