Europe set…

Hannover 96 had an easy time, conceding an early glow and before you could say “Rock-law” (or “vrotz-waff” for that matter), they thumped Slask Wroclaw 5-1 (10-4 on aggregate) to advance to the Europa-league Group stage.  26,000 watched doubles by Sobiech and Huszti, plus Abdellaoue bang in goals.

The Champions League draws certainly are worth talking about. Borussia Dortmund paid the price for sucking last season and go a doozie: Group D consists of Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax Amsterdam!!! Talk about a Group of Death! Well, I guess we’ll see whether the Neons have matured from last season. Bayern München, on the other hand, was almost handed a bye: Group F consists or BATE Borisov, Lille and Valencia. So unless something goes horribly wrong, an easy advancement. Schalke may be the weakest German entrant, but Group B consists of Arsenal, Montpellier and Olympiakos Piraeus. Not easy for them, but certainly do-able,

Bundesliga misc news

Marco Reus was named kicker’s Fussballer des Jahres (Player of the Year). He had a brilliant campaign with Gladbach, made the solid jump into the national team, did well in Euro 2012 and started off great with new club Dortmund. Couldn’t ask for much more.

The biggest news however is that Bayern München plunked down 40 million euros to sign Basque defensive midfielder Javi Martinez for 40 million euros. I believe this is a Bundesliga record, the previous being Mario Gomez for 35 million and Frank Ribery for 25 million, Arjen Robben 24 million (See the pattern? Guess who?) Bayern has been haggling with Bilbao for weeks, and apparently they’ve finally agreed. It will be interesting how the Spaniard fits in, perhaps it indicates that Schweinsteiger will be concentrating more on attack now that cover is available.

Wolfsburg has sent DM Petr Jiracek to Hamburg. Rumour is that Felix Magath is looking at bringing in a couple of new players.

Relegated 1. FC Köln GK Michael Rensing has transferred to Bayer Leverkusen. This is somewhat of a surprise, since Bernd Leno has established himself as clear no.1 in chemical town. (He booted Rene Adler’s ass off to HSV). I’m a bit surprised, because Rensing was actually fairly decent at 1. FC Köln, you could hardly blame the relegation on him. He certainly had redeemed himself from his crappy Bayern season. But Köln was jettisoning all pricy salaries, so he had to leave. You’d think he might have looked for a starting job, but I guess he’s content to sit on the bench and collect the paycheck.

Another “interesting” signing was Kaiserslautern picking up Alexander Baumjohann from Schalke. Baumjohann was considered one of the young rising superstars after the 2009 season with Gladbach. Then he made the mistake of signing with Bayern and got the dreaded Bankholzsplinterimarschverletzung, after warming the bench too much. So off to Schalke to revive is career. Well, strike two apparently. Let’s see how he fairs. I think he’s only around 24, so in theory he could still make a move, but perhaps that train has left the station.

How ’bout some other promising youngsters whose careers were essentially flushed down the toilet after the big transfer to Bayern? You have any favorites? Go ahead and post your suggestions….

Ivica Horvat died at age 86. He was a Yugoslavian international in the 1950s, and then moved to Germany with Frankfurt, first as a player, then as a coach as they became a founding member of the Bundesliga.. He is best known as a coach for Schalke in the early 70s, when the young squad burst on the scene to challenge Bayern. (Didn’t last long, as they collapsed soon after – however, he did win the Cup, as the Blues blasted Kaiserslautern 5-0). He coached Rot-Weiss Essen and Westfalia Herne later (ha, bet you don’t remember them that well, eh?) before returning to Schalke, but had little success.

 

 

3.Liga, Round 7

Midweek action as the 3.Liga piles on the fixtures. Some teams are beginning to establish themselves, but so far nobody has sucked too much (Erfurt perhaps the exception).

Bielefeld remains on top with a hard fought win over the visiting Kickers. As the match progressed, Stuttgart seemed close to equalizing, but they wasted their chances.

Osnabrück showed themselves recovered from their weekend hangover and thumped Unterhaching, handing the Mini-Münchkins their second ass whupping.

Karlsruhe put in another weak performance, but luckily for only one half. In the 2nd period KSC put things together and dominated the match, getting their first win. Perhaps this will lead to some stability and improvement.

Saarbrücken came back from a bad deficit to square things against Offenbach, preventing the Kickers from getting their campaign back on track.

Aachen continues to dick around. A lame performance and all they could get was a draw with Erfurt, which has to be pleased. RWE had sucked and just fired their coach, so this was a nice result for them.

The attendance in Stuttgart is a pretty good indication why “normal” clubs don’t like having the B teams in their league.

 	
VfL Osnabrück	       -   SpVgg Unterhaching	3:0 (1:0)   11,400
1. FC Heidenheim       -   Chemnitzer FC	3:2 (3:2)    8,000
1. FC Saarbrücken      -   Kickers Offenbach	2:2 (0:2)    4,881
Borussia Dortmund II   -   Karlsruher SC	0:3 (0:0)    3,130
Alemannia Aachen       -   Rot-Weiß Erfurt	1:1 (1:1)   13,524
Wacker Burghausen      -   Hansa Rostock	2:0 (1:0)    2,850
VfB Stuttgart II       -   SV Babelsberg 03	2:1 (2:1)      610
Hallescher FC	       -   Preußen Münster	0:2 (0:1)    8,506
SV Wehen Wiesbaden     -   SV Darmstadt 98	1:1 (0:1)    4,569
Arminia Bielefeld      -   Stuttgarter Kickers	1:0 (0:0)    9,090


 1  Arminia Bielefeld	  	7    5 	 2   0 	  12:5 	+7 	  17 
 2  VfL Osnabrück	  	7    5 	 1   1 	  10:4 	+6 	  16
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Preußen Münster	  	7    4 	 2   1 	  14:7 	+7 	  14
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  1. FC Heidenheim	  	7    4 	 2   1 	  15:11 +4 	  14 
 5  VfB Stuttgart II	  	7    4 	 1   2 	  12:8 	+4 	  13 
 6  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	7    4 	 1   2 	  10:7 	+3 	  13 
 7  Hallescher FC (N)	  	7    3 	 2   2 	   5:3 	+2 	  11 
 8  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	7    3 	 1   3 	  11:9 	+2 	  10 
 9  Chemnitzer FC	  	7    3 	 1   3 	  10:9 	+1 	  10 
10  Alemannia Aachen (A)	7    2 	 4   1 	   9:9 	 0 	  10 
11  Wacker Burghausen	  	7    3 	 0   4 	   8:11 -3 	  9 
12  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	7    2 	 2   3 	   9:6 	+3 	  8 
13  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	7    2 	 2   3 	   9:13 -4 	  8 
14  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	7    1   4   2 	   6:6 	 0 	  7 
15  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	7    1 	 4   2 	  10:11 -1 	  7 
16  Kickers Offenbach	  	7    2 	 1   4 	  10:12 -2 	  7 
17  SV Darmstadt 98	  	7    1 	 3   3 	   5:9 	-4 	  6
--------------------------------------------------------------------
18  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	7    1 	 2   4 	   5:13 -8 	  5 
19  SV Babelsberg 03	  	7    1 	 1   5 	   7:12 -5 	  4 
20  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	7    0 	 2   5 	   3:15 -12 	  2

Europe

As expected, Borussia M’gladbach drops out of the Champiions League. The 1-3 silly home loss to Dynamo Kiev proved to be too much. But the Gladbachers put in a good effort in front of 67,000 in Kiev. With two late goals they were up 2-0, and pressing for the winner. However Kiev managed to scored with a couple of minutes left to decide the contest. Gladbach gets dropped to the Europa league, Kiev returns to the CL after a two year absence.

In the Europa-league qualifier, VfB Stuttgart held Dynamo Moscow 1-1 away, with Ibisevic scoring again. His double had secured a 2-0 win in Stuttgart, so VfB advances to the group stage.

Hannover 96 hosts Slask Wroclaw on Thursday. The 96ers are favored to advance, having won away 5-3.

2.Liga, Rd 3: Köln sucks!

The word is out: Köln sucks! The Bundesliga-Absteiger looked like crap once again in their third 2.Liga outing. In the Montagnachtfussball match (“Bist du bereit für etwas Fussball?”, OK crappy translation, forget it…) two strugglers were on national display. Both Aue and Köln needed a result, since they had both stunk in previous matches. So things started fiercely, like the proverbial Chinese fire drill, but Erzgebirge then scored an early goal, which brought stability to their game. The Geisböcke instead ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, and proved to be quite toothless in their feeble attacks. Aue realized that this match was for the taking, and made things certain with a goal in the 2nd period. Deserved win for the easterners, a disaster for Köln. I’m not convinced that Aue won’t struggle all season, but they got the points.

So the relegated clubs are having a rough time. Kaiserslautern hasn’t impressed, but they haven’t lost either. Hertha has pretty much stunk (including in the Cup), but got lucky and picked up a win. Köln on the other hand looks like a rudderless ship. Legend Wolfgang Overath had come back to guide them to safe waters, but instead they ended up in a whirlpool. So Wolfie left the presidency, but the same amateur-hour appears evident. Of course, they *should* be able to right the ship, and it’s early in the season. On the other hand, they could end up like other famous clubs, Bochum and Duisburg, and just dick around. The 2.Liga is very tough, as there are usually a lot of clubs contending, so you really need to get results. You don’t have to be outstandingg to win it, but you can’t suck. Personally, I believe they’ll get their act together and perhaps make a run, but I’d have to admit that they haven’t given any evidence of that.

"Montagnachtfussball"
	
Erzgebirge Aue	   -  	 1. FC Köln	2:0 (1:0)    10,050
 	
                  1:0  Fa. Müller (8., Rechtsschuss, Sylvestr)
                  2:0  Savran (55., Linksschuss, Sylvestr)


 1  Eintracht Braunschweig	3    3 	 0   0 	  4:1 	+3 	  9 
 2  Energie Cottbus	  	3    2 	 1   0 	  7:2 	+5 	  7
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  FSV Frankfurt	  	3    2 	 1   0 	  6:2 	+4 	  7
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  VfR Aalen (N)	  	3    2 	 0   1 	  6:3 	+3 	  6 
 5  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	3    1 	 2   0 	  4:2 	+2 	  5
 6  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)    3    1 	 2   0 	  5:4 	+1 	  5 
 7  1860 München	  	3    1 	 2   0 	  3:2 	+1 	  5 
 8  SC Paderborn 07	  	3    1 	 1   1 	  7:4 	+3 	  4 
 9  Dynamo Dresden	  	3    1 	 1   1 	  6:5 	+1 	  4 
10  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	3    1 	 1   1 	  5:6 	-1 	  4 
11  Erzgebirge Aue	  	3    1 	 1   1 	  2:3 	-1 	  4
12  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	3    1 	 0   2 	  3:3 	 0 	  3 
13  VfL Bochum	  	        3    1 	 0   2 	  2:6 	-4 	  3 
14  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	3    0 	 2   1 	  3:5 	-2 	  2 
15  FC St. Pauli	  	3    0 	 2   1 	  1:3 	-2 	  2 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
16  1. FC Union Berlin	  	3    0 	 1   2 	  3:6 	-3 	  1
-------------------------------------------------------------------
17  1. FC Köln (A)	  	3    0 	 1   2 	  1:4 	-4 	  1
18  MSV Duisburg	  	3    0 	 0   3 	  2:9 	-7 	  0

2.Liga, Round 3

A top clash in Braunschweig, and the home side did enough to win. Paderborn had the edge in the initial stage, but the Lions raised their game after the restart to get a deserved win in this hard fought match. After decades in the wildnerness, it looks like Braunschweig is at least making some noise.

Hertha again struggled, but got their first win. Under circumstances, coach Jos Luhukay was probably happy. He’s got a problem in goal. 19 year Phillip Sprint started, but on the bench was 16 year old Benjamin Lundt from the “B” youth team!! That’s because of injuries to Burchert and Kraft, plus the “A” youth goalie was out sick. Overall, a deserved win, as Berlin controlled the start. Regensburg gave too much respect, and despite a vast improvement in the 2nd half, couldn’t salvage a point.

Tiny Sandhausen (a village south of Heidelberg) continues to impress. A solid defense and a quick counterattack was enough to disturb Union, and the Sandmen get the victory.

MSV Duisburg fired head coach Oliver Reck as the Zebras stunk losing 1-3 to Dresden. Talk about a short leash. But it was a desolate performance, stinking up the Ruhr Valley, if that were even possible. (Well, since all the coal mines are closed, and the smokestacks largely museums, I suppose MSV stinking might stand out a little more than usual.) Nice win for Dresden, who basically kick the Zebras in the balls and laugh all the way home, they’ll never get an easier away win, that’s for sure. Interestingly enough, all 3 Dresden goal scorers are French. I don’t think it means anything, but I thought it was interesting…you hardly ever used to see French players in Germany. And being eastern, I’d expect to see lots of worthless players from places like Albania and Bulgaria in the squad. Oh wait, that’s Cottbus, never mind…

Speaking of Cottbus, they must have been upset at my diatribe, and they signed their own Frenchie! (Farina). But more importantly, Energie put in a solid effort and dumped St.Pauli.

Kaiserslautern is finding life in the 2.Liga with challenges. Visitors 1860 were the better team in the 1st half, but FCK gained advantages in the 2nd. Neither team was too sharp with finishing, although Lions GK Kiraly was quite good in keeping the null. FCK hasn’t won at home since October 2011, so the fans might start getting restless.

Promoted Aalen withstood sustained Bochum pressure, especially early in the 2nd half. But then they realized that the emperor had no clothes, and got stronger as the match went on. Kampl then dribbled through the defense to knock home, and the southerners got a famous road win. Bochum continues to stink.

Ingolstadt was one of the toughest teams to beat last season – but only after the winterbreak. FCI had dug themselves in a hole, and it took a sustained effort to climb out. Perhaps more of the same this year, although they really can’t complain about the quality. The hosts controlled the match and pressured FSV back, but the Frankfurt defense stood firm. Two counterattacks led to a double by new signing Edmond Kapllani and the Bornheimers steal the points.

 	
Hertha BSC Berlin	 -  	Jahn Regensburg	      2:1 (2:0)   28,000

                        1:0  Allagui (41., Ben-Hatira)
                        2:0  Wagner (43., Allagui)
                        2:1  Sembolo (57., Hein)


Eintracht Braunschweig	 -  	SC Paderborn 07	      2:1 (0:1)   19,500

                        0:1  Yilmaz (34., Brückner)
                        1:1  Dogan (62., Kratz)
                        2:1  Kruppke (67., Kumbela)

SV Sandhausen	         -  	1. FC Union Berlin    2:0 (1:0)    3,000

                        1:0  Löning (42., Adler)
                        2:0  Fießer (71., Löning)


MSV Duisburg	         -  	Dynamo Dresden	      1:3 (0:2)   12,000

                        0:1  Ouali (4., Schuppan)
                        0:2  Losilla (20.)
                        0:3  Poté (78., Gueye)
                        1:3  Exslager (90. + 2, Brosinski)

Energie Cottbus	         -  	FC St. Pauli	      2:0 (1:0)   10,000

                        1:0  Stiepermann (21., Farina)
                        2:0  Banovic (66., Stiepermann)

 	
1. FC Kaiserslautern	 -  	1860 München	      0:0 (0:0)   37,571

VfL Bochum	         -  	VfR Aalen	      0:1 (0:0)   11,251

                        0:1  Kampl (85.)

FC Ingolstadt 04	 -  	FSV Frankfurt	      0:2 (0:1)    5,612

                        0:1  Kapllani (42., Yelen)
                        0:2  Kapllani (77., Teixeira)

Monday	
Erzgebirge Aue	 -  	1. FC Köln	-:- (-:-) 


 1  Eintracht Braunschweig	3    3 	 0   0 	  4:1 	+3 	  9 
 2  Energie Cottbus	  	3    2 	 1   0 	  7:2 	+5 	  7
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  FSV Frankfurt	  	3    2 	 1   0 	  6:2 	+4 	  7
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  VfR Aalen (N)	  	3    2 	 0   1 	  6:3 	+3 	  6 
 5  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	3    1 	 2   0 	  4:2 	+2 	  5
 6  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)    3    1 	 2   0 	  5:4 	+1 	  5 
 7  1860 München	  	3    1 	 2   0 	  3:2 	+1 	  5 
 8  SC Paderborn 07	  	3    1 	 1   1 	  7:4 	+3 	  4 
 9  Dynamo Dresden	  	3    1 	 1   1 	  6:5 	+1 	  4 
10  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	3    1 	 1   1 	  5:6 	-1 	  4 
11  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	3    1 	 0   2 	  3:3 	 0 	  3 
12  VfL Bochum	  	        3    1 	 0   2 	  2:6 	-4 	  3 
13  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	3    0 	 2   1 	  3:5 	-2 	  2 
14  FC St. Pauli	  	3    0 	 2   1 	  1:3 	-2 	  2 
15  1. FC Köln (A)	  	2    0 	 1   1 	  1:2 	-1 	  1
-------------------------------------------------------------------
16  1. FC Union Berlin	  	3    0 	 1   2 	  3:6 	-3 	  1
-------------------------------------------------------------------
17  Erzgebirge Aue	  	2    0 	 1   1 	  0:3 	-3 	  1 
18  MSV Duisburg	  	3    0 	 0   3 	  2:9 	-7 	  0

Bundesliga, Rd 1: 96ers and Schalke

The Bundesliga 1st round ended on Sunday with a hard fought draw between hannover and Schalke. Both teams looked engaged, with the 96ers perhaps having the edge in the early going. The Blues finally got going on a counter-attack, with Huntelaar cutting across the top of the box and rocketing in a perfect left footed shot into the corner. Schalke began to assert themselves, and were soon in front as Holtby headed in from a crowd. Hannover then made a few subs, and it paid off with a late goal by Nikci, after a nice run by Schlaudraff.

Overall, a deserved draw and a decent way to end the opening day.


Hannover 96	 - 	FC Schalke 04      2:2 (1:0)   49,000

                1:0  Felipe (43., Pander)
                1:1  Huntelaar (52., Holtby)
                1:2  Holtby (64., J. Jones)
                2:2  Nikci (80., Schlaudraff)

 1  Bayern München	  	1 	1 	0 	0 	3:0  +3 	3 
 2  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	1 	1 	0 	0 	2:0  +2 	3 
 3  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	1 	1 	0 	0 	2:1  +1 	3	  	
 4  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	1 	1 	0 	0 	2:1  +1 	3	  	
 5  Borussia M'gladbach	  	1 	1 	0 	0 	2:1  +1 	3 
 6  1. FC Nürnberg	  	1 	1 	0 	0 	1:0  +1 	3	  	
 7  VfL Wolfsburg	  	1 	1 	0 	0 	1:0  +1 	3 
 8  Hannover 96	  	        1 	0 	1 	0 	2:2   1 	1 	  	
 9  FC Schalke 04	  	1 	0 	1 	0 	2:2   1 	1 
10  SC Freiburg	  	        1       0 	1 	0 	1:1   0 	1	  	
11  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	1 	0 	1 	0 	1:1   0 	1 
12  Werder Bremen	  	1 	0 	0 	1 	1:2  -1 	0 	  	
13  1899 Hoffenheim	  	1 	0 	0 	1 	1:2  -1 	0 	  	
14  Bayer Leverkusen	  	1 	0 	0 	1 	1:2  -1 	0 
15  Hamburger SV	  	1 	0 	0 	1 	0:1  -1 	0	  	
16  VfB Stuttgart	  	1 	0 	0 	1 	0:1  -1 	0
17  FC Augsburg	  	        1 	0 	0 	1 	0:2  -2 	0 
18  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	1       0 	0 	1 	0:3  -3 	0

3.Liga, Round 6

First casualty: Rot-Weiss Erfurt fired coach Stefan Emmerling, as RWE continued to suck. The last straw was a lame home performance against Bielefeld, who now are the pace-setters. After last season’s tribulations, it’s nice to see Arminia back on track. For Erfurt, their start has been dreadful, but if they get their act together, a couple of wins could see them out of the relegation zone.

High-flying Unterhaching got a rude awakening as they got bitch-slapped at home by Stuttgart’s B squad. Somewhat unfair result, as the mini-Müncheners didn’t look nearly as crap as the result suggests. Osnabrück was another leader that got taken down, as they went down sang und- klanglos against Stuttgarter Kickers. Chemnitz had a great come-from-behind win over Wehen, just the type of result to fire them up. With Offenbach getting back on track after their inspired Cup performance, it looks like several potential contenders again in an exiciting 3.Liga race.

Still stuttering with Ladehemmung (basically shooting constipation, hehehe) is famed Karlsruher SC. Despite the fact that they have managed to stink up all Germany with their crap performances, they still have loyal fans who come out for more punishment every weekend. Another lame effort versus Aachen, who are actually quite similar.

 	
SpVgg Unterhaching	 -  	VfB Stuttgart II	0:3 (0:0)   1,800
Stuttgarter Kickers	 -  	VfL Osnabrück	        3:0 (2:0)   3,700
Rot-Weiß Erfurt	         -  	Arminia Bielefeld	0:2 (0:1)   4,412
Karlsruher SC	         -  	Alemannia Aachen	0:0 (0:0)  11,436
Kickers Offenbach	 -  	Borussia Dortmund II	3:0 (1:0)   7,091
1. FC Saarbrücken	 -  	Wacker Burghausen	3:0 (2:0)   3,405
Chemnitzer FC	         -  	SV Wehen Wiesbaden	3:2 (0:2)   4,300
Preußen Münster	         -  	1. FC Heidenheim	1:1 (0:1)   6,282
Sunday:
SV Babelsberg 03	 -  	Hallescher FC	        0:1 (0:0)   4,379
SV Darmstadt 98	         -  	Hansa Rostock	        1:1 (1:0)   8,600


 1  Arminia Bielefeld	  	6   4 	2   0 	  11:5 	+6 	  14 
 2  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	6   4 	1   1 	  10:4 	+6 	  13
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VfL Osnabrück	  	6   4 	1   1 	  7:4 	+3 	  13
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Preußen Münster	  	6   3 	2   1 	  12:7 	+5 	  11
 5  Hallescher FC (N)	  	6   3 	2   1 	  5:1 	+4 	  11  
 6  1. FC Heidenheim	  	6   3 	2   1 	  12:9 	+3 	  11 
 7  VfB Stuttgart II	  	6   3 	1   2 	  10:7 	+3 	  10 
 8  Chemnitzer FC	  	6   3 	1   2 	  8:6 	+2 	  10 
 9  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	6   3 	0   3 	  9:7 	+2 	  9 
10  Alemannia Aachen (A)	6   2 	3   1 	  8:8 	0 	  9 
11  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	6   2 	2   2 	  9:5 	+4 	  8 
12  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	6   2 	2   2 	  9:11 	-2 	  8 
13  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	6   1 	3   2 	  9:10 	-1 	  6 
14  Kickers Offenbach	  	6   2 	0   4 	  8:10 	-2 	  6 
15  Wacker Burghausen	  	6   2 	0   4 	  6:11 	-5 	  6 
16  SV Darmstadt 98	  	6   1 	2   3 	  4:8 	-4 	  5 
17  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	6   1 	2   3 	  5:10 	-5 	  5 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
18  SV Babelsberg 03	  	6   1 	1   4 	  6:10 	-4 	  4
19  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	6   0 	4   2 	  3:6 	-3 	  4 
20  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	6   0 	1   5 	  2:14 	-12 	  1	

Bundesliga, Round 1: No shockers

After Dortmund’s hard fought victory over a surprisingly decent Bremen on Friday, the Bundesliga saw a full slate of matches on Saturday. So far, with the exception of Bayern, virtually all matches have been fairly hard fought competitions, nobody looking real crap.

Bayern München goes straight to the top as they had a relatively easy time bitch-slapping newly promoted Greuther Fürth. A sold out stadium (pretty rare in Fürth) watch Bayern dominate the match, but the Greuther fought furiously for every ball and almost made it to half time with a draw. But Thomas Müller opened the scoring just before half, and the Greuther decided to open up in the 2nd period. Admirable intentions, but this made things easy for Bayern, as they then proceeded to slice and dice the upstarts. They probably could have run up the score, but were content on a warm day to mostly pass the ball around. It’s not really a terrible result for Fürth, since their fate will not be determined by results against the like of Bayern and Dortmund…

Gladbach got off to a decent start, erasing the CL disgrace, thanks to a fine performance by Juan Arango. The home side controlled most of the match against Hoffenheim, evidently much improved over their laughable DFB Pokal outing against Berlin AK-47. However, since both teams were lame in the first half, perhaps neither side had shaken off their recent hangovers. In the 2nd half, Hoffenheim began to play better and got the home side into difficulties. It took a direct free kick by Arango (who also assisted on the opener) to win the match for Gladbach.

Freiburg and Mainz had an entertaining battle, and the visitors will certainly be happier with the point. Mainz had an edge in the 1st half, but didn’t have anything to show for it. SCF came out strong in the 2nd and grabbed an early lead. Despite Mainz getting an equalizer, the visitors were pressed into the defensive, and it took a fine performance by GK Wetklo to hold onto the draw.

Fortuna Düsseldorf returned the Bundesliga and got a great result – likely a relegation 6 pointer :). Augsburg controlled the ball, but the visitors stacked the defense and played a disciplined counter-attack. Coach Nobert Meier had an inspired sub when he brought on Dani Schahin after a hour – his double provided Fortuna with an excellent victory. This is the kind of match that Augsburg probably would have at least drawn last year, so there is bound to be concern, even though it’s only the first match.

The anniversary year could be quite troubling for the only original Bundesliga club never relegated. Hamburg looked slower than visiting Nürnberg, and can’t really complain about the loss – FCN’s first win in Hamburg in about 20 years. The overall match quality wasn’t very good, but Nürnberg certainly improved as the match went on, getting the deserved victory with a goal from veteran Hanno Balitsch.

Eintracht Frankfurt put in a great effort against Bayer Aspirins. Despite the fact that the stadium was only half full (per DFB edict, as punishment for rowdy fan behaviour), the Eagles were inspired by vocal support and clearly wanted the match more than Leverkusen. After a somewhat lucky lead for the Pepto-Bismols, it was Frankfurt that controlled the game and generally attacked furiously. The Adler had several chances, Occean missing some sitters, and Alex Meier having several clear chances as well. But the fans kept pushing the team forward, and Frankfurt didn’t give up. Aigner’s rocket near the hour mark gave the deserved tie, and Frankfurt remained the better side. Luserkusen pretty much dicked around, obviously not caring, basically same as last year in way too many matches. Frankfurt continued forward, Occean missing from about 3 yards, Meier having a couple of good opportunities. Martin Lanig came on as a late sub, and his powerful header won the match. A huge win for Eintracht, and great start to the season. For the Aspirins, well, I’m sure they’ll be fine. They’re a technically fine side, but lack the passion to really go places.

Insanity in Stuttgart. Two clubs with a lot to prove. Very hard fought match, perhaps Stuttgart having a slight edge, but Wolfsburg looking nothing like the defensive diarrhea from last season. Back and forth action, but no goals. Then just before the whistle, Vedad Ibisevic is brought down in the box for a penalty. VW keeper Diego Benaglio comes up with the save, Ibisevic hammers the rebound 5 yards over the goal. Then on the counter attack, Vierinha crosses to an unmarked Bas Dost sneaking in on the back side, header, 0-1 for Wolfsburg, final whistle, and the VWs roaring all the way home through the stunned Mercedes parking lot.


Borussia Dortmund	 -  	Werder Bremen	     2:1 (1:0)   80,645

                        1:0  Reus (11., Blaszczykowski)
                        1:1  Gebre Selassie (75., Arnautovic)
                        2:1  M. Götze (81., Lewandowski)

Borussia M'gladbach	 -  	1899 Hoffenheim	     2:1 (1:0)   50,146

                        1:0  Hanke (33., Arango)
                        1:1  Roberto Firmino (66., Derdiyok)
                        2:1  Arango (79.)

SC Freiburg	         -  	1. FSV Mainz 05	     1:1 (0:0)   22,500

                        1:0  M. Kruse (49., Guedé)
                        1:1  Ivanschitz (65., penalty, N. Müller)



FC Augsburg	         -  	Fortuna Düsseldorf   0:2 (0:0)   30,401

                        0:1  Schahin (68., Kruse)
                        0:2  Schahin (79., Kruse)

Hamburger SV	         -  	1. FC Nürnberg	     0:1 (0:0)   50,123

                        0:1  Balitsch (68., Nilsson)


SpVgg Greuther Fürth	 -  	Bayern München	     0:3 (0:1)   18,000

                        0:1  T. Müller (43., Dante)
                        0:2  Mandzukic (59., Robben)
                        0:3  Kleine (78., own goal, Robben)

Eintracht Frankfurt	 -  	Bayer Leverkusen     2:1 (0:1)   27,950

                        0:1  Kießling (29., Bellarabi)
                        1:1  Aigner (57., Inui)
                        2:1  Lanig (82., Celozzi)

VfB Stuttgart	         -  	VfL Wolfsburg	     0:1 (0:0) 	48,280

                        0:1  Dost (90., Vieirinha)

Sunday:	
Hannover 96	         -  	FC Schalke 04        -:- (-:-)

 1  Bayern München	  	1 	1 	0 	0 	3:0  +3 	3 
 2  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	1 	1 	0 	0 	2:0  +2 	3 
 3  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	1 	1 	0 	0 	2:1  +1 	3	  	
 4  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	1 	1 	0 	0 	2:1  +1 	3	  	
 5  Borussia M'gladbach	  	1 	1 	0 	0 	2:1  +1 	3 
 6  1. FC Nürnberg	  	1 	1 	0 	0 	1:0  +1 	3	  	
 7  VfL Wolfsburg	  	1 	1 	0 	0 	1:0  +1 	3 
 8  SC Freiburg	  	        1       0 	1 	0 	1:1   0 	1	  	
 9  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	1 	0 	1 	0 	1:1   0 	1 
10  Hannover 96	  	        0 	0 	0 	0 	0:0   0 	0 	  	
11  FC Schalke 04	  	0 	0 	0 	0 	0:0   0 	0 
12  Werder Bremen	  	1 	0 	0 	1 	1:2  -1 	0 	  	
13  1899 Hoffenheim	  	1 	0 	0 	1 	1:2  -1 	0 	  	
14  Bayer Leverkusen	  	1 	0 	0 	1 	1:2  -1 	0 
15  Hamburger SV	  	1 	0 	0 	1 	0:1  -1 	0	  	
16  VfB Stuttgart	  	1 	0 	0 	1 	0:1  -1 	0
17  FC Augsburg	  	        1 	0 	0 	1 	0:2  -2 	0 
18  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	1       0 	0 	1 	0:3  -3 	0

Bundesliga: It’s started!

Friday night saw the first match of the 50th Bundesliga season. Defending champion Borussia Dortmund had a hard fought 2-1 win over a surprisingly strong Werder Bremen. Over 80,000 packed the “signal Iduna” and saw new signing Marco Reus open the scoring after only 11 minutes. But Werder turned out to be much better than expected. It took a late goal by Mario Götze to give the champs the victory.