DFB squad goes down

Deutschland – Frankreich 1:2

Germany deservedly lost against a well-organized France in a friendly played in Bremen. The Germans haven’t beaten the French in 25 years or so, or maybe since 1940, can’t remember. Joggi Löw’s squad was missing key players such as Podolski, Schweinsteiger and Götze, but overall seemed a bit uninterested. After falling behind only minutes into the match, the Germans attacked strongly and created several good chances, but basically blew their opportunities.

In the second half, France put the game away with a nice counterattack down the flanks and some sloppy defending. In injury time Cacau managed to score the Ehrentreffer, which is actually more than he’s done for Stuttgart all year. Basically, on form, he should have been on participating as the 38,000: from a seat in the stands. But he’s always been one of Joggi’s favorites, and at least took advantage.

A deserved French victory, but I wouldn’t put too much into it. Germany has a tradition of rather lackadaisical friendlies, and they largely could care less about the match. That’s not to say they wouldn’t prefer a good outing and a nice win, like when they spanked Holland or Brazil, but this is a team that focuses on tournaments and trophies instead of meaningless friendlies – unlike England for example.

France looked pretty good, showing what they’re capable of. They were quick to counterattack, defended reasonably well and overall looked determined. Given their recent ho-hum history, this should serve as a catalyst that they haven’t lost it.

GERMANY:
Wiese - 
Boateng, Hummels, Badstuber, Aogo - 
Khedira, Kroos - 
Reus, Özil , Schürrle    - 
Klose       

Subs:
45. T. Müller for Schürrle
46. Gomez for Klose
46. Höwedes for Badstuber
70. Cacau for Reus
70. L. Bender for Khedira

FRANCE:
Aufstellung:
Lloris     - 
Debuchy, Rami, Mexes, Abidal - 
Cabaye, M'Vila    - 
Valbuena, Ribery    - 
Nasri - 
Giroud       

Subs:
46. Menez for Ribery
62. A. Diarra for M'Vila
62. Malouda for Cabaye
68. Amalfitano for Valbuena
76. Saha for Giroud

Scoring:
0:1  Giroud   (21., Valbuena)
0:2  Malouda  (69., Giroud)
1:2  Cacau    (90. + 1, T. Müller)

Attendance: 37,800 in Bremen's Weserstadion (sold out)

2.Liga: The race is on!

Everyone is jockeying for position at the top. Greuther Fürth was taking names and kicking ass against Bochum. Paderborn put in a superb effort to beat down Frankfurt.

2.Liga - Round 23

Dynamo Dresden	         -  	MSV Duisburg	     2:0 (0:0)    22,109
                        1:0  Fort (57., Koch)
                        2:0  Dedic (59., Kirsten)

1. FC Union Berlin	 -  	1860 München	     0:1 (0:0)    15,723
                        0:1  Aigner (82., Lauth)

Hansa Rostock	         -  	FC Ingolstadt 04     1:2 (1:0)    10,000
                        1:0  Borg (22., penalty, Jänicke)
                        1:1  Gusche (50., own goal, Schäfer)
                        1:2  Ikeng (72., Nemec)

SpVgg Greuther Fürth	 -  	VfL Bochum	     6:2 (2:1) 	   8,630
                         0:1  Inui (8., Delura)
                         1:1  Asamoah (21., Nehrig)
                         2:1  Vogt (40., own goal, Schmidtgal) 
                         3:1  Asamoah (50., Schröck)
                         4:1  Prib (61., Asamoah) 
                         4:2  Kramer (65.)
                         5:2  Schahin (72., Sararer) 
                         6:2  Nehrig (85., penalty, Pektürk)

Energie Cottbus	         -  	Erzgebirge Aue	     2:0 (1:0)     9,442
                        1:0  Sörensen (11., Banovic)
                        2:0  Rangelov (58., penalty)

SC Paderborn 07	         -  	Eintracht Frankfurt    4:2 (2:2)  15,000
                        1:0  Proschwitz (6., Meha)
                        2:0  Kara (18.)
                        2:1  Köhler (26.)
                        2:2  Meier (42., Rode)
                        3:2  Rupp (58., Proschwitz)
                        4:2  Wemmer (64., Kara)

FSV Frankfurt	         -  	Karlsruher SC	       2:1 (2:0)   6,089
                        1:0  Micanski (33., Yelen)
                        2:0  Cinaz (43.)
                        2:1  Zoller (72., Lavric)

FC St. Pauli	         -     Eintracht Braunschweig  0:0 (0:0)  24,487

Monday	
Fortuna Düsseldorf	 -  	Alemannia Aachen       0:0 (0:0)  28,761



 1  SpVgg Greuther Fürth	23   14    5 	4    53:20  +33     47
 2  Eintracht Frankfurt (A)	23   13    7 	3    52:26  +26     46
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  FC St. Pauli (A)	  	23   14    4 	5    42:24  +18     46
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  SC Paderborn 07	  	23   13    7 	3    39:26  +13     46
 5  Fortuna Düsseldorf	  	23   12    9 	2    46:24  +22     45
 6  1860 München	  	22   13    2 	7    45:29  +16     41
 7  1. FC Union Berlin	  	23   10    4 	9    38:37  +1 	    34
 8  Eintracht Braunschweig (N)	23    8    8 	7    27:25  +2 	    32
 9  VfL Bochum	  	        23    9    3 	11   34:40  -6 	    30
10  Dynamo Dresden (N)	  	23    8    5 	10   40:41  -1 	    29
11  Energie Cottbus	  	23    7    6 	10   23:35  -12     27
12  FSV Frankfurt	  	23    4    9 	10   24:45  -21     21
13  Alemannia Aachen	  	23    3    12 	8    20:28  -8 	    21
14  MSV Duisburg	  	23    5    5 	13   27:36  -9 	    20
15  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	23    4    8 	11   25:42  -17     20
----------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Erzgebirge Aue	  	22    4    8 	10   18:36  -18     20
----------------------------------------------------------------------
17  Karlsruher SC	  	23    5    4 	14   24:46  -22     19
18  Hansa Rostock (N)	  	23    2    10 	11   19:36  -17     16

Hansa Rostock is in extreme crisis. This was a relegation 6 pointer against Ingolstadt, and the easterners started well, taking the lead after around 20 minutes. The visitors from the south struggled to get into the game, but when Gusche scored an own goal early in the 2nd half, FCI began to take control. Hansa meanwhile got increasingly nervous, as despite playing hard and running around a lot, it was Ingolstadt looking to win. When Rostock then fell behind, they changed into panic mode, and Ingolstadt didn’t have too much difficulty holding onto the crucial win. A disaster for Hansa, a great stepping stone for Ingolstadt.

1860 may have snuck back into the promotion race. They’ve been playing a lot better since the restart, and they had a tough win in Berlin against Union. Indeed, the hosts had more of the match, and at several moments looked on the verge of taking the lead. However, the Lions held firm, and when Union had shot their wad, they struck on a counter and stole the win.

Dresden had little trouble with a surprisingly crap Duisburg. Dynamo is one of the leagues stronger home teams, and this one never looked in doubt. Meanwhile, the Zebras are only a shell of the club that pops their head up in the top flight on a regular basis. They were completely outplayed, and lackadaisical in defense to boot. If anything, Dresden should administered a more severe ass-kicking, but I guess they just want to wrap things up and hit the pubs before closing time.

The top clash on Sunday saw the first sell-out in ages for Paderborn. SCP blasted like a rocket out of the gates, attacking furiously, and Frankfurt was taken aback. Nick Proschwitz notched another to his league leading tally, and soon the hosts were two up. However Eintracht then caught themselves and fought back into the match. Paderborn again started brightly in the 2nd half, and this time they were able to hold off any comeback by the Eagles.

FSV Frankfurt won a huge relegation battle against recovering Karlsruhe. A relatively decent crowd for the Bornheimer saw a contested struggle that deservedly went to the home side, but it was overshadowed by a severe injury FSV’s French-Algerian midfielder Chadli Amri, who apparently broke his leg and hip.

St.Pauli could have taken the lead with a win, so the millerntor was packed to the rafters. Instead the fans saw a discplined Braunschweig defense blunt the Paulista attack and hold on for a deserved point.

WSV: It sucks to be us…

WSV managed to disgrace itself in the worst way possible: losing at home to last place TuS Koblenz!!

The “massive” crowd in the Zoo-Stadion was shocked at the lack of ideas and general incompetance of the WSV squad. Things could have gotten off to a good start however, as after 10 minutes they had a huge chance. Christian Knappmann was alone in front of the goal, but the Regionalliga’s leading scorer missed wide. That just seem to make Wuppertal even more nervous, and the guests simply packed the box and waited for their chance. It happened just after half-time, and then Koblenz went back into their shell. Wuppertal pressed, but looked pretty clueless. The visitors tried to help out, as Göderz got his ass tossed on a straight red after 64 minutes, but even a man advantage wasn’t enough to equalize.

Wuppertaler SV   -   TuS Koblenz 0:1 (0:0)

0:1 Stahl (49.)

attendance: 1,483

WSV
Semmler -
El Hammouchi , Schlieter, Flottmann, Herzenbruch    -
Landers, Meier, Fleßers, Moosmayer -
Knappmann, Zieba
    Subs:
    Quotschalla (46., Landers)
    Baltes (46., Fleßers)
    Zimmermann (82., Herzenbruch)

    Trainer: Bruns

KOBLENZ:
Yalcin    -
Göderz, Mund, Haben, Gentner -
Gros , Stahl, Mineiro -
Nakai, Kim    -
T. Bauer
   Subs:
   Arslan  (67., Nakai)
   Klasen (76., Kim)
   Urwin (89., T. Bauer)

   Trainer: Dämgen

Other matches

Regionalliga West - Round 25

Sportfreunde Lotte	-    1. FSV Mainz 05 II	      1:0 (0:0)
SC Wiedenbrück 2000	-    Fortuna Düsseldorf II    3:1 (1:1)
FC Kaiserslautern II	-    SV Elversberg	      2:1 (1:1)
VfL Bochum II	        -    SC Verl	              2:1 (2:1)
Bayer Leverkusen II	-    1. FC Köln II	      1:0 (1:0)

 1  Sportfreunde Lotte          21   14    6 	1    41:14  +27    48
 2  Borussia M'gladbach II    	20   12    5 	3    38:24  +14    41
 3  Eintracht Trier	  	20   11    4 	5    31:17  +14    37
 4  1. FC Kaiserslautern II	22    8    8 	6    34:33  +1 	   32
 5  Borussia Dortmund II  	19    9    4 	6    38:23  +15    31
 6  1. FC Köln II	  	23    8    7 	8    36:33  +3 	   31
 7  WUPPERTALER SV              21    8    6    7    34:29  +5     30
 8  Fortuna Köln (N)	  	21    8    6 	7    29:32  -3 	   30
 9  SC Wiedenbrück 2000	  	20    8    5 	7    25:27  -2 	   29
10  VfL Bochum II	  	21    7    6 	8    26:35  -9 	   27
11  1. FSV Mainz 05 II	  	23    7    5 	11   31:30  +1 	   26
12  SC Verl	  	        20    7    3 	10   23:27  -4 	   24
13  Rot-Weiss Essen (N)	  	20    7    3 	10   27:34  -7 	   24
14  FC Schalke 04 II	  	19    7    3 	9    25:34  -9 	   24
15  Bayer Leverkusen II	  	22    5    8 	9    24:29  -5 	   23
16  SV Elversberg	  	20    5    6 	9    20:29  -9 	   21
17  SC Idar-Oberstein (N)	19    5    5 	9    21:37  -16    20
18  Fortuna Düsseldorf II	21    3   10 	8    23:29  -6 	   19
19  TuS Koblenz (A)	  	20    2   10 	8    14:24  -10    16

Bundesliga: Dortmund & Bayern pull ahead

Bayern easily handles Schalke.
In relegation struggles, Augsburg picks up a key win, as do Mainz and Nürnberg

BUNDESLIGA - Round 23

Borussia M'gladbach	-     Hamburger SV	     1:1 (1:0)    54,049
                       1:0  Hanke (45., Arango)
                       1:1  Arslan (56., Guerrero)

1. FC Köln	        -     Bayer Leverkusen	     0:2 (0:1)    49,000
                       0:1  L. Bender (16., Corluka)
                       0:2  L. Bender (50., Renato Augusto)

VfB Stuttgart	        -     SC Freiburg	     4:1 (2:1)    46,000
                       1:0  Harnik (12., Sakai)
                       2:0  Okazaki (21., Harnik)
                       2:1  Diagné (27., Jendrisek)
                       3:1  Boulahrouz (63., Ibisevic)
                       4:1  Harnik (82., Hajnal)

1. FSV Mainz 05	        -     1. FC Kaiserslautern   4:0 (3:0)    34,000
                       1:0  Zidan (2., N. Müller)
                       2:0  Szalai (17., Soto)
                       3:0  N. Müller (30., Zidan)
                       4:0  Choupo-Moting (74., Bungert)

VfL Wolfsburg	        -     1899 Hoffenheim	     1:2 (0:1)    23,921
                       0:1  Firmino (2., Vukcevic)
                       1:1  Helmes (69., penalty, M. Schäfer)
                       1:2  Schipplock (84., Firmino)

FC Augsburg	        -     Hertha BSC Berlin	     3:0 (0:0)    29,123
                       1:0  Oehrl (61., Koo)
                       2:0  Oehrl (63., Koo)
                       3:0  M. Ndjeng (90. + 2, Reinhardt)

Werder Bremen           -   1. FC Nürnberg           0:1 (0:0)    40,000
                       0:1  Esswein (65., Hegeler)

Sunday matches:

Bayern München	        -   FC Schalke 04            2:0 (1:0)    69,000
                       1:0  Ribery (36., Luiz Gustavo)
                       2:0  Ribery (55., Müller)

Borussia Dortmund	-   Hannover 96              3:1 (1:0)    80,720
                       1:0  Lewandowski (27., Piszczek)
                       2:0  Lewandowski (54., Blaszczykowski)
                       2:1  Ya Konan (60., M. Diouf)
                       3:1  Perisic (90. + 2, Blaszczykowski)


 1  Borussia Dortmund (M)   23 	  16 	4    3 	    50:15  +35 	    52
 2  Bayern München	    23 	  15 	3    5 	    51:14  +37 	    48
 3  Borussia M'gladbach	    23 	  14 	5    4 	    37:14  +23 	    47
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  FC Schalke 04 (P)	    23 	  14 	2    7 	    50:30  +20 	    44
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Bayer Leverkusen	    23 	  10 	7    6 	    34:29  +5 	    37
 6  Werder Bremen	    23 	  10 	6    7 	    37:37   0 	    36
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Hannover 96	  	    23 	  8 	10   5 	    28:30  -2 	    34
 8  VfB Stuttgart	    23 	  8 	5    10	    37:33  +4 	    29
 9  1899 Hoffenheim	    23 	  7 	8    8 	    26:27  -1 	    29
10  1. FC Nürnberg	    23 	  8 	4    11     22:32  -10 	    28
11  1. FSV Mainz 05	    23 	  6 	9    8 	    34:36  -2 	    27
12  Hamburger SV	    23 	  6 	9    8 	    28:38  -10 	    27
13  VfL Wolfsburg	    23 	  8 	3    12     28:44  -16 	    27
14 1. FC Köln	  	    23 	  7 	3    13     30:45  -15 	    24
15 FC Augsburg (N)	    23 	  4 	9    10     23:37  -14 	    21
----------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Hertha BSC Berlin (N)   23 	  4 	8    11     25:40  -15 	    20
----------------------------------------------------------------------
17  1. FC Kaiserslautern    23 	  3 	9    11     16:32  -16 	    18
18  SC Freiburg	  	    23 	  4 	6    13     28:51  -23 	    18

Gladbach opened up strong against Hamburg, but was lucky on their goal just before halftime. Arango sent a freekick into the box, and Hanke was offsides, but knocked the ball in anyway. Surprise! The ref allowed the goal and the hosts had a deserved half-time lead. However in the 2nd half, HSV began quickly to assert themselves and Gladbach was pushed back, no longer looking like the top club. Arslan got an equalizer, and the rest of the match was an even affair, ending in an equitable draw.

Köln and Leverkusen battled in a Rhein derby. The Aspirins were desperate to erase the memory of the embarassing 1-4 home defeat in the previous encounter and were successful for the most part. 1. FC Köln was engaged and energetic, and despite falling behind was pressing for an equalizer. Bayer was a little more clever and Lars Bender’s double give them an important “recovery” win.

A total bitch-slapping in the southwestern derby between Mainz and Kaiserslautern. FCK has been the top club in the southwest forever, but the tide is turning, at least on the field. Mainz dominated from start to finish against the weak visitors, and should have put to rest any worries about relegation. Mohamed Zidan keeps his record in tact in scoring in every game since his return during the winterbreak.

Wolfsburg completely sucked against Hoffenheim and Felix Magath would pull out his hair if he had any. The VWs were lame from the start, and Hoffenheim could have scored half-a-dozen. The Hoppers are usually pretty crap themselves, so it took a while for the “Hey, we can totally win this” to sink in. Nevertheless, a deserved win, coach Markus Babbel’s second in Wolf-town this season (first with Hertha).

King Otto has a lot of work to do in Berlin. Augsburg thrashed Hertha in a critical relegation 6 pointer. Well, actually, it was FCA having an edge and then turning on the juice in the 2nd half in a match that made the difference, a double by former Werder reserve Torsten Oehrl deciding. Augsburg has been fighting hard all season with a minimum talent squad, and have been getting draws. But this win puts them on the right track and gives hope of surviving. Hertha is in serious trouble, having lost seven straight.

Stuttgart and Freiburg met in a hotly contested southern derby. One might expect this to be one-sided. Despite the final score, SCF gave a good account of themselves in the first half at least. Continuing their Jeckyl and Hyde season, Stuttgart played well and put Freiburg to the sword in the 2nd period. With this defeat, things continue to look grim for the Breisgauer, but with Hertha and FCK sucking, it’s not over.

Bremen showed once again that you can’t take them seriously this season. They were largely flat against a disciplined 1. FC Nürnberg and eventually paid the price. Despite controlling most of ball possession, they couldn’t really threaten the guest’s goal. Werder missed a golden chance to take the lead on the hour. Marin chested down just inside the box wide open, but put his shot over the net. Then, as often happens, a FCN couterattack had Esswein wide open on the back side, and he slotted home. bremen reacted with wild attacks, and were almost rewarded in injury time when the ball was cleared off the line. A somewhat lucky win for Nürnberg, but ultimately Werder was too clumsy

Bayern München hosted Schalke in the top match and it was one-way football, Bayern dominating. Oddly enough, pre-match polls indicated that Bayern was only favored 40%-30%, which clearly shows that Schalke fans and insane asylum inhabitants have internet access and stuffed the ballot box. Schalke was way too timid, letting Bayern come. The defense was solid, but Huntelaar was left isolated up front. Interesting for Schalke is that Timo Hildebrand started in goal, his biggest match in years as Schalke’s other two keepers are out injured. He was brilliant early, pulling off an incredible double save off Thomas Müller and Arjen Robben. Unfortunately for the Blues, Hildebrand pulled a “Manuel Neuer” as he unnecessarily raced out of the goal on a long ball. Ribery then lifted the ball over his head and then ran in for the tap in. Bad decision, as there still were Schalke defenders that could have got in position. A few minutes later Hildebrand made up for it: a brilliant hand save against Thomas Müller point blank instead the 6 yard box. Funny thing is that Bayern’s Holger Badstuber essentially helped out by getting in way of the rebound and basically clearing off the line. The 2nd half started with a bang: Badstuber headed off the bar, and on the counter, Neuer came off his line (a Hildebrand moment?), the difference was that it was Joel Matip with the ball, and he placed his shot wide of the empty Bayern net. A few minutes later, the unstoppable Ribery danced through, faked Metzelder out of his jockstrap and hammered home, essentially ending the match.

Leaders Dortmund was cruising alomg against hannover. The Neons dominated, but wasted almost all their chances. The 96ers finally woke up after an hour and got back in the match. It was fairly tight from then on, but the Dortmund held on and finished off the visitors in injury time.

3.Liga: Sandhausen stays on track

Sandhausen moves closer to promotion.

3.Liga - Round 26

1. FC Heidenheim       -    VfB Stuttgart II	  1:0 (1:0)    7,000
Kickers Offenbach      -    Werder Bremen II	  3:0 (1:0)    5,460
SpVgg Unterhaching     -    SV Babelsberg 03	  1:2 (0:1)    1,100
Chemnitzer FC	       -    Carl Zeiss Jena	  1:1 (1:0)    8,100
SV Sandhausen	       -    Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	  2:1 (1:1)    2,100
Jahn Regensburg	       -    SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  2:1 (2:1)    3,012
Rot-Weiß Erfurt	       -    Arminia Bielefeld	  1:1 (0:0)    4,912
Wacker Burghausen      -    SV Darmstadt 98	  1:1 (1:0)    2,600
Preußen Münster	       -    VfL Osnabrück	  canceled
1. FC Saarbrücken      -    VfR Aalen	          canceled	

 1  SV Sandhausen	  	26   14    7 	5    41:27  +14    49
 2  VfR Aalen	  	        25   13    7 	5    34:22  +12    46
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Jahn Regensburg	  	25   11    9 	5    40:24  +16    42
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  1. FC Heidenheim	  	25   11    7 	7    32:24  +8 	   40
 5  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	25    9   10 	6    32:27  +5 	   37
 6  Chemnitzer FC (N)	  	26   10    7 	9    34:32  +2 	   37
 7  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	26    8   12 	6    42:34  +8 	   36
 8  Kickers Offenbach	  	24   10    6 	8    31:25  +6 	   36
 9  Wacker Burghausen	  	25    8   12 	5    37:32  +5 	   36
10  VfL Osnabrück (A)	  	24    8   11 	5    28:20  +8 	   35
11  VfB Stuttgart II	  	25    8   10 	7    27:30  -3 	   34
12  Preußen Münster (N)	        24    7   11 	6    25:26  -1 	   32
13  Arminia Bielefeld (A)       27    7   11 	9    34:40  -6 	   32
14  SV Babelsberg 03	  	26    8    8 	10   35:42  -7 	   32 
15  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	27    7    9 	11   27:36  -9 	   30 
16  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	25    8    4 	13   39:42  -3 	   28
17  SV Darmstadt 98 (N)	  	25    7    7 	11   32:35  -3 	   28
---------------------------------------------------------------------
18  Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (A)	26    4   10 	12   24:35  -11    22 
19  Carl Zeiss Jena	  	24    5    7 	12   27:44  -17    22
20  Werder Bremen II	  	26    3    9 	14   24:48  -24    18

Leaders Sandhausen continue their march towards the 2.Liga, but they’ll need to improve if they expect to last. Struggling Oberhausen gave them a pretty good match, a double by Marcel Kandziora evetually giving them the match. Mario Basler’s RWO can at least take solace that they’ve got some possibilities to stay up if they put out.

Regensburg struggled, but kept hold on 3rd with a win over Wehen. Heidenheim stays in the promotion battle thanks to a goal by Michael Thurk, a good winter transfer for FCH.

Bremen II looks hopeless as they got they’re ass ripped in Offenbach. Npbody will miss them in the 3.Liga…

Euro matches

Champions League

Bayern München stubbed their tow in the first leg of the knockout round against Swiss contender FC Basel 0-1. Despite controlling most of the possesion, Bayern was relatively lame near the box, and the Basel club – having already eliminated Manchester United – was by no means satisfied not to lose. St.Jakobs Park was sold out (36,000) and the fans gave loud support to their team. Just when the match looked to peter out to a scoreless draw, midfielder Valentin Stocker struck in the 86th minute. Arjen Robben got a start, but he looked pretty rusty. He ran around a lot like a chicken with his head cut off, usually placing his shot about 50 rows deep in the stands. Bayern’s new signing (for next year) Xherdan Shaqiri was on display for Basel. He wasn’t in top form, but showed flashes of what Bayern hopes to get.

Bayern will have to show a lot more in the rematch in München.

Europa-Liga

Hannover 96 defended their 2-1 1st leg win against Belgiums FC Brugge on Thursday…22,000 fans showed up, selling out the park, but the 96ers came away with the 1-0 victory, a nice road win. The Belgians pressed hard, but GK Zieler was in top form, and an early goal by Diouf ended up being enough for Hannover to advance to the next round.

Schalke had a surprisingly tough time with Viktoria Plzen. After a 1-1 first leg away, some 50,000 showed up in Schalke’s Veltins Arena expecting an east win. And it looked that was exactly what they were going to get, with Huntelaar scoring after only 8 minutes. But then they dicked around, and the Czechs scored with two minutes remaining. Luckily, Schalke got things back together in overtime, and Huntelaar scored two more, giving him the hat-trick.

2.Liga: Eintracht moves to top

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
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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.

Aue and Braunschweig played 1-1 on Monday. With Erzgebirge struggling, the board moved and fired head coach Rico Schmitt. His successor will be Karsten Baumann, who last coached VfL Osnabrück…

Bundesliga: Bayern trips

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.

3.Liga: Regensburg stubs toe

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.

Rehagel is back!

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…