Mainz 05 vs St Gallen

Mainz 05 and St Gallen are set to trade tackles in an exciting friendly at the 28 BLACK ARENA-Nonntal.

Following another disheartening mid-table finish in the Bundesliga, Mainz 05 flew out of the traps in pre-season preparations, humbling lower-league TuS Koblenz 6-1 in their first summer friendly. That victory helped ‘Die Nullfünfer’ put a stop to an underwhelming five-game winless run (D1, L4). Mainz’s last result in that sequence was a dramatic 2-2 draw at Bundesliga runners-up Borussia Dortmund on the 2022/23 final weekend, handing perennial German champions Bayern Munich a decisive title boost. However, manager Bo Svensson has a pressing issue to address after his side went nine consecutive matches without a clean sheet, not to mention they conceded multiple goals on six occasions. If there’s any consolation for Mainz, then it’s the fact they found the net seven times in that stretch.

In the meantime, nominal visitors St Gallen have experienced a topsy-turvy start to the new Swiss Super League season, overcoming bitter rivals Basel 2-1 on day one before slumping to a dreadful 1-0 defeat at Lugano over the weekend. Those two league fixtures sandwiched a 3-1 loss to Valencia, only their second failure across six summer friendlies (W3, D1). High scoring has been a common theme in those exhibition matches, with five out of six containing 3+ goals at full-time. St Gallen’s two most recent friendlies have delivered action from the get-go, seeing them break the deadlock within the first six minutes of play in matches featuring 3+ first-half goals.