In Dortmund, the champions dominated from start to finish, which should settle any arguments whether the Aspirins could challenge this season. The Neons came out attacking from the start, and Bayer had only lame attempts at counterattack. So the result was never in doubt, just a matter of time.
Leaders Bayern München didn’t have many problems with Mainz. Thanks to a blitzstart, the game was basically over in 15 minutes, and then Bayern dicked around. However Dante then was apparently too bored, so his foul gave Mainz a penalty and back into the game. In reality, although Mainz was playing better, in fact Bayern woke up and started pressing again. They wasted many chances, enough to win 3-4 matches, and it wasn’t until injury time that Kroos finally put it to rest. The highlight might have been in the 89th minute, as Claudio Pizarro came on. This was the Peruvian’s 336th Bundesliga match, tying Ze Roberto and Levan Kobiashvili for most foreigner matches. He already leads the foreigner scoring list.
A wild and exciting slugfest in Gladbach saw the emergence of perhaps Shinji Kagawa, Part Zwei. Heretofore unknown Hitoshi Kiyotake was unstoppable and the matchwinner. (I think he even came from the same club as Kagawa, Cerezo). Nürnberg looks determined not to suck this season, and they came out strong and kicked the Gladbachers in the balls early. The hosts reacted with fury and launched all out assault to equalize. New signings de Jong and Xhaka grabbed goals to set up der Club’s Japanese import’s coup-de-grace. Kiyotake took on the heart of Gladbach’s defense (looked like surrounded by 4 defenders), but maneuvered and shot the game winner. Stunning home defeat for Gladbach, great win for Nürnberg.
Furious Nord-derby between the 96ers and Werder. Hannover is unbeaten at home in something like 20, and came out furious. Hungarian import Szabolcs Huszti is the signing of the year so far. Last outing, 4 assists, this time 2 goals, 1 assist. He opened the scoring early, and Hannover piled on the pressure as Bremen was still in shock. However, despite down two after only 10 minutes, Bremen showed spirit clearly lacking last season. They stormed back and assaulted Hannover, eventually tying and pressing for the win. The 96es were barely hanging on, almost happy with surviving with a point, and then in injury time Huszti popped up again and stole the match with a fantastic volley half-bicycle kick. The only negative is that he got a double yellow for his celebration and will get banned for next week as the 96ers travel to Hoffenheim…
Schalke controlled the match in Fürth. Coached by ex-Schalke favorite Mike Büskens, the Greuther were fighting a desperate rear-guard action against the superior Blues, but in reality it was only a matter of time before Schalke would get the win. Draxler had a majestic blast after cutting in on the left side that basically wrapped it up. Schalke played with red jersies, what a disgrace.
A drab but hardfought battle in Augsburg between the Fuggers and VWs. Not much skill on display, but both desperately just wanted points…or at least not a sucky result.
Another crap result for Stuttgart, who still can’t get started. They controlled, as expected, against promoted Fortuna, but basically had diddly-squat. They should probably be happy they didn’t lose to one of the few Düsseldorf counter-attacks. VfB has basically stunk in all 3 matches this season. This is a match where they could have expected to score a few goals and show their fans it’s not over. Fortuna came in with the idea of getting a draw, so they’ve got to be happy.
Sunday matches see struggling HSV and Hoffenheim on the road at Frankfurt and Freiburg…
FC Augsburg - VfL Wolfsburg 0:0 (0:0) 28,512
Borussia Dortmund - Bayer Leverkusen 3:0 (2:0) 80,645
1:0 Hummels (29., Schmelzer)
2:0 Blaszczykowski (39., Piszczek)
3:0 Lewandowski (78., Reus)
Bayern München - 1. FSV Mainz 05 3:1 (2:0) 71,000
1:0 Mandzukic (2., T. Müller)
2:0 Schweinsteiger (13., Badstuber)
2:1 Szalai (59., penalty, Baumgartlinger)
3:1 Kroos (90. + 2, Javi Martinez
Borussia M'gladbach - 1. FC Nürnberg 2:3 (1:2) 52,195
0:1 Klose (17., Kiyotake)
0:2 Simons (25., Kiyotake)
1:2 L. de Jong (45., Herrmann)
2:2 G. Xhaka (53., Herrmann)
2:3 Kiyotake (55., Balitsch)
VfB Stuttgart - Fortuna Düsseldorf 0:0 (0:0) 55,089
Hannover 96 - Werder Bremen 3:2 (2:1) 49,000
1:0 Huszti (6.)
2:0 Andreasen (10., Huszti)
2:1 Hunt (26., penalty)
2:2 de Bruyne (74., Elia)
3:2 Huszti (90. + 2, Rausch)
SpVgg Greuther Fürth - FC Schalke 04 0:2 (0:0) 18,000
0:1 Draxler (48.)
0:2 Holtby (88., Barnetta)
Sunday:
SC Freiburg - 1899 Hoffenheim -:- (-:-)
Eintracht Frankfurt - Hamburger SV -:- (-:-)
1 Bayern München 3 3 0 0 12:2 +10 9
2 Hannover 96 3 2 1 0 9:4 +5 7
3 FC Schalke 04 3 2 1 0 7:3 +4 7
4 Borussia Dortmund (M, P) 3 2 1 0 6:2 +4 7
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5 1. FC Nürnberg 3 2 1 0 5:3 +2 7
6 Eintracht Frankfurt (N) 2 2 0 0 6:1 +5 6
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7 Fortuna Düsseldorf (N) 3 1 2 0 2:0 +2 5
8 Borussia M'gladbach 3 1 1 1 4:4 0 4
9 VfL Wolfsburg 3 1 1 1 1:4 -3 4
10 Werder Bremen 3 1 0 2 5:5 0 3
11 Bayer Leverkusen 3 1 0 2 3:5 -2 3
12 SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N) 3 1 0 2 1:5 -4 3
13 SC Freiburg 2 0 1 1 1:3 -2 1
14 1. FSV Mainz 05 3 0 1 2 2:5 -3 1
15 FC Augsburg 3 0 1 2 1:5 -4 1
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16 VfB Stuttgart 3 0 1 2 1:7 -6 1
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17 Hamburger SV 2 0 0 2 0:3 -3 0
18 1899 Hoffenheim 2 0 0 2 1:6 -5 0