BUNDESLIGA, Round 31

Bayern and Dortmund are taking the Champions League seriously: despite their impressive midweek performances against the Spanish sides, both squads rested *ten* starters from those victories.

Bayern’s lineup only featured Boateng from midweek (Starke – Rafinha, van Buyten, Boateng, Contento – Tymoshchuk, Luiz Gustavo – Shaqiri, Can – Mandzukic, Pizarro). You’d have expected Freiburg to try and take advantage, maybe to grab a point. But the Breisgauer were apparently shaking in their boots and way too timid. So even the reserves had an easy time. The win moved Bayern to 84 points, breaking Dortmund’s single season point record, established only last season. So all that’s left in the Bundesliga is the goal record (101) from the 1972 Bayern team.

Dortmund also fielded a “B” team in Düsseldorf: (Langerak – Kirch, Felipe Santana, Hummels, Großkreutz – Sahin, Kehl – Hofmann, Leitner, Bittencourt – Schieber). Hummels was the only starter from the Madrid game, perhaps being punished for his “schnitzer” :)
However, it didn’t make much difference as the Neons were in control against a Fortuna squad that it running out of fortuna.

Crisis in Bremen. I didn’t think it was possible a few weeks ago, but Werder is in serious danger of going down, as they keep losing and the lower clubs scrap a point here and there. The Weser guys showed up in Leverkusen with a solid game plan, defensive discpline, but a mistake led to a goal, and they couldn’t get back. The Aspirins had a hard time, but the minimalist win has basically secured Champions League for next season. Speculation is rife that long serving Werder coach Thomas Schaaf is going to get the boot.

Greuther Fürth could be going down with a dubious record. Well, it’s no question that they’re going down (officially relegated), the question is, will they win a home game: 16 tries, no wins, and this one had to be one of the more frustrating ones. The Greuther dominated against Hannover, outshooting them 20-4 and out hustling for every ball. But they end up losing as they lacked focus and the cold-bloodedness of the 96ers.

Augsburg is trying hard to stay up, those Fuggers are fighting for every inch. They played one of the hoitsy-toitsy sides, Stuttgart, and kicked their ass royally, although it took a while, since the Augsburgers don’t really have much technique. Still, their first ever league win against VfB and they have a good chance of what looked like impossible salvation.

Hoffenheim keep their slim hopes alive with a win over Nürnberg. The Hoppers jumped out to a lead and then held off a furious Club comeback with an engaged rear-guard action. It may be too little, too late, but they’re only a win behind the playoff spot. At least you can see a definite turnaround under coach Max Gisdol. FCN woke up and they were down two, and they’re not good enough to recover from that.

Wolfsburg must be thinking what could have been had they not started off with Felix Magath’s Reign of (T)error. The VWs have been playing respectably since he was forced out, and Brazilian playmaker Diego is back to his old form. They also may have discovered annother young talent, offensive midfielder Max Arnold (18), who has just been given a chance, and has responded with 3 goals in 3 games. (However they do have to dump their butt-ugly neon-green puke jersies) Gladbach has been all over the place, and this was a rather lame performance.

Schalke may have secured Champions League for next season. The Blues got a boost with the return of injured Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and the striker responded with a hat-trick. He had been absent most of the season (even when he wasn’t injured), so it was a timely return to field and form. The Hamburgers are probably now out of Europe, given their crap goal difference.

Mainz and Frankfurt battled in a sold out derby, but it was mostly the goalkeepers that looked sharp. Christian Wetklo did well for the hosts, and the visitors relied on oldie Oka Nikolov, who’s been with the club since 1991 and 376 matches. He’s almost 39 and been the reliable backup for ages. Neither club is helped much by the draw, but for Mainz, any Euro hopes are probably now out the window.

Total attendance 350,948 (avg 38,994), sellouts in München, Augsburg, Düsseldorf, Mainz, Gelsenkirchen (Schalke).

 	
SpVgg Greuther Fürth   -    Hannover 96	           2:3 (1:1)   15,730

                      0:1  Abdellaoue (36., Ya Konan)
                      1:1  Djurdjic (41., Klaus)
                      1:2  Hoffmann (71., Rausch)
                      2:2  Djurdjic (83., Geis)
                      2:3  da Silva Pinto (87., M. Diouf)

Bayern München	       -    SC Freiburg	           1:0 (1:0)   71,000 *

                      1:0  Shaqiri (35., direct free kick)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen    -    Werder Bremen	   1:0 (1:0)   30,210

                      1:0  Kießling (35., penalty, Sam)

VfL Wolfsburg	       -    Borussia M'gladbach	   3:1 (1:0)   25,000

                      1:0  Arnold (34., Diego)
                      1:1  Mlapa (52., Arango)
                      2:1  Olic (61., Diego)
                      3:1  Diego (75., Olic)

1899 Hoffenheim	       -    1. FC Nürnberg	   2:1 (2:0)   28,675

                      1:0  Weis (11., Johnson)
                      2:0  Salihovic (19., Volland)
                      2:1  Simons (58., penalty, Stark)

FC Augsburg	       -    VfB Stuttgart	   3:0 (0:0)   30,660 *

                      1:0  Mölders (61., Werner)
                      2:0  de Jong (83.)
                      3:0  Ji (86., Hahn)

Fortuna Düsseldorf     -    Borussia Dortmund	   1:2 (0:1)   54,000 *

                      0:1  Sahin (20., Leitner)
                      0:2  Blaszczykowski (70., Sahin)
                      1:2  Bodzek (88., Bellinghausen)

Sunday:
1. FSV Mainz 05	       -    Eintracht Frankfurt	   0:0 (0:0)   34,000 *

FC Schalke 04	       -    Hamburger SV	   4:1 (2:1)   61,673 *

                      0:1  Jansen (5., Westermann)
                      1:1  Michel Bastos (9., Huntelaar)
                      2:1  Huntelaar (21., Draxler)
                      3:1  Huntelaar (58., Raffael)
                      4:1  Huntelaar (66.,  Draxler)



 1  Bayern München	  	31    27   3 	1      90:14  +76     84
 2  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	31    19   7 	5      76:36  +40     64 
 3  Bayer 04 Leverkusen	  	31    16   8 	7      59:38  +21     56
 4  FC Schalke 04	  	31    14   7 	10     54:47  +7      49
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	31    13   7 	11     43:42  +1      46
 6  SC Freiburg	  	        31    12   9 	10     40:37  +3      45 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Borussia M'gladbach	  	31    11   11 	9      38:42  -4      44 
 8  Hamburger SV	  	31    13   5 	13     37:50  -13     44 
 9  Hannover 96	  	        31    12   5 	14     54:57  -3      41 
10  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	31    10   10 	11     36:36   0      40 
11  VfL Wolfsburg	  	31    10   10 	11     41:46  -5      40 
12  VfB Stuttgart	  	31    11   6 	14     33:50  -17     39 
13  1. FC Nürnberg	  	31     9   11 	11     34:42  -8      38 
14  Werder Bremen	  	31     8   8 	15     45:60  -15     32 
15  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	31     7   9 	15     37:49  -12     30
------------------------------------------------------------------------
16  FC Augsburg	  	        31     7   9 	15     30:45  -15     30
------------------------------------------------------------------------
17  1899 Hoffenheim	  	31     7   6 	18     37:60  -23     27 
18  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	31     3   9 	19     22:55  -33     18


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 31

(Details after Sunday’s matches)

Braunschweig is officially up! Regensburg officially down! Sandhausen buying 3.Liga train passes! Dresden asking if they can get early bird discount on same!

It looked like Braunschweig would have to secure promotion in front of their own fans. The Lions and Schanzers battled to a draw in Ingolstadt, and that seemed a fair result. But then Vrancic knocked in a direct free kick on basically the last play of the match to boost Braunscwhweig into the Bundesliga. So next week will be celebration regardless of outcome.

St.Pauli wanted to secure their 2.Liga status, but Hertha rained on their parade. The Berliners were in control, but after the break the Hamburgers launched an all out assualt, pushing Hetha into the defensive. It looks like their pressing would pay off, put in a wild closing stretch things fell apart. Hertha shows why they’re going up as champions as they knocked out the Paulistas with a one-two-combo and grabbed the win.

Köln dicked around against 1860 and was duly punished. The home side dominated the match but refused to score more goals, and eventually that bit them in the ass. 1860 showed little, but to their credit they realized that the “emperor had no clothes” and woke to claim a point.

However, things worked out for the Goats, as Lautern went down in flames in Cottbus. Energie was all over them, trying hard to play the spoiler, and FCK was well beaten.

Critical relegation match in Sandhausen, and Bochum deservedly gets the win. Once again the revived Bochumers outplayed their opponent with the backs to the wall, and got the result they needed. Neururer’s command has lifted the Blues from the brink to one-foot in salvation. SVS is going down, conceding too many goals and not having a clue offensively. Usually that doesn’t bode too well.

Dresden seemed to playing fairly well, but they were facing an in-form FSV Frankfurt. They made some mistakes and the Bornheimers pounced on them. Dynamo is now in desperate straights, perhaps condemned to the relegation playoff. FSV is having their best season ever, and theoretically could even sneak into the Bundesliga if Kaiserslautern or Köln falter, For a club that has constantly battled against relegation in their 2.Liga stay, life is looking pretty good.

Aue and Duisburg split points in a tense relegation battle. Erzgebirge was the dominant squad, but the Zebras were well disciplined at the back and overall did enough to get the draw. Both benefit immensely from Dresden getting overrun in mini-Frankfurt.

Union Berlin did very little, but it was enough to defeat Regensburg and see Jahn condemned to relegation. The Berliners had been in a slump that killed any dreams they may have had about going up.

Paderborn blew a two goal lead against Aalen, not that anyone really cares. SCP could have done a lot more this season, but Aalen has to be pretty happy. Now they just need to come up with some green (or whatever color 6 million euros is) so they they can prove they have the financial resources to receive their 2.Liga license…

Total attendance this round was 137,240 (avg 15,249)



1. FC Union Berlin    -    Jahn Regensburg	    1:0 (0:0)   16,857

                     1:0  Mattuschka (63., penalty, Özbek)

FC Ingolstadt 04      -    Eintracht Braunschweig   0:1 (0:0)    9,471

                     0:1  Vrancic (90. + 2, direct freekick)

SV Sandhausen	      -    VfL Bochum	            0:1 (0:1)    4,400

                     0:1  Maltritz (41., Rzatkowski)

FSV Frankfurt	      -    Dynamo Dresden	    3:1 (0:0)    6,075

                     1:0  Y. Stark (55.)
                     2:0  Verhoek (67., Teixeira)
                     3:0  Roshi (84., Lamidi)
                     3:1  Fort (86., Trojan)

Erzgebirge Aue	      -    MSV Duisburg	            0:0 (0:0)    9,000

Sunday:
 	
1. FC Köln	      -    1860 München     	    1:1 (1:0)   49,100

                     1:0  Ujah (7., Clemens)
                     1:1  D. Halfar (78., Stoppelkamp)

FC St. Pauli	      -    Hertha BSC	            2:3 (0:1)   29,063

                     0:1  Allagui (23., Ramos)
                     1:1  Thy (66., Bartels)
                     2:1  Ginczek (85., penalty, Ebbers)
                     2:2  Ronny (88., Ramos)
                     2:3  Wagner (90., Kobiashvili)

SC Paderborn 07	      -    VfR Aalen	            2:2 (2:0) 	 5,729

                     1:0  Vrancic (14., Meha)
                     2:0  P. Hofmann (20., Demme)
                     2:1  Reichwein (64., penalty, Buballa)
                     2:2  Reichwein (89., Calamita)


Monday:
Energie Cottbus	      -    1. FC Kaiserslautern	    4:2 (1:0)    7,545

1:0  Banovic (32., penalty, Bittroff)
1:1  Idrissou (50., Baumjohann)
2:1  Sanogo (53., Rivic)
3:1  Fomitschow (81., Farina)
3:2  Bunjaku (86., penalty, Riedel)
4:2  Sanogo (90. + 3, Fomitschow)
	


 1  Hertha BSC (A) Berlin	31    20   9 	2      59:24  +35     69 
 2  Eintracht Braunschweig	31    19   8 	4      49:27  +22     65
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	31    13   13 	5      47:29  +18     52
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  1. FC Köln (A)	  	31    13   12 	6      37:28  +9      51 
 5  FSV Frankfurt	  	31    15   5 	11     50:38  +12     50 
 6  1860 München	  	31    10   13 	8      33:29  +4      43
 7 1. FC Union Berlin	  	31    11   10 	10     46:44  +2      43 
 8  Energie Cottbus	  	31    11   10 	10     37:35  +2      43 
 9  VfR Aalen (N)	  	31    10   10 	11     35:35   0      40 
10  SC Paderborn 07	  	31    10   9 	12     40:40   0      39 
11  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	31     9   12 	10     34:37  -3      39 
12  MSV Duisburg	  	31    10   9 	12     33:45  -12     39 
13  FC St. Pauli	  	31     9   9 	13     37:45  -8      36 
14  VfL Bochum	  	        31     9   8 	14     36:47  -11     35 
15  Erzgebirge Aue	  	31     8   10 	13     36:42  -6      34
------------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Dynamo Dresden	  	31     7   10 	14     30:44  -14     31
------------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	31     5   8 	18     35:61  -26     23 
18  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	31     4   7 	20     33:57  -24     19


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 35

Another exciting week at both ends of the table. Karlsruhe defended their lead with an emphatic thumping of Chemnitz, and the Badeners have one foot in the 2.Liga. One more win should just about do it. Münster had a rough time at Erfurt and could only draw. The host Erfurters gave no quarter and pressed the Preußen throughout the match, and fully deserved their point. This gave Bielefeld a window of opportunity, but they needed some luck against Halle. The visitors gave up and own goal in the dying seconds to allow Arminia leapfrog into 2nd. Chasing clubs Osnabrück and Heidenheim benefited as well, sneaking up clsoer to challenge for the playoff spot.

At the bottom end, some huge results in relegation battles. Darmstadt was more active in the Hessenderby with sinking Offenbach, and eventually were able to turn their advantage into goals and pick up a needed victory. Stuttgarter Kickers got a huge win against direct rival Babelsberg to keep their head above water. Dortmund II suffered a severe setback as they lost at home against tough Wehen. However they have some additional hope: Babelsberg and Dortmund will square off in a massive makeup match on Tuesday in Potsdam, and the BVB side also has a makeup with Erfurt.

Total attendance was 71,683 (avg 7,168)

Kickers Offenbach      -    SV Darmstadt 98	  0:2 (0:1)    9,433
Karlsruher SC	       -    Chemnitzer FC	  4:1 (2:0)   15,396
Stuttgarter Kickers    -    SV Babelsberg 03	  2:1 (0:0)    3,600
Wacker Burghausen      -    SpVgg Unterhaching	  3:1 (2:0)    2,400
VfL Osnabrück	       -    VfB Stuttgart II	  2:0 (1:0)    9,200
Arminia Bielefeld      -    Hallescher FC	  2:1 (1:0)   14,439 
Alemannia Aachen       -    1. FC Heidenheim	  1:2 (0:0)    7,236
Borussia Dortmund II   -    SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  1:2 (1:2)    1,009
1. FC Saarbrücken      -    Hansa Rostock	  1:1 (0:0)    4,609
Rot-Weiß Erfurt	       -    Preußen Münster	  1:1 (1:1)    4,361

 		
 1  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	35    21   9 	5     63:24  +39    72 
 2  Arminia Bielefeld	  	35    20   10 	5     57:31  +26    70
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Preußen Münster	  	35    19   12 	4     59:28  +31    69
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  VfL Osnabrück	  	35    20   7 	8     59:34  +25    67 
 5  1. FC Heidenheim	  	35    20   7 	8     65:44  +21    67 
 6  Chemnitzer FC	  	35    14   9 	12    49:44  +5     51 
 7  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	35    10   18 	7     46:45  +1     48 
 8  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	35    13   9 	13    44:47  -3     48 
 9  Wacker Burghausen	  	35    12   9 	14    40:44  -4     45 
10  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	35    12   9 	14    49:55  -6     45 
11  VfB Stuttgart II	  	35    11   10 	14    33:36  -3     43 
12  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	35    11   8 	16    36:49  -13    41 
13  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	34    10   10 	14    37:49  -12    40 
14  Hallescher FC (N)	  	35    10   9 	16    32:47  -15    39 
15  Kickers Offenbach	  	35    10   9 	16    38:42  -4     37 
16  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	35     9   8 	18    36:46  -10    35 
17  SV Darmstadt 98	  	35     7   13 	15    27:42  -15    34
----------------------------------------------------------------------
18  SV Babelsberg 03	  	34     8   9 	17    27:44  -17    33 
19  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	33     7   11 	15    29:50  -21    32 
20  Alemannia Aachen (A)	35     6   10 	19    36:61  -25    26



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

Aachen and Offenbach deducted two points for financial shenanigans
Aachen is also basically relegated due to pending insolvency. 

Euro success for Bundesliga

The first leg of the Champions League semi-finals were a milestone of success for the Bundesliga, as both German clubs got off to excellent starts. Bayern München thumped Barcelona 4-0 in a power display, and perhaps even more impressive was Borussia Dortmund doing a number on Real Madrid, 4-1. I think a lot of the world was stunned, since the Bundesliga never seems to gather the respect it really deserves.

Of course, the series are not over, but it’s hard to think that the Bundesliga clubs will not be able to defend their lead in the return leg. I can’t see Bayern giving up 5 goals in any scenario, so they’re through. Of course, that’s the only real threat, that Bayern is too over confident. They’ll probably dick round and likely lose, but it’s hard to see Barcelona being able to mount enough to make up a four goal deficit. Madrid could put three past Dortmund, and coach Jürgen Klopp insisted that it’s not over, and Borussia will come out strong and try to win and not give Madrid any space. The Neons don’t seem like they would try and sit on a lead, so that should make the match interesting.

So there’s a real good chance that it will be Dortmund and Bayern in finals at Wembley. Now wouldn’t it be funny if the game is on the line and it’s Mario Götze who decides it?

WSV: continued disaster

Wuppertaler SV continues as the laughing stock of German football. After several horrible games the club decied to take “decisive” action…and fired the head coach, Peter Radowjewski. In theory, WSV could still get relegated from the Regionalliga West, as their collapse has left them only 7 points above the drop zone, although I would think it would be pretty hard to make that “achievement”.

Much more interesting is what’s been going on behind the scenes. A few months ago the “sugar daddy” President, Friedhelm Runge, finally resigned after being fed up being constantly verbally abused by the local fans. Now he’s put a lot of money into the club (mainly as the owner of the main sponsor, EMKA), but he’s also run it like a dictator for over 20 years. So most fans felt “good riddance”. However, he apparently appointed some puppets to run the club in his absence, and they have suitably acted like his lapdogs. He doesn’t want to let go, and the recent coach firing has his fingerprints all over it.

Now recently there has been an interesting development, as some members and businessmen have launched the “Initiative WSV 2.0” which seeks a rebirth of the club. As part of the rebirth, the club would go into voluntary insolvency, which would mean forcible relegation into the 5th division Oberliga. While this sounds drastic, this seems the only way for the club to start fresh, and would mean cutting the ties with Runge and his cronies. The budget would be slashed to around 800,000 euros, of which only about 300,000 would be for the first team. (Much else for WSV-II and youth squads). The plan would be a gradual buildup to competitiveness with the eventual goal of “finally watching WSV on TV again” (which basically means the 3.Liga). It’s not too far-fetched, as the WSV-II squad is already in the Oberliga and in the upper half of the table. But the emphasis would be on sound financial management and partnerships with the city and business.

Predictably, the current leaders didn’t comment until Runge had his say. First of all, EMKA would withdraw sponsorship if the club went into insolvency. Instead, their “plan” is to keep WSV “in the highest possible division” and then get promoted. Supposedly this would mean a budget of 3.5 million euros and a “star ensemble” to gain promotion to the 3.Liga. Presumably this money would come from Runge and EMKA, since nobody else would try and fund this silliness. (And of course the club would assume even more debt). The point was made that “it’s insane to voluntarily go down” and only “Rot-Weiss Essen was successful in doing so, and they’re a bigger club and city than Wuppertal”. Well, they are correct that RWE has been rebuilding, and draws pretty decent crowds in the Regionalliga. And they seem on the right track to challenge for 3.Liga promotion soon. But they’re starting with a sound base, which is clearly lacking at WSV.

Anyway, a “extraordinary” membership meeting will be called and the membership will have a vote. The WSV2.0 crowd are running a slate of candidates to support insolvency and restructuring, and of course the current incumbent clowns want to “stay the course”.
Conspiracy theorists are already telling tales of missing invitations.

This is an interesting story, because it’s not unusual in the lower divisions of German football, far removed from “37 million for Mario Götze” that is plastered all over the place. But the trials and tribulations of the small clubs is what gives German football it’s edge, so it’s worth being reminded of it every once in a while….

Bayern buys the opposition….Götze to Bayern!!

Mario Götze is apparently transferring to Bayern München. This stunning news is hard to believe, and if it’s true is a horrible indication that the Bundesliga is in danger of becoming irrelevant. Götze signed a long term deal with Dortmund, but apparently their is a fixed transfer amount of 37 million euros that can be invoked in June 2013. (I wonder why Dortmund didn’t insist of something like 60 million…). He will supposedly see his wages go up to 7 million euros from his current 5 million, so I suppose it makes financial sense for him. The 20 year old trails only Frank Ribery among ratings this season and was rumoured to be no.1 on Pep Guardiola’s wish list.

Of course, this is probably bad for the Bundesliga. Dortmund looked like they were building a team that could challenge Bayern over the long haul, but this seems less likely now. The Neons are basically a selling club, despite the important Marco Reus deal this season. Although they’ve lost some key players, like Sahin and Kagawa, they were able to replace them with Gündogan and Reus, but now they are losing the jewel in the crown…not to mention that Lewandowski appears to be leaving as well. Probably won’t be long before Mats Hummels leaves too…

I suppose the only good thing is that at least Götze is staying in the Bundesliga…

BUNDESLIGA, Round 30

Ouch, Bayern München are like the Mongols, raping and pillaging across the land. Hannover is usually pretty strog at home, but they got absolutely ripped. The 96ers fans must be outraged, as the home side essentially fell apart, getting sliced and diced.

Dortmund dominated from start to finish against a surprisingly lame Mainz squad, who are now seeing Euro hopes slipping away. A quick goal from Reus, and then the Neons toyed around.

Leverkusen showed Hoffenheim that just because you get a new coach, that doesn’t mean every thing changes. The Aspirins proceeded to pound the Hoppers mercilessly, and probably could have had more.

Frankfurt gets a huge win against Schalke, stopping their slide and keeping an edge for a Euro spot. Schalke never really got untracked, and maintain only a precarious hold on the last Champions League position.

Gladbach didn’t do anything more than the minimum necessary to get the win against Augsburg. They could have pressed for more, as they were in complete control, but perhaps they wanted to go to the pub early. FCA needs get some away results to stay up.

HSV is back in Euro hopes. Rafael van der Vaart may have got divorced, but he’s still producing for Hamburg, and he grabbed the win against Fortuna Düsseldorf, who are sinking like a stone. If they survive, it looks like it will only be because Augsburg donesn’t get it together in the remaining four matches.

Wolfsburg easily ripped a hapless Bremen squad that is sinking fast. I think they’re probably OK, as Düsseldorf is sucking and it’s unclear if Augsburg can muster enough fight (they have no talent) to catch them. Horrible seasonfor Werder. Wolfsburg is probably where they belong, but given that Magath had basically destroyed them early, they have to be satisfied.

Stuttgart and Freibrug pretty much repeated their mid-week DFB Cup semi-final, with the hosts having the edge and winning. A well played and even match for the most part, but Stuttgart shows more cleverness when it counted.

The Franken derby in Nürnberg saw the favorites go down in flames against Greuther Fürth. Der Club had been doing well at home, something like 11 without a defeat, and looked to assert Frankenland hegemony against their neighbors, but instead end up with egg on their faces. They controlled the match but never looked too dangerous. The Greuther didn’t do much but got a long blast to take the lead and then doggedly defended it. They’re going down but they gained some bragging rights, so well done.

Total attendance 458,083 (avg 50,898) sellouts in Dortmund, Hannover, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Bremen and Nürnberg. I believe this is a Bundesliga weekend record.


Borussia M'gladbach    -    FC Augsburg	           1:0 (1:0)   50,175

                      1:0  Daems (28., penalty, Mlapa)

Borussia Dortmund      -    1. FSV Mainz 05	   2:0 (1:0)   80,645 *

                      1:0  Reus (1.)
                      2:0  Lewandowski (87., Piszczek)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen    -    1899 Hoffenheim	   5:0 (2:0)   28,663

                      1:0  Kießling (16., Schürrle)
                      2:0  Schürrle (31., Sam)
                      3:0  Kießling (65., Carvajal)
                      4:0  Schürrle (69., Kadlec)
                      5:0  Reinartz (79., Milik)

Hannover 96	       -    Bayern München	   1:6 (0:3)   49,000 *

                      0:1  Stindl (16., own goal, Alaba)
                      0:2  Ribery (23., Pizarro)
                      0:3  Gomez (40., Pizarro)
                      0:4  Gomez (62., Boateng)
                      0:5  Pizarro (71., Alaba)
                      1:5  Hoffmann (84., Pander)
                      1:6  Pizarro (86., Robben)

Hamburger SV	       -    Fortuna Düsseldorf	   2:1 (2:1)   57,000 *

                      1:0  van der Vaart (14., Jansen)
                      2:0  van der Vaart (20., Jiracek)
                      2:1  Schahin (34., Bellinghausen)
 
Eintracht Frankfurt    -    FC Schalke 04	   1:0 (1:0)   51,500 *

                      1:0  Russ (41., Stendera)

Werder Bremen	       -    VfL Wolfsburg	   0:3 (0:2)   41,000 *

                      0:1  Arnold (13., Kjaer)
                      0:2  Olic (27., Vieirinha)
                      0:3  Diego (66., penalty, Vieirinha)


Sunday:
VfB Stuttgart	       -    SC Freiburg	           2:1 (2:0)   50,600

                      1:0  Gentner (33., Harnik)
                      2:0  Ibisevic (42., Harnik)
                      2:1  Santini (88., Diagne)
 
1. FC Nürnberg	       -    SpVgg Greuther Fürth   0:1 (0:1)   50,000 *

                      0:1  Geis (27., Prib)



 1  Bayern München	  	30    26   3   1      89:14  +75     81 
 2  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	30    18   7   5      74:35  +39     61 
 3  Bayer 04 Leverkusen	  	30    15   8   7      58:38  +20     53
 4  FC Schalke 04	  	30    13   7   10     50:46  +4      46
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  SC Freiburg	  	        30    12   9   9      40:36  +4      45 
 6  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	30    13   6   11     43:42  +1      45
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Borussia M'gladbach	  	30    11   11  8      37:39  -2      44 
 8  Hamburger SV	  	30    13   5   12     36:46  -10     44 
 9  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	30    10   9   11     36:36   0      39 
10  VfB Stuttgart	  	30    11   6   13     33:47  -14     39 
11  Hannover 96	  	        30    11   5   14     51:55  -4      38 
12  1. FC Nürnberg	  	30     9   11  10     33:40  -7      38 
13  VfL Wolfsburg	  	30     9   10  11     38:45  -7      37 
14  Werder Bremen	  	30     8   8   14     45:59  -14     32 
15  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	30     7   9   14     36:47  -11     30
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
16  FC Augsburg	  	        30     6   9   15     27:45  -18     27
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
17  1899 Hoffenheim	  	30     6   6   18     35:59  -24     24 
18  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	30     3   9   18     20:52  -32     18


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 30

Hertha BSC has got the job done: immediate promotion to the Bundesliga after one year in the wilderness. The clincher turned out to be difficult, as Sandhausen was desperately fighting for it’s life, and showed great defensive discipline. But Hertha broke through late to clebrate, and SVS is now probably without hope.

Braunschweig should be following Berlin soon, but Aue is fighting for it’s life and held on to a draw.

Kaiserslautern remains on course as they thumped Paderborn. FCK was clearly the stronger side, but it was more difficult than it turned out, as Paerborn gave them a match for about an hour.

FSV Frankfurt got a nice away win to 1860, and actually have a theoretical chance for promotion. The Bornheimers have had a fine season, given that they usually have to battle against relegation. Of course 1860 blows once more, disappointing their fans.

Aalen have proved they have what it takes on the field to belong in the 2.Liga. They blitzed a shockingly lame Union Berlin squad en route to an easy victory. They’ve done reasonably well and are nicely mid-table. However the next chapter is proving to be a bit more daunting. On the financial side, the club is still struggling to show they have the means to stay in the 2.Liga. Supposedly they must show access to another 6.5 million euros before they receive a 2.Liga license, so stay tuned.

Under new coach Peter Neururer there seems to be a new attitude in Bochum, who are struggling to stay alive. The hosts were rewarded with a nice crowd and proceeded to kick St.Pauli’s ass.

Dresden also got a critical win in the eastern derby with Cottbus. Unlike Bochum’s thumping win, Dynamo struggled, despite getting a man advantage for almost an hour. Dresden had a rough time with the visitors, who often came close to equalizing against the nervous homeside. In the end, Dynamo prevailed, and the last relegation position remains wide open.

On Monday, Köln needed a win at improved Duisburg to keep pace with Kaiserslautern. It was a pretty tall order, since the Zebras have been playing decently. However Köln looked good for the win, as they were dominating the match – but they forgot to score more goals and were duly punished in injury time. It’s not over, but Kaiserslautern is back in the driver’s seat.

Total attendance this round was 209,704 (avg 23,300) with a sell-out in Dresden.

 	
VfL Bochum	       -   FC St. Pauli	         3:0 (2:0)   26,072

                      1:0  Dedic (25., penalty Kramer)
                      2:0  Dedic (37., Goretzka)
                      3:0  Tasaka (70., Dedic)

VfR Aalen	       -   1. FC Union Berlin	 3:0 (2:0)    6,620

                      1:0  Kister (2., Dausch)
                      2:0  Abe (35., T. Schulz)
                      3:0  Lechleiter (72., Reichwein)

Jahn Regensburg	       -   FC Ingolstadt 04	 1:2 (1:2)    5,322

                      0:1  Korkmaz (7.)
                      1:1  Sembolo (22., Machado)
                      1:2  F. Heller (29., Jessen)

1. FC Kaiserslautern   -   SC Paderborn 07	 3:0 (1:0)   28,702

                      1:0  Weiser (18.)
                      2:0  Idrissou (54., Baumjohann)
                      3:0  Baumjohann (81., Bunjaku)

1860 München	       -   FSV Frankfurt	 1:2 (0:2)   14,200

                      0:1  Y. Stark (20., Verhoek)
                      0:2  M. Görlitz (33.)
                      1:2  Friend (70., Tomasov)


Sunday:

Hertha BSC	       -   SV Sandhausen	 1:0 (0:0)   52,135

                      1:0  Lasogga (85., Ramos)

Eintr. Braunschweig    -   Erzgebirge Aue	 1:1 (1:0)   20,500

                      1:0  Boland (39., Petersch)
                      1:1  Schröder (80.)

Dynamo Dresden	       -   Energie Cottbus	 1:0 (0:0)   29,153 *

                      1:0  Fort (53., Müller)
 	

Monday:
MSV Duisburg	       -   1. FC Köln	         1:1 (0:1)   27,000

                      0:1  Bröker (23.)
                      1:1  Bomheuer (90. + 2)
 	



 1  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	30    19   9 	2      56:22  +34     66 
 2  Eintracht Braunschweig	30    18   8 	4      48:27  +21     62
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	30    13   13 	4      45:25  +20     52
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  1. FC Köln (A)	  	30    13   11 	6      37:28  +9      50 
 5  FSV Frankfurt	  	30    14   5 	11     47:37  +10     47 
 6  1860 München	  	30    10   12 	8      32:28  +4      42 
 7  1. FC Union Berlin	  	30    10   10 	10     45:44  +1      40 
 8  Energie Cottbus	  	30    10   10 	10     33:33   0      40 
 9  VfR Aalen (N)	  	30    10   9 	11     33:33   0      39 
10  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	30     9   12 	9      34:36  -2      39 
11  SC Paderborn 07	  	30    10   8 	12     38:38   0      38 
12  MSV Duisburg	  	30    10   8 	12     33:45  -12     38 
13  FC St. Pauli	  	30     9   9 	12     35:42  -7      36 
14  Erzgebirge Aue	  	30     8   9 	13     36:42  -6      33 
15  VfL Bochum	  	        30     8   8 	14     35:47  -12     32
------------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Dynamo Dresden	  	30     7   10 	13     29:41  -12     31
------------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	30     5   8 	17     35:60  -25     23 
18  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	30     4   7 	19     33:56  -23     19


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 34

Things tigthen up at the top and remain red-hot in the relegation battle.

Preußen Münster got a double from American Matt Taylor to upend leaders Karlsruhe and move closer to promotion. The hosts started out stronger and grabbed the lead, but KSC began to increase the pressure in trying to salvage the match. At the end, Preußen managed to stave off the leaders, due to some timely defending, especially when Bischoff cleared off the line in injury time. with

In the other top clash, Heidenheim kicked Bielefeld’s ass to move closer. However Arminia has no one to blame but themselves, as they got red-carded twice in the first half, effectively ending any chances they had to hold the match.

Osnabrück has been whirling like a flushed toilet, but they managed to stop the slide and get a hard fought win at Halle. This keeps the hopes alive for VfL.

Rostock effectively ended any relegation worries with a win over Dortmund II. The mini-Neons shot themselves in the foot though as Hornschuh got red-carded after only 4 minutes. Still, Hansa didn’t impress, but they eventually did enough to get the win.

Darmstadt may have received a stab in the heart as they managed to lose at home against Saarbrücken. It was clearly going to be a tough match, as FCS was unbeaten in eight, but the 98ers needed a result.

Babelsberg and Stuttgarter Kickers got precious points which have them barely above relegation.

Total attendance 55,383 (avg 5,538)

SV Wehen Wiesbaden    -   Alemannia Aachen	 3:2 (2:1)    3,014
VfB Stuttgart II      -   Wacker Burghausen	 0:0 (0:0)      760
Hallescher FC	      -   VfL Osnabrück	         1:2 (1:1)    6,406
SpVgg Unterhaching    -   Stuttgarter Kickers	 1:1 (0:1)    1,500
SV Babelsberg 03      -   Rot-Weiß Erfurt	 1:1 (0:1)    2,858
Preußen Münster	      -   Karlsruher SC	         2:1 (1:0)   14,945
Chemnitzer FC	      -   Kickers Offenbach	 2:0 (0:0)    3,900
SV Darmstadt 98	      -   1. FC Saarbrücken	 1:2 (0:0)    5,100
Hansa Rostock	      -   Borussia Dortmund II	 2:0 (0:0)    7,800
1. FC Heidenheim      -   Arminia Bielefeld	 3:0 (1:0)    9,100	


 1  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	34    20   9 	5      59:23  +36     69 
 2  Preußen Münster	  	34    19   11 	4      58:27  +31     68
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Arminia Bielefeld	  	34    19   10 	5      55:30  +25     67
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  VfL Osnabrück	  	34    19   7 	8      57:34  +23     64
 5  1. FC Heidenheim	  	34    19   7 	8      63:43  +20     64
 6  Chemnitzer FC	  	34    14   9 	11     48:40  +8      51 
 7  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	34    13   9 	12     43:44  -1      48
 8  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	34     9   18 	7      44:44   0      45 
 9  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	34    12   8 	14     48:54  -6      44 
10  VfB Stuttgart II	  	34    11   10 	13     33:34  -1      43 
11  Wacker Burghausen	  	34    11   9 	14     37:43  -6      42 
12  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	34    11   7 	16     35:48  -13     40 
13  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	33    10   9 	14     36:48  -12     39 
14  Hallescher FC (N)	  	34    10   9 	15     31:45  -14     39 
15  Kickers Offenbach	  	34    10   9 	15     38:40  -2      37 
16  SV Babelsberg 03	  	33     8   9 	16     26:42  -16     33 
17  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	34     8   8 	18     34:45  -11     32
------------------------------------------------------------------------
18  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	32     7   11 	14     28:48  -20     32 
19  SV Darmstadt 98	  	34     6   13 	15     25:42  -17     31 
20  Alemannia Aachen (A)	34     6   10 	18     35:59  -24     26


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

Aachen and Offenbach deducted two points for financial shenanigans
Aachen is also basically relegated due to pending insolvency. 

DFB Cup Semifinals

Bayern München had a ho-hum match and slaughtered Wolfsburg 6-1. Mario Gomez picked up a hat-trick in the final 10 minutes as the Champions are on their way to making a double. The VWs were basically without a chance.

A southwestern derby between Stuttgart and Freiburg saw VfB prevail. This was an exciting, tense match, unlike Bayern’s wipeout. Stuttgart gets an assured Europa spot now, as Bayern is going to Champions League anyway.

Attendance in both sides were sellouts, 71,000 at the Allianz in München, 59,000 at the Mercedes-Benz-Arena in Stuttgart.