An own goal from Martin Ørnskov of Brøndby and a smart finish from Anthony Modeste gave Hoffenheim a comfortable half time lead. The real breakthrough came in the second 45 when Ádam Szalai scored twice along with goals from Ermin Bičakčić, Tarik Elyounoussi and Sven Schipplock.
Four days ago Hoffenheim returned home from a memorable trip to South Africa that included a game against Kaizer Chiefs in the Soccer City stadium, the same stadium that hosted the World Cup Final in 2010. It was part of the Bundesliga ‘World Tour’ that saw teams from the Bundesliga travel all over the world, FC Köln and Bayer Leverkusen travelled to America whilst Bayern Munich and FC Schalke travelled to the Middle East.
This was the 2nd last game before they resumed Bundesliga action next Sunday against FC Augsburg. They face a Brøndby side who were also in their winter break in the Danish Superliga, they’re last game was on the 7th December. Many German and British football fans might recognise some of the names in Brøndby’s starting line up. It contained Daniel Agger, who surprisingly moved from Liverpool in the summer, and Teemu Pukki who has played for Celtic and Schalke.
Hoffenheim started in a typical 4-2-3-1 formation with Roberto Firmino, Kevin Volland and Steven Zuber in behind Anthony Modeste, who in recent days has been linked with a move to England. The opening 15 minutes were pretty quiet with Volland having the only chance of the game with his trusty left foot. The first goal was actually an own goal from Martin Ørnskov. Sebastian Rudy then sent a free kick just over the bar from 26 yards out before Modeste made it 2-0. It was well worked by the attackers before Modeste scored from 12 yards out.
Half time was signalled by the referee and Hoffenheim had a well deserved 2-0 lead with Brøndby rarely threatening Jens Grahl’s goal. As it was a friendly many substitutions were made, 4 at half time alone. Sejad Salihović came on for Eugen Polanski and Modeste came off for Ádam Szalai to list a couple. Salihović set up his fellow Bosnian international Ermin Bičakčić who scored the third with his head.
Then came a crazy period of play that saw TSG score 4 goals in 4 minutes. Sven Schipplock grabbed the first after dispossessing his opponent before slotting home. Subsequently Szalai scored a great goal from 24 meters out to make it 5-0 before Tarik Elyounoussi made it 6-0. Szalai grabbed his second a minute later to round off an emphatic victory.