Player Duel: Vedad Ibisevic vs. Tobias Weis

Both of them played for the club in the lower divisions and were part of the side which achieved promotion to the Bundesliga in 2008. In Hoffenheim's debut season in the Bundesliga, Weis was rewarded for his displays in a remarkable first half of the season for the club with a call-up to the national team, while Ibisevic was the league's top scorer with 18 goals from the first 17 games. Then they both suffered similar fates: Ibisevic ruptured cruciate ligaments in February 2009, keeping him out of action until September that year, while Weis suffered chronic knee complaints which had to be treated with numerous operations.

Both men have since overcome their injury problems and are back in the folds of the Hoffenheim first team, which allowed achtzeh99.de the opportunity to challenge the two of them to a game of pool. ‘Vedo' and ‘Tobse' got to know each other when they joined the club, the former signing from Alemannia Aachen while the latter moved to Sinsheim from the Stuttgart youth team. “When I first saw Tobse play, I thought he'd been at the club for years, and I didn't realise he was knew like me. He's an aggressive player who always plays with 100%, says Vedo of his teammate. And Weis reciprocated those words of praise when describing Ibisevic: “He's a born goalscorer. He just takes responsibility on himself to do so and does his job very well.”

The two players know each other well and have become firm friends since joining 1899. “We became friends pretty quickly. Tobse is a super guy. A little bit mad sometimes, but always up for a laugh!” says Vedo. “Vedo also moved to the area that I live in, probably to spend a bit more time with me!” says a grinning Tobias.

Weis and Ibisevic have taken remarkably different paths to reach where they are today. Ibisevic was born in Bosnia, but fled to Switzerland with his family to escape the civil war in the Balkans. From there he moved to the Unites States to play in the MLS, and then to France, before finally settling in Germany. “What do I consider my homeland? That's a difficult question. I would say Bosnia of course, because I was born there. But a lot of my family live in the USA now – that's also a sort of homeland for me. And Germany has become a homeland for me. But I wouldn't rule out moving again. As a professional footballer, a lot can change over the course of a career”, admitted Vedo.

Weis' career path has been entirely different. Born and raised in Baden-Württemberg, he ended up in the academy of VfB Stuttgart, joining Hoffenheim in 2007. “It's not like I never want to leave Baden-Württemberg. It's just that life is great for me here right now. I do have an ambition to live in New York at some point, but definitely after my football career is over”, said the midfielder. And since his return to fitness this season, he has firm ideas about where the club can go in the future. “If you look at what teams like Hannover and Mainz achieved last season, it seems to me that individual players are becoming less and less important. Teams that are organised, tight and stick to their tactics can give any team in the league a tough game.

“Against FC Bayern we pressed them hard and played with a lot of energy. We didn't win, but we came close. Now we need to do that against other teams, and if we do, we can definitely achieve a high league position”, maintains Weis. His thoughts were echoed by Vedo: “You need to be focused for every game in this league. Every player has to give 100% and there are no easy opponents, but we have a very capable squad and there's a lot to play for this season.”

The pool game was, incidentally, won by Vedo. Here's to hoping our Bosnian striker can continue his recent goal scoring form against 1. FC Kaiserslautern on Saturday.