[NoSkillz]

Wed. December 4, 2024

UEFA Champions League - Group C
Dover (4-1-0, 13 points, 1st) vs. Hoffenheim (2-1-2, 7 points, 2nd)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Hoffenheim: 11-5
Past Meetings: 1W 0D 0L

Hoffenheim are tied on points with Palermo and will likely need to beat us to move on to the knockout stages, as Palermo faces the weak sister of the group in Hibernian. We beat the German club 3-2 away in our first group stage game. Attacking midfielder Ibrahim Sanogo, arguably their best player with 10 goals from 16 games this year, sprained his ankle recently and will miss today’s game.

With the group all wrapped up, we’ll start a much less than full strength side today. Andy Broomes will start up front and in behind him will be Zoltan Bardi at AMC. Getting rare starts are AML Felix Hernandez from our U18 club and reserve AMR Lyubomir Kunchev. Emmerson Harvey and Neil Cairney are in midfield today. Also getting a rare start, his first of the year, is DL Carlos Guzman. Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, Emerson and Saber Nasri round out the defence while Ingo Wilke starts in goal.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - C. Guzman, M. Yilmaz, S. Nasri, Emerson
M - E. Harvey, N. Cairney
AM - F. Hernandez, Z. Bardi, L. Kunchev
S - A. Broomes
Bench - Rafinha, M. Mutesa, V. Silhavy, A. Rocca, M. Pedersen, G. Allan, A. Velazquez

Hoffenheim come out in a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield formation. David Ospina is their goalkeeper and Federico Castro and Sam Mbambo are their strikers. We’re battling some overconfidence with a young lineup in today, especially young fullback Emerson. I tell the team this is a winnable game and pull aside the overconfident Emerson to say I expect a performance from him if he thinks it will be that easy tonight!

9’ - Andy Broomes and Neil Cairney work a give and go resulting in Cairney sending a delightful ball through the defence to our in-form striker. Broomes dribbles in and shoots weakly to the far corner but it’s beyond the reach of the outstretched Ospina and in! Solid start. DOVER GOAL 1-0

19’ - The left side of our defence is very vulnerable with Guzman and Yilmaz in there and we’ve been fortunate on a couple of early chances that went awry for Hoffenheim but it catches up to us. They start a brilliant three-way passing play resulting in Mbambo being wide open up the seam and he’s in on goal and shoots low past Wilke and it’s in. HOFFENHEIM GOAL 1-1

32’ - If I didn’t see it, I wouldn’t believe it!. We win a throw in down the right and it’s tossed into Zoltan Bardi. He cuts to the middle of the pitch and feeds Carlos Guzman, our left fullback who has pinched in. Guzman bursts past his marker and in on goal but his initial shot is saved. The rebound pops right back out to him and Guzman RIPS a shot into the back of the net! HOLY CRAP! Guzman is in his fourth year with our club and rarely plays but that is his first ever senior team goal for Dover! DOVER GOAL 2-1

HALFTIME - The stats are kind of ugly, as Hoffenheim hold 57% of the ball (!!) but we outshoot them 9-7 (5-3 on target). I really like how Neil Cairney is playing today, as I have him in our advanced midfielder role as opposed to his normal holding role - he looks lively out there today but his rating is rather pedestrian at half (6.9). I’m going to switch to a flat 4-4-2 to help our possession numbers in the second half. I tell the team I’m pleased so far.

46’ - One of their defenders, Fernando, had been booked early in the game and now he takes down Broomes after our striker gets past him. I’m expecting a second yellow and indeed, here it comes! Hoffenheim is down to ten men! HOFFENHEIM RED CARD: Fernando

Hoffenheim move to a very tight 3-4-2 formation with three DCs and two MCs.

63’ - Hoffenheim continues to push and I set the wheels in motion to take out Lyubomir Kunchev and move back to a 4-2-3-1 formation. Before that happens though, we have possession and it’s Kunchev sending a low cross into the area. Broomes outworks his marker and sends a quick shot past Ospina and in! That’s Broomes’ second goal and we have a bit of a cushion! DOVER GOAL 3-1

As indicated, we move back to a 4-2-3-1 and Kunchev comes off for Graham Allan.

73’ - I take out Emmerson Harvey and bring in veteran Andrea Rocca.

84’ - One more sub, as I take out the booked Emerson and bring in Rafinha, while also switching back to a flat 4-4-2.

That’s it. Good win.

Dover 3 - 1 Hoffenheim
Goals - Andy Broomes 2 (8.8), Carlos Guzman (8.3)
Assists - Neil Cairney (7.2)
Man of the Match - Andy Broomes
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (8.5), Saber Nasri (7.5), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (7.3)
Attendance - 22,117

We dominated the ball in that second half and ended up with 52% of overall possession but shots were in Hoffenheim’s favour 15-15 (9-7 on target). Ingo Wilke was terrific again and he’s seriously outplayed Manuel Perez so far this year. I may have to go back to Wilke a bit more often but we’ll see. Our defence was very shaky but Nasri, Guzman and Yilmaz get good notices. And what can I say about Andy Broomes? He’s up to 16 goals in only 20 matches and has been a key factor in our long stretch without Paul Moses - Broomes has definitely earned more playing time in the future due to this run and MAY even sub in for Chiquinho at times during the second half.

-- We get £696,000 for the group stage win.

-- In other action, in a bit of a shocker, Hibernian beat Palermo and that means that Hoffenheim move on despite losing to us! Crazy. The other groups all play next week.



League Cup - Semi-Final Draw

-- The winner of the match between us and Sheffield Wednesday will host the winner of the Arsenal/Manchester United match. Tough draw.



Next Up

-- We are back to Premier League play, hosting Aston Villa at Crabble Athletic Ground.