Last-minute draw against Eintracht Frankfurt

1. FSV Mainz 05 had to settle for a 1-1 draw in their clash against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday afternoon. Despite having led at the break and having a man advantage during the last 30 minutes (second yellow for Ansgar Knauff), FSV were unable to pick up their first three points of the season. The 05ers were unable to find a decisive second goal on multiple occasions in the second half before Omar Marmoush slotted home a fortunate equaliser for Eintracht in injury time. Considering the blow suffered when Karim Onisiwo and Ludovic Ajorque were ruled out shortly ahead of the game, FSV put in a particularly good performance in the second half, for which they were not rewarded for at the end of the day in front of a sell-out crowd at the MEWA ARENA. 

Bo Svensson made four changes from the defeat at Union Berlin: Maxim Leitsch, Sepp van den Berg, new arrival Phillip Mwene and Nelson Weiper replaced Stefan Bell, Danny da Costa (both on the bench), Onisiwo (flu) and Ludovic Ajorque (injured in the warm-up).

05ers defy the rain – Lee puts FSV ahead

The rain started to come down just in time for kick-off in Mainz. Consequently, it took the players a few minutes to adapt to the conditions. The first decent chance in an open start to the game went to the visitors after a quarter of an hour. Edmilison was able to put a dangerous cut-back from Randal Kolo Muani behind for a corner before it reached Omar Marmoush, who was ready to pull the trigger in a threatening position (14’). Other than that, both teams defended in disciplined fashion and left little room for the opposition’s attacking play to develop. FSV posed their first threat to the Frankfurt goal in the 23rd minute as Mwene set Weiper away with a quickly released free kick from his own half. The home-grown talent cut in from the left decisively before striking Robin Koch’s outstretched arm with his effort – which referee Bastian Dankert deemed worthy of a penalty. The referee pointed to the spot, although his decision was correctly reversed after consulting VAR. However, this situation acted as a wake-up call for FSV, who continued to look for an opening goal and went ahead shortly afterwards: Edimilson lofted a ball into the penalty area from the halfway line, where Trapp was unable to hold onto the ball after a push from Koch. Jae-sung Lee was the grateful beneficiary and put his side into the lead with a header from 11 metres out (25’).

Eintracht were unable to find an immediate answer to going a goal down and searched in vain for long periods for gaps in the Zerofivers’ well-organised defence, which was well marshalled by van den Berg in the middle of the back-three. The 05ers once again had the next opportunity as Leandro Barreiro tried his luck from 20 metres out, however his shot was straight at Trapp (36’). The hosts were well worth their lead up to this point and went close to finding a second goal shortly afterwards. Kohr won the ball back in Eintracht’s box and found Weiper, who found his teammate in turn, although Kohr shot narrowly wide of the left post from eight metres out (41’). Marmoush tried his luck for the unthreatening visitors with a header in added time at the end of the first half, although the ball went a good metre wide of the goal (45+4’). FSV were well worth their halftime lead on balance. 

Lively start to the second half

Both teams returned to the field unchanged, although they both began far more dynamically than at the start of the first half. FSV got forward quickly down the left in the 51st minute as Mwene fed Barreiro with a fine ball through, although the Dutchman’s first time effort hit the side netting. Mainz controlled the opening stages of the second half and went close once again with another effort a couple of minutes later: Mwene once again started the attack with his ball into the box finding Caci, whose header in turn found Kohr, with his attempted overhead kick going just over the bar (53’). After that, Eintracht looked for a way back into the game as Kolo Muani had a big chance to get the visitors back into the game with a headed effort. However, his attempt from close range narrowly missed the target after he was picked out with a cross from Marmoush (54’). The visiting side were now suddenly on the front foot and it was once again their French attacker who missed the opportunity to grab an equaliser. Philipp Max sent a dangerous corner into the box, Kolo Muani rose highest, but Anthony Caci was able to clear his effort off the line with Robin Zehnter already beaten (59’).

Not long afterwards came a controversial moment just outside of the visitors’ penalty area: Barreiro challenged for the ball against Ansgar Knauff with the Mainz man attempting to knock the ball forwards with his head, however the Eintracht player caught him high with his foot and was shown a second yellow card by the referee, leaving Mainz with a man advantage for the rest of the game. Svensson made his first changes in the 70th minute, bringing on Andreas Hanche-Olsen and Brajan Gruda for Leitsch and Weiper. Gruda made an immediate impression and won a free-kick in a promising position. He took the free-kick himself, but put his effort about a metre over the bar (74’). The game became end-to-end at this point: Anton Stach won the ball back on the right flank less than a minute later and forced Trapp into a brilliant save from a tight angle after a one-two with Lee (75’). As the game entered its closing stages, Svensson gave the second new arrival of the week, Marco Richter, his debut as he was introduced alongside da Costa, with the pair replacing Mwene and Lee respectively (78’). The head coach made his final change a minute later as Bell came on in place of the stricken Edimilson in order to protect the lead (79’). The game continued to excite until the very end. Richter had the chance to put the game to bed in the 84th minute, but didn’t control the ball cleanly from Stach’s pass, with Trapp able to sniff out the danger. Mainz threatened again two minutes later as Gruda set da Costa away, although the ex-Frankfurt man’s precise cut back didn’t find any takers in the middle (86’). As the 05ers failed to take their chances to put the game out of sight, Eintracht landed a sickening blow with one of their last attacks at the beginning of six minutes of added time. Substitute Christopher Lenz set Dina Ebimbe away down the left, who got the better of da Costa and cut the ball back across the box, where Marmoush was left with a simple tap in (90’+1). It was the final decisive action of the game as the visitors were able to secure a fortunate point despite their numerical disadvantage. 

After picking up a solitary point from two games, the 05ers are back in action next weekend away at Werder Bremen (Saturday, 15:30 CEST). The next home game is not until 16th September, when VfB Stuttgart will be the visitors on the Rhine. 

MAINZ 05 - EINTRACHT FRANKFURT 1-1

Mainz 05: Zentner - Caci, Edimilson (79’ Bell), van den Berg, Leitsch (70’ Hanche-Olsen), Mwene (78’ da Costa) - Barreiro, Kohr - Stach, Weiper (70’ Gruda), Lee (78’ Richter)
 
Frankfurt: Trapp - Koch, Smolcic (81’ Lenz), Pacho - Jakic (70’ Dina Ebimbe), Skhiri, Knauff, Max (81’ Ngankam) - Götze (83’ Aaronson), Kolo Muani (70’ Buta), Marmoush

Goals: 1-0 Lee (25’)
 
Attendance: 33,305
 
Referee: Bastian Dankert

Key incidents: Second yellow for Knauff (61’)