BUNDESLIGA, Round 12

Leaders Bayern dropped a point, but as usual, it doesn’t matter. However hosts Nürnberg played perhaps their best match of the season, and gave the leaders all they could handle. Bayern controlled early and took the lead, but FCN raised their game and fought their way back in.

Schalke was totally dominated by Leverkusen and were perhaps lucky they didn’t get their ass kicked even worse. The Aspirins controlled the match from the start, and it only seemed a matter of time before they’d get the win.

Dortmund dominated against Greuther Fürth, but seemingly took their foot off the gas after a furious start. This one was never really in doubt.

Frankfurt essentially did the same against Augsburg, but they lacked 100% concentration, so teh Fuggers were able to sneak a couple of strikes to keep it interesting.

Freiburg won for the first time in 8 tries in Hannover, and it was deserved, as they totally outplayed the 96ers. It was only because they wasted chances that they had to survive late Hannover pressure. The 96ers seemed lethargic and uninterested for most of the match, so they can’t really complain.

Gladbach and Stuttgart played a largely ho-hum match that somewhat fortunately goes to the visitors. mainly because they didn’t fall asleep late and were rewarded with an own goal winner.

Hamburg had a tough time with Mainz, but the visitors have a history of constipation against HSV, something like five straight without scoring. So HSV picked up a win by banging in one goal.

Bremen fell behind early against Düsseldorf, but kept sustained pressure against Fortuna and were rewarded with a deserved win. The guests are now something like seven without a win and are sinking like a stone. Bremen defender Assani Lukimya tried to help his old club out (he was one of Fortuna’s outstanding players last season): he got his ass tossed late in the match, but it didn’t help. Instead it was Werder that scored the late winner.

Easy win for Wolfsburg, continuing to show morale improvement after the end of coach Felix Magath’s “Reign of (T)Error”. The VWs actually didn’t show much, as Hoffenheim was sleeping the whole match. It’s what the Germans like to call Arbeitsverweigerung (“refusal to work”). They were certainly sleeping early when the Wolfs struck, and didn’t really try much to get back in. Anyway, with the win, the VWs climb out of the relegation zone, but Hoffenheim might be joining soon…having the worst defense in the Bundesliga certainly doesn’t help their cause.

Weekend attendance was 418,018 (avg 46,446), with two sellouts.

 	
Borussia Dortmund     -    SpVgg Greuther Fürth	  3:1 (3:1)   80,645 *

                     1:0  Lewandowski (3., M. Götze)
                     1:1  Stieber (5., Zillner)
                     2:1  Lewandowski (15., penalty, Blaszczykowski)
                     3:1  M. Götze (42., Blaszczykowski)

Borussia M'gladbach   -    VfB Stuttgart	  1:2 (1:1)   52,120

                     1:0  Stranzl (7.)
                     1:1  Harnik (8., Molinaro)
                     1:2  Brouwers (72., own goal, Kuzmanovic)

Hannover 96	      -    SC Freiburg	          1:2 (1:1)   43,800

                     0:1  Schmid (11., D. Caligiuri)
                     1:1  Abdellaoue (33., penalty)
                     1:2  Rosenthal (56., M. Kruse)

1. FC Nürnberg	      -    Bayern München	  1:1 (0:1)   50,000 *

                     0:1  Mandzukic (3., Kroos)
                     1:1  Feulner (46.)

Hamburger SV	      -    1. FSV Mainz 05	  1:0 (0:0)   51,345

                     1:0  Son (63., Beister)

Eintracht Frankfurt   -    FC Augsburg	          4:2 (2:1)   47,700

                     1:0  Mölders (7., own goal, Schwegler)
                     2:0  Aigner (32., Inui)
                     2:1  Koo (45.)
                     3:1  Meier (52., Aigner)
                     3:2  Mölders (64., Oehrl)
                     4:2  Meier (75., penalty)
 
Bayer Leverkusen      -    FC Schalke 04	  2:0 (1:0)   29,808

                     1:0  Schürrle (45.)
                     2:0  Kießling (67., Castro)

Sunday:
Werder Bremen	      -    Fortuna Düsseldorf	  2:1 (0:1)   42,100 *

                     0:1  Langeneke (10., penalty, Kruse)
                     1:1  Petersen (51., Schmitz)
                     2:1  de Bruyne (82., Hunt)

1899 Hoffenheim	      -    VfL Wolfsburg          1:3 (0:2)   20,500

                     0:1  Hasebe (7., Olic)
                     0:2  Dost (24., Josué)
                     0:3  Naldo (78., )
                     1:3  Derdiyok (88., Volland)
	

 1  Bayern München	  	12   10   1   1    33:5   +28 	  31 
 2  FC Schalke 04	  	12    7   2   3    22:14  +8 	  23 
 3  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	12    7   2   3    25:18  +7 	  23
 4  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	12    6   4   2    26:13  +13 	  22
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Bayer Leverkusen	  	12    6   3   3    21:17  +4 	  21 
 6  Hannover 96	  	        12    5   2   5    25:20  +5 	  17
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Werder Bremen	  	12    5   2   5    20:18  +2 	  17 
 8  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	12    5   2   5    15:14  +1 	  17 
 9  Hamburger SV	  	12    5   2   5    12:14  -2 	  17 
10  SC Freiburg	  	        12    4   4   4    16:14  +2 	  16
11  Borussia M'gladbach	  	12    4   4   4    18:23  -5 	  16 
12  VfB Stuttgart	  	12    4   4   4    14:20  -6 	  16 
13  VfL Wolfsburg	  	12    4   2   6    12:19  -7 	  14
14  1899 Hoffenheim	  	12    3   3   6    18:26  -8 	  12 
15  1. FC Nürnberg	  	12    3   3   6    10:18  -8 	  12 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	12    2   5   5    11:18  -7 	  11
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	12    1   4   7    10:23  -13 	  7 
18  FC Augsburg	  	        12    1   3   8     8:22  -14 	  6


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 18

The big news is that apparently Alemannia Aachen will declare insolvency afterall. So club president Meino Heyen has been proven to be a lying scumbag as this circus from only a couple weeks ago apparently comes to a head. (Remember how he tried to blame everything on his business manager, whom he fired with all sorts of hoopla? He should be lined up against a wall and shot.) What this means is that a court-appointed administrator will work with the club and get things in order. The most likely result is that Aachen will be forcibly relegated to the 4th division Regionalliga West, as long as the finances reach an acceptable state.

OK, enough, on the the matches…

Huge “ok-not-completely” Westfalen-derby in Osnabrück against Bielefeld. Sold out Osnatel-Arena (which civilized folks still call the Bremer Brücke). Top clash as well. Osnabrück controlled the match, pressing, but Arminia defended well. In the 2nd half, the intensity went up a notch. Bielefeld’s Manuel Horning got tossed, so Arminia was holding on desperately. Then in injury time, Osnabrück was awarded a penalty…but Timo Staffeldt missed.

Münster and Unterhaching battled in another top clash, with Preussen looking the better side. However they had no luck, hitting the wood-work three times. Haching defended and had GK Riederer in fine form.

Karlsruhe needs to be taken seriously. KSC dominated against fellow relegated side Rostock and came away with an easy win. They might be the strongest side in the league right now. Hansa disappointed on all levels.

Burghausen remained relevant with a solid win over Babelsberg.

Heidenheim finally got on track as they kicked Saarbrücken’s ass. Oldtimer Michael Thurk (a 2.Liga legend and Augsburg’s leading scorer, then viciously dumped as FCA got promoted to the Bundesliga) got FCH on the right track with an early goal. But largely it was Saarbrücker incompetence, as despite having a man advantage for 70 minutes, they sucked, missing a penalty to boot.

Wehen gets out from the trouble area with a win (!) against Offenbach in a hard fought regional derby.

Dortmund II has climbed out of the relegation zone, despite being dominated by Halle. However HFC wasted their chances and takes the bitter loss.

A major relegation battle on Sunday saw Darmstadt lose at home to Erfurt. Neither team looked too interested in winning the match, especially in the 1st half. Things improved after the restart, and it was RWE that grabbed the win. Darmstadt had a couple of decent chances, but blew them and sink to the bottom.

Weekend attendance was 68,425 (avg 6,843), with one sellout.


 	
1. FC Heidenheim     -   1. FC Saarbrücken	 3:0 (2:0)    7,500
Wacker Burghausen    -   SV Babelsberg 03	 3:1 (3:0)    2,200
VfL Osnabrück	     -   Arminia Bielefeld	 0:0 (0:0)   16,000 *
VfB Stuttgart II     -   Alemannia Aachen	 2:1 (1:1)      710
Hallescher FC	     -   Borussia Dortmund II	 0:1 (0:1)    8,021
SV Wehen Wiesbaden   -   Kickers Offenbach	 2:1 (2:0)    5,834
Hansa Rostock	     -   Karlsruher SC	         0:3 (0:0)   10,000
Chemnitzer FC	     -   Stuttgarter Kickers	 2:0 (0:0)    4,750
Preußen Münster	     -   SpVgg Unterhaching	 0:0 (0:0)    8,710
Sunday:
SV Darmstadt 98	     -   Rot-Weiß Erfurt	 0:1 (0:0)    4,700 



 1  VfL Osnabrück	  	18    11   4   3    26:12  +14 	  37
 2  Preußen Münster	  	18    10   6   2    31:14  +17 	  36
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Arminia Bielefeld	  	18     9   6   3    25:17  +8 	  33
-------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 4  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	18     9   5   4    29:21  +8 	  32
 5  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	18     8   7   3    25:11  +14 	  31
 6  Wacker Burghausen	  	18     9   2   7    26:23  +3 	  29 
 7  1. FC Heidenheim	  	18     8   4   6    31:26  +5 	  28 
 8  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	18     8   4   6    21:23  -2 	  28 
 9  Kickers Offenbach	  	18     7   5   6    29:22  +7 	  26 
10  Chemnitzer FC	  	18     7   4   7    24:21  +3 	  25 
11  VfB Stuttgart II	  	18     7   4   7    24:22  +2 	  25 
12  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	18     3  12   3    24:23  +1 	  21 
13  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	18     6   3   9    23:32  -9 	  21 
14  SV Babelsberg 03	  	18     5   4   9    15:25  -10 	  19 
15  Hallescher FC (N)	  	18     4   6   8    16:23  -7 	  18 
16  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	18     4   5   9    20:33  -13 	  17
-------------------------------------------------------------------- 
17  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	18     4   5   9    16:31  -15 	  17
18  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	18     4   4  10    18:22  -4 	  16
19  Alemannia Aachen (A)	18     3   7   8    18:28  -10 	  16 
20  SV Darmstadt 98	  	18     3   5  10    15:27  -12 	  14 



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

WSV: Bruns fired!

In a somewhat surprising move, Wuppertaler SV fired head coach Hans-Günter Bruns today. He’ll be replaced assistant Jörg Jung. Bruns had taken over in September 2011, and the performance has been largely mediocre. So it that sense, I suppose it’s not a bad move, since the team has pretty much continued to suck. On other hand, the board has shown almost decades of incompetence, so it’s hard to believe that things are going to get any better.

BUNDESLIGA, Round 11 (Sunday)

Stunning comebacks from away teams that looked out. Both Hannover and Gladbach came roaring back to get points…

Stuttgart seemed to be coasting against Hannover, then things fell apart. The 96ers were running around aimlessly, and VfB was dominating the match. It really looked over, as the home side has been in pretty decent form. However Sobiech’s tap-in goal after GK Ulreich was unable to hold on suddenly woke up the 96ers and they swarmed over a stunned Stuttgart. Before they knew what was happening, the match turned and Hannover gets a fine away win.

Gladbach had a somewhat easier time at Fürth, although it took a while for them to gain control. The Greuther jumped out to a quick lead, but ruined it only two minutes later: Kleine was judged to have pulled down Hermann on a break-away, and was red carded. This was somewhat debatable, as another defender (Nehrig) was basically in the same area. Still, even though Gladbach was able to even the score soon after, the Greuther had things going, and managed to take the lead going into half. After the restart, Gladbach hunkered down and grabbed control of the match. After getting the lead, the Borussen basically kicked the ball around until getting a handball-penalty in injury time. Good win, but Fürth can feel hard done by the crucial call early in the match.

Is Wolfsburg back? It’s beginning to look like firing Felix Magath is paying dividends. For one thing, Brazilian playmaker Diego looks like he is reborn. 3 goals and 2 assists since. He opened the scoring with another direct free kick and laid the foundation for a thumping VW win in the Corporation Derby. The Aspirins had been in good form but were stunned as the Wolfies kicked them in the balls in the 1st half, and never recovered. Wolfsburg is still in the relegation zone, but has given indication that they’re on the way back. Leverkusen needs to lick their wounds.

Weekend attendance was 353,348 (avg 39,260), including 5 sell-outs


 	
VfL Wolfsburg	       -   Bayer Leverkusen	      3:1 (3:0)   24,825

                      1:0  Diego (4.)
                      2:0  Diego (16., Dost)
                      3:0  Dost (33., M. Schäfer)
                      3:1  Kießling (90. + 1, Junior Fernandes)

 	
VfB Stuttgart	       -  	Hannover 96	      2:4 (2:0)   50,600
 
                      1:0  Gentner (21., Holzhauser)
                      2:0  Ibisevic (37., penalty, Gentner)
                      2:1  Sobiech (57., Stindl)
                      2:2  Schlaudraff (65., penalty, Rechtsschuss)
                      2:3  Abdellaoue (68., M. Diouf)
                      2:4  Abdellaoue (73., penalty, Stindl)

SpVgg Greuther Fürth   -  	Borussia M'gladbach   2:4 (2:1)   18,000 *

                      1:0  Nehrig (10., penalty, Asamoah)
                      1:1  Wendt (22., Herrmann)
                      2:1  Prib (43., Asamoah)
                      2:2  Stranzl (51., Hanke)
                      2:3  Herrmann (57., Rupp)
                      2:4  Marx (90. + 2, penalty)
	

Earlier matches:
 	
1. FSV Mainz 05	     -   1. FC Nürnberg	        2:1 (2:1)
Bayern München	     -   Eintracht Frankfurt	2:0 (1:0)
FC Schalke 04	     -   Werder Bremen	        2:1 (0:1)
SC Freiburg	     -   Hamburger SV	        0:0 (0:0)
FC Augsburg	     -   Borussia Dortmund	1:3 (0:1)
Fortuna Düsseldorf   -   1899 Hoffenheim	1:1 (1:1)



 1  Bayern München	  	11   10   0   1    32:4   +28 	  30 
 2  FC Schalke 04	  	11    7   2   2    22:12  +10 	  23 
 3  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	11    6   2   3    21:16  +5 	  20
 4  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	11    5   4   2    23:12  +11 	  19
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Bayer Leverkusen	  	11    5   3   3    19:17  +2 	  18 
 6  Hannover 96	  	        11    5   2   4    24:18  +6 	  17 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	11    5   2   4    15:13  +2 	  17
 8  Borussia M'gladbach	  	11    4   4   3    17:21  -4 	  17 
 9  Werder Bremen	  	11    4   2   5    18:17  +1 	  14 
10  Hamburger SV	  	11    4   2   5    11:14  -3 	  14 
11  SC Freiburg	  	        11    3   4   4    14:13  +1 	  13 
12  VfB Stuttgart	  	11    3   4   4    12:19  -7 	  13 
13  1899 Hoffenheim	  	11    3   3   5    17:23  -6 	  12 
14  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	11    2   5   4    10:16  -6 	  11 
15  1. FC Nürnberg	  	11    3   2   6     9:17  -8 	  11
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  VfL Wolfsburg	  	11    3   2   6     9:18  -9 	  11
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	11    1   4   6     9:20  -11 	  7 
18  FC Augsburg	  	        11    1   3   7     6:18  -12 	  6

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

2.Liga, Round 13

Leaders Braunschweig had a tough time at Aue. The Lions were getting schooled by an energetic Erzgebirge, but of course their superior talent was enough to hold off the hosts, and indeed, grab a somewhat fortunate lead. The 2nd half was more of the same, and Aue got the deserved equalizer. Still, it shows the progress Braunschweig has made, as in previous seasons they would have lost this.

Hertha BSC applied some major bitch-slapping, as they kicked Sandhausen’s ass. But although the Berliners were dominating, the hosts didn’t truly collapse until a bit after an hour, when GK Langer got red carded for a foul. Hertha smelled blood and proceeded to rip the hapless Sandhausers to shreds.

Neither side looked particularly good in Paderborn, where Kaiserslautern got a tough draw. The hosts tried to press for a win in a equal match, as they had a man advantage for the last 20 minutes, but no dice.

A tense hard fought eastern derby in Cottbus? Hardly. Energie jumped out to a quick lead and then coasted, as Dynamo was total crap. In the 2nd half Dresden woke up and played better, but were still too lame to really threaten the home side. Solga crowned the visitors incompetence by getting his ass tossed late in the match, so basically a total “Fail” for Dresden. They now are in a dead heat for relegation. Energie’s easy win keeps them in the promotion battle.

Ingolstadt continues their good season with a tough win over Regensburg. The match was ho-hum, but then went into over-drive in the last 20 minutes. A wild scramble saw the Schanzer get the upper hand, and Jahn didn’t help their cause by getting a player tossed and giving up a second penalty. FCI stays within striking distance of the leaders, whereas Jahn is right in the middle of the relegation mess.

Union Berlin was the dominant team hosting Aalen, but were unable to breakthrough in the hard fought match. Good point for Aalen.

Another sorry-ass performance by 1.FC Köln. Visitors Duisburg gifted them an advantage when Baljic got his ass tossed after only 20 minutes. But despite a man advantage, all that Köln could demonstrate was incompetence, hardly creating any chances. Given the circumstances, a good point for the Zebras.

1860 was somewhat lucky in getiing a win at FSV Frankfurt. The hosts were largely dominating, but too lame when it counted. The Lions break their run of crap results and get an away win. FSV should have got something from this, but you have to score goals.

Struggling St.Pauli and Bochum on Montagnacht-fussball…a 1-1 draw that helps neither side. St.Pauli was largely in control of the match, but at least Bochum showed energy in defense. The Hamburgers wasted too many chances, so really can’t complain.

Total attendance this round: 138,322 (avg 15,369)

 	
1. FC Köln	    -  	MSV Duisburg	        0:0 (0:0)   39,900

Erzgebirge Aue	    -  	Eintracht Braunschweig	1:1 (0:1)    7,600

                   0:1  Kruppke (40., Vrancic)
                   1:1  Schröder (69., Hochscheidt)

SV Sandhausen	    -  	Hertha BSC	        1:6 (0:2)    8,300

                   0:1  Ramos (28., Lustenberger)
                   0:2  Niemeyer (35., Ronny)
                   0:3  Ronny (68., penalty)
                   1:3  Wooten (75., A. Riemann)
                   1:4  Allagui (81., M. Ndjeng)
                   1:5  M. Ndjeng (89.)
                   1:6  Sahar (90., Kluge)

 	
SC Paderborn 07	    -    1. FC Kaiserslautern	1:1 (0:0)   11,471

                   1:0  Jessen (57., own goal, Vrancic)
                   1:1  Idrissou (67., penalty, Bunjaku)

1. FC Union Berlin  -  	VfR Aalen	        0:0 (0:0)   15,102

 	
FC Ingolstadt 04    -  	Jahn Regensburg	        4:2 (0:1)    9,473

                   0:1  Machado (17.)
                   1:1  Leitl (48.)
                   2:1  Schäffler (70., Schäfer)
                   2:2  Amachaibou (80., Kotzke)
                   3:2  Eigler (85., penalty)
                   4:2  Caiuby (90., Schäffler)

FSV Frankfurt	    -  	1860 München	        0:1 (0:1)    5,188

                   0:1  Lauth (36., Stoppelkamp)

Energie Cottbus	    -  	Dynamo Dresden	        2:0 (2:0)   20,500

                   1:0  Sörensen (7., Adlung)
                   2:0  Banovic (30., penalty, Bittroff)


Monday:
FC St. Pauli	    -  	VfL Bochum              1:1 (1:0)   20,788

                   1:0  Ginczek (16., Kringe)
                   1:1  Dabrowski (55., Iashvili)

 

 1  Eintracht Braunschweig 	13    9   4   0    22:6   +16 	  31 
 2  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	13    7   5   1    25:12  +13 	  26
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	13    6   7   0    26:16  +10 	  25
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Energie Cottbus	  	13    7   4   2    20:12  +8 	  25 
 5  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	13    6   5   2    19:13  +6 	  23 
 6  FSV Frankfurt	  	13    6   3   4    18:15  +3 	  21 
 7  1860 München	  	13    5   5   3    15:10  +5 	  20 
 8  VfR Aalen (N)	  	13    6   2   5    15:12  +3 	  20 
 9  SC Paderborn 07	  	13    5   4   4    20:14  +6 	  19 
10  1. FC Union Berlin	  	13    4   4   5    16:16   0 	  16 
11  FC St. Pauli	  	12    3   5   4    12:15  -3 	  14 
12  1. FC Köln (A)	  	13    3   5   5    13:17  -4 	  14 
13  Erzgebirge Aue	  	13    3   4   6    16:19  -3 	  13 
14  VfL Bochum	  	        12    2   4   6     8:22  -14 	  10 
15  Dynamo Dresden	  	13    2   3   8    14:22  -8 	  9
--------------------------------------------------------------------		
16  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	13    3   0   10   14:22  -8 	  9
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  MSV Duisburg	  	13    2   3   8     9:23  -14 	  9 
18  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	13    2   3   8    11:27  -16 	  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 

3.Liga, Round 17

Leaders Osnabrück had a poor match at Burghausen and could only draw. Neither side looked respectable, so I suppose it’s a fair outcome. But you’d expect more from VfL. Burghausen, who cares?

Münster is chasing and did better. The Preussen dominated the 1st half and had the lead, but the Kickers roared back and had the visitors shaking. A late goal wrapped it up for Münster, getting a tough win.

Bielefeld had a hard time with VfB Stuttgart II, but was eventually rewarded with a draw.

Unterhaching was stunned at home by an engaged Babelsberg, getting a crucial away win. The hosts however hurt themselves, as Drum got his ass redcarded after 25 minutes for a dirty foul. The Potsdamers were able to grab a lead before half and then coast home.

Look out, Karlsruhe is getting their act together. They have the best defense in the league, and are beginning to get untracked – five in a row. Darmstadt fought hard and was perhaps beginning to hope for a crucial away point, but in a couple of minutes everything fell apart.

Offenbach bounced back from their derby loss in Darmstadt with a strong performance, downing Hansa Rostock. A double by Vogler was the difference, with Kickers looking the better side throughout the match.

Wild shootout in Saarbrücken’s Ludwigspark. The result? Here’s a hint: opponent was Wehen. So of course the result is a draw, both clubs running up and down and scoring left and right.

Aachen remains in crisis on the field, as they stunk and Halle grabbed crucial points in a relegation six-pointer.

Dortmund II upended Heidenheim with a good efofrt. The visitors looked like winners, but the Neon youngsters raised their game and get a deserved win. Heidenheim has been like a boat without a rudder recently, going nowhere.

Last place Erfurt showed they’re not dead with an eastern derby against Chemnitz. RWE showed determination, and a double by Morabit lead them to an important win.

Attendance on weekend was 51,873 (avg 5,187).


SpVgg Unterhaching    -   SV Babelsberg 03	0:1 (0:1)    1,750
Kickers Offenbach     -   Hansa Rostock	        2:1 (1:0)    8,079 	
Wacker Burghausen     -   VfL Osnabrück	        1:1 (0:1)    2,460
Stuttgarter Kickers   -   Preußen Münster	0:2 (0:1)    3,100
Rot-Weiß Erfurt	      -   Chemnitzer FC	        3:2 (1:0)    5,465
Karlsruher SC	      -   SV Darmstadt 98	2:0 (0:0)   10,219
1. FC Saarbrücken     -   SV Wehen Wiesbaden	3:3 (2:3)    3,182
Borussia Dortmund II  -   1. FC Heidenheim	2:1 (0:1)      403
Alemannia Aachen      -   Hallescher FC	        0:3 (0:0)   10,953
Arminia Bielefeld     -   VfB Stuttgart II	1:1 (0:1)    6,262
 	

 1  VfL Osnabrück               17    11   3   3    26:12  +14 	  36 
 2  Preußen Münster	  	17    10   5   2    31:14  +17 	  35
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Arminia Bielefeld	  	17     9   5   3    25:17  +8 	  32
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	16     9   3   4    29:21  +8     30
 5  Karlsruher SC (A)           17     7   7   3    22:11  +11 	  28 
 6  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	17     8   4   5    21:20  +1 	  28 
 7  Kickers Offenbach	  	17     7   5   5    28:20  +8 	  26 
 8  Wacker Burghausen	  	17     8   2   7    23:22  +1 	  26 
 9  1. FC Heidenheim	  	17     7   4   6    28:26  +2 	  25 
10  Chemnitzer FC	  	17     6   4   7    22:21  +1 	  22 		
11  VfB Stuttgart II	  	17     6   4   7    22:21  +1 	  22 
12  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	17     6   3   8    23:29  -6 	  21 
13  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	17     2  12   3    22:22   0 	  18 
14  Hallescher FC (N)	  	17     4   6   7    16:22  -6 	  18 
15  SV Babelsberg 03	  	16     5   3   8    13:21  -8 	  18 
16  Alemannia Aachen (A)	17     3   7   7    17:26  -9 	  16 
17  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	16     4   3   9    18:20  -2 	  15
--------------------------------------------------------------------
18  SV Darmstadt 98	  	17     3   5   9    15:26  -11 	  14 
19  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	17     3   5   9    15:31  -16 	  14 
20  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	16     3   4   9    18:32  -14 	  13

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

BUNDESLIGA, Round 11 (Saturday)

Leaders Bayern München notched up another win, but it was by no means easy. Surprising Frankfurt was engaged in the match, and GK Kevin Trapp, who has been excellent all year, was on form again. So the Müncheners pressed but had a hard time breaking down Eintracht. Even after Ribery giving Bayern the lead, Frankfurt remained in the game, and had a few decent chances of their own. In the end however, another Bayern win. This one might come at a cost, as Jerome Boateng left injured, replaced by oldie Daniel Van Buyten. Good effort for Eintracht, but no shock they end up with nada…

Schalke deservedly wins against Bremen, but Werder made it tough. In form Aaron Hunt shocked the Blues with an early goal, and Bremen then hunkered down. Schalke controlled, but was unable to breakthrough. After halftime, the pressure increased, and Schalke showed that they’ve got more in their tank when it’s needed. Neustädter headed in and then youngster Draxler got the winner. Good performance by the hosts, Werder fought hard, but didn’t show enough to deserve a point.

Dortmund showed why they’re champions. Augsburg gave 110%, but were too incompetant. The Neons weren’t in best shape coming off their almost win in Madrid, but were all business. They ruthlessly took their chances. The Fuggers on the other hand were running hard, and created a few chances, but GK Weidenfeller was top notch. So FCA gets kicked in the ass at home and remains in trouble. If you can’t score in the Bundesliga, you’re probably going down, because the other team will hit the net. Efficient win for Dortmund, which at least keeps them within sight of the top.

Freiburg dominated against Hamburg, mainly because Philipp Scharner got his ass toss for repeated fouls. Until that point, the visitors had equal play. HSV hunkered down and defended for an hour, and SCF couldn’t figure out how to break through.

Mainz jumped on Nürnberg early and coasted to victory. This was FCN’s 7th straight loss in Mainz, so maybe it’s not really unexpected. The match was hotly contested, with 10 yellow cards. But the coaches both felt the ref was nuts, Mainz boss Tom Tuchel basically calling him an arrogant SOB. Still, the Mainzers get their fourth home win in a row, and have to be pretty happy. Der Club meanwhile continues to sink into the morass.

Düsseldorf continues to struggle after their good start. Fortuna jumped to an early lead against Hoffenheim, but were pretty shaky. Neither team exhibited much skill or competancy, and defensive lapses lead to both goals. Düsseldorf had a man advantage for 40 minutes when the Hoppers Marvin Compper got tossed. But they were too lame to do much about it.

Some interesting matches on Sunday. Wolfsburg needs a result against in-form Leverkusen. Under the new regime, the VWs have looked somewhat better. Stuttgart should give Hannover a tough match. Who knows what type of match Gladbach will have – hot or cold. All you can say about their hosts Greuther is that they’ll run around a lot.

 	
1. FSV Mainz 05	       -   1. FC Nürnberg	  2:1 (2:1)   31,390

                      1:0  N. Müller (12.)
                      2:0  Ivanschitz (21., Baumgartlinger)
                      2:1  Nilsson (40., Kiyotake)

Bayern München	       -   Eintracht Frankfurt	  2:0 (1:0)   71,000 *

                      1:0  Ribery (44., Javi Martinez)
                      2:0  Alaba (77., penalty, Schweinsteiger)


FC Schalke 04	       -   Werder Bremen	  2:1 (0:1)   61,673 *

                      0:1  Hunt (16., Junuzovic)
                      1:1  Neustädter (59., Fuchs)
                      2:1  Draxler (69., J. Jones)

SC Freiburg	       -   Hamburger SV	          0:0 (0:0)   24,000 *

FC Augsburg	       -   Borussia Dortmund	  1:3 (0:1)   30,660 *

                      0:1  Reus (8.)
                      0:2  Lewandowski (51., M. Götze)
                      0:3  Lewandowski (70., Reus)
                      1:3  Mölders (81., Ostrzolek)

Fortuna Düsseldorf     -   1899 Hoffenheim	  1:1 (1:1)   41,200

                      1:0  Kruse (4.,Garbuschewski)
                      1:1  Joselu (39., Beck)


Sunday:
VfL Wolfsburg	       -   Bayer Leverkusen	  -:- (-:-) 
VfB Stuttgart	       -   Hannover 96	          -:- (-:-)
SpVgg Greuther Fürth   -   Borussia M'gladbach	  -:- (-:-)



 1  Bayern München	  	11   10   0   1    32:4   +28 	  30 
 2  FC Schalke 04	  	11    7   2   2    22:12  +10 	  23 
 3  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	11    6   2   3    21:16  +5 	  20
 4  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	11    5   4   2    23:12  +11 	  19
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Bayer Leverkusen	  	10    5   3   2    18:14  +4 	  18 
 6  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	11    5   2   4    15:13  +2 	  17
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Hannover 96	  	        10    4   2   4    20:16  +4 	  14 
 8  Werder Bremen	  	11    4   2   5    18:17  +1 	  14 
 9  Hamburger SV	  	11    4   2   5    11:14  -3 	  14 
10  SC Freiburg	  	        11    3   4   4    14:13  +1 	  13 
11  VfB Stuttgart	  	10    3   4   3    10:15  -5 	  13 
12  Borussia M'gladbach	  	10    3   4   3    13:19  -6 	  13 
13  1899 Hoffenheim	  	11    3   3   5    17:23  -6 	  12 
14  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	11    2   5   4    10:16  -6 	  11 
15  1. FC Nürnberg	  	11    3   2   6     9:17  -8 	  11
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  VfL Wolfsburg	  	10    2   2   6     6:17  -11 	  8
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	10    1   4   5     7:16  -9 	  7 
18  FC Augsburg	  	        11    1   3   7     6:18  -12 	  6

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

WSV: Another loss

The good news is that WSV sucked on Friday night, so at least folks can enjoy their weekend.
The team pretty much stunk from the start, hardly creating any chances. Coach Bruns basically said they were crap and that he couldn’t blame the fans going home pissed off. (Or at least “pissed” in the British sense). Anyway, the less said about this, the better.

Wuppertaler SV 	  -   Sportfreunde Lotte	 	0:1 (0:0)

 0:1  Dalibor Gataric (47.) 

Attendance: 1,015, Stadion Am Zoo 	

WUPPERTAL:
Semmler - 
Neppe    , Haas , Wiwerink , Moosmayer - 
Reichert , Fleßers    , Landers , Boztepe    - 
Wassinger , Knappmann
Subs:
Cornelius (60., Boztepe)
Abel (83., Neppe)
Trainer: Bruns

LOTTE:
Buchholz - 
Hohnstedt , Willers , G. Nauber , Dan. Gataric - 
Dal. Gataric     , Chahed , Loose    , Wingerter - 
Shapourzadeh       , Prokoph
Subs:
D. Schmidt (75., Shapourzadeh)
Tietz (90., Loose)
Trainer: Walpurgis

Champions League

More decent performances for the Bundesliga:

Borussia Dortmund impressed at Real Madrid, coming away with a 2-2 draw that the Spanish giants were quite fortunate to get. In fact, ironically it was Mesut Özil who saved RM with a free kick in the 89th minute.

Schalke was perhaps less impressive, but came back from an early deficit to square 2-2 against Arsenal.

Bayern München had a walk in the park, and they slaughtered French side Lille OSC 6-1. Claudio Pizarro got a rare start and thanked with a hat-trick.

Based on these results, all three Bundesliga sides should be favored to go through to the knockout stages. Most impressive has been how Dortmund is beginning to show some ability in Europe, and they really pushed Real Madrid around in both legs. That doesn’t mean that they’re good enough to win anything, but considering how lame they’d been in last year’s campaign, this shows improvement. Schalke has been somewhat of a surprise as well, although they’ve had a decent pedigree in Euro competition recently. Bayern surprised too, although by their shocking loss to BATE Baryssau. But since they can turn it off/on at will, I’d don’t think anyone is worried, and Bayern is certainly a contender to win it all.

More finances

More financial numbers keep rolling in. (Sorry, I always find this interesting…) Werder Bremen’s soccer division suffered it’s first loss in about seven years. They apparently lost about 14 million euros in the past campaign. Earnings were down 24 million, coming in at a little over 95 million euros. Of course finishing 13th certainly didn’t help, as they didn’t qualify for Europe. (In 2010/11 they participated in the Champions League, and made a nice profit of 8.5 million). The club says that they have no problem covering the deficit. Werder is not fooling around though, and they’ve already taken actions that should improve the finances, regardless of how things turn out this season. In the offseason they dumped high wage players like Wiese, Naldo, Marin and Pizarro, (some some outrageous money from Chelski for Marin, as usual the EPL clubs have no concept of value) so the player salaries should be less of an impact. In another move, former player Marco Bode (379 matches for Werder and 40 caps for Germany) has joined the board…

Fortuna Düsseldorf also announced results: their first profit in 16 years! It was a modest 800,000 euros, but the promotion to the Bundesliga should swell the coffers.  And being in the wildnerness all those years certainly made the positive numbers nice to announce. They were also able to reduce some debt down to 4 million, so they would appear to be in good shape. But not too good. The club announced that they’re suing one of their fans for 50,000 euros. In the playoffs against Hertha, after the match this fan ran onto the field and dug on the penalty spot as a souvenir. Originally the club was going to let it go, but apparently they got pissed when this guy got lot’s of media coverage. Seems a bit petty, but since Fortuna will probably get relegated and back to collecting peanuts, I guess they figure on needing the money…

BTW, in case you missed it, Alemannia Aachen came up with some dough last week and avoided insolvency.