Is the Bundesliga over? Sure beginning to look like it, with Bayern kicking ass and nobody else stepping up to the plate. If you look at the table, Frankfurt is offiically chasing the Bavarians, but let’s be serious. Eintracht is off to a great start, but you’ve got to figure they’ll come back to earth. The squad is decent, and they have great spirit, but that’s not enough over the long season. Schalke looks pretty strong, but they’re already 7 points back, and they’re never a team to be ruthless, so they’d need Bayern to start stinking. Champions Dortmund have been disappointing, and they are capable of winning non-stop, but they’re already 12 points back, which is pretty massive.

I usually hammer Leverkusen (not sure why), but I think they’re much improved over last season, at least in approach. They seem to want to attack, but usually give up after scoring. They probably have an upside if they can figure that out.

The other Bundesliga trend is who’s sucking, and it’s got Wolfsburg all over it. Two goals?! Pathetic. They are truly crap, perhaps proof that no matter what, Felix Magath should have never come back. He would be a legend in Kraftdurchfreudestadt, in fact VW would probably name a car after him. (Now it would be the “VW-Maggot”, and not-so-successor to the Beetle). If you look at the squad on paper (and look at the money spent), you’d have to say it’s pretty decent, but clearly unmotivated. Clubs like Greuther or Augsburg lack the talent, but they’ll fight till they drop.

FSV Mainz announced some good news. They made a profit of 5.7 million euros after taxes for 2011/12. Total player salaries were about 22.7 million. For the current season, they’re expecting about 53 million income, with player salaries flat. Their next plan is to build a new stadium, so let’s see how that goes.

In the 2.Liga, the big story is not who’s playing well, but who is sucking. And it’s some big names, Bochum, St.Pauli and Duisbrug, all of whom you might have expected to be in the upper half, or actually contending. Obviously Köln has sucked too, but they seem to have some light at the end of the tunnel. (They hope it’s not a train of course…) The biggest positive story is Braunschweig, who were relegated from the Bundesliga in 1985 and haven’t been back. They certainly are off to a fine start and are in a good position for promotion.

As usual, the 3.Liga looks like a dogfight, with several clubs in contention and no real surprises yet, except maybe Karlsruhe and Aachen sucking.

Sunday’s matches didn’t see much scoring, or much action for that matter.

Nürnberg has completely lost their thread, and gave a weak-ass performance against Augsburg. FCA actually had somewhat of an advantage in the 2nd period, but neither club really deserved to win this one. So a scoreless draw was perhaps the best result (although perhaps a 1-1 draw with two own goals might have been even better.)

In Hamburg, HSV and VfB featured two clubs that have had sucky starts, but have shown signs of improvement. The Stuttgarters started well, and deserved their halftime lead. In the 2nd period, HSV showed life and tried to press for the equalizer, but Stuttgart was disciplined in defense and fended off the somewhat clumsy HSV power moves. Result is obviously great for Stuttgart, but not a disaster for HSV.

 	
1. FC Nürnberg	  -  	FC Augsburg	0:0 (0:0)   40,171

Hamburger SV	  -  	VfB Stuttgart	0:1 (0:1)   53,121

                 0:1  Ibisevic (30., Harnik)


Total attendance: 395,264 (avg 43,918)


 1  Bayern München	  	8     8   0   0     26:2   +24 	  24 
 2  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	8     6   1   1     19:11  +8 	  19 
 3  FC Schalke 04	  	8     5   2   1     17:8   +9 	  17
 4  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	8     3   3   2     18:11  +7     12
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Bayer Leverkusen	  	8     3   3   2     13:11  +2 	  12 
 6  Hannover 96	  	        8     3   2   3     16:13  +3 	  11
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  SC Freiburg	  	        8     3   2   3     13:10  +3 	  11 
 8  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	8     3   2   3      9:10  -1 	  11 
 9  Werder Bremen	  	8     3   1   4     14:13  +1 	  10 
10  Hamburger SV	  	8     3   1   3      9:11  -2 	  10 
11  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	8     2   4   2      6:8   -2 	  10 
12  VfB Stuttgart	  	8     2   3   3      8:14  -6 	  9
13  Borussia M'gladbach	  	8     2   3   3      9:16  -7 	  9 
14  1899 Hoffenheim	  	8     2   2   4     13:17  -4 	  8 
15  1. FC Nürnberg	  	8     2   2   4      7:14  -7 	  8 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  FC Augsburg	  	        8     1   3   4      5:11  -6 	  6
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	8     1   2   5      5:14  -9 	  5 
18  VfL Wolfsburg	  	8     1   2   5      2:15  -13 	  5


M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokal, defending Cup winner
N = Neuling, newly promoted
1st line: Champions League
2nd line: Europaliga (+ Cup winner)
3rd line: Playoff with 2.Liga 3rd place
4th line: Releghation to 2.Liga

Leaders Braunschweig continue to grind out results. The Lions were solid against a fighting Dresden squad, and pretty much controlled the match. Dynamo was too weak going forward, and generally ruined promising opportunities. Braunschweig was ruthlessly efficient and the one-two punch of Kruppke and Kumbela finished off the match.

Lautern had their hands full with Sandhausen. Despite FCK jumping out to a blitz-start, they were pegged back almost immediately. The ex-Bundesligists quickly were on top again, but they couldn’t put down the courageous visitors until injury time. A deserved, hard fought win.

An easy win for Hertha in Bochum. The hosts were crap, like they have been all season. The Berliners weren’t overly impressive in the 1st half, but immediately got on track after the restart. After that, it was easy time, as Hertha wasn’t threatened at all by the lame Bochumers.

Cottbus was in a battle with surprising newcomer Aalen. Energie domainted the 1st half, but was unable to convert any chances. After the restart, host Aalen came on strong, and even though Cottbus grabbed a lead, they were unable to hold off VfR. In the end, a draw is a fair result, keeping both clubs in the promotion hunt.

Duisburg remains a disaster. Against Ingolstadt, the Zebras started out brightly, but the visitors were soon pushing them around. FCI seized control and ended up with a solid win.

Köln was headed for another disgraceful 2.Liga turd. The Goats were completely outplayed by hosts Regensburg, not so much because Jahn was playing well, but because Köln was sucking horribly. With only 5 minutes left, they were dead and buried. But then they woke up all of a sudden and kicked Jahn in the balls. The Kölners went beserk and scored 3 times in 8 minutes, salvaging the match. This might be what they need to get back on track. Bitter loss for Regensburg, since they had this one in the bag…

Union Berlin continued their improvement with a hard fought win over FSV Frankfurt. The Berliners dominated, but it wasn’t easy, despite being gifted a huge advantage. In the 16th minute, FSV’s Heitmeier deliberately handled the ball and got his ass tossed. Mattuschka converted the penalty, and it looked an easy win for Union. However the hosts perhaps relaxed too much, and the match became an open battle, with Frankfurt having some chances to equalize. In the end Union gets a deserved win, but it was a lot more nerve wracking than it should have been.

St.Pauli has been a disaster, so they canned their coach. Michael Frontzeck made his debut as Paulista boss, and they showed vast improvement. Against a solid Paderborn squad, the “Kiez-Kicker” dominated the match, creating many chances. However they failed to take advantage, and SCP struck back to equalize, leaving St.Pauli at bottom. Still, at least Frontzeck looks like he might be able to improve things for the Hamburgers.

Monday night is a must win for 1860, who can keep pace with the leaders. Aue desperately needs a result to help in the relegation struggle. Update: 1860 sucked and could only get a draw.

 	
1. FC Kaiserslautern   -    SV Sandhausen	3:1 (2:1)   27,526

                      1:0  Idrissou (4., Dick)
                      1:1  Achenbach (8., Kittner)
                      2:1  Bunjaku (24.,  Fortounis)
                      3:1  Hajri (90. + 2)

MSV Duisburg	       -    FC Ingolstadt 04	0:2 (0:0)   11,577

                      0:1  Leitl (64., Uludag)
                      0:2  Caiuby (88., Eigler)

VfL Bochum	       -    Hertha BSC	        0:2 (0:0)   13,985

                      0:1  Kluge (46., Ronny)
                      0:2  M. Ndjeng (79., Ramos)

Dynamo Dresden	       -    Ein. Braunschweig	0:2 (0:1)   27,513

                      0:1  Kruppke (37., Kratz)
                      0:2  Kumbela (79., Reichel)

Jahn Regensburg	       -    1. FC Köln	        2:3 (1:0)   11,985

                      1:0  J.-P. Müller (5.)
                      2:0  C. Rahn (67., penalty, J.-P. Müller)
                      2:1  Ujah (87.)
                      2:2  Maroh (90.)
                      2:3  Bigalke (90. + 3)
  
 	
SC Paderborn 07	       -    FC St. Pauli	1:1 (0:0)   15,000

                      0:1  Ginczek (48., Kringe)
                      1:1  Naki (71., P. Hofmann)

1. FC Union Berlin     -    FSV Frankfurt	1:0 (1:0)   15,701

                      1:0  Mattuschka (17., penalty)

VfR Aalen	       -    Energie Cottbus	1:1 (0:0)    6,407

                      0:1  Sanogo (70., Rippert)
                      1:1  Dausch (84., Cidimar)


Monday:
1860 München	       -    Erzgebirge Aue      1:1 (0:0)   17,600

                      0:1  Sylvestr (51., Klingbeil)
                      1:1  Vallori (66., Bierofka)


Attendance: 147,294 (avg 16,366)


 1  Eintracht Braunschweig	10    8   2   0     18:3   +15 	  26 
 2  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	10    6   3   1     18:10  +8 	  21
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	10    5   5   0     18:11  +7 	  20
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Energie Cottbus	  	10    5   3   2     15:10  +5 	  18
 5  1860 München	  	10    4   5   1     14:7   +7 	  17 
 6  VfR Aalen (N)	  	10    5   1   4     13:10  +3 	  16 
 7  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	10    4   4   2     13:11  +2 	  16 
 8  FSV Frankfurt	  	10    4   3   3     13:12  +1 	  15 
 9  SC Paderborn 07	  	10    3   3   4     16:13  +3 	  12 
10  1. FC Union Berlin	  	10    3   3   4     14:15  -1 	  12 
11  1. FC Köln (A)	  	10    3   3   4     10:12  -2 	  12 
12  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	10    3   0   7     11:13  -2 	  9 
13  Dynamo Dresden	  	10    2   3   5     12:15  -3 	  9 
14  Erzgebirge Aue	  	10    2   3   5      8:13  -5 	  9
15  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	10    2   3   5      9:17  -8 	  9 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  VfL Bochum	  	        10    2   3   5      5:14  -9 	  9
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  FC St. Pauli	  	10    1   5   4      7:13  -6 	  8 
18  MSV Duisburg	  	10    1   2   7      6:21  -15 	  5

A = Absteiger just Relegated 
N = Neuling just promoted

1st line: Promotion to Bundesliga
2nd line: Playoff with 16th Bundesliga
3rd line: Playoff with no.3 of 3.Liga
4th line: Relegation to 3.Liga 

Biatch-slap! Bayern says “Guten Tag” and then kicks Düsseldorf in the nuts. This was never in doubt, as Bayern showed they were vastly superior from the start. All Fortuna could offer was fight, and they did run around a lot. However the leaders weren’t in any hurry, and toyed around before Mandzukic opened the scoring after about half an hour. I don’t think anyone in the stadium felt then that Fortuna had the slightest chance anymore. And a few minutes later Bayern slammed the door. In the second half, it was more of the same, expect the visitors got a bit more vicious and turned it into a rout. All in all, Düsseldorf really can’t complain, as they could have been beaten by 10 goals…

There will be no “3-peat” for the champions. The massive Revier-derby against Schalke showed that Dortmund is not on track this season. Schalke has had a rough time, getting owned by the Neons in the last few, but this was a different Blues. The Schalkers controlled the game from the start, Dortmund looking not prepared for the upcoming derby fight. So Schalke took the lead and dominated, Dortmund showing that their injury list (Hummels, Kuba, Goetze etc.) is perhaps taking some edge off their knife. In the second half it was more of the same, and Schalke doubled their lead. A somewhat fortunate attack let Dortmund back in the match, and the champions finally woke up and launched an all out assault. But Schalke was disciplined and well organized, beat back the Neons and launched threatening counters of their own. In the end, they leave as deserved winners, and Dortmund’s title hopes are surely in tatters…

Promoted Frankfurt continues to impress, their 4th win from five home matches. Grabbing points is what they need, and they beat down a strong Hannover side. In reality, Eintracht looked the better team throughout the match, so it’s not an unexpected result. This season could be something special and perhaps the springboard into a more permanent stay in the upper regions of the Bundesliga. Hannover can’t really complain, as they were outplayed, although they gave a fair effort. The 96ers have tentatively established themselves as a decent squad, but need to be careful that they don’t over-exert themselves in Europe and forget the meat-and-potatoes of the Bundesliga…

A thrilling match on Friday night between Hoffenheim and Greuther Fürth. What?! Are you reading this right? But it’s true. Both clubs came out slugging in a wild match where Hoffenheim desperately tried to put down the rabid Greuthers. The Hoppers would knock them down, but everytime the visitors bounced back. A stunning finish looked to have Hoffenheim finally get the win, but in injury time, Fürth got the point. A perfect ending to an exciting match. The Greuther are likely going down, but seemingly not without a fight. Hoffenheim could still be in serious trouble, but they gave indications that they’re improving. BTW, this was the 15,000th match in the history of the Bundesliga.

An exciting match in Leverkusen. The Aspirins showed some attractive attacking football, but Mainz was ruthlessly effective, and looked on verge of stealing all the points. It took a blast by Castro to save the match for Bayer. Good effort and point for Mainz; Leverkusen needs to go back to the drawing board.

Bremen ripped Gladbach’s ass, leaving them no chance. Werder attacked from the beginning, and Borussia basically rolled over and played dead. Both clubs are somewhat in a rebuilding pahase – Werder after cleaning house, and Gladbach is always rebuilding. Judging from this match, Werder is on the right track, and Gladbach needs to revisit their plan.

Toothless wolves, or perhaps a VW with a blown gasket. In any case, Wolfsburg sucked bigtime against Freiburg in what could have been a decisive relegation battle. The VWS are stuck on the bottom, and you have to wonder if madman Felix “Maggot” survives. Clearly he has no clue on what to do, and the players have seemingly turned off his ranting and raving. Brazilian midifielders Diego and Josue were benched, and now Wolfsburg looked even worse, unable to string any passes together and just hoofing worthless long balls that the Freiburgers easily disposed of. In fact, when SCF realized this game was winnable, they attacked, and it was only some superb saves by Wolf keeper Diego Benaglio that prevented a total rout. Huge points for Freiburg.

 	
1899 Hoffenheim	       -    SpVgg Greuther Fürth     3:3 (1:1)   22,150

                      1:0  Roberto Firmino (8., Rudy)
                      1:1  Stieber (39., Prib)
                      2:1  Joselu (67., Volland)
                      2:2  Prib (84., Nöthe)
                      3:2  Joselu (89., Volland)
                      3:3  Sobiech (90. + 3, Prib)

Borussia Dortmund      -    FC Schalke 04	     1:2 (0:1)   80,645

                      0:1  Afellay (14.)
                      0:2  Höger (48., Holtby)
                      1:2  Lewandowski (55., Reus)

Bayer Leverkusen       -    1. FSV Mainz 05	     2:2 (1:0)   28,077

                      1:0  Kießling (43., Carvajal)
                      1:1  Szalai (58., Pospech)
                      1:2  Risse (76., Szalai)
                      2:2  Castro (87.)

VfL Wolfsburg	       -    SC Freiburg	             0:2 (0:1)   25,080

                      0:1  D. Caligiuri (40., penalty, Jendrisek)
                      0:2  Schuster (84., Schmid)

Eintracht Frankfurt    -    Hannover 96	             3:1 (2:1)   50,000

                      1:0  Matmour (5., Rode)
                      2:0  S. Jung (18., Aigner)
                      2:1  Abdellaoue (43., Stindl)
                      3:1  Meier (82., Celozzi)

Fortuna Düsseldorf     -    Bayern München	     0:5 (0:2)   54,000

                      0:1  Mandzukic (28., Ribery)
                      0:2  Luiz Gustavo (36., T. Müller)
                      0:3  T. Müller (55., Ribery)
                      0:4  T. Müller (86., Alaba)
                      0:5  Rafinha (87., Ribery)

Werder Bremen	       -    Borussia M'gladbach      4:0 (2:0)   42,100

                      1:0  Petersen (37., de Bruyne)
                      2:0  Arnautovic (45., Hunt)
                      3:0  Füllkrug (76., Arnautovic)
                      4:0  Junuzovic (86., Rechtsschuss)


Sunday:
1. FC Nürnberg	       -    FC Augsburg              -:- (-:-)
Hamburger SV	       -    VfB Stuttgart	     -:- (-:-)



 1  Bayern München	  	8     8   0   0     26:2   +24 	  24 
 2  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	8     6   1   1     19:11  +8 	  19 
 3  FC Schalke 04	  	8     5   2   1     17:8   +9 	  17
 4  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	8     3   3   2     18:11  +7     12
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Bayer Leverkusen	  	8     3   3   2     13:11  +2 	  12 
 6  Hannover 96	  	        8     3   2   3     16:13  +3 	  11
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  SC Freiburg	  	        8     3   2   3     13:10  +3 	  11 
 8  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	8     3   2   3      9:10  -1 	  11 
 9  Werder Bremen	  	8     3   1   4     14:13  +1 	  10 
10  Hamburger SV	  	7     3   1   3      9:10  -1 	  10 
11  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	8     2   4   2      6:8   -2 	  10 
12  Borussia M'gladbach	  	8     2   3   3      9:16  -7 	  9 
13  1899 Hoffenheim	  	8     2   2   4     13:17  -4 	  8 
14  1. FC Nürnberg	  	7     2   1   4      7:14  -7 	  7 
15  VfB Stuttgart	  	7     1   3   3      7:14  -7 	  6
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  FC Augsburg	  	        7     1   2   4      5:11  -6 	  5
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	8     1   2   5      5:14  -9 	  5 
18  VfL Wolfsburg	  	8     1   2   5      2:15  -13 	  5


M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokal, defending Cup winner
N = Neuling, newly promoted
1st line: Champions League
2nd line: Europaliga (+ Cup winner)
3rd line: Playoff with 2.Liga 3rd place
4th line: Releghation to 2.Liga

The 3.Liga is becoming quite exciting, with several clubs jostling for position at the top. The big-match in Münster against Offenbach wasn’t up to quality standards, but was hard fought and exciting. Leaders Münster perhaps had the edge, but a somewhat dubious call gifted Offenbach a penalty at the end. Perhaps the Kickers deserved the point and remain within striking distance. For Münster, another two goals by American Matt Taylor, who has bounced around with several clubs in Germany, but has found a home.

Osnabrück put in a solid performance at contenders Heidenheim. The northerners controlled most of the game and jumped out early. Heidenheim has been a bit unpredictable this season. They tried hard to get back into the match, but VfL just teased with them before slamming the door.

Bielefeld got an important away win against Wehen, who are almost impossible to beat. A strong performance by a well organized Arminia squad. Wehen fell behind early, and desperately tried everything to get back to their normal draw state, but just couldn’t pull it off.

Rostock had a hard fought win against Aachen to maintain their improving status. Actually, it was pretty lucky, as although they had a man advantage for 80 minutes, it was guest Alemannia who created the best chances for goal. Hansa should be thrilled to get all the points, a disappointing result for struggling Alemannia.

It was hard to tell who was who in Unterhaching, as deep-ender Erfurt played high quality football and pressed the home side all the way. The Hachingers took the lead, but they just couldn’t hold RWE’s head under water long enough. A fair result.

A critical relegation match ended in disaster for Darmstadt. Facing last place Dortmund II, the 98ers needed the win, and started all out at the beginning. They pressed and were rewarded with an early penalty. Now in the lead, they dominated against clueless BVB and basically through incompetance failed to get the decisive blow. Dortmund II perhaps realized a loss would essentially finish their season, and regrouped at halftime, coming out with purpose. They equalized and then showed discipline in warding off increasingly desperate Darmstadt attacks. The 98ers wasted chances, and then were justifiably punished: almost at the whistle Benatelli hammered in a blast from around 20 meters to give Dortmund II a lifeline and send Darmstadt into despair.

Snoozer in Potsdam as Babelsberg and KSC showed why they’re crap…

SV Babelsberg 03      -    Karlsruher SC	  0:0 (0:0)    3,000
SpVgg Unterhaching    -    Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  2:2 (2:1)    2,500
Stuttgarter Kickers   -    Wacker Burghausen	  1:2 (0:1)    3,575
Hallescher FC	      -    VfB Stuttgart II	  1:4 (1:1)    7,002
1. FC Heidenheim      -    VfL Osnabrück	  1:3 (0:1)    8,500
SV Wehen Wiesbaden    -    Arminia Bielefeld	  0:1 (0:1)    2,963
Hansa Rostock	      -    Alemannia Aachen	  1:0 (1:0)   10,000
SV Darmstadt 98	      -    Borussia Dortmund II	  1:2 (1:0)    4,500
Preußen Münster	      -    Kickers Offenbach	  2:2 (2:1)    8,166
Sunday:
Chemnitzer FC	      -    1. FC Saarbrücken	  4:1 (2:0)    5,300

Total attendance: 55,506 (avg 5,551)


 1  Preußen Münster	  	14 	8   5   1    25:10  +15    29
 2  VfL Osnabrück	  	14 	9   2   3    21:10  +11    29
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Arminia Bielefeld	  	14 	8   3   3    21:14  +7     27
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	14      8   3   3    26:20  +6     27
 5  Wacker Burghausen	  	14      8   1   5    21:15  +6     25
 6  1. FC Heidenheim	  	14      7   3   4    26:22  +4     24
 7  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	14 	7   3   4    18:18  +0     24
 8  Kickers Offenbach	  	14 	6   4   4    26:18  +8     22
 9  Chemnitzer FC	  	14 	6   3   5    19:16  +3     21 
10  VfB Stuttgart II	  	14 	5   3   6    17:17   0     18
11  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	14 	5   2   7    17:23  -6     17
12  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	13 	3   7   3    14:9   +5     16 
13  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	13 	4   3   6    18:15  +3     15 
14  Alemannia Aachen (A)	14 	3   5   6    15:21  -6     14 
15  Hallescher FC (N)	  	14 	3   5   6    11:18  -7     14 
16  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	14 	1   10  3    15:17  -2     13 
17  SV Babelsberg 03	  	14 	3   3   8    11:21  -10    12
---------------------------------------------------------------------
18  SV Darmstadt 98	  	14 	2   5   7    13:21  -8     11 
19  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	14 	2   4   8    13:27  -14    10 
20  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	14 	2   4   8    12:27  -15    10

1st line: Promotion to 2.Liga
2nd line: Promotion Playoff with 2.Liga 16th place
3rd line: Relegation to Regionalliga

Unbelievable. Germany leads 4-0 at home to Sweden and only draws 4-4. This has got to be the worst result in the history of German football. Sure, there have been terrible losses and disappointing results, but never has a German team lead 4-0 after an hour and not been able to hold a result. This is worse than sucking and getting a crap result. The defenders and midfielders need to be whipped. (Where is Hadschi Halef Omar Ben Hadschi Abul Abbas Ibn Hadschi Dawuhd al Gossarah and his Peitsche when you need him?! Sorry, inside joke for German speakers). I would imagine that Matts Hummels is thanking his lucky stars he’s injured, and Höwedes and Westermann are happy they didn’t get subbed in.

This should be a topic of those “Hitler “Der Untergang” parodies on Youtube!!

At some point I suppose I might do a real writeup, but now I’m too shocked.

Deutschland    -    Schweden     4:4 (3:0)

1:0  Klose (8., Reus)
2:0  Klose (15., Reus)
3:0  Mertesacker (39., T. Müller)
4:0  Özil (55., T. Müller)
4:1  Ibrahimovic (62., Källström)
4:2  Lustig (64., Källström)
4:3  Elmander (76., Kacaniklic)
4:4  R. Elm (90. + 3)

Attendance: 70,000 (Olympiastadion, Berlin)

GERMANY:
Neuer - 
Boateng, Mertesacker, Badstuber, Lahm        - 
Kroos, Schweinsteiger    - 
T. Müller, Özil, Reus       - 
Klose        
Subs:
67. M. Götze for T. Müller
88. Podolski for Reus
Trainer: Löw

SWEDEN:
Isaksson    - 
Lustig, Granqvist, J. Olsson, Safari - 
Wernbloom, Holmén    - 
Larsson, Ibrahimovic, R. Elm     - 
Elmander    
Subs:
46. Källström for Wernbloom
46. Kacaniklic for Holmén
78. Sana for Larsson
Trainer: Hamrén

One of Germany’s more popular post-war players, Helmut Haller, dies at age 73 in Augsburg. Haller was a fine forward, best known for one of the first Germans to play in Italy, and a regular in the national squad in the 1960s. He also scored for Germany in the 1966 World Cup final against England. Another bit of trivia is that he was the last German international never to play in the Bundesliga. He was capped 33 times, scoring 13 goals.

In his last years he had been ill and supposedly suffering from dementia, but he’ll be remembered as a generous player to the fans and a hero in his home town of Augsburg.

“…when Irish eyes are smiling…” goes the song, but they were anything but as Germany ripped Ireland a new bung-hole with a 6-1 thrashing Dublin. After this thrashing, perhaps Ireland coach Tarppatoni will hold a press conference and say “Ich bin fertig”…

Both sides were missing full strength lineups, but obviously Ireland perhaps was losing more. A statistic indicated that in Ireland’s Euro 2012 final squad that faced Italy, there were a total of 721 caps in the lineup, whereas today just 268, half of which from a couple of players. Joachim Löw was missing Hummels and Lahm among others, but it really didn’t matter.

Germany dominated pretty much the whole game, although early on Ireland was running around and making life difficult. Neuer also had one of his wanker moves as he raced out and ended up heading the ball into touch. But that was really as close as the Greens got for the rest of the match. The fact was that after about 15 minutes it was all Deutschland. Marco Reus almost opened things up early, but was given a yellow for a dive which probably should have been a legit penalty. But in any case, a few minutes later he rocketed into the top of the net, and had another hard shot into the corner a few mkinutes later. Germany was in complete control, and things got ugly in the 2nd half, with Germany kicking Ireland repeated in the ass and banging in goals left and right. Toni Kroos had joined as a 2nd half, and had to nice blasts into the net. Also a nice day at the office for oldie Miro Klose, who was chopped down cynically for the penalty, and then rounded the goalie, scoring from an acute angle, an Irish defender “chasing” after it in slow motion. Ireland finally got on the scoreboard in injury time, with thunderous applause. However it was a pretty much Deutschland über alles kind of day.

A pretty dark day in Irish football, getting owned this badly in front of your home fans. However, it’s not the results against Germany that will determine whether they manage to sneak into the World Cup 2014.

As far as Germany, a good result, basically because they didn’t dick around too much, except perhaps the start fase. After they smelled blood, they were like great white sharks in a feeding frenzy, as the ripped their hosts to shred. It was refreshing to see the squad go for the jugular.

Irland - Deutschland 1:6 (0:2)

0:1  Reus (32., Schmelzer)
0:2  Reus (40., Boateng)
0:3  Özil (55., penalty, Klose)
0:4  Klose (58.,Schweinsteiger)
0:5  Kroos (61.)
0:6  Kroos (83., Özil)
1:6  Keogh (90. + 2, Brady)

Attendance: 40,000 (Dublin)

IRELAND:

Westwood - 
Coleman, O'Shea, O'Dea, S. Ward - 
McCarthy, Andrews, Fahey - 
Cox, McGeady - 
Walters

Subs:
51. Long for Fahey
69. Keogh for McGeady
84. Brady for Cox

Traner: Trappatoni

GERMANY:

Neuer - 
Boateng, Mertesacker, Badstuber, Schmelzer - 
Khedira, Schweinsteiger - 
T. Müller, Özil, Reus - 
Klose       

Subs:
46. Kroos for Khedira
66. Podolski for Reus
72. Schürrle for Klose

Trainer: Löw

Monday Night saw a fierce battle in Köln, and a clear indication that although skill has improved for the home side, all is still not well. The Kölners dominated for most of the match, but some crap play early let to them falling behind. Dresden didn’t show much, and tried to stave off the constant Köln attack. The recently relegated side showed why dumping all their “high-priced” players in the offseason might have been a short-sighted move. For one thing, their bargain-bin attackers showed the reason they come cheap – they can’t hit the side of a barn. So Köln wasted chance after chance, and although they got a late equalize, this game should have been a rout. The real cost of “saving” money on salaries will be revealed in the club’s inability to bounce back to the Bundesliga, as if this is the norm, just avoiding relegation will be about all they can hope for.

For Dresden, a decent result, probably what they were hoping for.

1. FC Köln	      -    Dynamo Dresden	1:1 (0:1)    41,800

                     0:1  Poté (31., Koch)
                     1:1  Ujah (77., Brecko)
 			 


 1  Eintracht Braunschweig	9    7 	2  0 	  16:3 	 +13 	  23 
 2  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	9    5 	3  1 	  16:10  +6       18
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	9    4 	5  0 	  15:10  +5    	  17
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Energie Cottbus	  	9    5 	2  2 	  14:9 	 +5 	  17 
 5  1860 München	  	9    4 	4  1 	  13:6 	 +7 	  16 
 6  VfR Aalen (N)	  	9    5 	0  4  	  12:9 	 +3 	  15 
 7  FSV Frankfurt	  	9    4 	3  2 	  13:11  +2 	  15 
 8  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	9    3 	4  2 	  11:11  +0 	  13 
 9  SC Paderborn 07	  	9    3 	2  4 	  15:12  +3 	  11 
10  Dynamo Dresden	  	9    2 	3  4 	  12:13  -1 	  9 
11  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	9    3 	0  6 	   9:10  -1 	  9 
12  1. FC Union Berlin	  	9    2 	3  4 	  13:15  -2 	  9 
13  1. FC Köln (A)	  	9    2 	3  4 	   7:10  -3 	  9
14  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	9    2 	3  4 	   8:14  -6 	  9 
15  VfL Bochum	  	        9    2 	3  4 	   5:12  -7 	  9 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Erzgebirge Aue	  	9    2 	2  5 	   7:12  -5 	  8
-------------------------------------------------------------------
17  FC St. Pauli	  	9    1 	4  4 	   6:12  -6 	  7
18  MSV Duisburg	  	9    1 	2  6 	   6:19  -13 	  5

1st line: Promotion to Bundesliga
2nd line: Playoff with 16th Bundesliga
3rd line: Playoff with no.3 of 3.Liga
4th line: Relegation to 3.Liga