Ibisevic piles on pain for hapless Hoffenheim
Reuters - Friday 16 March 2012, 21:42
Vedad Ibisevic scored two
first-half goals to help VfB Stuttgart pile on the misery for
hapless Hoffenheim with a 2-1 win in the Bundesliga on Friday.
Sejad Salihovic replied with a penalty for the hosts, still
smarting from last week's 7-1 humiliation at Bayern Munich, but
it was not enough as they continued a disappointing start for
new coach Markus Babbel.
Hoffenheim have won once in six Bundesliga outings since
Babbel replaced Holger Stanislawski in February and have dropped
to 12th in the table with 30 points, seven clear of the
relegation playoff spot.
Stuttgart are seventh on 36 points.
"I think we were too naive over the 90 minutes although we
played much better in the second half," said Babbel.
Hoffenheim could not have made a worse start as Khalid
Boulahrouz chipped the ball over the defence and Bosnia striker
Ibisevic hooked it in with his left foot.
"That was too easy," said Babbel as he analysed a replay of
the goal for German television.
The same combination set up Stuttgart's second goal two
minutes before half-time as the Dutchman produced a low cross
from the right and Ibisevic got in between two defenders to
score with a diving header, his ninth league goal of the season.
Hoffenheim fought back in the second half and reduced the
arrears in the 74th minute when Salihovic fired his penalty into
the roof of the net after Fabian Johnson was tripped by
Francisco Rodriguez.