US Coach Returns To His Hoffenheim Roots

It is a return to the routes for Pellegrino Matarazzo. On Wednesday, Bundesliga side Hoffenheim announced the native of Wayne, New Jersey was announced as the replacement for the recently sacked André Breitenreiter.

Breitenreiter was led go by Hoffenheim after averaging just 1.00 points per game in 19 Bundesliga games. Signed from FC Zürich, where Breitenreiter surprisingly won the title, the 49-year-old never met the high expectations placed on him by what was once one of the most innovative clubs in German football.

But perhaps the return of Matarazzo will also bring back some of the original founding spirit initially instilled into the club by SAP founder Dietmar Hopp. Matarazzo previously worked in the Breisgau from 2017 to 2019, first as the U17 manager and then as an assistant coach to Julian Nagelsmann.

Matarazzo highlighted at his previous club VfB Stuttgart that he could play attractive attacking football while working in a heated environment with limited resources. The US American, who has been living in Germany for over 20 years, is very much in tune with the football philosophy previously preached by Nagelsmann.

The 45-year-old prefers a 3-4-2-1 system with a quick transition game and proactive football in which, ideally, his side will have the majority of possession. The sort of football made Hoffenheim famous when they were first promoted under Ralf Rangnick in 2008.

“I’m convinced of the team’s quality and will approach the task full of verve and with great confidence,” Matarazzo said at the club presentation. “TSG is synonymous with offensive, courageous, and fresh football. I want to quickly get the team back to playing the kind of football that has set them apart for many years and that they’ve already impressively shown on the pitch this season.”

Hoffenheim, too felt that bringing back Matarazzo made sense. “We also know him and are therefore convinced that he is the right man for the head coach job,” TSG director of football Alexander Rosen said in a club statement. “He not only led VfB Stuttgart to promotion but also proved his qualities by keeping them in the Bundesliga. He can cope with pressure and knows what is required in this situation. His philosophy of play, his vision of football, and his way of dealing with people make him a 100% fit for TSG and its approach – well beyond the current situation.”

But the head coach will have to fight off relegation before Matarazzo can get to work and bring back the style of football that made Hoffenheim an innovator in Germany, the head coach will have to fight off relegation. Hoffenheim currently sits in 14th place in the Bundesliga, just three points above the relegation playoff dropline, which is presently occupied by Matarazzo’s former club Stuttgart.

Furthermore, Hoffenheim did lose highly talented Georginio Rutter to Leeds United in the January window. Although Rutter was not necessarily the most productive player, his speed and attacking intelligence would have served Matarazzo well.

Instead, the American will now get to work with Kasper Dolberg. The talented Danish striker is currently trying to resurrect what was once a promising career. Perhaps by getting Dolberg back going, Matarazzo too can again be attractive to the top clubs that wanted to hire him years ago before the turbulent times at Stuttgart.

One thing, however, is a certainty now. The US men’s national team job, to which he was briefly linked too following the country’s turmoils after the World Cup, is not an option. Not that that was ever likely, given his deep roots in a country he has now called home for over two decades.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth