Mainz beat Eagles in friendly | OneFootball

Nene Brown was on target as Eintracht lost 3-1 to 1. FSV Mainz 05 at the Bruchwegstadion.

Eintracht’s starting XI showed four changes from the 3-1 home defeat to Bo Henriksen’s side in the Bundesliga on 21 December. Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was back between the sticks, joining Can Uzun, Mo Dahoud and Ansgar Knauff in the Eagles’ line-up. Hugo Ekitiké, Rasmus Kristensen, Ellyes Skhiri and Kaua Santos were among the substitutes.

Brown responds after Kohr double

There was little in the way of goalmouth action in the early stages of the first half, but the home side were more clinical with the opportunities that fell their way. Former Eagles midfielder Dominik Kohr opened the scoring for Henriksen’s team on 21 minutes – moments after Uzun had fired narrowly over the crossbar from the edge of the box.

Omar Marmoush had a trademark free-kick saved by Robin Zentner and Farès Chaibi was denied by a last-ditch block, before Phillipp Mwene doubled Mainz’s advantage with 15 minutes of the hour-long first period remaining. Kohr’s second of the game gave the hosts a three-goal lead, but in-form Brown reduced the deficit from Marmoush’s through-ball to give the Eagles hope.

Ekitiké denied by woodwork

Nnamdi Collins and Arthur Theate were the only players to survive Toppmöller’s half-time reshuffle, but the Eagles pair were eventually replaced 15 minutes later by Timothy Chandler and Noah Fenyö. One of Eintracht’s half-time substitutes, Ekitiké, almost made it 3-2 when he rattled the woodwork from Niels Nkounkou’s pass with just under half an hour remaining.

Toppmöller’s charges dominated the latter stages without properly troubling Lasse Rieß in the Mainz goal, as the home side held on to record back-to-back 3-1 wins over their neighbours. The Eagles now turn their attention to Saturday’s trip to FC St. Pauli in their first Bundesliga assignment of 2025.  Head coach Dino Toppmöller: “We did a lot of things well and our high press was good at times, especially in the first half. What we’re lacking a bit right now is that ruthlessness to convert our chances – we could have scored more than one today. It’s frustrating because we created chances that we should have scored from. But that will come. We can take important lessons from this, and all of the boys got a chance to show what they can do.”