Misc news: Show me the money…

Despite not winning anything, Bayern München did well at the cash register. Turnover of the football division was apparently 332 million euros, which led to an after-tax profit of 11.1 million. (Even after they paid out millions in dividends to the parent club, and partners like Audi and Addidas). In addition, they picked up another 40 million from ownership of the Allianz-Arena. Players and staff ended up costing 165 million, but picking up some 60+ million from the Champions League certainly helped that. Bayern’s cash reserves are supposedly at around 278 million. Pretty heady stuff, here’s one club that doesn’t have to worry about “financial-fair-play”. The club also announced they have 188,000 card carrying members.

Eintracht Braunschweig is doing well. The club announced a profit of 1.7 million euros on turnover of 17 million. This compares favorably with a surplus of 235,000 euros from the previous year, which was their first profit since 2007.

MSV Duisburg is in dire financial straits as well. Of course, the Zebras have stunk on the field, and are in a relegation spot. However the cloud of insolvency is hanging over the Meiderichers head. The board has stated publicly that they believe that negotiations with creditors and new sponsors have progressed to the point that there will be no insolvency. But where have you heard that before?

Regionalliga Nord (4th division) traditional VfB Lübeck is also in the dregs. The Lübecks are apparently in a provisional insolvency proceeding, audits showing the need to raise some 500,000 euros in order to stay clean. If not, they’ll get a court appointed admin, and presumably be forcibly relegated.

More Alemannia Aachen news. It’s about time, but that wanker president Meino Heyer or Heino Meyer or whatever-his-name-is, has been forced out of office. This is a good thing, since he was basically lying straight-faced about things not being that bad, then blaming it all on his finance director, and finally getting the club into bankruptcy proceedings, basically meaning that Alemannia gets relegated from the 3.Liga. (I guess that means that all their matches are sort-of friendlies, although they haven’t forfeited any points yet, and all their matches count.) The suffering – and loyal – Aachen fans deserve better, so let’s hope the new regime begins to clean things up. Further good news is that Bayern München has announced they’ll play a friendly in Aachen, all proceeds going to Alemannia. Bayern may be run by blowhards, but they’ve consistently been generous in helping out smaller/troubled clubs with lucrative friendlies.

BUNDESLIGA, Round 14, Englische Woche

Headlines in Germany on Tuesday have Bayern laughing all the way to the bank. We’ll see if their tune changes after their match at Freiburg, but right now, let’s trudge out the most famous Uli-Hoenessism for the umpteenth time “The other clubs are too dumb to win the title.”. Sure enough, the chasing clubs basically all sucked.

Dortmund was trying to be too clever, and paid for it. The Neons were dominating against a catenaccio-ed Fortuna, having a hard time. Nevertheless, just before half-time they managed to take the lead. Then Klopp’s troops decided to take the rest of the evening off and prepare for their match with Bayern on Saturday. Düsseldorf came out of their shell and got back in the game, eventually getting an equalizer and a crucial point. Dortmund? Too dumb…

Schalke expected to have an easy time in Hamburg, as HSV is all banged up and just lost Rafael van der Vaart and Korean Son, their top scorer. (He probably has a massive two goals, for all that HSV scores, but he’s still top). But lo and behold, HSV came out strong, dominating the match, presssing Schalke back. The Blues seemed taken aback, and couldn’t make any adjustments at half. Instead, HSV continued to press on after the restart, and were rewarded when Beister’s blast fooled GK Unnerstall. Then the Hamburgers overran Schalke, who tried to get back in the match, instead ending up losing. A great win for struggling HSV. Schalke? Too dumb…

Frankfurt admitted they were a bit worried before the derby against nearby Mainz. (Ha, in the old days, the Eintracht fans would have turned their noses at the very thought of a “derby” against lowly Mainz.) And with good reason, as the last time they met a couple of years ago in Frankfurt, Mainz kicked their ass 3-0 and a couple of rounds later, Eintracht went down. Still, this year’s Eintracht is made of sterner stuff, so…they went out and got kicked in the nuts again. Mainz was perfectly aligned, and youngster Shawn Parker made his first start, throwing the Frankfurt defense into total disarray. FSV dominated and did whatever they wanted, which apparently was to kick Frankfurt’s ass. So they built up a nice lead and coasted, although in the end they complimented their hosts by kicking one into their own net. Excellent win for Mainz. Frankfurt? Too dumb…

Hannover 96 was full of upbeat spirits after their 0-5 at Bayern last week. Afterall, they could have lost 0-8. The 96ers took it surprisingly well, their president actually making excuses that his club is stretched too thin from their almost historical good performances over the past couple of seasons. Nevertheless, the 96ers needed a win to remain on keel, and luckily Greuther Fürth was showing up.
Hannover jumped out to a quick lead and coasted. The Greuther played OK, but lacked any threat whatsoever to the 96ers, who basically relied on the visitors ability to make mistakes and gift them opportunities. So I guess Hannover is not too dumb, but they’re not a contender anyway…

UPDATE for Wednesday…

Bayern was not only laughing, they’ve were taking a leisurely vacation in the Breisgau. This game was over early, as Bayern went ahead, and then Freiburg’s Diakne got his ass tossed after only 19 minutes for a crap foul on Shaqiri. No way SCF was coming back. So the leaders dicked around for a while, and then finished off the game. They now are already the Herbstmeister (Fall champion)…with 3 games still remaining.

A fine bitch-slapping performance by the Aspirins, who are Bayern’s number 1 chaser…not that it apparently matters this year. Still, it might be a Vizekusen year. The visitors looked clearly better, and a double by Castro had them in front. Werder immediately responded, but their defensive holes were ripped apart by an efficient Leverkusen.

Gladbach was somewhat lucky to beat Wolfsburg, but they were cold-blooded when it came to converting their chances. The VWs were largely the dominant side, especially in the first half, but watched helplessly as Gladbach was ruthless in front of goal. The Wolfies never really got rolling in the 2nd half, so the hosts were able to glide to victory.

Stuttgart started brightly against Augsburg, but the visitors fought back and were able to grab an equalizer just before half. However VfB’s superiority began to weigh in the 2nd period, and they eventually came to win the match. Good effort by Augsburg, but they lack the talent to compete at this level.

Nürnberg wins a relegation 6 pointer against hapless-Hoffenheim, largely due a fine performance by Japanese import Hiroshi Kiyotake. (Asians, or at least Japanese and Koreans, seem to do best in Germany for some reason.) Der Club was clearly the better side, but seem nervous with an advantage, so they let the Hoppers get back in, even though they hardly deserved it.

Attendance for this “English week” was 382,913 (avg 42,546)

	
Borussia Dortmund     -   Fortuna Düsseldorf	 1:1 (1:0)   80,100

                     1:0  Blaszczykowski (43., Großkreutz)
                     1:1  Reisinger (78., Kruse)

Hannover 96	      -   SpVgg Greuther Fürth	 2:0 (1:0)   32,300

                     1:0  M. Diouf (5., Ya Konan)
                     2:0  Eggimann (69., Schlaudraff)
 
Hamburger SV	      -   FC Schalke 04	         3:1 (0:0)   52,000

                     1:0  Beister (52., Badelj)
                     2:0  Rudnevs (65., Diekmeier)
                     2:1  Huntelaar (80.)
                     3:1  Badelj (90. + 2, penalty, Aogo)

Eintracht Frankfurt   -   1. FSV Mainz 05	 1:3 (0:2)   47,800

                     0:1  Ivanschitz (18., S. Parker)
                     0:2  S. Parker (42., Polanski)
                     0:3  Noveski (52., N. Müller)
                     1:3  Szalai (55., own goal, Inui)


Wed:
Borussia M'gladbach   -   VfL Wolfsburg          2:0 (2:0)   40,145

                     1:0  Arango (11., Nordtveit)
                     2:0  Jantschke (44., Nordtveit)

VfB Stuttgart	      -   FC Augsburg            2:1 (1:1)   38,940

                     1:0  Traoré (11., Ibisevic)
                     1:1  Koo (44.)
                     2:1  Ibisevic (69., Traoré)

Werder Bremen	      -   Bayer Leverkusen       1:4 (0:1)   37,231

                     0:1  Castro (31., Carvajal)
                     0:2  Castro (52., L. Bender)
                     1:2  Petersen (54., Hunt)
                     1:3  Rolfes (74., Kießling)
                     1:4  Hegeler (79., Schürrle)

SC Freiburg	      -   Bayern München         0:2 (0:1)   24,000 *

                     0:1  T. Müller (12., penalty)
                     0:2  Tymoshchuk (79., Lahm)

1. FC Nürnberg	      -   1899 Hoffenheim        4:2 (2:1)   30,397

                     1:0  Kiyotake (6.)
                     1:1  Schipplock (33.,  Volland)
                     2:1  Nilsson (43., Gebhart)
                     3:1  Polter (69.)
                     3:2  Salihovic (81., penalty)
                     4:2  Kiyotake (86., Cohen)



 1  Bayern München	  	14   12   1   1   40:5 	 +35 	  37 
 2  Bayer Leverkusen	  	14    8   3   3   27:19  +8 	  27 
 3  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	14    7   5   2   29:15  +14 	  26 
 4  FC Schalke 04	  	14    7   3   4   24:18  +6 	  24
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	14    7   3   4   27:22  +5 	  24
 6  Hannover 96	  	        14    6   2   6   27:25  +2 	  20
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	14    6   2   6   19:17  +2 	  20 
 8  Hamburger SV	  	14    6   2   6   15:17  -2 	  20 
 9  Borussia M'gladbach	  	14    5   5   4   21:24  -3 	  20 
10  SC Freiburg	  	        14    5   4   5   19:16  +3 	  19 
11  VfB Stuttgart	  	14    5   4   5   16:24  -8 	  19 
12  Werder Bremen	  	14    5   3   6   22:23  -1 	  18 
13  1. FC Nürnberg	  	14    4   4   6   14:20  -6 	  16
14  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	14    3   6   5   14:19  -5 	  15 
15  VfL Wolfsburg	  	14    4   3   7   13:22  -9 	  15 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  1899 Hoffenheim	  	14    3   3   8   21:32  -11 	  12
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	14    1   5   8   10:25  -15 	  8 
18  FC Augsburg	  	        14    1   4   9   10:25  -15 	  7

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: Relegation to 2.Liga

2.Liga, Round 16

Midweek battles in the 2.Liga as well…

A good effort by Regensburg getting a point at Kaiserslautern. FCK was somewhat flat, pretty much chasing the game throughout the match. Jahn took the lead, but wasn’t strong enough to hold it. After an injury time equalizer at half, the hosts should have gone all out in the 2nd period, but basically put their fans to sleep with a lame effort, throwing away points in the promotion race.

Paderborn has been playing well recently, but didn’t show it in München. 1860 hasn’t been consistent, but a couple of veterans, Benny Lauth and Moritz Volz combined to get the win for the Lions. Doesn’t seem like either team has the skill to get into the promotion race, but that’s a bigger issue for 1860, living in Bayern’s shadow.

Captain Romain Bregerie didn’t give his Dynamo side any help, and got his ass tossed after only 17 minutes. So Dresden was down a man against Aalen. Luckily, Aalen proved incapable of taking advantage, so Dresden was able to hold the point.

Bochum continues to suck, and it seems like their fans are realizing it and staying away. FSV hasn’t been too fortunate lately, but a dose of Bochum is just what the doctor ordered. The Mini-Frankfurters dominated and easily shoved aside their hosts, who once again were let down by a crap performance from their GK Philipp Heerwangen, who has suddenly forgotten who to play. This time he dropped an innocent cross to gift the Bornheimers a tap-in. Not sure what’s happened to him, as he was decent at one time, but I guess you could say the same about the whole squad.

UPDATE:

Leaders Braunscwheig controlled the match against St.Pauli, but a lot of that was due to an early red card for Bartels for stupid fouls. Still, the Paulistas managed to put up a fight, but it never looked like Braunschweig would be in any trouble.

A stunning defeat for Cottbus. Against last place Sandhausen no less. But in fairness, Energie put in a piss-poor performance, basically showing up and expecting to be handed the win. They were wrong and now they have to live with this shame. Obviously a great result for SVS, who spring from the bottom.

Union was in control against struggling Duisburg, and really the Zebra’s late goal was merely cosmetic. Despite running around a lot, MSV was never really in the game.

Excellent win for Erzgebirge on the road against Ingolstadt, who are pretty tough at home. Aue played good defense, with enough counter-attack to keep FCI honest. These are massive points in the relegation battle.

In Thursday’s only match, Hertha was unable to get anything going against Köln, despite territorial advantage. Berlin remains unbeaten at home, and given their poor start, a good result for Köln. This means that Braunschweig assured the Herbstmeisterschaft.

	
1. FC Kaiserslautern    -   Jahn Regensburg	1:1 (1:1)   24,729

                       0:1  Haag (14., Weidlich)
                       1:1  Bunjaku (45. + 2)

1860 München	        -   SC Paderborn 07	1:0 (1:0)   13,300

                       1:0  Lauth (38., Volz)

Dynamo Dresden	        -   VfR Aalen	        0:0 (0:0)   18,758

VfL Bochum	        -   FSV Frankfurt	1:3 (0:1)    8,365

                       0:1  Teixeira (21., Leckie)
                       0:2  Kapllani (54., Y. Stark)
                       0:3  Verhoek (60., M. Görlitz)
                       1:3  Tasaka (87., Goretzka)


Wed/Thu:
 	
Eintracht Braunschweig  -   FC St. Pauli	1:0 (1:0)   21,400 *

                       1:0  Kumbela (17., Kruppke)

MSV Duisburg	        -   1. FC Union Berlin	1:2 (0:2)    8,585

                       0:1  Brandy (20., own goal, Mattuschka)
                       0:2  Terodde (35., Nemec)
                       1:2  Bajic (89., Brandy)

FC Ingolstadt 04	-   Erzgebirge Aue	1:2 (1:1)    4,305

                       0:1  Hensel (19.,Hochscheidt)
                       1:1  Leitl (44., penalty)
                       1:2  Hochscheidt (60., Sylvestr)

SV Sandhausen	        -   Energie Cottbus	3:1 (0:1)    2,650

                       0:1  Möhrle (34., Stiepermann)
                       1:1  Wooten (59., penalty)
                       2:1  Wooten (66., penalty)
                       3:1  Löning (90., Onuegbu)

Hertha BSC Berlin	-   1. FC Köln          1:1 (1:1)   36,000

                       0:1  McKenna (34., Jajalo)
                       1:1  Ronny (44., Ramos)





 1  Eintracht Braunschweig	16   11   4   1    27:9   +18 	  37 
 2  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	16    9   6   1    31:13  +18 	  33
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	16    8   8   0    29:17  +12 	  32
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Energie Cottbus	  	16    8   4   4    24:17  +7 	  28
 5  VfR Aalen (N)	  	16    7   3   6    18:14  +4 	  24	
 6  1860 München	  	16    6   6   4    18:14  +4 	  24 
 7  FSV Frankfurt	  	16    7   3   6    22:19  +3 	  24 
 8  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	16    6   6   4    21:19  +2 	  24 
 9  SC Paderborn 07	  	16    6   5   5    23:17  +6 	  23 
10  1. FC Union Berlin	  	16    5   6   5    23:22  +1 	  21
11  1. FC Köln (A)	  	16    5   6   5    19:19   0 	  21 
12  FC St. Pauli	  	16    4   6   6    17:19  -2 	  18 
13  Erzgebirge Aue	  	16    4   4   8    19:26  -7 	  16
14  Dynamo Dresden	  	16    3   5   8    18:25  -7 	  14 
15  VfL Bochum	  	        16    3   5   8    16:31  -15 	  14 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
18  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	16    3   4   9    17:34  -17 	  13
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  MSV Duisburg	  	16    3   3   10   13:30  -17 	  12
17  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	16    3   2  11    19:29  -10 	  11 



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 

WSV: lucky draw…

… that could have been a win.

This traditional rivalry continues down in the 4th division, but the days of a sold out Zoo-Stadion are long gone. Wuppertalers have essentially given up on WSV, so perhaps half the stands had Essen travellers. Still, this is the hottest derby for the two sides, especially for Wuppertal…the old enemies Bochum and Dusseldorf have long since left them in the dust. Actually, the same could be said for Essen, who might get their traditional rival Borussia Dortmund, but these days at best the BVB II.

The first half was balanced, with neither team really doing anything to upset the other side. In the second half things opened up a bit, with WSV grabbing the quick lead. Christian Knappmann was once again the catalyst, as his headed ball bounced off a defender into the net. A few minutes later it once again Knappmann with the header, this time into the goal. With a 2-0 lead, WSC looked golden. But this is WSV, so you knew they would start sucking. And sure enough, intense RWE pressure soon bore fruit, and the visitors came storming back. Then in injury time, it could have been a disaster. A dubious foul call gifted RWE a penalty. Ellmann stepped up, but WSV GK Christoph Semmler made the great save to preserve the draw, which ultimately was a fair result. If they had lost, a lynching of the referee would have been justifiable homicide.

Wuppertaler SV 	  -    Rot-Weiss Essen	   2:2 (0:0)

1:0 Rodenberg (52., own goal) 	  
2:0 Knappmann (62.) 	  
2:1 Heppke (69.)
2:2 Sawin (79.)

Attendance: 5,480 (Stadion Am Zoo, Wuppertal)

WUPPERTAL: 
Semmler – Schumacher, Reichert, Wiwerink, El Hammouchi – Meier, Moosmayer – Neppe (84. Cornelius), Fleßers, Boztepe (75. Quotschalla) – Knappmann (90. Wassinger). 
Trainer: Jörg Jung 

RW ESSEN: 
Lamczyk – Dombrowka, Laletin, Rodenberg, Guirino (84. Tokat) – Heppke – Avci, Pires-Rodrigues (62. Lemke) , Grund – Sawin, Koep (73. Ellmann). 
Trainer: Waldemar Wrobel 

Yellows: Neppe, Semmler - Guirino, Laletin 

Referee: Thorben Siewer (Drolshagen) 
 
REGIONALLIGA WEST

MSV Duisburg II	        -   1. FC Köln II	     1:1 (0:1)      90
Sportfreunde Lotte	-   Sportfreunde Siegen	     4:1 (3:0)     780
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	-   Bayer Leverkusen II	     2:1 (1:1)   1,652
Wuppertaler SV 	        -   Rot-Weiss Essen	     2:2 (0:0)   5,480
VfL Bochum II	        -   SSVg Velbert	     1:2 (1:1)     170
Borussia M'gladbach II  -   SC Verl	             4:1 (3:1)     276
FC Viktoria Köln	-   Fortuna Köln	     1:3 (0:0)   6,214
SC Wiedenbrück 2000	-   Fortuna Düsseldorf II    2:2 (2:0)     230
FC Schalke 04 II	-   SV Bergisch Gladbach 09  1:1 (1:1) 	   169
FC Kray	                -   VfB Hüls	             2:0 (1:0)     349


 1  Fortuna Köln	  	18   12   2   4    35:16  +19 	  38
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  FC Schalke 04 II	  	18   11   4   3    32:16  +16 	  37
 3  FC Viktoria Köln (N)	17   11   3   3    40:19  +21 	  36
 4  Rot-Weiss Essen	  	17   10   5   2    29:18  +11 	  35
 5  Sportfreunde Lotte	  	17   10   4   3    33:18  +15 	  34
 6  Sportfreunde Siegen (N)	18    9   4   5    29:17  +12 	  31
 7  Wuppertaler SV Bor.	  	18    7   6   5    30:25  +5 	  27 
 8  SC Verl	  	        18    6   6   6    34:28  +6 	  24
 9  VfL Bochum II	  	17    7   3   7    19:18  +1 	  24
10  Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (A)	17    7   2   8    28:34  -6 	  23
11  SSVg Velbert (N)	  	18    6   4   8    18:27  -9 	  22
12  1. FC Köln II	  	17    5   6   6    30:30   0 	  21 
13 SV Bergisch Gladbach (N)	17    6   2   9    16:27  -11 	  20
14  Bayer Leverkusen II	  	17    5   3   9    23:29  -6 	  18
--------------------------------------------------------------------
15  MSV Duisburg II (N)	  	18    4   6   8    20:27  -7 	  18
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Borussia M'gladbach II	17    5   3   9    16:28  -12 	  18 
17  VfB Hüls (N)	  	18    4   4   10   18:34  -16 	  16 
18  SC Wiedenbrück 2000	  	17    3   5   9    22:33  -11 	  14 
19  FC Kray (N)	  	        17    4   2   11   19:37  -18 	  14 
20  Fortuna Düsseldorf II       17    3   4   10   19:29  -10 	  13



Top club to playoffs. 
Bottom 5 clubs relegated, 15th relegated depending on 3.Liga

2.Liga, Round 15

Leaders Braunschweig suffer their first loss. Travel to Lausitz is never easy, and Cottbus’ “Stadion der Freundschaft” (Stadium of Friendship”) is anything but. Playing Energie away is always a daunting task, and this one was no different. Cottbus gave a courageous effort and were rewarded with a hard-fought win. Braunschweig was determined not to lose, and kept close and was always dangerous.

So Kaiserslautern is the only unbeaten squad left, and they faced a tough match against FSV Frankfurt. A good crowd (by FSV standards) watched as FCK ended up with a deserved victory. The visitors were the better side for most of the match, but the Bornheimers had a sustained period of pressure after the restart. There were a couple of incidents in the box that could have been called a penalty, but the whistle stayed silent and eventually FSV ran out of gas. Kaiserslautern then waltzed home with the points.

Union and 1860 had a hard-fought draw in Berlin. The 1860ers debuted their new coach, Alex Schmidt, who had to be mildly impressed with a decent effort, especially with oldtimer Benny Lauth’s double. The “Eiserne” (“Irons”) of Union let the game drift awy, but a strong closing phase earned them a fair draw.

Has Köln perhaps finally figured things out? In the 2.Liga, perhaps it only matters to suck less than your opponent. If that’s the case, then they put theory to practice against crap Bochum. The Kölners really didn’t do much, but they didn’t have to, since Bochum basically sucked more. Nigerian striker Anthony Ujah has been crap, but had a good game, and that was enough. Easy win for Köln and mid-table security, whereas Bochum remains in the toilet.

Paderborn had a tough time with struggling Dresden, who picked a good time to start fighting. SCP expected a win and pressed hard, but Dynamo managed a fightback, despite Schuppan kicking the ball into his own net. A good result for Dresden on the road, Paderborn needs better if they want to sneak into contention.

Two promoted sides with different experience in the 2.Liga met in Regensburg. Jahn goes out the loser against Aalen, and it’s basically like most their matches. They dick around and lose, despite often having a reasonable position. Maybe they want back in the 3.Liga already. Aalen on the other hand has played well, and looks at least to stick around this year. A fine performance by forward Robert Lechleiter got them going and a solid win.

Sunday:

A packed Millerntor saw St.Pauli get back on track against Duisburg. The home side dominated, but wasted some chances, allowing teh Zebras to snatch a lucky equalizer in injury time. However after restart, St.Pauli raised their pressure, and MSV cracked. Finally, Pamic got red-carded, and the Zebras were no longer able to resist, the rout was on.

Ingolstadt is not used to being the favorite, so they really didn’t know what to do against last place Sandhausen. They played well enough to grab a lead, but then dicked around aimlessly. Meanwhile, SVS knew what they had to do: fight for everyball, and they were rewarded with a late equalizer and deserved point.

Hertha made sure that Aue had no chance, the game was over right after the opening whistle. After only 24 seconds, Ramos headed in from Holland’s cross, and then Niedermeyer put them up two just a couple of minutes later. The Berliners then toyed around, deciding to pick another couple of goals in the 2nd half for an easy win. Aue showed nothing of the fight they’ve exhibited in some matches, Hertha controlling from start to finish.

Weekend attendance was 131,838 (avg 14,649), with two sellouts

 	
1. FC Köln	     -   VfL Bochum	         3:1 (2:0)   40,000

                    1:0  Ujah (11., Brecko)
                    2:0  McKenna (35., Chihi)
                    3:0  Ujah (84., Bigalke)
                    3:1  Gelashvili (90.)

SC Paderborn 07	     -   Dynamo Dresden	         2:2 (2:2)    9,127

                    1:0  Yilmaz (11., Brückner)
                    1:1  Ouali (14., Trojan)
                    2:1  Schuppan (21., own goal, Brückner)
                    2:2  Kitambala (38.)

Jahn Regensburg	     -   VfR Aalen	         1:3 (1:0)    5,000

                    1:0  Haag (44., Hein)
                    1:1  Valentini (76., Lechleiter)
                    1:2  Lechleiter (84.,Traut)
                    1:3  Reichwein (88., Lechleiter)
	
 	
1. FC Union Berlin   -   1860 München	         2:2 (1:0)   16,750 *

                    1:0  Stuff (22., Mattuschka)
                    1:1  Lau
                    1:2  Lauth (70., Stoppelkamp)
                    2:2  Nemec (81., Stuff)

FSV Frankfurt	     -   1. FC Kaiserslautern	 0:1 (0:1)   10,470

                    0:1  Bunjaku (18., penalty, Bunjaku)
   

Energie Cottbus	     -   Eintracht Braunschweig	 3:1 (2:1)   11,740

                    1:0  Sanogo (5., Kruska)
                    1:1  Kumbela (13., Dogan)
                    2:1  Börner (44., Stiepermann)
                    3:1  Brinkmann (81., Sanogo)

Sunday matches:

FC St. Pauli	     -   MSV Duisburg            4:1 (1:1)   21,054 *

                    1:0  Ginczek (18., Avevor)
                    1:1  B. Kern (45. + 1)
                    2:1  Bartels (65., Buchtmann)
                    3:1  Bartels (74., Gogia)
                    4:1  Saglik (89., Daube)
 
FC Ingolstadt 04     -   SV Sandhausen	         1:1 (1:0)    6,547

                    1:0  Eigler (19., Leitl)
                    1:1  Klotz (82., Tüting)

Erzgebirge Aue	     -   Hertha BSC	         0:4 (0:2)   11,150

                    0:1  Ramos (1., Holland)
                    0:2  Niemeyer (8., Ronny)
                    0:3  Ronny (56., penalty, Sahar)
                    0:4  Allagui (74., Wagner)



 1  Eintracht Braunschweig	15   10   4   1    26:9   +17 	  34 
 2  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	15    9   5   1    30:12  +18 	  32
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	15    8   7   0    28:16  +12 	  31
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	15    6   6   3    20:17  +3 	  24 
 5  Energie Cottbus	  	15    8   4   3    23:14  +9 	  28
 6  SC Paderborn 07	  	15    6   5   4    23:16  +7 	  23 
 7  VfR Aalen (N)	  	15    7   2   6    18:14  +4 	  23 
 8  1860 München	  	15    5   6   4    17:14  +3 	  21
 9  FSV Frankfurt	  	15    6   3   6    19:18  +1 	  21 
10  1. FC Köln (A)	  	15    5   5   5    18:18   0 	  20 
11  1. FC Union Berlin	  	15    4   6   5    21:21   0 	  18 
12  FC St. Pauli	  	15    4   6   5    17:18  -1 	  18 
13  VfL Bochum	  	        15    3   5   7    15:28  -13 	  14 
14  Dynamo Dresden	  	15    3   4   8    18:25  -7 	  13
15  Erzgebirge Aue	  	15    3   4   8    17:25  -8 	  13 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  MSV Duisburg	  	15    3   3   9    12:28  -16 	  12
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	15    3   1  11    18:28  -10 	  10 
18  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	15    2   4   9    14:33  -19 	  10

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 

BUNDESLIGA, Round 13

Leaders Bayern München had a jolly time kicking Hannover’s ass. Bayern was in fine form, and the 96ers were phoning it in…recipe for disaster. Actually, you could argue that Bayern were gracious hosts, as they probably could have ripped a few more into Hannover, who clearly gave their worst “performance” of the season. Perhaps it was the midweek Euro-liga effort. Anyway, they need to forget this one and move on. For Bayern, I suppose the highlight was Mario Gomez scoring, whoop-de-doo.

Mainz has been playing well this season, but they were overpowered by Dortmund, who seems to be hitting their stride. Despite grabbing a quick lead, the hosts were unable to fend off the Neons, who seized control of the match and pressed their advantage for all the points. This is similar to last season as Dortmund started slow and were then relentless. Bayern is in great form sitting at the top, but they can’t afford to relax yet….although it’s hard to envision them blowing a 9 point lead. (I don’t see Heynckes even allowing that to happen)

Schalke and Frankfurt delivered an interesting match. Despite jumping out to an early lead, Schalke was pinned back and pushed around by Eintracht. The hosts were fortunate to be tied at half. In the locker room, coach Huub Stevens must have ripped his players, because they come out determined, pressed Eintracht into the defensive and dominated. However they weren’t able to get the goal to win. Good result therefore for Frankfurt, proving they belong on the top floors. Schalke is rife with rumours that Huntelaar will leave for England. Personally, that sounds like a bad move, as he’s really salvaged his career at Schalke and is the hero. But he’ll probably piss off to Arsenal and suck, just like everybody else. Can’t really blame him, since the EPL clubs basically just crap money…

A hard-fought northern derby in Wolfsburg. Bremen had the edge, but then Schmitz got his ass tossed, and the VWs brought overwhelming pressure to bear, getting a deserved equalizer. The Wolfies continue to improve after firing Magath, and made another move this week, hiring Klaus Allofs as GM/sporting director…away from Werder. However, it seems like Allofs time at Bremen had run it’s course. I wonder if he’ll bring Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf over as well? Bremen looks reasonably good, Allofs having cleaned house, but now it’s up for them to build.

Fortuna Düsseldorf stopped the rot with a win over Hamburg. Their fans still believe, and the stadium was packed. Both sides looked horrible in the 1st half, and HSV suffered even more, as star midfielder Rafael van der Vaart went out injured. The Dutchman has been largely responsible for HSV’s turnaround from their dreadful start, so things could start reverting to form. Düsseldorf had been sucking wind, but Kruse’s goal in injury time at least started them on the right track. Both clubs largely sucked in the 2nd half too, but Fortuna secured the win on a nice solo by Reisinger.

The “Franken-derby” (haha, not “-stein”, but “Franconia” for you German-challenged) between Greuther Fürth and Nürnberg was a typical slugfest, but given the general incompetance in front of goal, not surprisingly ended with goose eggs. Greuther was on top, especially since Feulner was red carded early, forcing der Club back. Oldtimer Gerald Asamoah wasted a huge chance for the home-side, who eventually returned the favor when after an hour Sararer got his ass tossed for repeated klunkers. A fair result, as neither side deserved to win.

Sunday matches:

Crazy bitch-slap in the Baden-Wurttemburg derby in Freiburg. The Breisgauers certainly laid the hammer on their more famous rivals Stuttgart (I’m sure VfB fans don’t even consider SCF a rival). Anyway, Stuttgart looked tired and slow, but Freiburg was sprite and engaged, so the result makes sense.

Leverkusen had a ho-hum win at Hoffenheim, doing the minimum necessary to grab all the points. Very efficient, very corporate, very boring. Hoffenheim was pretty lame, so the Aspirins were never really in trouble.

Augsburg desperately needs points, and came out blazing, jumping out to a quick lead. Gladbach was somewhat stunned, and couldn’t get any working. In the second half, their superior talent began to show, but it took almost the whole period before they got a deserved equalizer. Good fight by Augsburg, but they’re just not good enough.

Weekend attendance 344,818 (avg 38,313), but 6 sellouts.

 	
Fortuna Düsseldorf     -   Hamburger SV	          2:0 (1:0)   54,000 *

                      1:0  Kruse (45. + 2, Lambertz)
                      2:0  Reisinger (63., Kruse)

Bayern München	       -   Hannover 96	          5:0 (3:0)   71,000 *

                      1:0  Javi Martinez (4., Schweinsteiger)
                      2:0  Kroos (24., Lahm)
                      3:0  Ribery (37., T. Müller)
                      4:0  Dante (63., Kroos)
                      5:0  Gomez (67., Kroos)

FC Schalke 04	       -   Eintracht Frankfurt	  1:1 (1:1)   61,673 *

                      1:0  Huntelaar (11., Holtby)
                      1:1  Aigner (13., Oczipka)

VfL Wolfsburg	       -   Werder Bremen	  1:1 (0:1)   30,000

                      0:1  Arnautovic (35., Elia)
                      1:1  Dost (64., Vieirinha)

1. FSV Mainz 05	       -   Borussia Dortmund	  1:2 (1:2)   34,000 *

                      1:0  M. Caligiuri (4., Soto)
                      1:1  Reus (12., Schmelzer)
                      1:2  Lewandowski (43., M. Götze)

SpVgg Greuther Fürth   -   1. FC Nürnberg	  0:0 (0:0)   18,000 *

Sunday:
 	
SC Freiburg	       -   VfB Stuttgart	  3:0 (1:0)   24,000 *

                      1:0  Rosenthal (22., Schmid)
                      2:0  Krmas (67.)
                      3:0  M. Kruse (73., D. Caligiuri)

1899 Hoffenheim	       -   Bayer Leverkusen	  1:2 (0:2)   22,100

                      0:1  L. Bender (15., Rolfes)
                      0:2  Carvajal (38., Schürrle)
                      1:2  Johnson (59., Volland)

FC Augsburg	       -   Borussia M'gladbach	  1:1 (1:0)   30,045

                      1:0  Mölders (5., Vogt)
                      1:1  Herrmann (85.)



 1  Bayern München	  	13   11   1   1    38:5   +33 	  34 
 2  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	13    7   4   2    28:14  +14 	  25 
 3  FC Schalke 04	  	13    7   3   3    23:15  +8 	  24
 4  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	13    7   3   3    26:19  +7 	  24
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Bayer Leverkusen	  	13    7   3   3    23:18  +5 	  24 
 6  SC Freiburg	  	        13    5   4   4    19:14  +5 	  19 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Werder Bremen	  	13    5   3   5    21:19  +2 	  18
 8  Hannover 96	  	        13    5   2   6    25:25   0 	  17 
 9  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	13    5   2   6    16:16   0 	  17 
10  Hamburger SV	  	13    5   2   6    12:16  -4 	  17 
11  Borussia M'gladbach	  	13    4   5   4    19:24  -5 	  17 
12  VfB Stuttgart	  	13    4   4   5    14:23  -9 	  16 
13  VfL Wolfsburg	  	13    4   3   6    13:20  -7 	  15 
14  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	13    3   5   5    13:18  -5 	  14 
15  1. FC Nürnberg	  	13    3   4   6    10:18  -8 	  13
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  1899 Hoffenheim	  	13    3   3   7    19:28  -9 	  12
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	13    1   5   7    10:23  -13 	  8 
18  FC Augsburg	  	        13    1   4   8     9:23  -14 	  7

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: Relegation to 2.Liga

3.Liga, Round 19 – Halfway mark

The official half-way mark, and Osnabrück is on top and got a little breathing room since Preussen stepped into a pile of…Anyway, there are a few matches left before the 3.Liga shuts down for winter hibernation, however the purples can celebrate the “Herbstmeisterschaft”, which means nothing, but looks pretty.

Osnabrück gets an away win in Aachen, but it wasn’t easy. Alemannia played hard, much better than their position, but that’s been their story, play decently, then suck at a crucial moment and get kicked in the balls and lose. A late goal gave the leaders a win. For Aachen, it’s all disaster, as the insolvency proceedings have been confirmed, and Alemannia gets relegated. They will finish out the season, but what’s the point? Still, their loyal fans show up in decent numbers, and surely they deserve better?

Münster laid an egg in Potsdam as they were duped by Babelsberg. Nothing went right for the Preussen, as they lose on somewhat dubious penalty, but they really can’t complain. For one thing, they were rewarded their own penalty, by GK Frederic Löhe stopped Stefan Kühne’s penalty. To top things off, Matt Taylor got his ass red carded for a nasty foul in injury time. Important points for the Babelsbergers.

Bielefeld kicked Burghausen’s ass all over the field and easily won, keeping in a promotion spot. Burghausen has been pretty decent so far, but they were clearly shown their limits.

Unterhaching had a hard time putting down the insurection from a sprite Chemnitz. It took a hat-trick by Florian Niederlechner to finally subdue the easterners.

Karlsruhe continues red-hot, seven in a row. Against draw-kings Wehen they quickly got to business, and dominated from start to finish. Frankly, they look the strongest club in the league right now, so they could be sitting in a promotion spot soon. Wehen was overwhelmed and bitch-slapped silly, so I guess with a 0-4 they were “gut bedient” (well served).

Two shizoid squads met in Offenbach. Both Kickers and Heidenheim seem to waft between great and suck. Heidenheim has been the latter, but seems to have recovered and jumped out to a quick lead. Offenbach looked like they were constipated or asleep in the 1st half. They woke up and assaulted FCH’s goal after the restart, but weren’t able to get back. They look done, condemned to mid-table mediocrity. Although Heidenheim could perhaps sneak back into the promotion race, that doesn’t seem like a good wager either.

A tense eastern derby between Erfurt and Rostock, but it was pretty crap. Neither side looked very good, which is perhaps more worrisome for Hansa, as when they suck their fans go beserk…they still have visions of promotion. Erfurt certainly deserved the draw, but remain in danger.

Stuttgarter Kickers and Darmstadt did nothing to show they don’t belong near the bottom. The first half was lame, but they did better after the restart in a fair split of the points. On the positive side, at lesat a few spectators showed up.

Saarbrücken has largely disappointed this season, so the doctor ordered a steaming pile of Halle. The Saar men took full advantage, kicking Halle’s ass, with Marcel Ziemer helping himself to a hat-trick. Actually, if they had been more aggresiive, they probably could have had more. Desolate (non)performance by Halle, their worst of the season.

Attendance this round: 55,590 (avg 5,559). Aachen continues to draw despite sucking and now guaranteed relegation.


SpVgg Unterhaching     -   Chemnitzer FC	 4:3 (3:1)    1,800
SV Babelsberg 03       -   Preußen Münster	 1:0 (1:0)    2,682
Stuttgarter Kickers    -   SV Darmstadt 98	 1:1 (0:0)    3,500
Rot-Weiß Erfurt	       -   Hansa Rostock	 1:1 (1:1)    9,058
Karlsruher SC	       -   SV Wehen Wiesbaden	 4:0 (1:0)    9,000
Kickers Offenbach      -   1. FC Heidenheim	 0:1 (0:1)    5,737
1. FC Saarbrücken      -   Hallescher FC	 5:0 (3:0)    3,500
Borussia Dortmund II   -   VfB Stuttgart II	 0:2 (0:1)      282
Alemannia Aachen       -   VfL Osnabrück	 0:1 (0:0)   12,031
Arminia Bielefeld      -   Wacker Burghausen	 3:0 (1:0)    8,000



 1  VfL Osnabrück	  	19   12   4   3    27:12  +15 	  40 
 2  Preußen Münster	  	19   10   6   3    31:15  +16 	  36
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Arminia Bielefeld	  	19   10   6   3    28:17  +11 	  36
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	19   10   5   4    33:24  +9 	  35 
 5  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	19    9   7   3    29:11  +18 	  34 
 6  1. FC Heidenheim	  	19    9   4   6    32:26  +6 	  31 
 7  Wacker Burghausen	  	19    9   2   8    26:26   0 	  29 
 8  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	19    8   5   6    22:24  -2 	  29 
 9  VfB Stuttgart II	  	19    8   4   7    26:22  +4 	  28 
10  Kickers Offenbach	  	19    7   5   7    29:23  +6 	  26 
11  Chemnitzer FC	  	19    7   4   8    27:25  +2 	  25 
12  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	19    7   3   9    28:32  -4 	  24 
13  SV Babelsberg 03	  	19    6   4   9    16:25  -9 	  22 
14  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	19    3  12   4    24:27  -3 	  21 
15  Hallescher FC (N)	  	19    4   6   9    16:28  -12 	  18 
16  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	19    4   6   9    21:34  -13 	  18 
17  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	19    4   5  10    19:23  -4 	  17
--------------------------------------------------------------------
18  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	19    4   5  10    16:33  -17 	  17 
19  Alemannia Aachen (A)	19    3   7   9    18:29  -11 	  16 
20  SV Darmstadt 98	  	19    3   6  10    16:28  -12 	  15


A = Absteiger just Relegated 
N = Neuling just promoted

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

Alemmannia Aachen basically relegated due to pending insolvency.

Champions League: All good

All remaining Bundesliga clubs advanced to the knockout stages with positive results.

Bayern München actually was a bit shaky, but managed a 1-1 draw at Valencia to book their ticket. Thomas Müller saved the draw, as Bayern had a rough time despite a man advantage. Valencia by no means played defensively, and generated some decent chances.

Borussia Dortmund ripped Ajax Amsterdam 4-1 away with a gala-performance. Mario Götze was outstanding, involved in all four goals. The Neons basically ran the counter-attack to perfection and were deadly with their finishing.

Schalke defeated Olympiakos Piraeus 1-0 to advance. A long blast from Christian Fuchs was enough for the Blues.

So with all clubs advancing, so far so good for the Bundesliga. Let’s hope they can continue so Germany racks up more points in the UEFA standings.

WSV blog: Tough draw

Actually, it was a pretty good match. This was interim coach Jörg Jung’s first match, and at least WSV showed some will. Siegen pressured WSV throughout the match, but the Wuppertal defense was well organized. Rashid El-Hammouchi, back in the line-up, especially was a vaccuum-cleaner, sweeping up everything. The Bergisch-Lions also launched some decent counters, and came close to taking the lead on a few locations. It was an intense battle that engaged the fans (including 250 travelling Wuppertalers), but things eventually petered out. After about 70 minutes, both sides were exhausted and just kicked the ball around waiting for the whistle.

Next week is the traditional battle with Rot-Weiss Essen…


Sportfreunde Siegen: 
Koczor – 
Dalman, Binder, Klippel, Weber – 
Zeh, Grebe – 
Jakobs, Schattner, Dej (61. Veselinovic) – 
Michel. 
Trainer: Michael Boris 

WSV: 
Semmler – 
Neppe, Reichert, Wiwerink, El Hammouchi – 
Meier, Moosmayer – 
Landers (26. Abel), Boztepe (80. Wassinger), Cornelius (88. Schumacher) – 
Knappmann. 
Trainer: Jörg Jung 

Yellow cards: Klippel - Meier 

Ref: Cetin Sevinc (Waltrop) 

Attendance: 1,967(Leimbachstadion, Siegen)


REGIONALLIGA WEST
 	
Sportfreunde Lotte	-   Rot-Weiß Oberhausen     4:1 (2:0)     972
VfB Hüls	        -   Bayer Leverkusen II     2:3 (2:2)     230
SV Bergisch Gladbach 	-   FC Kray	            2:0 (0:0)     515
Fortuna Köln	        -   SC Wiedenbrück 2000     2:0 (1:0)     796
Fortuna Düsseldorf II	-   FC Schalke 04 II	    0:1 (0:1)     150
1. FC Köln II	        -   FC Viktoria Köln	    2:2 (0:1)   1,946
Rot-Weiss Essen	        -   VfL Bochum II	    2:1 (1:0)   7,142
SSVg Velbert	        -   Borussia M'gladbach II  2:0 (1:0)     200
Sportfreunde Siegen	-   Wuppertaler SV 	    0:0 (0:0)   1,967
SC Verl	                -   MSV Duisburg II	    1:1 (0:0)     250


 1  FC Viktoria Köln (N)	16    11   3   2    39:16  +23 	  36
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  FC Schalke 04 II	  	17    11   3   3    31:15  +16 	  36 
 3  Fortuna Köln	  	17    11   2   4    32:15  +17 	  35 
 4  Rot-Weiss Essen	  	16    10   4   2    27:16  +11 	  34
 5  Sportfreunde Siegen (N)	17     9   4   4    28:13  +15 	  31 
 6  Sportfreunde Lotte	  	16     9   4   3    29:17  +12 	  31
 7  Wuppertaler SV 	  	17     7   5   5    28:23  +5 	  26 
 8  SC Verl	  	        17     6   6   5    33:24  +9 	  24 
 9  VfL Bochum II	  	16     7   3   6    18:16  +2 	  24 
10  1. FC Köln II	  	16     5   5   6    29:29   0 	  20 
11  Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (A)	16     6   2   8    26:33  -7 	  20 
12  SSVg Velbert (N)	  	17     5   4   8    16:26  -10 	  19 
13  SV Bergisch Gladbach 09 (N)	16     6   1   9    15:26  -11 	  19 
14  Bayer Leverkusen II	  	16     5   3   8    22:27  -5 	  18
--------------------------------------------------------------------
15  MSV Duisburg II (N)	  	17     4   5   8    19:26  -7 	  17
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  VfB Hüls (N)	  	17     4   4   9    18:32  -14 	  16 
17  Borussia M'gladbach II	16     4   3   9    12:27  -15 	  15 
18  SC Wiedenbrück 2000	  	16     3   4   9    20:31  -11 	  13 
19  Fortuna Düsseldorf II	16     3   3  10    17:27  -10 	  12 
20  FC Kray (N)	  	        16     3   2  11    17:37  -20 	  11

Top club to playoffs. 
Bottom 5 clubs relegated, 15th relegated depending on 3.Liga

2.Liga, Round 14

Leaders Braunschweig keep on rolling. The final result is somewhat misleading, because especially early in the 2nd half, Ingolstadt was close to equalizing. But Eintracht killed them off with a couple of deadly counters, and there you have it.

It wasn’t pretty, but it was a tense battle as Kaiserslautern jumped out to an early lead against Cottbus, and despite the home advantage, withdrew into a defensive position. FCK was able to hang on for a important win. Cottbus could have saved a point, but lacked clarity in front of goal.

Hertha faces St.Pauli on Montagnachtfussball…Hertha controlled the match, but St.Pauli GK Phillip Tschauner was excellent, and it looked like his prowess would save the Hamburgers a point. But Sahar’s header near the end was enough to give Hertha the hard-fought victory…

Paderborn has been solid recently, and they get the win at Aalen. It wasn’t a gala performance, perhaps mostly due to the fact they had a man advantage for almost an hour. Still, SCP brings home the bacon, and despite a scrappy performance, Aalen ends up with nothing.

Two disappointing teams met in München, and it was Köln that sucked least. The FCK defense was well organized and the Lions proved once again to be rather toothless. This was Köln’s first win at 1860 in 27 years, so they can be doubly happy.

Dresden got a crucial win in their relegation battle. Dynamo jumped into the lead, and seemed to be coasting. Then FSV raised their game in the 2nd half, assaulting the Dresden goal and almost coming back. Dresden really needed this, so it’s “big points”

Duisburg climbed out to get a critical win against Aue. The Zebras fought hard, but looked like they had no technical skill. Erzgebirge definitely looked the better side, but wasted their chances and then started dicking around, especially in the 2nd half. MSV on the other hand, kept on fighting and were rewarded by a shot of Brandy…

Regensburg seemed to be coasting against an ineffectual Union, but the Berliners woke up and raced back. Jahn was suddenly faced with what would be a disturbing loss. But they used their man advantage to to get back square and save a point. Still, if they want to stay up, this is a match they need to win. For Union, not a brilliant effort, but they look like they might be stabilizing in midtable safety.

A wild relegation battle in Bochum. Both VfL and guest Sandhausen gave it all in the 1st half, with the villagers grabbing the lead twice, only for the hosts to finally wrest the lead just before half. In the 2nd period Sandhausen was clearly out of gas, whereas Bochum had more left in the tank, and their relentless pressure allowed them to pull away. For Bochum, probably their best performance in a horrible season. For Sandhausen, probably an indication that the villagers are headed back down into obscurity.

This round’s attendance was 164,566 (avg 18,285)

 	
1. FC Kaiserslautern	 -   Energie Cottbus	 1:0 (1:0)   29,600

                        1:0  Zuck (13., Idrissou)

Dynamo Dresden	         -   FSV Frankfurt	 2:1 (2:0)   20,133

                        1:0  Schuppan (5., Fiel)
                        2:0  Schuppan (15., penalty, Trojan)
                        2:1  Leckie (64., Heubach)

1860 München	         -   1. FC Köln	         0:2 (0:1)   25,800

                        0:1  McKenna (3., Chihi)
                        0:2  Chihi (75., Jajalo)

Eintracht Braunschweig	 -   FC Ingolstadt 04	 3:0 (1:0)   19,000

                        1:0  Kumbela (38., Kruppke)
                        2:0  Kumbela (75., Ademi)
                        3:0  G. Korte (81., Kumbela)

VfR Aalen	         -   SC Paderborn 07	 0:1 (0:0)    5,412

                        0:1  Gulde (58., Vrancic)

MSV Duisburg	         -   Erzgebirge Aue	 2:1 (1:1)   10,136

                        1:0  Brosinski (29., Brandy)
                        1:1  Hochscheidt (42., Fa. Müller)
                        2:1  Brandy (66., B. Kern)

VfL Bochum	         -   SV Sandhausen	 5:2 (3:2)    9,795

                        0:1  Löning (5., Schauerte)
                        1:1  Dedic (20., Tasaka)
                        1:2  Löning (23., Schauerte)
                        2:2  Maltritz (40., Rzatkowski)
                        3:2  Dedic (44., Goretzka)
                        4:2  Rzatkowski (51., Rothenbach)
                        5:2  Rzatkowski (71., Dedic)

Jahn Regensburg	         -   1. FC Union Berlin	 3:3 (2:1)    5,553

                        1:0  Machado (27., Sembolo)
                        2:0  Sembolo (28., Hein)
                        2:1  Terodde (31., Schönheim)
                        2:2  Terodde (56., Silvio)
                        2:3  Jopek (75.)
                        3:3  Amachaibou (81., Haag)


Monday
Hertha BSC Berlin	 -   FC St. Pauli        1:0 (0:0)   39,127

                        1:0  Sahar (85., Pekarik)


 1  Eintracht Braunschweig	14   10   4   0     25:6   +19 	  34 
 2  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	14    8   5   1     26:12  +14 	  29
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 3  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	14    7   7   0     27:16  +11 	  28
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Energie Cottbus	  	14    7   4   3     20:13  +7 	  25 
 5  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	14    6   5   3     19:16  +3 	  23 
 6  SC Paderborn 07	  	14    6   4   4     21:14  +7 	  22 
 7  FSV Frankfurt	  	14    6   3   5     19:17  +2 	  21 
 8  1860 München	  	14    5   5   4     15:12  +3 	  20 
 9  VfR Aalen (N)	  	14    6   2   6     15:13  +2 	  20 
10  1. FC Union Berlin	  	14    4   5   5     19:19   0 	  17 
11  1. FC Köln (A)	  	14    4   5   5     15:17  -2 	  17 
12  FC St. Pauli	  	14    3   6   5     13:17  -4 	  15 
13  VfL Bochum	  	        14    3   5   6     14:25  -11 	  14 
14  Erzgebirge Aue	  	14    3   4   7     17:21  -4 	  13 
15  Dynamo Dresden	  	14    3   3   8     16:23  -7 	  12
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16  MSV Duisburg	  	14    3   3   8     11:24  -13 	  12
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17  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	14    3   1   10    17:25  -8 	  10 
18  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	14    2   3   9     13:32  -19 	  9

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