The Zweite Liga is rolling, and the big clubs are generally off to slow starts. All eyes are the relegated clubs, Köln, Kaiserslautern and Hertha. These are massive clubs, and should be expected to challenge seriously for immediate re-promotion. St.Pauli came very close last season, and figure to challenge once again. In addition, the likes of 1860, Bochum and Duisburg clearly have high expectations based on their pedigree, although they’ve been slumming the last couple of seasons.
Dark horses include clubs such as Cottbus and perhaps Dresden from the east. Paderborn is an unknown factor, having a brilliant past season, but having lost some key players and their coach in the offseason. Union Berlin will probably be mid table, and certainly looking forward to perhaps rubbing Hertha’s nose in the dirt if they can pull off some results in the derby.
Mini-clubs like promoted Sandhausen, Aalen and Regensburg, plus the likes of FSV Frankfurt and Aue figure to be struggling to stay up.
Köln struggled at home against lowly Sandhausen, and in the end gave up a late goal and split the points. Hertha did one worse as they got reemed in Frankfurt – against the minis from FSV. The Berliners had a slight edge and the lead at the half, but upon the restart Burchert got his ass red carded. From then on the Bornheimers attacked furiously and eventually overran the Hertha defenses for a nice victory.
St.Pauli was dominant against Ingolstadt, but the visitors packed the defense and played disciplined counter-attack. Despite the hosts pressing, they were too clumsy and had to be content with a draw.
Duisburg is already in panic mode. The Zebras got bitch-slapped at promoted Regensburg, mostly thanks to getting red-carded twice.
Kaiserslautern had a tough battle in Aalen, but managed to come out on top.
Bochum figures to be a challenger, but they got their asses kicked in Paderborn. VfL was completely lame, but the hosts answered some questions raised in the summer. What would happen to their weak attack now that Nick Proschwitz has wandered off to England? Well, if they get to play lame-os like Bochum, apparently there’s nothing to worry about. SCP dominated and ripped the favorites a new one…
Braunschweig is off to a nice start, although it was a lucky win in Berlin against Union. The Lions got a dubious penalty and rode that to the win. Union deserved at least a draw, but dicked around aimlessly for large periods and can’t be too stunned that they take one up the rear.
Cottbus certainly doesn’t want to repeat last season’s disaster. They dominated in an eastern derby with Aue, and easily get all the points. It’s obviously too early to tell if Energie can challenge for a promotion spot, but I wouldn’t put it past them, as they’ve managed Bundesliga promotion on two occasions. Aue looked pretty crap and clearly have some work to do.
1860 figures to contend, but haven’t set the world on fire yet. They did grab a draw at Dresden, who may be a dark horse to challenge for a top spot.
1. FC Köln - SV Sandhausen 1:1 (0:0) 22,900
1:0 Bröker (63., penalty, Brecko)
1:1 Dorn (89.)
VfR Aalen - 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1:2 (1:2) 12,038
0:1 Bunjaku (17., penalty, Bunjaku)
1:1 Dausch (25., penalty)
1:2 Bunjaku (44., Idrissou)
Energie Cottbus - Erzgebirge Aue 3:0 (2:0) 12,300
1:0 Adlung (22., Kruska)
2:0 Adlung (33.)
3:0 Sanogo (54., Stiepermann)
SC Paderborn 07 - VfL Bochum 4:0 (2:0) 10,763
1:0 Vrancic (24.)
2:0 Meha (40.)
3:0 Vrancic (50.)
4:0 Yilmaz (82., Vrancic)
FC St. Pauli - FC Ingolstadt 04 1:1 (0:0) 18,309
0:1 Eigler (55., Caiuby)
1:1 Mohr (56., Daube)
1. FC Union Berlin - Eintracht Braunschweig 0:1 (0:1) 16,750
0:1 Pfitzner (40., penalty)
Jahn Regensburg - MSV Duisburg 2:0 (1:0) 7,808
1:0 C. Rahn (36., penalty, Sembolo)
2:0 Sembolo (60., Amachaibou)
FSV Frankfurt - Hertha BSC 3:1 (0:1) 6,329
0:1 Ben-Hatira (40., Allagui)
1:1 Schlicke (51., penalty, Kapllani)
2:1 Leckie (63., Kapllani)
3:1 Verhoek (90. + 1, A. Jung)
Monday:
Dynamo Dresden - 1860 München 2:2 (1:1) 9,772
0:1 Lauth (18., Nicu)
1:1 Poté (38., Schuppan)
2:1 Wojtkowiak (64., own goal, Ouali)
2:2 Bierofka (74., D. Halfar)
1 Eintracht Braunschweig 2 2 0 0 2:0 +2 6
2 SC Paderborn 07 2 1 1 0 6:2 +4 4
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3 Energie Cottbus 2 1 1 0 5:2 +3 4
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4 FSV Frankfurt 2 1 1 0 4:2 +2 4
5 1. FC Kaiserslautern (A) 2 1 1 0 5:4 +1 4
6 1860 München 2 1 1 0 3:2 +1 4
7 VfR Aalen (N) 2 1 0 1 5:3 +2 3
8 Jahn Regensburg (N) 2 1 0 1 2:1 +1 3
9 VfL Bochum 2 1 0 1 2:5 -3 3
10 FC Ingolstadt 04 2 0 2 0 3:3 0 2
11 SV Sandhausen (N) 2 0 2 0 2:2 0 2
12 FC St. Pauli 2 0 2 0 1:1 0 2
13 1. FC Union Berlin 2 0 1 1 3:4 -1 1
14 Dynamo Dresden 2 0 1 1 3:4 -1 1
15 1. FC Köln (A) 2 0 1 1 1:2 -1 1
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16 Hertha BSC Berlin (A) 2 0 1 1 3:5 -2 1
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17 Erzgebirge Aue 2 0 1 1 0:3 -3 1
18 MSV Duisburg 2 0 0 2 1:6 -5 0