Bundesliga, Week 4 wrap: Hamburg grab first win, Mainz suffer first loss
Saturday’s early Bundesliga games had four big wins with Borussia Mönchengladbach, Hannover, and Hamburg all scoring four goals.
Martin Rose
Gladbach finally found the key that unlocked the Werder defense and dropped four goals on them in a 4-1 victory on Saturday. Lucien Favre rolled out the same lineup again this weekend and was duly rewarded. After controlling the match for the first half hour, Juan Arango finally put Gladbach on top in the 36th after megging Sebastian Mielitz. Just after halftime, Raffael made it 2-0 after putting in a rebound from Tony Jantschke’s shot.
However, Werder pulled on back in the 68th minute after an own goal from Håvard Nordtveit. Within minutes, Max Kruse put the lead back to two with a nice finish. Patrick Herrmann rounded Mielitz and finished in the 85th minute to give Gladbach their fourth and finished the route.
Hannover 4 - 1 Mainz
Mainz’s winning streak to start the season came to an abrupt halt on Saturday when Hannover put four goals past them on the way to a 4-1 win. Mainz started fantastically, with Nicolai Müller scoring his league-leading fifth goal in the 12th minute. Hannover used a six minute stretch starting in the 31st minute to take the lead and never looked back. Mame Diouf and Artur Sobiech made it 3-1 in the 31st and the 37th minutes.
With Mainz pushing for the equalizer in the second half, Thomas Tuchel subbed on two additional forwards. Hannover settled for the counterattack and grabbed goals in the 80th and 82nd minute through Didier Ya Konan and Edgar Prib. The big win sees Hannover jump all the way into 4th place.
Wolfsburg 2 - 0 Hertha Berlin
Hertha Berlin’s unbeaten run to start the season came to an end on Saturday with a 2-0 loss to Wolfsburg. Ivica Olic opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, deflecting Naldo’s shot into the back of the net. Then, a few minutes later, Diego was fouled in the area by John Anthony Brooks. The Brazilian stepped up and converted the penalty to give Wolfsburg the 2-0 lead. They held on for the win in a mostly mediocre second half.
Nürnberg 0 - 1 Augsburg
Augsburg grabbed a late goal thanks to Kevin Vogt to pick up their second straight win in a match that was riddled with 8 yellow cards and 1 red card.
Hamburg 4 - 0 Eintracht Braunschweig
Hamburg picked up their first win of the season and kept Braunschweig pointless with a big 4-0 victory. They grabbed two goals at the beginning of the game and two at the end of the game to give Thorsten Fink some much needed relief.
Rafael Van der Vaart opened the scoring in the 7th minute. Ten minutes later, Jacques Zoua made it 2-0. Late in the second half, 19 year old Hakan Çalhanoğlu scored a brace to give Hamburg the 4-0 win.
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