2. Bundesliga
USA international Josh Sargent hit a brace as Werder Bremen recorded their first win of the new Bundesliga 2 season with a 3-2 triumph in a hugely entertaining game away to Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Fortuna 2-3 Bremen
Goals: 0-1 Sargent (39'), 1-1 Hennings (47'), 1-2 Sargent (64'), 2-2 Narey (90'+3), 2-3 M. Eggestein (pen. 90'+6)
Rouwen Hennings started the season with a brace in the 2-0 win at Sandhausen on Matchday 1, a result that gave Düsseldorf the confidence to begin brightly here. Yet while they were the better side early on, they struggled to convert their superiority into chances, allowing their visitors to gradually get a foothold in the game. Still, the opening goal did arrive out of the blue when Florian Kastenmeier's attempted clearance fell straight to Sargent, the USA international showing superb composure to control the ball well and lash a low shot in with the outside of his boot to give Bremen a half-time lead.
The hosts pulled level early in the second half, however, when Khaled Narey was afforded time and space on the right wing to deliver a low cross into the box, and Hennings darted across Lars Lukas Mai to flick in a deserved equaliser. The match remained an intense, hard-fought affair, but it was Bremen who edged in front again when Sargent headed in at the back post from Niklas Schmidt's corner. Felix Agu could have given the away side a more comfortable advantage when he ghosted into space down the left, but he could only drag his shot wide. Sargent thought he had his hat-trick in the closing stages when he prodded in from close range from Yuya Osako's pass, but it was ruled out for offside in the build-up. The away side looked to be on course for the win, but Düsseldorf had other ideas in stoppage time as Narey collected a long ball into the box before thundering in the equaliser. The Fortuna midfielder went from hero to villain within a matter of seconds, though, conceding a penalty for handball inside his own box moments later, from which Maximilian Eggestein held his nerve to give Bremen all three points.
Line-ups
Fortuna: Kastenmeier - Zimmermann, Klarer, Bodzek (c), Harthertz (Koutris 85') - Shipnoski (Lobinger 85'), Piotrowski (Appelkamp 69'), Prib (Nedelcu 85'), Narey, Peterson (Kownacki 69') - Hennings
Unused subs: Wolf, Oberdorf, Ofori, Sieben
Out: Gorka (muscular), Hoffmann (ankle), Iyoha (foot), Klaus (concussion), Pledl (knee), Siebert (pelvis), Tanaka (international duty)
Coach: Christian Preußer
Bremen: Zetterer - Mbom, Mai, Toprak (c), Friedl - M. Eggestein, N. Schmidt (Möhwald 77', Groß 90'+1), Schmid (Dinkci 90'+1) - Osako - Sargent, Füllkrug (Agu 68')
Unused subs: Dos Santos Haesler, Park, Gruev, J. Eggestein, Woltemade
Out: Augustinsson (fitness), Bittencourt (knee), Jacobsen (knee), Jung (personal), Nankishi (muscular), Pavlenka (back), Plogmann (international duty), Rapp (calf), Veljkovic (not included)
Coach: Markus Anfang
Matchday 2: round-up
Holstein Kiel 0-3 Schalke
Goals: 0-1 Terodde (2'), 0-2 Terodde (21'), 0-3 Bülter (67')
Simon Terodde underlined his reputation as Bundesliga 2's equivalent to Robert Lewandowski with a brace as Schalke registered their first win of the season at Kiel. Only a minute was on the clock when Terodde struck with an acrobatic effort from Thomas Ouwejan's free-kick. Ouwejan clipped the top of the crossbar with a shot of his own before teeing up Terodde for his second from another free-kick. Marius Bülter put the result beyond doubt midway through the second half, with Kiel's Joshua Mees hitting the post on a luckless day for the hosts.
Watch: Terodde's brace earns Schalke the spoils in Kiel
Hamburg 1-1 Dynamo Dresden
Goals: 1-0 Reis (5'), 1-1 Knipping (68')
Hamburg were unable to latch on to their opening day win over Schalke with another victory as Dynamo Dresden pegged them back for a 1-1 draw at the Volksparkstadion. Ludovit Reis got HSV off to a flyer as he met Manuel Wintzheimer's low cross unmarked at the far post. Robert Glatzel and David Kinsombi missed opportunities to add to Hamburg's lead, and the hosts paid the price midway through the second half when a resurgent Dresden levelled, Tim Knipping heading in Luca Herrmann's corner. Hamburg doubled their efforts to regain the lead, but a Kinsombi effort was pushed away by Kevin Broll as the spoils were shared.
Erzgebirge Aue 0-0 St. Pauli
Erzgebirge Aue and St. Pauli extended their unbeaten starts to the season with a goalless draw at the Erzgebirgsstadion. Neither side were able to carve out any major chances, although the guests almost snatched victory late on when Lukas Daschner flashed a low shot just wide of the far post. The draw takes St. Pauli onto four points from the first two games of the season, with Aue on two.
Ingolstadt 1-2 Heidenheim
Goals: 1-0 Bilbija (59‘), 1-1 Schmidt (73'), 1-2 Kleindienst (76')
After a quiet first 45 minutes, it took a fine piece of play from the hosts to open the scoring an hour into proceedings. Filip Bilbija exchanged a pinpoint one-two with Merlin Röhl in the Heidenheim box, the former turning home the latter’s cutback to put Ingolstadt in front. But the away side had turned the game on its head with quarter of an hour to go, as first Patrick Schmidt and then Tim Kleindienst had them in front. Kleindienst’s lob from just inside the Ingolstadt half not only secured all three points, but is also an early shout for Goal of the Season.
Watch: Kleindienst's sensational goal
Karlsruhe 3-0 Darmstadt
Goals: 1-0 Hofmann (9’), 2-0 Choi (76’), 3-0 Hofmann (79’)
Karlsruhe made it two wins from two with a comfortable victory at home to Darmstadt that leaves them as the early league leaders. Philipp Hofmann, who was also on target last week, opened the scoring in the ninth minute as the hosts dominated proceedings from the off. Darmstadt dug in and made life hard for the home side, whose patience and superiority were ultimately rewarded in the closing stages with a superb effort from Kyoung-Rok Choi and another from Hofmann.
Paderborn 2-2 Nuremberg
Goals: 1-0 Heuer (19’), 1-1 Huth (o.g. 54’), 1-2 Schäffler (58’), 2-2 Michel (85’)
Having each recorded goalless draws on the opening weekend, the wait for a first win of the campaign continues for both teams, who shared the points in a keenly contested Matchday 2 encounter. Nuremberg were the better side for the majority of the match, but still fell behind when Jannis Heuer put the hosts in front from close range. The visitors kept plugging away, however, and turned the game around in the second half through two quickfire strikes, first an own goal from Jannik Huth before Manuel Schäffler hit the net. However, they were left frustrated at the final whistle following Sven Michel’s late equaliser.
Hannover 0-3 Hansa Rostock
Goals: 0-1 Behrens (43'), 0-2 Verhoek (46'), 0-3 Omladic (90'+3)
Rostock went ahead on the stroke of half-time thanks to a sumptuous curling effort from summer arrival Hanno Behrens. A superbly worked corner found its way to the left foot of the former Nuremberg midfielder, who curled a delightful effort into the far corner to open his Rostock account in style. The away side had doubled their lead less than a minute into the second period, with John Verhoek pouncing in the box and applying a clinical finish to make it two goals in as many matches for the Dutch striker. All three points were in the bags back to Rostock when Nik Omladic stole in to put away a third in added time.
Regensburg 3-0 Sandhausen
Goals: 1-0 Boukhalfa (34’), 2-0 Kennedy (70‘), 3-0 Zwarts (81‘)
Red card: Diakhite (74’)
On-loan Freiburg midfielder Carlo Boukhalfa made the perfect impression on his first start for the club by putting Regensburg into the lead just 10 minutes before the break. Boukhalfa rifled home from 20-yards on his left-foot, ensuring that the home side held a deserved advantage at the interval. Canada international Scott Kennedy made it 2-0 with 20 minutes to play and the sending off of Oumar Diakhite four minutes later all but ended Sandhausen’s chances. Any remaining hope was dashed nine minutes from time as Jöel Zwarts tapped-in a third.