Baum tees up Burkardt in friendly success | OneFootball

Eintracht defeated third-tier outfit Waldhof Mannheim 1-0 thanks to a goal from Jonathan Burkhardt.

Just under six hours after leaving their training camp on Saturday, Eintracht Frankfurt played a friendly against third-division side SV Waldhof Mannheim. 

As was the case against Trabzonspor, head coach Adi Hütter sent his side out in a 4-2-2-2 formation, and the starting XI was almost identical too. The only change was Julian Etse beginning in place of Nnamdi Collins at centre-back, while Ansgar Knauff was preferred to Younes Ebnoutalib up front.  

Solid at the back 

The 11,586 fans in attendance witnessed the Eagles wrestle control of proceedings as the match progressed. Mannheim waited for openings on the counter, but the Eintracht backline kept them firmly in check, with a volley from Terence Boyd the best they could must initially (11’). 

Chances for Eintracht 

Hütter’s charges struggled to find gaps in the final third before the interval too, although there were glimpses of goal for Etse (13’) and Can Uzun (23’), while Ritsu Doan went close with a teasing corner (25’). Jonathan Burkardt had the clearest chance in the 35th minute. After Knauff regained possession, Uzun quickly found Burkardt, whose powerful drive was well saved by goalkeeper Thijmen Nijhuis. 

Burkardt with the winner

Eintracht edged ahead early in what was a hard-fought second half when Elias Baum squared the ball for Burkardt, who was left with a simple finish into the empty net (50’) with what was ultimately the winning goal. 

After the final whistle, head coach Adi Hütter said: “We had nine intensive days at the training camp, so you could see that the lads were looking a bit leggy. But what I really liked was that they tried to implement the things we’ve worked on in training. Looking at the game, we should’ve scored more goals. But we don’t need to talk about that. Michael Zetterer also made a couple of really good saves, so all in all it was a really good test at this stage of our preparations.”

Next up

While Waldhof Mannheim get underway in the new third-division season next week, the Eagles now have three days off. Their next fixture is on 8 August at the maxworx Sportpark in Dreieich against Hull City FC (kick-off 15:00 CEST).