The Gold Sheet

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The PLAY: Eintracht Frankfurt 160

With the World Cup heading to North America this summer, The GoldSheet will be ramping up its soccer coverage over the next few weeks. On Sunday, we take a trip to the German Bundesliga for a look at Eintracht Frankfurt's trip to St Pauli.

Perhaps it was inevitable that Eintracht Frankfurt would flounder this season. Too much outflow in the transfer market the past year, with Omar Marmoush off to Man City last winter and Hugo Ekitike moving to Liverpool last summer, have shorn Die Adler of two of the brightest stars in the Bundesliga. The Champions League campaign soon went off the rails, causing manager Dino Toppmöller to take the fall, but a savior might have since arrived in the form of Spaniard Albert Riera. Immediately upon his coaching hire at the start of February, he delivered a fire-and-brimstone message to his team and the fan base, urging his squad to embrace their attacking nature. Early returns are promising with positive results in three of four (two wins, including last Sunday’s 2-0 over Freiburg), and a gallant effort at the Allianz Arena against high-flyiing Bayern Munich, whose 3-0 lead became under serious threat in the second half as Riera’s never-say-die troops cut the margin to 3-2 and put Bayern goalie Jonas Urbig under siege. Sitting seventh in the Bundesliga table, and nine points adrift of Bayer Leverkusen in sixth, a return to Europe next fall seems a tall order, but in the short term, Eintracht Frankfurt look very alive again under Riera. Meanwhile, St Pauli is dangerously close to the Bundesliga drop zone, sitting 15th and only one point above Werder Bremen and forced into the relegation playoff, and a mere three points above Wolfsburg and a direct drop to 2 Bundesliga. Considering recent form and the revival under Riera, the straight win price on Eintracht Frankfurt in the +160 range looks far too good to bypass.