It was at Hoffenheim that Pellegrino Matarazzo was able to prove himself for the first time as a senior football coach. The New Jersey native served as an assistant to Julian Nagelsmann and Alfred Schreuder in 2018 and 2019 and returned to the club in February this year with TSG Hoffenheim in dire straits, sitting in 14th place after 19 rounds. Not only did Matarazzo save the club from relegation, but he also created a strangely competitive team over the summer.
After nine rounds, Hoffenheim currently sits sixth in the Bundesliga. How unexpected were the effects for the coach?
– ESPN Broadcast: LaLiga, Bundesliga, (USA)
“I train regularly every season with the white sheet, with a vision, but no expectations,” he said in an interview earlier this week. “So, for me, it’s about constantly progressing and moving up in the team. And in At the End of the Day, you don’t know with what time guys will realize that, what you need to talk about and develop. So I’m not surprised, but I didn’t expect it either. “
Four wins in a row, coupled with victories against VfL Wolfsburg and Union Berlin, have propelled Hoffenheim into the most sensible third place in the Bundesliga standings. Even their 3-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund at home was much closer than the scoreline suggests.
“I’m pleased with the way we started the season. I think if we had won against Frankfurt it would have been a start,” Matarazzo added. Hoffenheim suffered a 3-1 loss to Frankfurt on October 21 but returned to normal. after a 3-2 win over former Stuttgart team Matarazzo last weekend.
The attraction of this 45-year-old man is to be able to move between other worlds. First, there’s your personal journey. Born and raised in New Jersey as the son of Italian immigrants, he moved to Germany in 2000 at the age of 22 to play semi-professionally. Although he never played football above the third division, Matarazzo was able to forge an ambitious career. after his active time on the pitch.
“I’m glad I got to where I am on my own terms, on my own terms,” he said in a recent interview with ESPN’s Futbol Americas. After more than two decades of living and racing in Germany, Matarazzo has fully embraced football culture in general. Still, he would never deny his American roots.
In addition, since VfB Stuttgart hired him as head coach at the end of 2019, Matarazzo has coached teams that were or were comfortable in a disadvantaged role. A strategy focused on urgency and counterattack comes naturally to him. However, his time as assistant to Julian Nagelsmann, who is more of a possession-oriented coach, has also influenced the way Matarazzo thinks about football and analyses the game.
Asked what he took away from Hoffenheim’s loss to Frankfurt, he said: “I think we learned a lot from that game about our high pressing, the way we took advantage of depth, the way we played the game in general. Of course, the mistakes that led to the goals are goals conceded, more individual errors than anything else. But I take a lot of things away from this in terms of our top pressing and also how we created chances in the part of the moment where we had a lot of Array, how we discovered spaces, but our last pass wasn’t accurate enough. Deep runs weren’t available, they weren’t timely. “
These are the words of a coach who doesn’t believe that will and mentality alone can lead a team to success. Major and minor tactical points are equally vital, if not more so, at the highest point of football.
If we look for other signs that Matarazzo lives and operates in other worlds, we can point to the economic situation of Stuttgart and Hoffenheim. The two clubs are located 60 miles from each other and are situated in the richest region of Germany. , however, they have limited monetary resources and skills to make big-name signings in the moving market.
During his hundred games as Stuttgart coach, Matarazzo has proven to be an expert in selling talent. For example, Waldemar Antón, Gonzalo Castro and Wataru Endo were in danger because of Matarazzo, who trusted in his talent after going through a difficult time in their respective countries. However, despite how Matarazzo controlled the team, he ultimately could not overcome Stuttgart’s limitations and was released after a nine-match winless streak.
His departure from Stuttgart allowed him to return to Hoffenheim, this time as a coach. Although Hoffenheim has been subsidized by Dietmar Hopp, the billionaire co-founder of software giant SAP, it finds itself in a position where it has to balance its books and can no longer count on giant monetary injections from Hopp. In addition, the small-town club has a reputation for being a springboard for talented players.
Matarazzo knew what he was getting into, as he devised a plan to revamp the team after Hoffenheim’s disappointing 2022-23 campaign. He and the control addressed the problems, especially the lack of a top-class No. 1. 9, signing Mergim Berisha and Unfortunately for Matarazzo, Hoffenheim allowed Christoph Baumgartner, the talented and flexible attacking midfielder, to leave for RB Leipzig. Additionally, Stuttgart signed Angelo Stiller in the final phase of the move window to upgrade Wataru Endo. who had moved to Liverpool.
It looked like Matarazzo would end up missing a vital piece of their midfield, but Hoffenheim managed to get hold of former Germany international Anton Stach from Mainz on the deadline day. Still, last-minute tweaks to his team didn’t really get Matarazzo and the team to get the season started.
With this in mind, the importance of Florian Grillitsch’s return to Hoffenheim cannot be underestimated. Matarazzo himself seems to be a fan of ‘Flo’ and states: “It’s a great win for our team. I’m glad he’s on the pitch and that’s actually also why we need to dominate some opponents. “
Grillitsch spent some time on a bumpy road after leaving Hoffenheim in 2022. Several clubs were interested in signing him, but in the end they left the negotiating table. The Austrian midfielder ended up at Ajax and less than 12 months later he was fit to return to the club where he had performed many good times in the past.
“He sees the pitch like a lot of players,” Matarazzo added. I call him the 360-degree player, where he knows exactly how to get out of urgent situations, difficult situations, he has a wonderful preparation game and when he needs it, he can also protect and cover spaces, also defensively. “
Grillitsch is the type of star midfielder that only a few Bundesliga teams currently possess. He can create offensive plays in a way that may not be too exciting but very effective. There is possibly a metaphorical similarity to Matarazzo, who is anything but a loudmouth, but can deliver effects in a measured way.
Given that Matarazzo is currently the only American coach in Europe’s top five leagues, enthusiasts and officials would possibly wonder if Matarazzo would be the head coach of the USMNT at some point in the future. Although Matarazzo has lived in Germany for so long, he doesn’t seem to totally disapprove of the idea.
“I think it’s the right position to be in Hoffenheim,” he told Futbol Americas. “I think club football is for me right now, being on the pitch every day, running with the players each and every day, where the learning curve is also the highest. But at the same time, along with each and every one, I’m open. “I need to exchange concepts with anyone who expects something from me. “I want to contribute to football, especially at some point. There’s something that connects me to the United States, not just to my family, but to my entire education. “
For now, however, Matarazzo is focused on the task at hand: putting Hoffenheim in the third most sensible place, or at least in the most sensible part of the Bundesliga table. He does things his way and the effects speak in his favor. .