BUNDESLIGA, Round 13

Leaders Bayern München had a jolly time kicking Hannover’s ass. Bayern was in fine form, and the 96ers were phoning it in…recipe for disaster. Actually, you could argue that Bayern were gracious hosts, as they probably could have ripped a few more into Hannover, who clearly gave their worst “performance” of the season. Perhaps it was the midweek Euro-liga effort. Anyway, they need to forget this one and move on. For Bayern, I suppose the highlight was Mario Gomez scoring, whoop-de-doo.

Mainz has been playing well this season, but they were overpowered by Dortmund, who seems to be hitting their stride. Despite grabbing a quick lead, the hosts were unable to fend off the Neons, who seized control of the match and pressed their advantage for all the points. This is similar to last season as Dortmund started slow and were then relentless. Bayern is in great form sitting at the top, but they can’t afford to relax yet….although it’s hard to envision them blowing a 9 point lead. (I don’t see Heynckes even allowing that to happen)

Schalke and Frankfurt delivered an interesting match. Despite jumping out to an early lead, Schalke was pinned back and pushed around by Eintracht. The hosts were fortunate to be tied at half. In the locker room, coach Huub Stevens must have ripped his players, because they come out determined, pressed Eintracht into the defensive and dominated. However they weren’t able to get the goal to win. Good result therefore for Frankfurt, proving they belong on the top floors. Schalke is rife with rumours that Huntelaar will leave for England. Personally, that sounds like a bad move, as he’s really salvaged his career at Schalke and is the hero. But he’ll probably piss off to Arsenal and suck, just like everybody else. Can’t really blame him, since the EPL clubs basically just crap money…

A hard-fought northern derby in Wolfsburg. Bremen had the edge, but then Schmitz got his ass tossed, and the VWs brought overwhelming pressure to bear, getting a deserved equalizer. The Wolfies continue to improve after firing Magath, and made another move this week, hiring Klaus Allofs as GM/sporting director…away from Werder. However, it seems like Allofs time at Bremen had run it’s course. I wonder if he’ll bring Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf over as well? Bremen looks reasonably good, Allofs having cleaned house, but now it’s up for them to build.

Fortuna Düsseldorf stopped the rot with a win over Hamburg. Their fans still believe, and the stadium was packed. Both sides looked horrible in the 1st half, and HSV suffered even more, as star midfielder Rafael van der Vaart went out injured. The Dutchman has been largely responsible for HSV’s turnaround from their dreadful start, so things could start reverting to form. Düsseldorf had been sucking wind, but Kruse’s goal in injury time at least started them on the right track. Both clubs largely sucked in the 2nd half too, but Fortuna secured the win on a nice solo by Reisinger.

The “Franken-derby” (haha, not “-stein”, but “Franconia” for you German-challenged) between Greuther Fürth and Nürnberg was a typical slugfest, but given the general incompetance in front of goal, not surprisingly ended with goose eggs. Greuther was on top, especially since Feulner was red carded early, forcing der Club back. Oldtimer Gerald Asamoah wasted a huge chance for the home-side, who eventually returned the favor when after an hour Sararer got his ass tossed for repeated klunkers. A fair result, as neither side deserved to win.

Sunday matches:

Crazy bitch-slap in the Baden-Wurttemburg derby in Freiburg. The Breisgauers certainly laid the hammer on their more famous rivals Stuttgart (I’m sure VfB fans don’t even consider SCF a rival). Anyway, Stuttgart looked tired and slow, but Freiburg was sprite and engaged, so the result makes sense.

Leverkusen had a ho-hum win at Hoffenheim, doing the minimum necessary to grab all the points. Very efficient, very corporate, very boring. Hoffenheim was pretty lame, so the Aspirins were never really in trouble.

Augsburg desperately needs points, and came out blazing, jumping out to a quick lead. Gladbach was somewhat stunned, and couldn’t get any working. In the second half, their superior talent began to show, but it took almost the whole period before they got a deserved equalizer. Good fight by Augsburg, but they’re just not good enough.

Weekend attendance 344,818 (avg 38,313), but 6 sellouts.

 	
Fortuna Düsseldorf     -   Hamburger SV	          2:0 (1:0)   54,000 *

                      1:0  Kruse (45. + 2, Lambertz)
                      2:0  Reisinger (63., Kruse)

Bayern München	       -   Hannover 96	          5:0 (3:0)   71,000 *

                      1:0  Javi Martinez (4., Schweinsteiger)
                      2:0  Kroos (24., Lahm)
                      3:0  Ribery (37., T. Müller)
                      4:0  Dante (63., Kroos)
                      5:0  Gomez (67., Kroos)

FC Schalke 04	       -   Eintracht Frankfurt	  1:1 (1:1)   61,673 *

                      1:0  Huntelaar (11., Holtby)
                      1:1  Aigner (13., Oczipka)

VfL Wolfsburg	       -   Werder Bremen	  1:1 (0:1)   30,000

                      0:1  Arnautovic (35., Elia)
                      1:1  Dost (64., Vieirinha)

1. FSV Mainz 05	       -   Borussia Dortmund	  1:2 (1:2)   34,000 *

                      1:0  M. Caligiuri (4., Soto)
                      1:1  Reus (12., Schmelzer)
                      1:2  Lewandowski (43., M. Götze)

SpVgg Greuther Fürth   -   1. FC Nürnberg	  0:0 (0:0)   18,000 *

Sunday:
 	
SC Freiburg	       -   VfB Stuttgart	  3:0 (1:0)   24,000 *

                      1:0  Rosenthal (22., Schmid)
                      2:0  Krmas (67.)
                      3:0  M. Kruse (73., D. Caligiuri)

1899 Hoffenheim	       -   Bayer Leverkusen	  1:2 (0:2)   22,100

                      0:1  L. Bender (15., Rolfes)
                      0:2  Carvajal (38., Schürrle)
                      1:2  Johnson (59., Volland)

FC Augsburg	       -   Borussia M'gladbach	  1:1 (1:0)   30,045

                      1:0  Mölders (5., Vogt)
                      1:1  Herrmann (85.)



 1  Bayern München	  	13   11   1   1    38:5   +33 	  34 
 2  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	13    7   4   2    28:14  +14 	  25 
 3  FC Schalke 04	  	13    7   3   3    23:15  +8 	  24
 4  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	13    7   3   3    26:19  +7 	  24
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Bayer Leverkusen	  	13    7   3   3    23:18  +5 	  24 
 6  SC Freiburg	  	        13    5   4   4    19:14  +5 	  19 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Werder Bremen	  	13    5   3   5    21:19  +2 	  18
 8  Hannover 96	  	        13    5   2   6    25:25   0 	  17 
 9  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	13    5   2   6    16:16   0 	  17 
10  Hamburger SV	  	13    5   2   6    12:16  -4 	  17 
11  Borussia M'gladbach	  	13    4   5   4    19:24  -5 	  17 
12  VfB Stuttgart	  	13    4   4   5    14:23  -9 	  16 
13  VfL Wolfsburg	  	13    4   3   6    13:20  -7 	  15 
14  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	13    3   5   5    13:18  -5 	  14 
15  1. FC Nürnberg	  	13    3   4   6    10:18  -8 	  13
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16  1899 Hoffenheim	  	13    3   3   7    19:28  -9 	  12
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17  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	13    1   5   7    10:23  -13 	  8 
18  FC Augsburg	  	        13    1   4   8     9:23  -14 	  7

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

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