By Eskender Tamrat 2. Bundesliga Saturday Preview: Leaders Hannover play on the road, Fortuna open doors for all

Four games will be played on Saturday, including the last Topspiel before the first international break of the season.

Three of the top four teams will play away from home on Saturday in 2. Bundesliga. In the afternoon, last season’s Bundesliga clubs Holstein Kiel and Bochum will entertain Hannover and Preußen Münster, respectively.

Meanwhile, Eintracht Braunschweig and Arminia Bielefeld will hope to continue their strong starts to the season. As for Topspiel, Fortuna Düsseldorf will host Karlsruher SC for what will be the first of the five games where the club allow free stadium entrance for spectators.

Holstein Kiel vs. Hannover 96

The hosts came off two 2-0 wins away from home after losing the first two 2. Bundesliga fixtures. USMNT left-back John Tolkin scored his first goals for the club against FC 08 Homburg and Greuther Fürth.

Meanwhile, Hannover are the only team with a perfect record from the first three matchdays of the season. However, they exited the cup in Cottbus as Boris Tomiak missed a penalty-kick in a narrow defeat.

Team News

There are no new injuries in Kiel’s squad as Marcel Rapp is expected to make no changes from last weekend’s starting XI in Fürth. Bayern Munich’s loanee Noel Aseko only played the first-half of the win over Magdeburg, but he’s fit enough to retain his place in Hannover’s lineup.

Predicted Lineups

Kiel: Krumrey; Zec, Johansson, Komenda; Bernhardsson, Knudsen, Wagner, Tolkin; Skrzybski ©, Therkelsen; Harres

Hannover: Noll; Ghita, Tomiak, Okon; Matsuda, Aseko, Leopold ©, Neubauer; Bundu, Rochelt; Pichler

VfL Bochum vs. Preußen Münster

Bochum started the season with hopes of getting back into the Bundesliga at the first time of asking, but Dieter Hecking’s side found it tough in the opening weeks of the Zweite Bundesliga. They lost both of their first two games away from home, including last weekend’s defeat in Schalke after taking the lead with only 25 minutes left to play.

Preußen Münster will be their opponents at Vonovia Ruhrstadion on Saturday afternoon. Alexander Ende’s side played their last three matches at home, including the cup defeat on penalties to Hertha Berlin. Die Adler will be content if they repeat last season’s 15th-placed finish.

Team News

The hosts will be without their captain Matus Bero due to an injury. Gerrit Holtmann will probably keep his place up front following his solid start to the season. Ex-Bayern winger Oliver Batista Meier opened his account for Münster in last weekend’s 2-1 win over Nürnberg.

Predicted Lineups

Bochum: Horn ©; Morgalla, Vogt, Kleine-Bekel; Passlack, Lenz, Wittek; Onyeka, Pannewig; Hofmann, Holtmann

Münster: Schenk; ter Horst, Heuer, Jaeckel, Bolay; Preißinger; Schulz, Hendrix ©, Mees; Lokotsch, Batista Meier

Eintracht Braunschweig vs. Arminia Bielefeld

This will be a game between two early candidates for the surprise of the season. Eintracht Braunschweig continued their impressive 2. Bundesliga start with a remarkable performance against holders VfB Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal on Tuesday.

As for Bielefeld, they’re the only team to knock out a Bundesliga club in the first round of the cup. Both teams won their first two league games of the season before losing last week to Karlsruhe and Dynamo Dresden, respectively.

Team News

Braunschweig’s center-back Louis Breunig will miss the game after his injury-time red card in Karlsruhe. Similarly, Christopher Lannert and youngster Daniel Richter are suspended for Bielefeld.

Predicted Lineups

Braunschweig: Hoffmann; Ehlers, Köhler ©, Frenkert; Aydin, Marie, Sanchez; Heußer, Kaufmann; Yardimci, Gomez

Bielefeld: Kersken; Hagmann, Schneider, Großer, Handwerker; Russo; Mehlem, Corboz ©; Sarenren Bazee, Grodowski, Boakye

Fortuna Düsseldorf vs. Karlsruher SC

The mood at Düsseldorf is changing slightly with Daniel Thioune’s side winning back-to-back games after a false start. The atmosphere for Saturday night’s game against Karlsruhe will be electric as it’s the first of the five home games this season in their “Fortuna für alle” project.

That means Karlsruhe fans can also attend the game in Düsseldorf free of charge alongside the home supporters. The visitors collected seven points from the first three 2. Bundesliga weekends, and they progressed to the second round of the cup with relative ease.

Team News

New signings Cedric Ittem and Florent Muslija scored the goals in Fortuna’s first league win of the season last week, and there could be another debutant on Saturday in former QPR striker Zan Celar. Louey Ben Farhat and Niclas Dühring are the only absentees for the away side.

Predicted Lineups

Düsseldorf: Kastenmeier ©; Egouli, Oberdorf, Schmidt; El Azzouzi; Lunddal, Rossmann; Alexandropoulos, Appelkamp, Muslija; Itten

Karlsruhe: Bernat; Kobald, Franke, Rapp; Jung, Herold; Egloff, Müller, Wanitzek ©; Simic, Schleusener

After the conclusion of the DFB Pokal first round earlier this week, the draw for the second round was completed today.

In the first round, there was one major shock, with Nürnberg losing to Illertissen on penalties, while Werder Bremen were the only Bundesliga team failing to qualify for the next round after losing to Arminia Bielefeld.

There were several close calls for Bundesliga sides, however, with 1.FC Köln needing extra time to beat Jahn Regensburg, Bayern Munich needed a late winner to beat Wehen Wiesbaden 3-2, while VfB Stuttgart needed penalties to beat Eintracht Braunschweig.

The draw for the second round has produced several interesting all-Bundesliga ties. The standout being Eintracht Frankfurt vs Borussia Dortmund. While 1.FC Köln host Bayern, and Stuttgart travels to Mainz.

The lowest-ranked side left in the competition, Illertissen, who are in the fourth tier, will play Magdeburg.

The games will be played from the 28th to the 29th of October.

Full DFB Pokal draw:

Illertissen vs Magdeburg

Energie Cottbus vs RB Leipzig

Union Berlin vs Arminia Bielefeld

Heidenheim vs Hamburg

Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Karlsruher SC

Hertha Berlin vs Elversberg

Greuther Fürth vs Kaiserslautern

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Borussia Dortmund

Darmstadt vs Schalke

Augsburg vs Bochum

Fortuna Düsseldorf vs Freiburg

Paderborn vs Bayer Leverkusen

Mainz vs Stuttgart

Wolfsburg vs Holstein Kiel

1.FC Köln vs Bayern Munich

St.Pauli vs Hoffenheim

GGFN | Jack Meenan

Florian Plettenberg reports that Borussia Mönchengladbach and Karlsruher SC have worked out the details of Shio Fukuda’s loan. The 21-year-old will head to the 2. Bundesliga for the season on loan with a purchase option totaling around €1-1.5m.

Rumors about the rather significant transfer began surfacing earlier today. Fukuda was not in the Gladbach squad for their opening round Pokal fixture over the weekend. Plettenberg reports that Fukuda is headed to the Fächerstadt to complete his medical immediately.

Fukuda has made 11 top flight appearances for Gladbach over the last two seasons. He scored his inaugural Bundesliga goal last January and also dazzled for the foals in a recent pre-season friendly over the summer. Despite this, he was not expected to earn playing time with the first team this year.

Fukuda remains under contract with Gladbach until 2027 and maintains an estimated market value of €500,000. The deal should be confirmed by early tomorrow.

GGFN | Peter Weis

Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg has reported that Shiō Fukuda’s transfer to Karlsruher SC is considered a done deal.

A full agreement with Borussia Mönchengladbach has been reached for the 21-year-old talent.

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Fukuda will initially join the 2.Bundesliga club from Baden-Württemberg on loan with option to buy for €1–1.5million.

The U-21 Japanese forward is on his way to Karlsruhe for his medical, with the signing set to be officially announced thereafter.

Fukuda has made 11 Bundesliga appearances as a substitute for Die Fohlen-elf in the last two seasons, while scoring a solitary goal.

Borussia Mönchengladbach have officially confirmed attacking prospect Shio Fukuda’s move to 2. Bundesliga outfit Karlsruher SC. The 21-year-old will be heading to the Fächerstadt on loan this season. KSC have retained a purchase option as part of the deal.

In other Gladbach-related personnel news, Fabrizio Romano reports that the foals are awaiting USMNT international Giovanni Reyna’s decision on whether he will be joining the club. Both Gladbach and Parma have offered Borussia Dortmund around €3m to €3.5m for the 22-year-old.

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Reyna must now decide for himself where he would like to go. The 32-times-capped international has no future with his current Bundesliga club and may be tempted to depart German football entirely. Reyna’s disappointing loan stint with Nottingham Forest may nevertheless temper thoughts of moving abroad.

“Shio is a young player with a lot of potential,” BMG sporting director Roland Virkus said of the Fukuda deal. “For his further development, it is necessary for him to gain playing experience at the highest possible level. The second division offers the ideal environment to take his next steps.“

GGFN | Peter Weis

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