FSV Mainz 05 celebrated a successful start to their competitive game and made it into the second round of the DFB Cup.
Coach Bo Svensson’s team won 3-0 (1-0) at third division club Erzgebirge Aue on Sunday (07/31/2022). Dominik Kohr (41′), Delano Burgzorg (70′) and Marcus Ingvartsen (79′, hand penalty) scored in front of 8,446 spectators for Rheinhessen, who are visiting VfL Bochum for the start of the Bundesliga season on Saturday.
“To expect it to be easy would be naïve”, Svensson emphasized in the run-up to the game. The second division relegated was “one of the strongest that we can meet in this round”. The Mainz coach had to do without Danny Da Costa and Anthony Caci. In the starting line-up, the 42-year-old relied on new signing Maxim Leitsch, who made his competitive debut for Mainz.
Mainz dominated from the start
In the Erzgebirge stadium, the first attempts by Rheinhessen were not long in coming. But Jae-Sung Lee (1st) shot the shot wide of the goal on the right, and a little later Jonathan Burkardt (5th) put the ball over it. In what was initially a one-sided game, the guests kept creating chances, but initially their efforts were unsuccessful.
Kohr scores before the break
But the hosts, for whom it was the second competitive game of the season after the 1-1 draw at SC Freiburg II in the third division, got into the game better and better. Mainz, on the other hand, could not use their chances. This was also the case when Burkardt first hit the crossbar and followed it up with an overhead kick. But the shot landed in the arms of Aue keeper Philipp Klewin (19′).
Shortly thereafter things got dangerous after a counterattack on the Mainz side, but Paul-Philipp Besong shot just wide (20′). Aue held up well overall, but Kohr gave Mainz the lead just before the half-time break.
Also Aue with possibilities
After that, things continued happily, Lee forced Klewin to make a brilliant save (47′). Aue also had chances when Elias Paul Huth’s header went over the bar (53′). Mainz could not feel safe at first. Burgzorg finally raised, Ingvartsen put the lid on.