Christian Streich’s side lined up against the seventh-placed Bundesliga 2 side without their international and injured players and with two U23 players in the starting XI. Vincent Vermeij, who made his Bundesliga debut against Greuther Fürth last time out, partnered Lucas Höler in attack, while Yannik Engelhardt started alongside Maximilian Eggestein in midfield.

Both sides looked to start the game offensively and SC had the first good chance of the game at the Europa-Park Stadion. Vincenzo Grifo had an effort from the left which was saved bz Heidenheim goalkeeper Vitus Eicher. At the other end, the visitors converted their first chance to take the lead. After a quick free kick in midfield, Maurice Malone found himself one-on-one with Benjamin Uphoff and found the bottom corner to open the scoring (13’). Four minutes after going behind, Freiburg leveled things up when Lukas Kübler fired into the back of the top corner from the edge of the area.

Streich’s team had to be alert defensively, with the visitors often on the attack and finding their way into the penalty area. Kübler and Noah Weißhaupt caused problems down the right-hand side for Heidenheim but were unable to create many scoring chances. The scores were still at 1-1 after half an hour, but Freiburg were the side that dominated the game, while the visitors were unable to create any real attacks in the opposition half. Keven Schlotterbeck was able to get a shot off after a corner kick but his effort missed the mark by centimetres (38’). One of the best moves of the half saw Grifo find Höler. The midfielder passed to Jonathan Schmid, who centred into the box to Vermeij but the forward’s shot was saved by goalkeeper Eicher. Two minutes later, Höler had another good chance from a narrow angle but his effort narrowly missed the target (41’). “I’m very pleased with the first half. We had a lot of tempo in our play and did well on the ball. We just switched off a bit at the goal we conceded,” said Streich on the first half.

“A very good test”

The game was more balanced after the break. Heidenheim were able to put the home side under pressure earlier and were more secure in possession. However, no action reached the Freiburg area and Uphoff was left relatively quiet. The head coach wasn’t as pleased with his side’s second-half performance. He’d asked his team to “continue playing calmly,” especially as SCF had lost possession in their build-up play. From the sidelines, Streich was also critical of his team’s aggression against the ball and there was a lack of good chances in the second 45 minutes. It took 75 minutes until Streich’s men worked out a good chance to find the back of the net. Schmid found space in the area and shot from a central position but his effort was blocked. Shortly before that, Vermeij just failed to meet a Weißhaupt cross inside the six-yard box.

Heidenheim remained dangerous but Janik Haberer was unable to make the most of their best chance to score. The forward received a cross from substitute Kimberley Ezekwem but shot over the bar in the 84th minute. Schlotterbeck was also on hand to prevent the visitors taking a late lead just two minutes later; his slide tackle deflecting the ball away from goal. The final stages of the game saw some end-to-end action. Schmid found Weißhaupt  with a fantastic cross from the right, but his header was parried brilliantly by Eicher. “Overall, it was a very good test for us. Heidenheim did well over 90 minutes and some young players from the second team performed well for us. I’m pleased,” said Streich, whose team will welcome FC Bayern Munich to the Europa-Park Stadion in their first game after the international break (2nd April, 15:30 CET).