SV Wehen Wiesbaden host TSG Hoffenheim II U23 in the 3. Liga on Saturday afternoon, 16 May 2026, with both sides trying to finish the season on a note they can actually feel good about. Wiesbaden sit 10th on 50 points and are already safely clear of the scrap at the bottom, but they’re not exactly finishing with a flourish. Hoffenheim II are 16th on 43 points and still have a little more to answer for, even if their position is not quite as fraught as it once looked.
There’s a bit of sting in the air too. These teams met in the league back on 21 December and Hoffenheim II won 3-1 at home, so Wiesbaden won’t need reminding that this is a fixture where they’ve already been opened up. The reverse is important because this one has the feel of a game where neither defence has a whole lot of safety about it. Wiesbaden haven’t kept a clean sheet in seven, Hoffenheim II have gone 20 matches without one, and both sides have spent most of the spring living with chaos rather than control. Goals feel far more likely than caution.
SV Wehen Wiesbaden Form & Analysis
Wiesbaden’s recent run has been messy, and that’s putting it mildly. They lost 2-1 away at Energie Cottbus on 9 May, having been dragged into a game they couldn’t quite settle. Before that came a 3-2 home defeat to VfL Osnabrück, which really summed up their season at the Bruchweg-style end of the pitch: they can score, but they’re always giving something back. The draws with Erzgebirge Aue and SV Waldhof Mannheim — 2-2 away, 3-3 at home — showed a bit of fight, yet they still couldn’t turn either into a proper platform. There’s been no real momentum. Seven league games without a win is the blunt reality.
That sequence becomes even more revealing when you zoom in on their home work. Wiesbaden have a decent enough home record on paper, sitting eighth in the home table with 32 points from 10 wins, two draws and six defeats, and they’ve scored 37 times at their own ground while conceding 26. Those are respectable numbers. The problem is the shape of their recent home displays. Osnabrück put three past them in a 3-2 defeat, and Havelse were even harsher in the 4-1 loss that still hangs over this run. A team can have decent home numbers and still look fragile. Wiesbaden do. They’ve also gone seven without a clean sheet, which is a nasty habit when you’re trying to control games.
Still, Daniel Scherning’s side aren’t flat-track weaklings. They do know how to get into scoring positions, and at home they’ve usually found a way to threaten enough to keep matches alive. Their league total of 52 goals scored and 52 conceded tells the story neatly. Balanced, but not in a good way. It’s the sort of record that leaves you with plenty of 2-1s, 3-2s and late nerves. You wouldn’t trust them to shut a game down. You’d absolutely expect them to have chances at the other end.
TSG Hoffenheim II U23 Form & Analysis
Hoffenheim II arrive with a little more bounce in their step after a wild 3-2 home win over 1. FC Saarbrücken on 10 May. That result was earned the hard way. They raced ahead through Oskar Hencke after eight minutes, Hencke scored again on 23 minutes, and after Saarbrücken pulled it back into a scrap, Tim Civeja struck twice late on to drag Stefan Kleineheismann’s side over the line. It was messy, lively and very much in keeping with their season. If they’re in a game, they tend to keep it open. That’s rarely dull. It’s not always tidy either.
The broader form line, though, is a little shakier. Before beating Saarbrücken they lost away at Jahn Regensburg, fell 3-0 at home to Ingolstadt, and were beaten 3-1 at MSV Duisburg. The only draw points in the last six came against Schweinfurt and Waldhof Mannheim, both 1-1, which tells you they’ve had a tough time putting any real sequence together. They score. They concede. They rarely sit on a lead for long. That’s the story. Hoffenheim II have 65 league goals, the kind of return you’d expect from a side that doesn’t mind trading punches, but they’ve shipped 69 and that’s the reason they’re down in 16th.
Away from home, they’ve been better than the table might suggest, but only just. Their away record stands at 11th in the division with 20 points, built from six wins, two draws and 10 defeats, and they’ve scored 34 away goals while conceding 36. That’s not a side going on the road to defend a point. It’s a side that tends to play the same way wherever it goes, with the away matches just a little more likely to drift against them when the tempo rises. Still, six away wins isn’t nothing. They can hurt teams. The issue is what happens when opponents land a few good blows back.
Kleineheismann’s side are also carrying a brutal defensive streak into this game. They’re without a clean sheet in 20. Twenty. That’s the kind of number that changes the way you look at a match entirely. You don’t have to be a genius to work out what it means for a visit to Wiesbaden, where the home side are also living through a run of seven straight games without shutting anyone out. One of these teams is going to blink early. Maybe both.
Head-to-Head
There isn’t a rich history to dig through here, but the last league meeting matters. Hoffenheim II beat Wiesbaden 3-1 on 21 December 2025, and that result fits the wider pattern of this fixture pretty neatly. Neither side has shown much appetite for cagey, low-risk football when they’ve been in the same division. There was also a 3-0 Wiesbaden win in a July 2025 friendly, but that’s a different kind of game entirely and it doesn’t carry the same weight.
What does carry over is the sense that this pairing can produce chances. The December meeting finished with four goals, and both clubs’ current defensive habits point in the same direction. You wouldn’t expect a silent afternoon here. Not with those back lines.
We Predict: Over 2.5 Goals
We’re backing Over 2.5 Goals at 2/5 for this one. It’s a short price, but it’s still the right angle. Wiesbaden have gone over that line in seven straight league matches, Hoffenheim II have done it in four of their last five, and neither defence looks remotely trustworthy right now. When both teams are this open, you don’t need much imagination.
The xG picture leans the same way. Wiesbaden’s recent away defeat at Cottbus came with an xG of 1.04, while Hoffenheim II’s 3-2 win over Saarbrücken produced a hefty 2.01 expected goals for them and 2.83 against. That’s not a warning sign to avoid goals; it’s practically an invitation. A 2-1 home win for Wiesbaden feels about right, though this could just as easily get loose and land 2-2 if Hoffenheim II start fast again. If you want a slightly bigger price, Both Teams to Score has a strong case too.
