Eintracht Frankfurt stormed to the top of the table as Düsseldorf went down in flames and Fürth stubbed their toe at Ingolstadt…

2.Liga - Round 22

MSV Duisburg          -   FC St. Pauli          0:1 (0:1)   15,177
Karlsruher SC         -   Energie Cottbus       2:0 (0:0)   11,180
SC Paderborn 07       -   Dynamo Dresden        2:2 (1:1)    8,066
VfL Bochum            -   1. FC Union Berlin    4:2 (1:0)   11,501
Eintracht Frankfurt   -   FSV Frankfurt         6:1 (2:0)   40,700
Alemannia Aachen      -   Hansa Rostock         0:0 (0:0)   14,178
FC Ingolstadt         -   SpVgg Greuther Fürth  0:0 (0:0)    7,010
1860 München          -   Fortuna Düsseldorf    2:1 (1:1)   21,400
Erzgebirge Aue        -   Eintr. Braunschweig   1:1 (1:1)    6,200

 1  Eintracht Frankfurt (A)	  22   13   7 	2     50:22  +28    46
 2  FC St. Pauli (A)	  	  22   14   3 	5     42:24  +18    45
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  SpVgg Greuther Fürth	  22   13   5 	4     47:18  +29    44
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Fortuna Düsseldorf 	  	  22   12   8 	2     46:24  +22    44
 5  SC Paderborn 07	  	  22   12   7 	3     35:24  +11    43
 6  1860 München	  	  21   12   2 	7     44:29  +15    38
 7  1. FC Union Berlin	  	  22   10   4 	8     38:36  +2     34
 8  Eintracht Braunschweig (N)	  22 	8   7 	7     27:25  +2     31
 9  VfL Bochum          	  22 	9   3 	10    32:34  -2     30
10  Dynamo Dresden (N)  	  22 	7   5 	10    38:41  -3     26
11  Energie Cottbus               22 	6   6 	10    21:35  -14    24
12  MSV Duisburg	  	  22 	5   5 	12    27:34  -7     20
13  Alemannia Aachen 	  	  22 	3  11 	8     20:28  -8     20
14  Erzgebirge Aue	  	  21 	4   8 	9     18:34  -16    20
15  Karlsruher SC                 22 	5   4 	13    23:44  -21    19
----------------------------------------------------------------------
16  FSV Frankfurt	  	  22 	3   9 	10    22:44  -22    18
----------------------------------------------------------------------
17  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	  22 	3   8 	11    23:41  -18    17
18  Hansa Rostock (N)	  	  22 	2  10 	10    18:34  -16    16

The Frankfurt derby turned out to be a rout. Eintracht was just too superior to FSV, although things were a bit closer than expected. Eintracht opened the scoring early, but FSV was by no means bad. They were under considerable pressure, and after 33 minutes, gave up another goal. The hosts continued to attack, but now the Bornheimer began to launch effective counterattacks, and actually created some clear chances to score and even out the match. Although Eintracht held a 2-0 lead at half, the relegation threatened Bornheimers were in the game. However, after the restart, everything fell apart in a wild 10 minute spurt starting on the hour, when the “eagles” scored 3 more to put things away.  Outstanding player was Karim Matmour who scored the two openers and then finished the match with a late goal for a hattrick.

St.Pauli had a rough time in Duisburg, not because MSV was any good, but because both clubs struggled to get anything working. In the end, the Paulistas proved to be “tougher” and managed to eek out a win and keep pace. With the other results, this allows St.Pauli to vault into 2nd place.

Erstwhile leaders Düsseldorf actually drop from any promotion spot by losing in München to 1860. The Lions have been hoping to get back in the race, so this was a critical victory. 1860 came out of the blocks quickly, but Düsseldorf equalized and the match went back and forth. Aygün’s late header won the match for 1860, overall probably deserved because the light-blues gave just a little more effort (something they’ve been lacking the last few years).

Greuther Fürth had a chance to take the lead, but were stumped by a stubborn defensive effort from Ingolstadt. The underdogs have been recovering and once again showed their determination and improvement by holding the point steadfast.

Paderborn is still in shock from last week’s ass whupping in Fürth. The Westfalen struggled against Dresden, and were fortunate to grab a point. They started brightly, but then lost their way. Dynamo equalized and then took the lead with about 10 minutes left. In desperation, the hosts brought on American forward Matt Taylor, and his header in injury time saved the match. Paderborn will be disappointed that they controlled most of the match, but didn’t do much with their dominance. Ultimately Dresden is satisfied with a road point, although they could have stolen all 3.

Karlsruhe is continuing their slow climb to recovery. The attack combo of Klemen Lavric (just signed in winterbreak) and veteran Alex Iashvili (5 years already with KSC) was put together just before the start, but it paid divdends, as they both scored.

Rostock held on bitterly at Aachen to grab an away point and give indication that they’re not dead yet. (Hopefully for them, this is not a Monty Python and the Holy Grail moment..”I’m not dead yet”…) Aachen continues to disappoint.

Bochum and Union Berlin delivered an entertaining match that nobody cares about. The ref was at the center, handing out 3 penalties and a red card. Bochum probably deserves the win, as they kept up the pressure in the final stages, and were rewarded with a pair of goals that proved to be the difference.

The Prussians (Borussia) benefit through tough away wins, but the Bavarians (Bayern) stub their toe…

Bundesliga - Round 22

1899 Hoffenheim	     -    1. FSV Mainz 05	  1:1 (1:1)
24,300              1:0  Noveski (9., own goal, Vukcevic)
                    1:1  Zidan (29., Zabavnik)

Hertha BSC Berlin    -    Borussia Dortmund	  0:1 (0:0)
74,244              0:1  Großkreutz (66., Lewandowski)

Hamburger SV	     -    Werder Bremen	          1:3 (0:2)
56,553              0:1  Marin (9., Rosenberg)
                    0:2  Trybull (45., Junuzovic)
                    1:2  Petric (76., direct freekick)
                    1:3  Arnautovic (86., Wiese

1. FC Nürnberg      -    1. FC Köln	          2:1 (1:0)
38,101             1:0  Esswein (28.)
                   1:1  Novakovic (66., Roshi)
                   2:1  Pekhart (85., Esswein)

1. FC Kaiserslautern   -    Borussia M'gladbach	  1:2 (0:2)
45,661             0:1  Herrmann (9., de Camargo)
                   0:2  Arango (14., Reus)
                   1:2  Jessen (63., Wagner)

Bayer Leverkusen       -    FC Augsburg	          4:1 (1:0)
23,368                 1:0  Kießling (25., Castro)
                       1:1  Koo (50.,  Mölders)
                       2:1  Castro (60., L. Bender)
                       3:1  Kießling (64., Schürrle)
                       4:1  Schürrle (70., Kießling)

SC Freiburg	       -    Bayern München	  0:0 (0:0)
24,000 

Sunday:
FC Schalke 04	       -    VfL Wolfsburg	  4:0 (2:0)
60,511
                       1:0   Raul (10., Matip)
                       2:0   Huntelaar (15., Fuchs)
                       3:0   Matip (49., Papadopoulos)
                       4:0   Huntelaar (72., Fuchs)

Hannover 96	       -    VfB Stuttgart	  4:2 (2:0)
37,800
                       1:0   Haggui (25., Pander)
                       2:0   M. Diouf (32., Pander)
                       3:0   Pander (46.)
                       4:0   Stindl (73., Schmiedebach)
                       4:1   Harnik (75., Ibisevic)
                       4:2   Okazaki (79., Cacau)

 1  Borussia Dortmund (M)    22   15 	4    3 	  47:14  +33 	  49
 2  Borussia M'gladbach      22   14 	4    4 	  36:13  +23 	  46
 3  Bayern München           22   14 	3    5 	  49:14  +35 	  45
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  FC Schalke 04 (P)	     22   14 	2    6 	  50:28  +21 	  44
 5  Werder Bremen	     22   10 	6    6 	  37:36  +1 	  36
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 6  Bayer Leverkusen	     22    9 	7    6 	  32:29  +3 	  34
 7  Hannover 96	  	     22    8 	10   4 	  27:27   0 	  34
 8  VfL Wolfsburg	     22    8 	3   11 	  27:42  -15 	  27
 9  VfB Stuttgart	     22    7 	5   10 	  33:32  +1 	  26
10  1899 Hoffenheim	     22    6 	8    8 	  24:26  -2 	  26
11  Hamburger SV	     22    6 	8    8 	  27:37  -10 	  26
12  1. FC Nürnberg           22    7 	4   11 	  21:32  -11 	  25
13  1. FSV Mainz 05	     22    5 	9    8 	  30:36  -6 	  24
14  1. FC Köln	  	     22    7 	3   12 	  30:43  -13 	  24
15  Hertha BSC Berlin (N)    22    4 	8   10 	  25:37  -12 	  20
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  1. FC Kaiserslautern     22    3 	9   10 	  16:28  -12 	  18
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  FC Augsburg (N)	     22    3 	9   10 	  20:37  -17 	  18
18  SC Freiburg	  	     22    4 	6   12 	  27:47  -20 	  18

Dortmund had a tough time against a determined Hertha squad, but the champions prevailed. This was the 1,000th Bundesliga match for Hertha, and a sold out stadium saw a good fighting effort, but in the end the talent differential showed. Dortmund wasn’t overly impressive, but did enough to bring home the bacon. Shinji Kagawa was out injured, so Lucas Barrios got a start. He certainly showed some rust, as his blew a golden opportunity alone wide open in front of goal. Hertha didn’t have too many chances, although early in the 2nd half they had their best period, with Patrick Ebert coming close a couple of times. The winner came after Hertha GK Kraft made a brilliant save off a header to push of the bar, but Kevin Grosskreutz knocked home the rebound with a bicycle kick.

Bayern München certainly expected to do well against last-place Freiburg. The best offense against the worst defense, along with the fact that SCF hadn’t beaten Bayern in 18 straight Bundesliga matches. However the match was anything but easy. The Freiburgers played hard, fighting for every ball, and Bayern dicked around liked they just expected their opponents to gift them a goal. The Breisgauer gave one of their better performances, and through Caligiuri had a great chance to win at the end; Neuer came up with a fine save to hold the point. Bayern had several chances, but for the most part, a tight Freiburg defense kept them at bay, and when not, they had a sharp GK Baumann (nice save off a Thomas Müller blast just before halftime). So Bayern loses ground to their rivals at the top.

Gladbach jumped over Bayern with a tough win in Kaiserslautern. The Gladbacher’s jumped out fast with two breakaway goals, catching the Reds with their pants down. FCK made a strong effort in the 2nd half, with a tremendous rocket from Danish defender Jessen, but it wasn’t enough. This year’s Gladbach is too clever to blow leads like this, and Kaiserslautern has nothing to show for a decent effort. For Gladbach, there was also some bad news: midfielder Patrick hermann left with shoulder injury after 37 minutes, and it looks like he’ll be out “for a lengthy period”

Hoffenheim and Mainz fought a regional derby, but the Hoppers still aren’t impressing with joyous attacking football. Instead the guests from Mainz seemed to be pushing the envelope a bit harder. Hoffenheim took the lead through a somewhat fortunate own goal, but Mohamed Zidan scored his 3rd in 3 for Mainz – a nice addition in the winter transfer window. Overall, this was a fair result.

An exciting Nordderby, and host Hamburg seemed to have more of the play. But Bremen was cold-blooded in taking their chances, and HSV often flailed in promising situations. Werder took the lead after some fancy footwork by Marko Marin, and seemed in control with Trybull’s header just before half. HSV ran around aimlessly, and did pull one back on a ridiculously redirected free kick by Petric. He put his kick straight into the wall, but it bounced off a Bremen defender’s head to completely change direction. At the end, Bremen GK Tim Wiese punted all the way down field, and Arnautovic ran away from the sleeping defenders to slot home the final. Good win for Bremen.

On paper, Leverkusen got their act together and kicked Augsburg’s ass. But in fact the match was pretty even until the guests just collapsed midway through the 2nd half. Stefan Kiessling had a good game for the Aspirins, at least saving coach Robin Dutt from criticism this week.

Nürnberg and Köln met in a huge relegation 6 pointer. Overall, this was a deserved FCN win, as they showed more engagement. They took the lead on an impressive blast from Alex Esswein, but Novakovic equalized by squeezing the ball over the line in a scramble. It looked like the visitors might escape with a point, but Esswein put in a cross that was turned in via a slow header by Tomas Pekhart into the corner, Köln’s keeper grasping air in slow motion.

On Sunday, Schalke totally bitch-slapped Wolfsburg. Felix Magath’s return to Gelsenkirchen was not a happy one, well at least no if you’re Magath. I’m sure the 60,000+ fans were quite pleased. Basically Schalke overran the disastrous Wolfsburg defense, and things would have been worse if GK Benaglio hadn’t made some nice saves, including off Huntelaar’s penalty. Schalke is now the top scoring squad in the Bundesliga…

Hannover was all over Stuttgart like a wet rag, and dispatched VfB without too much effort. Well, the 96ers dominated from the start, and getting into the end-phase, they had an unasssaible 4-0 lead. However Stuttgart countered with two quick goals and managed to bring the home side back to earth. VfB pressed hard and had a few chances to cut the lead even more. In the end, the 96ers managed to withstand Stuttgart’s last gasp effort and deservedly get the points.

About half the matches were canceled because of the weather. Sandhausen and Aalen keep winning, but Jahn Regensburg fell further behind with the draw at Bielefeld.

3.Liga - Round 26

VfL Osnabrück	      -   1. FC Saarbrücken	2:0 (1:0)    8,500
SV Wehen Wiesbaden    -   SV Sandhausen	        0:4 (0:3)    2,353
VfR Aalen	      -   Wacker Burghausen	2:0 (1:0)    3,531
Arminia Bielefeld     -   Jahn Regensburg	1:1 (0:0)    6,327
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen   -   Chemnitzer FC	        2:2 (1:1)    2,680

 1  SV Sandhausen	  	25  13 	  7   5     39:26  +13 	  46
 2  VfR Aalen	  	        25  13 	  7   5     34:22  +12 	  46
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Jahn Regensburg	  	24  10 	  9   5     38:23  +15 	  39
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  1. FC Heidenheim	  	24  10 	  7   7     31:24  +7 	  37
 5  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	26   8 	 12   6     42:34  +8 	  36
 6  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	24   9 	  9   6     31:26  +5 	  36
 7  Chemnitzer FC (N)	  	25  10 	  6   9     33:31  +2 	  36
 8  VfL Osnabrück (A)	  	24   8 	 11   5     28:20  +8 	  35
 9  Wacker Burghausen	  	24   8 	 11   5     36:31  +5 	  35
10  VfB Stuttgart II	  	24   8 	 10   6     27:29  -2 	  34
11  Kickers Offenbach	  	23   9 	  6   8     28:25  +3 	  33
12  Preußen Münster (N)	  	24   7 	 11   6     25:26  -1 	  32
13  Arminia Bielefeld (A)	25   7 	  9   9     33:39  -6 	  30
14  SV Babelsberg 03	  	25   7 	  8   10    33:41  -8 	  29
15  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	25   7 	  8   10    26:34  -8 	  29
16  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	23   8 	  4   11    38:38   0 	  28
17  SV Darmstadt 98 (N)	  	24   7 	  6   11    31:34  -3 	  27
--------------------------------------------------------------------
18  Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (A)	25   4 	 10   11    23:33  -10 	  22
19  Carl Zeiss Jena	  	22   4 	  6   12    24:43  -19 	  18
20  Werder Bremen II	  	25   3 	  9   13    24:45  -21 	  18

Sandhausen really had no trouble as they kicked Wehen’s ass is a semi-regional derby. At the same time, erstwhile leaders Aalen had a tougher nut to crack, facing Burghausen. Robert Lechleiter got them on the right track, with his league leading 13th strike.

Jahn travelled to Bielefeld, but had a tough time with Arminia. The hosts were determined to stop the bleeding and once and for all move from any relegation fears. The hotly contested match ended in a draw, which means that Regensburg loses contact with the auto-promotion spots. They know need to concentrate on looking behind them and holding off challenges to the playoff spot.

Saarbrücken got stuffed in Osnabrück, and both these “traditionals” look beaten down, at least from auto-promotion. Perhaps if Regensburg remains shaky

Oberhausen needed a win, but they’re still looking for their first this year. They played an entertaining match with Chemnitz, and even though they were down a man for the last 10 minutes, by all accounts they were closest to the win. However, they fail and still remained mired in relegation.

It’s official: Otto Rehagel has agreed to become the new head coach of Hertha BSC. He was in the stands watching as Berlin went down to Dortmund, probably one of their better efforts in the last few weeks. The generally incompetant Hertha directors have finally pulled a rabbit out of the hat. The only question is whether – at 73 years old – “King Otto” still has the energy. (And if he does, he usually maneuvers himself into a dictatorship role and boots out the board…)

The some extent, this is a coming home. Rehagel started his professional playing career with Rot-Weiss Essen, but in 1963 joined Hertha BSC and played in the very first Bundesliga round. Much of his career as a player and coach has been in the league, and he’s often called himself a “child of the Bundesliga.” He was known as a tough defender in his career (mostly with Kaiserslautern).

After hanging up his boots in 1972, he bounced around coaching, basically unsuccessfully. (Indeed, the “highlight” of his stay at Dortmund in the mid 1970s was the 0-12 loss to Gladbach). However in 1981, he took over the reins at Werder Bremen, and in his 14 year stay moved Bremen from a struggling crap relegation candidate to a power. His Bremen sides were known for attacking football, and he won the Bundesliga twice, the DFB Cup twice, and the UEFA Cup. He then moved sensationally to the enemy, Bayern München. Here he had no real success, as he feuded with players and management and got himself fired just before the Chamipons League victory. But Rehagel might have set the stage for his growing legend by taking over relegated Kaiserslautern, marching them through the 2.Liga, and on promotion, sensationally winning the Bundesliga title in 1998. More feuds led to him leaving and “retiring”.

Rehagel then served up his piece-de-resistance: he took over the crap Greek national team and won the Euro 2004 tournament, one of the biggest shocks in the history of football. It was a negative, defensive side – just the opposite of his glory Bremen days – but Rehagel adjusted to the talent he had. In 2010, he suprised again, bringing Greece to the World Cup, where they actually won their first game ever (or first goal for that matter). He’s a legend in Greece, probably the only popular German in these days of Euro-crisis.

So does Rehagel save Hertha BSC? His record is pretty good, so the only question is whether he’s too old. But he still looks like he can kick ass like he did as a player over 40 years ago, so maybe…

OK, I should have followed up on this one. On Saturday of course Hertha BSC Berlin lost 0-5 to VfB Stuttgart, and I speculated that coach Michael would be fired. Sure enough, on Sunday night, Hertha GM Michael Preetz fired “Skibbe, Skibbe, Skibbe-to-the-loo”.

Michael Skibbe has managed to have a pretty nice career without accomplishing very much. He certainly was an abject failure at Dortmund, we was OK as a Germany assistant. Pretty much sucked at Leverksuen, Frankfurt, Galatasaray, Eskisehirspor and now Hertha.

Now when Hertha fired Markus Babbel and replaced him with Skibbe back in December, many pundits predicted this would end badly. But even the most rabid naysayers would have expected Skibbe to lose all his matches and only last 52 days.

Ultimately, I think most Hertha fans think Preetz should also fire himself.

One thing that would be “hella” funny (to use daughter-unit speech) would be if Hertha would hire Holger Stanislawski, who was just fired by Hoffenheim and replaced by Markus Babbel. And maybe both teams would be in relegation trouble and face each other in the last round of the season…

The Champions League knockout phase is underway, and Bayer Leverkusen got their ass handed to them by FC Barcelona. A sold out crowd of 29,412 in the BayArena saw Leverksuen basically try and defend their way through, which was obviously not going to work against the Catalan juggernaut. Two goals by Alexis Sanchez and a final by Leo Messi gave the defending champs a deserved win.

Bayer was too timid early on. They let Barcelona control the match with their usual “ticky-tacky” play. After falling behind, the Aspirins switched to a more aggressive attack, and were rewarded with an equalizer. However, they then let down their guard, and a superb through-pass by Fabregas aloowed Sanchez to round the keeper. From then, it was just a matter of time, and Messi provided the coup-de-grace near the end.

Basically, this contest is over, because their is no way Leverkusen has a chance in the Nou Camp.

Bayer Leverkusen:
Leno -
Corluka, M. Friedrich , Schwaab , Kadlec -
Reinartz, Rolfes, L. Bender -
Renato Augusto,Castro -
Schürrle

Subs:
77. Kießling for Rolfes
90. Bellarabi for Schürrle
90. + 1 da Costa for Corluka

FC Barcelona:

Victor Valdes -
Dani Alves, Mascherano, Puyol, Abidal -
Busquets -
Fabregas, Iniesta -
Adriano, Messi, Sanchez

Subs:
60. Thiago Alcantara for Iniesta
69. Pedro for Adriano
85. Cuenca for Sanchez

Scoring:
0:1 Sanchez (41., Messi)
1:1 Kadlec (52., Corluka)
1:2 Sanchez (55., Fabregas)
1:3 Messi (88., Dani Alves)

Hard fought battles all around. Greuther Fürth temporarily takes the lead as the massacred Paderborn in a top match. Bottom clubs also show some life…

2.Liga, Round 21

Erzgebirge Aue	         -   1860 München	   canceled
Energie Cottbus	         -   Alemannia Aachen	   1:1 (0:0)    6,280
FSV Frankfurt	         -   FC Ingolstadt 04	   1:1 (1:0)    3,027
Eintracht Braunschweig	 -   Karlsruher SC	   0:0 (0:0)   19,000
1. FC Union Berlin	 -   Dynamo Dresden	   4:0 (1:0)   18,432
FC St. Pauli	         -   VfL Bochum	           2:1 (1:1)   24,257
Hansa Rostock	         -   MSV Duisburg	   4:2 (2:2)    9,200
SpVgg Greuther Fürth	 -   SC Paderborn 07	   5:1 (3:1)    9,230
Fortuna Düsseldorf	 -   Eintracht Frankfurt   1:1 (0:0)   41,213 	

 1  Fortuna Düsseldorf	        21   12    8    1    45:22  +23    44
 2  SpVgg Greuther Fürth        21   13    4    4    47:18  +29    43
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Eintracht Frankfurt (A)     21   12    7    2    44:21  +23    43
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  FC St. Pauli (A)	        21   13    3    5    41:24  +17    42
 5  SC Paderborn 07	        21   12    6    3    33:22  +11    42
 6  1860 München	        20   11    2    7    42:28  +14    35
 7  1. FC Union Berlin          21   10    4    7    36:32  +4 	   34
 8  Eintracht Braunschweig (N)  21    8    6    7    26:24  +2 	   30
 9  VfL Bochum                  21    8    3 	10   28:32  -4 	   27
10  Dynamo Dresden (N)	  	21    7    4 	10   36:39  -3 	   25
11  Energie Cottbus	  	21    6    6 	9    21:33  -12    24
12  MSV Duisburg	  	21    5    5 	11   27:33  -6 	   20
13  Alemannia Aachen	  	21    3   10 	8    20:28  -8 	   19
14  Erzgebirge Aue	  	20    4    7 	9    17:33  -16    19
15  FSV Frankfurt	  	21    3    9 	9    21:38  -17    18
---------------------------------------------------------------------
16  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	21    3    7 	11   23:41  -18	   16
---------------------------------------------------------------------
17  Karlsruher SC	  	21    4    4 	13   21:44  -23    16
18  Hansa Rostock (N)	  	21    2    9 	10   18:34  -16    15

Düsseldorf and Eintracht Frankfurt met Monday night, and the crowd of 41,000 was probably better than they had when both clubs were in the Bundesliga. (However it is an indication of the Bundesliga recent success, as even the prospect of gaining promotion means big crowds). The match itself was fiercely contended. Frankfurt actually had a slight edge early, but couldn’t make an advantage. After an hour, Düsseldorf was increasingly taking control of the match, and ironically it was then that Frankfurt struck, as veteran Benjamin Köhler received a perfect pass from Alex Meier, and was wide open in front of goal. Fortuna reacted with fury, launching assault after assault on the Eintracht goal. It looked like the visitors would hold out for an important victory. Then in injury time, a disputed call. Beister went down in a clash with Anderson. Referee Brych was going to let play continue, but after consulting his linesman, ruled a penalty. Langeneke put the strike home, and the match ended. Overall, the draw is probably a fair result.

Greuther Fürth was superb as they kicked upstart Paderborn’s ass. The match started furiously, as the teams traded goals, with SCP grabbing the lead after only 5 minutes. (Nick Proschwitz, who leads the 2.Liga with 14 goals). Greuther Fürth wasn’t phased and came roaring back, picking up two in the next 5 minute sequence. From then on, the hosts dominated and Paderborn basically sucked. Outstanding was oldie Gerald Asamoah, who scored his first double for his new club (having signed during winter break). This allows Greuther Fürth to at least temporarily take the lead, and they will be second after the top clash between Düsseldorf and Eintracht Frankfurt on Monday Night Football…

St.Pauli picked up an important win against Bochum. The Hamburgers deserved the win, because they pressed harder. Bochum got themselves in trouble when Paul Freier got his ass tossed, allowing the Paulistas a last sustained run at goal that resulted in the win with about 10 minutes left.

A superb effort by tailend Hansa Rostock, as coach Wolfgang Wolf picks up his first win. Veteran Marek Mintal led the way with two goals, and Hansa had one of their best performances as they beat down the Zebras.

Karslruhe showed their improvement trend might have some staying power, as they held a scoreless draw in Braunschweig. KSC looked like a certain drop candidate, but they’re looking like they want to resist the drop.

Ingolstadt and FSV Frankfurt traded goals in an entertaining match in Bornheim. Niether could afford to lose, and although the draw leaves neither happy, it’s a fair result.

Union Berlin showed who reigns supreme of ex-GDR clubs, at least this season. The hosts ripped Dynamo Dresden’s ass 4-0, reversing the 0-4 from the earlier match in Dresden. However, it wasn’t as easy as it looks. Union pressured, but wasn’t able to make headway until a penalty just before half. In the restart, Berlin then simply overran Dynamo, which disappointed at all levels.

The bad weather intervened and canceled most of the matches in the 3.Liga…

3.Liga, Round 25

Preußen Münster	     -    Werder Bremen II    0:0 (0:0)	   5,120
1. FC Saarbrücken    -    VfB Stuttgart II    0:0 (0:0)    3,454
1. FC Heidenheim     -    SV Babelsberg 03    5:0 (1:0)    5,200

all others canceled

 1  VfR Aalen	  	       24  12 	7   5 	  32:22  +10 	  43
 2  SV Sandhausen	       24  12 	7   5 	  35:26  +9 	  43
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 3  Jahn Regensburg	       23  10 	8   5 	  37:22  +15 	  38
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 4  1. FC Heidenheim	       24  10 	7   7 	  31:24  +7 	  37
 5  1. FC Saarbrücken	       25   8 	12  5 	  42:32  +10 	  36
 6  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	       24   9 	9   6 	  31:26  +5 	  36
 7  Wacker Burghausen	       23   8 	11  4 	  36:29  +7 	  35
 8  Chemnitzer FC (N)	       24  10 	5   9 	  31:29  +2 	  35
 9  VfB Stuttgart II	       24   8 	10  6 	  27:29  -2 	  34
10  Kickers Offenbach	       23   9 	6   8 	  28:25  +3 	  33
11  Preußen Münster (N)	       24   7 	11  6 	  25:26  -1 	  32
12  VfL Osnabrück (A)	       22   6 	11  5 	  24:20  +4 	  29
13  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	       23   7 	8   8 	  26:28  -2 	  29
14   Arminia Bielefeld (A)     24   7 	8   9 	  32:38  -6 	  29
15   SV Babelsberg 03	       25   7 	8   10 	  33:41  -8 	  29
16   SpVgg Unterhaching	       23   8 	4   11 	  38:38   0 	  28
17  SV Darmstadt 98 (N)        24   7 	6   11 	  31:34  -3 	  27
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18  Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (A)    24   4 	9   11 	  21:31  -10 	  21
19  Carl Zeiss Jena	       22   4 	6   12 	  24:43  -19 	  18
20  Werder Bremen II	       25   3 	9   13 	  24:45  -21 	  18

Saarbrücken blew a chance to strengthen their position, as they sucked against Stuttgart’s B squad. The dominated the match, but wasted enough chances to win two or three matches.

Heidenheim on the other hand took full advantage as they ripped Babelsberg’s ass. The Potsdam visitors were overrun, but at least only down a goal at half. But Heidenheim turned up the heat and blasted through in a quarter hour after the restart. The most interesting thing is that ex-Augsburg mini-legend Michael Thurk got his first goal for the club, off a free-kick.

Preußen Münster debuted their new coach Pavel Dotchev, but he probably needed medication after a crap effort. The fans couldn’t have been too happy either. Over 5,000 showed up in freezing weather against a last place team…

Dortmund and Bayern win ho-hum. Big winner is Gladbach, ripping Schalke’s ass. Hertha is in crisis…

BUNDESLIGA, Round 21

VfL Wolfsburg        -    SC Freiburg           3:2 (2:2)   23,057  (Jiracek 2, M.Schäfer - Flum, Caligiuri)
Borussia Dortmund    -    Bayer Leverkusen	1:0 (1:0)   80,000  (Kagawa)
1. FSV Mainz 05	     -    Hannover 96	        1:1 (1:0)   30,173  (Zidan - Sobiech)
Bayern München	     -    1. FC Kaiserslautern	2:0 (2:0)   69,000  (Gomez, T. Müller)
Werder Bremen	     -    1899 Hoffenheim	1:1 (0:1)   39,176  (Arnautovic - Vestergaard)
VfB Stuttgart	     -    Hertha BSC Berlin	5:0 (4:0)   45,000  (Ibisevic, Harnik 3, Okazaki)
Borussia M'gladbach  -    FC Schalke 04	        3:0 (3:0)   54,049  (Reus, Hanke, Arango)
FC Augsburg	     -    1. FC Nürnberg	0:0 (0:0)   30,660
1. FC Köln	     -    Hamburger SV	        0:1 (0:0)   46,500  (Guerrero)

 1  Borussia Dortmund (M)    21   14 	4    3 	  46:14    +32 	  46
 2  Bayern München	     21   14 	2    5 	  49:14    +35 	  44
 3  Borussia M'gladbach	     21   13 	4    4 	  34:12    +22 	  43
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 4  FC Schalke 04 (P)	     21   13 	2    6 	  46:28    +18 	  41
 5  Werder Bremen	     21    9 	6    6 	  34:35    -1 	  33
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 6  Bayer Leverkusen	     21    8 	7    6 	  28:28     0 	  31
 7  Hannover 96	  	     21    7 	10   4 	  23:25    -2 	  31
 8  VfL Wolfsburg	     21    8 	3   10 	  27:38   -11 	  27
 9  VfB Stuttgart	     21    7 	5    9 	  31:28    +3 	  26
10  Hamburger SV	     21    6 	8    7 	  26:34   -8 	  26
11  1899 Hoffenheim	     21    6 	7    8 	  23:25    -2 	  25
12  1. FC Köln	  	     21    7 	3   11 	  29:41   -12 	  24
13  1. FSV Mainz 05	     21    5 	8    8 	  29:35   -6 	  23
14  1. FC Nürnberg	     21    6 	4   11 	  19:31   -12 	  22
15  Hertha BSC Berlin (N)    21    4 	8    9 	  25:36   -11 	  20
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16  1. FC Kaiserslautern     21    3 	9    9 	  15:26   -11 	  18
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17  FC Augsburg (N)	     21    3 	9    9 	  19:33   -14 	  18
18  SC Freiburg	  	     21    4 	5   12 	  27:47   -20 	  17

Wolfsburg and Freiburg delivered an entertaining Friday night clash. The VWs undoubtedly expected an easy win, especially when Petr Jiracek scored after only 5 minutes. But Freiburg gave a spirited performance, and with both defenses pathetic, it was anybody’s game. In the end, the VWs prevailed, but SCF probably deserved a point. Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath didn’t look too amused when the final whistle blew, probably intending on ripping his players for struggling against the tailenders.

Leaders Dortmund and Leverkusen played a snoozer. Bayer, along with Hoffenheim, seems to be the most boring team in the league, and they were able to impose their “will” on Dortmund. Leverkusen was tight in defense, but pathetic going forward. The Neons seemed only semi-interested in winning this game, and it took a nice individual effort by Shinji Kagawa to put one in the net. However, after that, Dortmund seemed content to just run down the clock, which meant that their usual all-out attack was not on display today.

Gladbach completely bitch-slapped Schalke in the top match of the weekend. The home side basically finished off the tie in a half hour, as they were up 3-0. Marco Reus opened things up after only 2 minutes. Hermann crossed the ball, Reus faked  Höwedes and Jurado out of their jock-straps, and put the ball into the net. I’m not sure Schalke knew what even hit them, and when Hanke scored after 15, it was really over. This allows the Gladbachers to leap over Schalke. This is really turning into an amazing season for Borussia, their first good campaign since perhaps 1989, when they finished 6th. (1987 was the last time they ended 3rd). Lucien Favre deserves a lot of credit of getting his team ready for each match. The Blues coach Huub Stevens was outraged over his squad’s lame effort, hinting darkly that there “are players who don’t deserve to be wearing the colors.”

Bayern München had no trouble in what Germans might call a Pflichstssieg, a “required win”. They basically just diod enough to wrap things early and then sail to the final whistle against a harmless Kaiserslautern.

Markus Babbel almost had a great debut with Hoffenheim. The Hoppers gave a strong 1st half performance at Bremen, and were nursing the lead until the bitter end. Unfortunately for them, Marko Arnautovic scored with seconds remaining to salvage a draw for Werder. This is actually a fair result, as Bremen definitely improved quite a bit in the 2nd half.

Babbel’s old team however isn’t looking too good. Hertha BSC lost 0-5 in Stuttgart, in what coach Michael Skibbe stated was the worst he had ever seen. Of course, this catastrophic performance is causing all sorts of speculation that Skibbe might be on a short leash, despite the fact he was just appointed in December when the board fired Babbel (who had announced he was going to quit at the end of the season.) The press is full of rumours that Skibbe will get canned, as Hertha has just sucked under his regime. (Which begs the question of why the board doesn’t fire itself, since they’re usually responsible when it really comes down to it. Michael Preetz, are you listening?) Stuttgart had been sucking bigtime recently, so beating the crap out of the “old lady” was just what the doctor ordered. Martin Harnik got the hat-trick, and with Vedad Ibisevic opening his account after his transfer from Hoffenheim, it might be that Cacau’s days with VfB are numbered.  Head coach Bruno Labbadia only put cacau in for the last 15 minutes, and when questioned mentioned “I don’t see any reason to change it.” As for the match itself, Berlin collapsed in about 8 minutes, when they gave up 3 goals enroute to a hopeless 0-4 half-time deficit.

Mainz and Hannover drew 1-1. Mohamed Zidan grabbed his 2nd in his second match since returning to Mainz, and it looked like the home side would get a needed victory. But with only 5 minutes remaining, 96er coach Mirko Slomka brought on Artur Sobiech, and the Polish international scored with seconds left to give Hannover a draw. Overall, this was probably a fair result, as both teams tried hard and were pretty evenly matched. I think this was Hannover’s 400th away Bundesliga match.

On the Sunday matches, Augsburg and Nürnberg played a draw that helps neither move out from danger. There wasn’t much to write home about, hard fought, but with little technical class and few chances.

Hamburg has basically come out of the dumps, as they manage another win, this time at Köln. Paulo Guerrero scored with only two minutes left, after it looked to peter out to a scoreless draw. However, the win for HSV isn’t too outrageous, as they were the more engaged team, actually trying to win the match. Köln didn’t show much except discipline in defense.