After Dortmund’s hard fought victory over a surprisingly decent Bremen on Friday, the Bundesliga saw a full slate of matches on Saturday. So far, with the exception of Bayern, virtually all matches have been fairly hard fought competitions, nobody looking real crap.

Bayern München goes straight to the top as they had a relatively easy time bitch-slapping newly promoted Greuther Fürth. A sold out stadium (pretty rare in Fürth) watch Bayern dominate the match, but the Greuther fought furiously for every ball and almost made it to half time with a draw. But Thomas Müller opened the scoring just before half, and the Greuther decided to open up in the 2nd period. Admirable intentions, but this made things easy for Bayern, as they then proceeded to slice and dice the upstarts. They probably could have run up the score, but were content on a warm day to mostly pass the ball around. It’s not really a terrible result for Fürth, since their fate will not be determined by results against the like of Bayern and Dortmund…

Gladbach got off to a decent start, erasing the CL disgrace, thanks to a fine performance by Juan Arango. The home side controlled most of the match against Hoffenheim, evidently much improved over their laughable DFB Pokal outing against Berlin AK-47. However, since both teams were lame in the first half, perhaps neither side had shaken off their recent hangovers. In the 2nd half, Hoffenheim began to play better and got the home side into difficulties. It took a direct free kick by Arango (who also assisted on the opener) to win the match for Gladbach.

Freiburg and Mainz had an entertaining battle, and the visitors will certainly be happier with the point. Mainz had an edge in the 1st half, but didn’t have anything to show for it. SCF came out strong in the 2nd and grabbed an early lead. Despite Mainz getting an equalizer, the visitors were pressed into the defensive, and it took a fine performance by GK Wetklo to hold onto the draw.

Fortuna Düsseldorf returned the Bundesliga and got a great result – likely a relegation 6 pointer :). Augsburg controlled the ball, but the visitors stacked the defense and played a disciplined counter-attack. Coach Nobert Meier had an inspired sub when he brought on Dani Schahin after a hour – his double provided Fortuna with an excellent victory. This is the kind of match that Augsburg probably would have at least drawn last year, so there is bound to be concern, even though it’s only the first match.

The anniversary year could be quite troubling for the only original Bundesliga club never relegated. Hamburg looked slower than visiting Nürnberg, and can’t really complain about the loss – FCN’s first win in Hamburg in about 20 years. The overall match quality wasn’t very good, but Nürnberg certainly improved as the match went on, getting the deserved victory with a goal from veteran Hanno Balitsch.

Eintracht Frankfurt put in a great effort against Bayer Aspirins. Despite the fact that the stadium was only half full (per DFB edict, as punishment for rowdy fan behaviour), the Eagles were inspired by vocal support and clearly wanted the match more than Leverkusen. After a somewhat lucky lead for the Pepto-Bismols, it was Frankfurt that controlled the game and generally attacked furiously. The Adler had several chances, Occean missing some sitters, and Alex Meier having several clear chances as well. But the fans kept pushing the team forward, and Frankfurt didn’t give up. Aigner’s rocket near the hour mark gave the deserved tie, and Frankfurt remained the better side. Luserkusen pretty much dicked around, obviously not caring, basically same as last year in way too many matches. Frankfurt continued forward, Occean missing from about 3 yards, Meier having a couple of good opportunities. Martin Lanig came on as a late sub, and his powerful header won the match. A huge win for Eintracht, and great start to the season. For the Aspirins, well, I’m sure they’ll be fine. They’re a technically fine side, but lack the passion to really go places.

Insanity in Stuttgart. Two clubs with a lot to prove. Very hard fought match, perhaps Stuttgart having a slight edge, but Wolfsburg looking nothing like the defensive diarrhea from last season. Back and forth action, but no goals. Then just before the whistle, Vedad Ibisevic is brought down in the box for a penalty. VW keeper Diego Benaglio comes up with the save, Ibisevic hammers the rebound 5 yards over the goal. Then on the counter attack, Vierinha crosses to an unmarked Bas Dost sneaking in on the back side, header, 0-1 for Wolfsburg, final whistle, and the VWs roaring all the way home through the stunned Mercedes parking lot.

Borussia Dortmund	 -  	Werder Bremen	     2:1 (1:0)   80,645

                        1:0  Reus (11., Blaszczykowski)
                        1:1  Gebre Selassie (75., Arnautovic)
                        2:1  M. Götze (81., Lewandowski)

Borussia M'gladbach	 -  	1899 Hoffenheim	     2:1 (1:0)   50,146

                        1:0  Hanke (33., Arango)
                        1:1  Roberto Firmino (66., Derdiyok)
                        2:1  Arango (79.)

SC Freiburg	         -  	1. FSV Mainz 05	     1:1 (0:0)   22,500

                        1:0  M. Kruse (49., Guedé)
                        1:1  Ivanschitz (65., penalty, N. Müller)



FC Augsburg	         -  	Fortuna Düsseldorf   0:2 (0:0)   30,401

                        0:1  Schahin (68., Kruse)
                        0:2  Schahin (79., Kruse)

Hamburger SV	         -  	1. FC Nürnberg	     0:1 (0:0)   50,123

                        0:1  Balitsch (68., Nilsson)


SpVgg Greuther Fürth	 -  	Bayern München	     0:3 (0:1)   18,000

                        0:1  T. Müller (43., Dante)
                        0:2  Mandzukic (59., Robben)
                        0:3  Kleine (78., own goal, Robben)

Eintracht Frankfurt	 -  	Bayer Leverkusen     2:1 (0:1)   27,950

                        0:1  Kießling (29., Bellarabi)
                        1:1  Aigner (57., Inui)
                        2:1  Lanig (82., Celozzi)

VfB Stuttgart	         -  	VfL Wolfsburg	     0:1 (0:0) 	48,280

                        0:1  Dost (90., Vieirinha)

Sunday:	
Hannover 96	         -  	FC Schalke 04        -:- (-:-)

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