体坛英语新闻：Frankfurt and Augsburg share the spoils in German Bundesliga

BERLIN, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Frankfurt' s Jan Rosenthal scored the equalizer to ensure at least one point against courageous Augsburg on home soil at the opener 17th round of Bundesliga on Friday.

Frankfurt finished the first half of the campaign without a win on home soil as Augsburg' s extended their unbeaten run to five matches.

The visitors from Bavaria opened the scoring through Raul Bobadilla but the hosts restored parity just before the break by courtesy of Jan Rosenthal. Thus, Frankfurt stay at the edge of the drop zone with only 15 point out of 17 games meanwhile Augsburg remain on 8th position with 24 points.

From the kick-off struggling Frankfurt tried hard to control the proceedings on the pitch but Augsburg' s well-positioned defence gave the hosts a hard fight.

Despite Frankfurt' s ball possession Augsburg broke the deadlock out of the blue when Raul Bobadilla capitalized on a moment of madness by Primin Schwegler, whose clearance attempt inside the box evolved into an assist, to slot home from very close range at the 33rd minute.

Frankfurt responded with frenetic attacks to their deficit and their efforts were rewarded nine minutes later as Jan Rosenthal made use of Joselu's assist to hammer the equalizer from six meters into the top left corner.

Both sides were unable to hold the pace after the restart nonetheless Augsburg almost snatched the winner through joker Arkadiusz Milik but, the Polish international wasted the chance with only goalkeeper Kevin Trapp to beat with a weak shot on target.

"We struggled and failed to utilize our chances," Frankfurt' s director of sports Bruno Huebner said. "We had our opportunities to win the match but we can live with share of the spoils," Augsburg coach Markus Weinzierl said.

The following matches are scheduled for tomorrow: Werder Bremen meet runner up Leverkusen, third placed Dortmund face Berlin, Freiburg see Hannover, Hamburg host Mainz, bottom side and newly promoted Braunschweig clash Hoffenehim and winless Nuremberg encounter Schalke.