The big news is: Köln continues to suck! As does Duisburg. Of course, it’s only 4 matches into the season, so a couple of more are needed to really get the “feel” for the league. But what’s been on exhibit so far must be horrifying for Goats and Zebras fans…

Köln continues to sink into teh abyss, although they probably deserved a bit better. Cottbus kicked them in the nuts, and then retreated into a defensive shell. Köln controlled the match, and didn’t play badly, but wasted chances and couldn’t break down Energie. So another horrible result.

1860 gave the Zebras no love as they easily kicked their ass. Oldtimer Benny Lauth has established himself as a solid 2.Liga forward (amazing that he ever made it into the national team) and pretty much ended the match after two minutes. MSV looked pretty toothless, although at least they ran around a lot. So far, a good start for 1860, perhaps a promotion push is not out of the question.

Kaiserlsautern seems to have realized that the 2.Liga is a dogfight, and they came away with a tough win in Dresden. Swiss forward Albert Bunjaku was the difference in a fairly even match. Dynamo fought hard, but wasted chances, Bunjaku was cold-blooded for FCK, and that was the difference. BTW, I think that Dynamo signed another Frenchie before the deadline, so they must be trying to get promoted to Ligue Une instead. (Most of their African players have dual citizenship…)

Leaders Braunschweig continue their excellent start. They were in control at Aalen, taking advantage at the few chances of the match mostly fought in midfield.

St.Pauli had their hands full with promoted Sandhausen. The villagers fought hard, but eventually the sustained Hamburg pressure broke through and gave the hosts the win.

Paderborn was nailed by a classic “rope-a-dope” performed by Ingolstadt. SCP started furious, but the visitors defense held. Then a blitz counter and they had the lead. The hosts continued to press forward, but their efforts were blunted by a stout FCI defense. Then as the match wore on, the Schanzer again counterattacked and knocked out Paderborn.

FSV Frankfurt continue their great start – gathering what are sure to be important points against the inevitable relegation struggle. Once again, Edmond Kapllani was the man, as he sunk an Aue side that has generally been impressive on defense, but weak going forward.

Bochum stole a win at Regensburg with a late goal, and the visitors had to withstand a last gasp Jahn assault. Overall, a draw would have been the fair result, but with Bochum sucking so far, I’m sure they’re not complaining about getting the win.

In the highly anticipated Berlin derby, a packed Alte Försterei witnessed a hardfought win by Hertha, certainly their best effort this season. The ex-Bundesligist dominated the 1st half, pressing hard for the lead, and were rewarded when Wagner scored after a fine combo. Union then had to come out of their shell and returned the favor. Hertha basically withdrew from the match and let the ex-GDR club launch a full scale assault. Union did grab an equalizer, but perhaps it took too much energy, and Hertha grabbed the lead only a couple of minute later on a direct free kick by Ronny…the Brazilian had only come on a couple of minutes prior. So the Battle for Berlin round 1 goes to Hertha.

1860 München	    -  	 MSV Duisburg	       3:0 (1:0)   22,600

                   1:0  Lauth (2., Wojtkowiak)
                   2:0  Lauth (56., Tomasov)
                   3:0  Stoppelkamp (85., Lauth)

Dynamo Dresden	    -  	 1. FC K'lautern       1:3 (0:1)   29,057

                   0:1  Bunjaku (29., Borysiuk)
                   1:1  Poté (67., Losilla)
                   1:2  Bunjaku (74., Fortounis)
                   1:3  Fortounis (82., Zuck)

1. FC Köln	    -  	 Energie Cottbus       0:1 (0:1)   34,000

                   0:1  Sanogo (30., Stiepermann)

FC St. Pauli	    -  	 SV Sandhausen	       2:1 (0:0)   21,045

                   1:0  Bartels (71.)
                   2:0  Ebbers (76., Bartels)
                   2:1  Pischorn (83., Schauerte)

VfR Aalen	    -  	 Eintr. Braunschweig   0:3 (0:1)    6,604

                   0:1  Boland (27., Reichel)
                   0:2  Theuerkauf (50., Boland)
                   0:3  Boland (56.)

SC Paderborn 07	    -  	 FC Ingolstadt 04      1:3 (0:2)    7,729

                   0:1  Biliskov (16., Leitl)
                   0:2  Eigler (39., Caiuby)
                   0:3  Caiuby (83., Uludag)
                   1:3  Kempe (85., Yilmaz)

FSV Frankfurt	    -  	 Erzgebirge Aue	       1:0 (0:0)    4,012

                   1:0  Kapllani (87., Roshi)

Jahn Regensburg	    -  	 VfL Bochum	       0:1 (0:0)    5,912

                   0:1  Scheidhauer (79., Rothenbach)


Monday:	
1. FC Union Berlin  -  	Hertha BSC Berlin      1:2 (0:1)   16,750

                   0:1  Wagner (30., Kluge)
                   1:1  Quiring (69., Parensen)
                   1:2  Ronny (73.)
 


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