Mainz 05 win in friendly against Kiel

1. FSV Mainz 05 won 2-0 against Holstein Kiel in their first friendly match of their pre-season training camp in Brixental, playing three periods of 45 minutes at the Silberstadt Arena in Schwaz. In a match which was relatively lacking in chances, Jonny Burkardt opened the scoring in the first period, with Stefan Bell heading home a second in the final third. 

“It was a good test for us. We played well in the first half. Even though we had some problems with our high pressing, we were playing against strong opposition. This was our first friendly against top-flight opposition,” commented Bo Henriksen after the game. “We got better after 25 minutes. We’re going to work hard on our own game in the next few days, particularly on our pressing and our defence. It’s also important that we develop a good understanding that we’re going to do everything on the pitch as a team. If not, then our pressing will cause us some issues.”

Burkardt scores in the first 45 minutes

“We want to see the things we’ve been working on in training,” Henriksen demanded this of his players at Thursday’s team training session. His side delivered exactly that in the opening exchanges of the first third, as they sought to control both the possession and the opposition before taking an early lead. After Anthony Caci crossed the ball in, Burkardt punished the Kiel defence’s lack of communication and left Timon Weiner helpless in the Kiel net (6’). The newly promoted side from North Germany offered little in attack; in fact, almost all the chances were being created by the Zerofivers, who were finding their way out of the Kiel press again and again, which helped them to launch attacks. Dominik Kohr narrowly missed the target at the quarter-hour mark, whilst Weiner was equal to Armindo Sieb’s effort from the left-hand side (21’). Henriksen’s side didn’t allow their opponents any real chances in the first 45 minutes and were well on top in the game, going into the first interval with a deserved 1-0 lead.

Snapshots of the 3 x 45-minute periods at the Silberstadt Arena in Schwaz

A balanced and goalless second 45 minutes

Karim Onisiwo came on up front for Gruda at the start of the second period, which began with Kiel’s first good chance of the game, as Timo Becker headed onto the bar from former Mainz player Lewis Holtby’s cross. The Zerofivers continued to press high, but they hadn’t established the same dominance as they had in the second 45 minutes, as their levels dropped a little bit in comparison to the first period. That said, they remained robust and stable at the back as the game became more balanced. Nadiem Amiri next went close for Mainz with a free kick from 20 yards out (60’). Following this effort, Amiri, Zentner, Burkardt, Andreas Hanche-Olsen and Lee Schluss were replaced by Aymen Barkok, Maxim Dal, Tom Krauß, Nelson Weiper and Daniel Batz.  Nebel then went close in the 69th minute, but his effort sailed just past the left post. Kiel too had their chances, but the final stages of the second period did not lead to many decent chances besides Barkok’s effort in the 90th minute. 

Bell heads in a second

Philipp Mwene and Edi Fernandes came on for the start of the final third, and the Austrian right-back sent in a corner in the 102nd minute towards the head of veteran Bell, which he sent into the back of the net for 2-0. This goal was followed by a considerable rain shower over the Silberstadt Arena, which did not make things easier for the players, coupled with the fact that lots of changes were taking place. Apart from Silvan Widmer, Marco Richter, Danny da Costa, Kaishu Sano and Max Kinzig, all players got minutes on the pitch. As a result, the friendly, which was already being interrupted with lots of stoppages, lacked structure. The Zerofivers continued to get forward, but were unable to create anything noteworthy, and so it remained 2-0 come the final whistle.

Fan evening, training sessions and an internal friendly

After today’s 135-minute friendly, the Zerofivers will have a reduced training schedule on Saturday and will also host the traditional fan evening. Bo Henriksen has also organised an internal friendly on Tuesday.