Bundesliga
"Thanks for Endo!" - Hoeneß praises Stuttgart opponent after thriller
Stuttgart continued their pre-season preparations with an entertaining 5-3 victory over Japanese club Kyoto Sanga.
Following a resounding 8-1 win against Hollenbach at the start of the month and a goalless draw against Luzern last time out, Stuttgart were looking to continue their positive pre-season form on foreign soil.
Sebastian Hoeneß’s men made a slow start to the game, however, as their opponents took a 2-0 lead into half-time courtesy of goals from two Brazilians, first Rafel Elias followed by Marco Tulio. The home side didn’t stop there though, as Taichi Hara added to their lead in the 47th minute giving Stuttgart a mountain to climb at the start of the second-half.
But climb they did, with their ascent to an emphatic victory being led by new signing Justin Diehl, who scored his side’s first goal of the afternoon just before the hour mark as he rounded the opposing goalkeeper before slotting home. Ten minutes later, Jamie Leweling scored Stuttgart’s second before Thomas Kastanaras found the equalising goal five minutes later. The floodgates were well and truly open and Moussa Cisse completed the incredible comeback before young Luca Raimund put the icing on the cake with his side’s fifth goal in the 90th minute.
After the game, head coach Hoeneß expressed his gratitude for the host’s hospitality and also toward opposition coach Kwi-Jae Cho, who nurtured a certain former Stuttgart star in his time at Shonan Bellmare.
Watch: Kyoto Sanga 3-5 Stuttgart HIGHLIGHTS
"I would like to expressly thank you for the hospitality," he said. "The conditions we found here were great. Top pitch, top stadium, great crowd."
"I would also like to thank the opposing coach for training Wataru Endo and setting up the team so well today," he continued, referencing the former VfB icon and captain turned Liverpool star.
"We are not satisfied with the first half, we should have acted more cleverly. The opponent pressed hard, our legs were not as fast as our heads wanted. We can learn a lot here. I am all the happier about the second half. The guys who came in were able to turn the game around. It was very important for us and our morale. For the spectators, who really created a great atmosphere here, it was a great game with lots of attacking action and great goals on both sides."
Watch: Endo keeps Stuttgart in the Bundesliga
While Stuttgart fans will remember Endo fondly, most notably for his injury time goal against Cologne that saved the club from relegation on the last day of the 2021-2022 season, he’s just one of many Japan internationals to have represented Stuttgart in recent years, making this pre-season tour so special. The recently departed Hiroki Ito will be sorely missed in Stuttgart, just like his other compatriots Shinji Okazaki, Gotoku Sakai, Hajime Hosogai and Takuma Asano were.
Asano’s former club, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, will be Stuttgart’s second and final opponent in Japan next Thursday before they return home to face Athletic Bilbao. Their fixture against the Spanish side will be the final one of pre-season before they face last season’s invincible champions Bayer Leverkusen in the DFL Supercup final.
Watch: The best of Japanese players in the Bundesliga in 2023/24
Hoeness and his team will be hoping to start the season with silverware in a few weeks time, but there is still plenty of preparation to be done until then.