GERMAN BUNDESLIGA
Bundesliga: Hoffenheim climb to fifth with win
Hoffenheim beat hosts Freiburg 1-0 thanks to a superb first-half goal by Brazilian striker Maicosuel to move up to fifth place in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
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Maicosuel celebrates his goal.
The win put Hoffenheim on 20 points, three behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who drew 2-2 with fourth-placed Schalke 04 on Saturday. Werder Bremen are second on 22, with Hamburg SV level on points in third.
Hoffenheim were the better side, dominating throughout the match with striker Vedad Ibisevic missing early chances. Their pressure paid off when Maicosuel threaded an 18-metre curled shot past two Freiburg defenders five minutes before the break.
Hoffenheim's Carlos Eduardo and Andreas Ibertsberger came close early in the second half before Freiburg's Mohamadou Idrissou squandered the hosts' best chance when he headed wide from two metres in the 62nd minute.
Maik Franz went from villain to hero as he scored Eintracht Frankfurt's winner against 10-man Bochum, whose new head coach Heiko Herrlich saw his reign open with a 2-1 defeat.
Caio opened the scoring in the 14th minute for the hosts only to see Franz score an own goal after 25 minutes to level the scores. Franz, however, made up for his miscue with the decisive goal in the 53rd minute before Bochum went a man down with 10 minutes to go as Shinji Ono was given his second booking.
Frankfurt collected just their second win in the last six Bundesliga games to move into ninth place on 16 points - just four points from the European spots. Bochum, meanwhile, remain 17th place with just eight points and four from the last eight games.
