By Rich

​André Silva on Friday scored his 10th goal in his last 12 Bundesliga matches, leading Eintracht Frankfurt to a 3:1 victory over hosts Hertha Berlin. Silva scored the contest’s 1st goal on a penalty kick in the 30th minute, and Eintracht extended its lead with goals from Bas Dost, in the 37th minute, and Sebastian Rode in the 71st minute. Hertha was able to avoid a shutout, however, when Eintracht’s Martin Hinteregger scored on his own goal in the 78th minute. Hinteregger’s own goal was Frankfurt’s 60th in the Bundesliga: only SV Werder Bremen have more, with 61. The win gives Frankfurt the honor of a short stay at the top of the table going into Saturday’s matches. Two of the club that will challenge Eintracht’s position will face each other on Saturday, when Augsburg hosts Borussia Dortmund. Both teams won their season-opening matches last week. The same meeting between the 2 clubs last year was one of the most exciting matches of the season: Augsburg, on the scoring prowess of Florian Niederlechner, led the match 2:0 and later 3:1, before losing by a 5:3 score. Changes made by Augsburg over the summer, including the acquisition of ex-Union Berlin goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz and the signing of Daniel Caligiuri, could lead the club to one of its strongest seasons in recent memory. Augsburg will have to find a way on Saturday of stopping Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland. It was Haaland who, in his Bundesliga debut, scored a hat trick against Augsburg back in January, and Augsburg have conceded more Bundesliga goals against Dortmund than any other club. Bielefeld will continue their return to the Bundesliga on Saturday when they host 1. FC Köln, and could pick up 3 valuable early-season points: Köln have managed to win just 1 of their last 7 top-flight meetings with Bielefeld. Looking ahead to Sunday, 2 more of the teams that won their season openers will meet, when Hoffenheim host Bayern München. Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramaric, who managed to put 4 goals past Dortmund on the final matchday of last season, will try to outscore Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski, and Hoffenheim may look to avenge their 6:0 loss to Bayern last season. A Bayern win would set a new Bundesliga record of 11 for consecutive away matches won. Hoffenheim, incidentally, have announced a partnership with MLS club FC Cincinnati, which could lead to opportunities for players to move between the 2 clubs.

By Rich

​Jens Grahl is a 31-year-old goalkeeper for VfB Stuttgart. Grahl was born on September 22, 1988 in Stuttgart, West Germany, and spent his youth career playing for TSV Münster, SpVgg Feuerbach, VfB Stuttgart, Stuttgarter Kickers, and SpVgg Greuther Fürth. His senior career continued at Fürth beginning in 2006, where he made 72 appearances for SpVgg Greuther Fürth II until 2009. He joined TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in 2009, where he made 89 appearances for both the senior and reserve squads between 2009 and 2016, except for 1 year on loan to SC Paderborn during the 2011-2012 season. He joined his current club for the 2016-2017 season, and his current contract runs through June 2020.