Bundesliga Teams Compete in St. Petersburg Florida During Preseason Match
In a game in front of 4,623 fans at the Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, Hertha BSC Berlin beat Eintracht Frankfurt with 2:1 result in the Florida Cup.
More than 4,000 soccer fans watched the Bundesliga exhibition match January 8, 2020 as Eintracht Frankfurt took on Hertha Berlin in an exciting kickoff to the sixth edition of the Florida Cup 2020.
The special exhibition match was free to attend for fans, and soccer lovers responded with appreciation as thousands came out on a Wednesday evening to watch two world-class clubs compete.
It was a good preseason exhibition match of two top professional teams from Germany who traveled to Florida.
The final score of 2-1 earned Hertha BSC the victory. German football legend Jürgen Klinsmann — former U.S. Soccer’s Men’s National Team head coach — has taken the reins at Hertha Berlin from Ante Covic until the end of the 2019/20 season and was on hand at the game.
Hertha currently sits 15th in the Bundesliga table and are only above the relegation play-off spot on goals scored ahead of Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Neither team had many chances in the first half. Hertha’s Forward Vedad Ibisevic missed a header in the 33th minute. Frankfurt created towards the end of the first half with two nice chances by midfielder Djibril Sow and forward Bas Dost.
In the 70th minute, Alexander Esswein finished his beautiful solo run from the left side to put his side Hertha with 1:0 in front.
U.S. National team player Timmy Chandler equalized two minutes later by finishing a well-executed counter-attack for Frankfurt. Both sides were playing to win and created good chances on both ends.
The winning goal for Hertha came through a questionable penalty kick which Esswein put in the net. Eintracht pushed forward for the equalizer and missed two great chances right before the end of the game.
Both teams are finishing their training winter camp in Florida today and will be heading back to Germany to tackle the second part of the German Bundesliga.
The largest annual international soccer event in the Sunshine State, the Florida Cup is already a January tradition in Orlando, Florida.
In six years, the Florida Cup has become a global platform that combines sports, music, and entertainment. So far, 26 international clubs have participated in the Florida Cup: Flamengo (BRA), São Paulo (BRA), Corinthians (BRA), Atlético Mineiro (BRA), Fluminense (BRA), Vasco da Gama (BRA), Bahia (BRA), Internacional (BRA), Ajax (NED), PSV Eindhoven (NED), Eintracht Frankfurt (GER), Bayer Leverkusen (GER), Schalke 04 (GER), Wolfsburg (GER), FC Köln (GER), Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR), Estudiantes de La Plata (ARG), River Plate (ARG), Atlético Nacional (COL), Millonarios (COL), Santa Fe (COL), Barcelona (ECU), Fort Lauderdale Strikers (USA), Tampa Bay Rowdies (USA), Rangers FC (SCO) and Légia Warsaw (POL).
2020 newcomers Palmeiras and NYCFC will be the 27th and 28th clubs to participate in the Florida Cup.
Images Courtesy of Bundesliga Official
