By Rich

​Bundesliga competition resumes on Saturday after the international break, and many fans will be watching Saturday’s match between hosts Hoffenheim and visiting Borussia Dortmund. Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramaric scored 5 goals in the first 2 matches of the season, resulting in his being named Bundesliga Player of the Month, an award created by the Deutsche Fußball Liga in cooperation with EA Sports. Kramaric has now scored against all 22 Bundesliga clubs he has faced, and scored 4 goals in Borussia Dortmund on the last day of last season. If Kramaric scores against Dortmund on Saturday, he would become the first Hoffenheim player to score in 6 consecutive Bundesliga contests. Hoffenheim was the club that gave Bayern the latter’s first defeat in 10 months, with a 4:1 victory on Matchday 2. Dortmund, for their part, will welcome the return of Jadon Sancho, who missed the Supercup against Bayern and the Matchday 3 victory due to illness. Dortmund also field one of Kramaric’s chief scoring opponents in the league in Erling Haaland, and all 4 of his goals this season have come on home soil. Another potentially exciting contest on Saturday is that between hosts FC Augsburg and visiting RB Leipzig. Both clubs have collected 7 points so far this season, and Augsburg in particular can be pleased with their stellar start, having narrowly avoided relegation last season. A key part of Augsburg’s success so far has been their strong defense: they have conceded just 1 goal, and that was back on Matchday 1, while goaltender Rafal Gikiewicz has saved a league-high 15 of 16 shots faced. While Leipzig have thus far given up 2 goals, they have scored 8, in second place behind Bayern’s 13. Leipzig are unbeaten in their last 8 away matches in the Bundesliga, and a ninth win on Saturday would set a new club record. Leipzig also won both fixtures against Augsburg last season. The league has 1 more club with 7 points in the table, and that club, Eintracht Frankfurt, will travel to winless Cologne on Sunday. Frankfurt drew with Bielefeld in their season opener before going on to defeat both Hertha Berlin and Hoffenheim. Frankfurt’s scoring prowess has been driven by Andre Silva and Bas Dost, who have a combined 4 goals and 3 assists. The final fixture of the weekend will follow when Schalke host Union Berlin. While Schalke have so far suffered 3 losses and 15 goals against them, Union is coming off a draw against Gladbach and a win over Mainz. Should Schalke lose on Sunday, they will set a new club record of 7 consecutive Bundesliga defeats. Union, meanwhile, will likely look to more goals from summer signing Max Kruse, who scored his first goal for the club in the win over Mainz.

By Rich

Felix Wiedwald is a 30-year-old goalkeeper for Eintracht Frankfurt. Wiedwald was born on March 15, 1990 in Thedinghausen, West Germany, and spent his youth career playing for TSV Achim from 1997 to 1999 and SV Werder Bremen from 1999 to 2009. His senior career began at SV Werder Bremen II, where he made 39 appearances between 2009 and 2011. He then made 47 appearances for MSV Duisburg between 2011 and 2013, 12 appearances for Eintracht Frankfurt and Eintracht Frankfurt II between 2013 and 2015, 59 appearances for SV Werder Bremen between 2015 and 2017, 28 appearances for Leeds United from 2017 to 2018, 3 appearances since rejoining Eintracht in 2018, and 15 appearances on loan to MSV Duisburg in 2019. Wiedwald also made 1 appearance for Germany’s U20 squad in 2009.