By 
The opening two weekends of the Bundesliga 2 campaign have already served up a footballing feast and there’s plenty more to gorge on when week three gets underway with a tantalising doubleheader on Friday night.
USA star Matthew Hoppe is back from his CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning heroics with the national team as Schalke host Erzgebirge Aue, while Hamburg make the short trip to face city rivals St. Pauli.
It’s at the second city derby that we begin, with St. Pauli and HSV renewing rivalries almost a century after they met for the first time in their current forms, on 19 October 1924.
Both teams scored three times in earning opening day victories before drawing last time out, meaning they take four points into matchday 3, with the single goal separating the home side in fourth and the visitors in fifth.
St. Pauli are one of three teams yet to concede, with another of those sides, Aue, facing a stern test of their defensive credentials.
They travel to a Schalke side that put MD1 defeat to HSV behind them by brushing aside Holstein Kiel 3-0 last time out as summer signing Simon Terodde took his tally to three goals from just two appearances.
Marius Bülter, who has so far partnered Terodde in attack, was also on the scoresheet last weekend and Hoppe’s return from international duty – where he scored his first goal for the USA in the quarters and featured in all 120 minutes of their extra-time victory in the final – will add even greater potency to the Schalke now that he’s back at the VeltinsArena.
Elsewhere, Hoppe’s compatriot Josh Sargent is in action on Sunday, with Werder Bremen taking on Paderborn at the Weser Stadium. The Green-Whites go into that one buoyed by Sargent’s two-goal star-turn last time out as Markus Anfang’s men got their season up and running with a 3-2 victory.
Before then, Saturday’s action includes two ties that pit teams from opposite ends of the table against each other, ones that couldn’t have had more contrasting starts to the season.
One of those games sees winless Sandhausen welcome early pace-setters Karlsruher to Baden-Württemberg, as second-bottom face top of the league.
Meanwhile, Kiel are yet to find the back of the net and have conceded six times as they’ve lost two from two ahead of their meeting with Jahn Regensburg, who have made a perfect start to the campaign – scoring five times without conceding.
Also on Saturday, red-hot Rouwen Hennings leads the Fortuna Düsseldorf line against home side Nuremberg with the day’s fixtures rounded off with Dynamo Dresden playing host to Hannover before three games close out the matchday on Sunday.
As well as Werder’s game against Paderborn, at least one of Darmstadt and Ingolstadt will have their first points of the season by the final whistle of their fixture, and Heidenheim are at home to Hansa Rostock in the remaining game of Matchday 3.
