Successful dress rehearsal against Burnley

On Saturday afternoon, the Zerofivers were able to overcome Burnley 3-0 thanks to goals from Anthony Caci, Dominik Kohr and homegrown talent Brajan Gruda in front of almost 7,000 fans at the MEWA-Arena, who were able to enjoy a successful dress rehearsal before the first competitive match – a trip to second-division SV Elversberg in the DFB-Pokal at 18:00 CEST, Saturday 12th August.

Caci takes the first big chance

The first chance the visitors from England had was well saved by FSV’s number one, Robin Zentner, who was in the right place to stop Luca Koleosho’s effort, the first of many attempts on goal in the opening stages of the 120-minute long encounter. After almost a quarter of an hour, the Zerofivers began to look dangerous for the first time. From midfield, Leandro Barreiro found Danny da Costa, whose cross into Karim Onisiwo was too inaccurate and not hit with enough power, as it ended up on the roof of the net. 10 minutes later, the Luxembourg international had an effort from distance that missed the target. For a long time, the game was defined by the tactical discipline of both teams who didn’t give each other much room to get the ball up the pitch. However, when the opportunity presented itself shortly before half-time, the hosts were ice-cool in front of goal. On the right wing, Lee broke into a sprint, cutting inside before seeing a completely unmarked Caci burst into the box. He latched onto the South Korean’s pass and converted from 14 yards out to give Mainz the lead in the 43rd minute. A few minutes before, Merveille Papela had to come on to replace the injured Andreas Hanche-Olsen. The Premier League side responded immediately, but Nathan Redmond’s effort was parried away for a corner by Zentner shortly before referee Christian Dingert blew the half-time whistle.

The goalkeeper continued to impress after the changeover, as he showed his class in a second contest with Koleosho. After about an hour, both teams made their first round of substitutions, so that, among others, summer arrival Daniel Batz could celebrate his debut at the MEWA ARENA. He didn’t have to do anything for the visitor’s next opportunity, as Scott Twine blazed over the bar from 11 yards out. Mainz managed to hold onto their narrow lead up until the second break 90 minutes into the game, but it wouldn’t be long before they added to it. Svensson had used the last break in play to make more changes, not least letting Sepp van den Berg make his first outing in a Mainz jersey, as he replaced the experienced Stefan Bell. In the 96th minute, the Zerofivers moved the ball nicely up the pitch towards the opposition’s box. Weiper squared it for Dominik Kohr, who sidestepped a defender and finished to make the score 2-0. Five minutes later, Burnley had the opportunity to reply, but Dara Costelloe was denied by Lasse Rieß, who had just come on as a sub, as he made a fine reflex save with his foot. The home-grown talent also reacted brilliantly in the 105th minute to save a shot from Zeki Amdouni. Only a minute later, there was danger at the other end. Brajan Gruda fed the ball into Nelson Weiper after a counter-attack, whose shot was blocked by a defender.

As was the case against St. Gallen in Salzburg earlier in the week, it was eventually Gruda who struck the final blow. After a great ball from Krauß, he chested the ball down and calmly made it 3-0 by slotting it home with his next touch. Shortly afterwards, Rieß stood out one last time at the other end of the pitch, as he tipped Twine’s free kick away from the corner to preserve his clean sheet.

Bo Svensson looked happy at the end of the game, but was keen to stress that there’s more work to do. “It’s nice to have won a game against a strong team. It’s our second win in five days, but we’ve still things that we need to and work on. It’s good that not everything went to plan, so we have some footage that we can show the players again. We hope that Andreas’ injury isn’t too bad, he rolled his ankle. Things will get serious for the first time in seven days against Elversberg.”

A week after the game against Elversberg, the new Bundesliga season kicks off with a trip to play Union Berlin on 20th August. The following week, Eintracht Frankfurt await for the Rhein-Main derby in the first Bundesliga home game of the season.

Mainz 05: Zentner (62’ Batz, 91’ Rieß) – da Costa (62’ Barkok), Hanche-Olsen (38’ Papela), Bell (91’ van den Berg), Edimilson (77’ Mamutovic), Caci (77’ Kraft, 111’ Schulz) – Barreiro (62’ Kohr), Stach (62’ Krauß) – Lee (62’ Burgzorg), Onisiwo (77’ Gruda), Ajorque (77’ Weiper)

Goals: 1-0 Caci (43‘), 2-0 Kohr (97‘), 3-0 Gruda (114‘)
Attendance: approximately 6,700
Referee: Christian Dingert