The second season started and some surprising results that tighten up all the races.
Things started off with a “wimper” on Friday night. The Lautern – Paderborn match was expected to rain goals, as both sides have some of the top offenses in the league, and to make things even better, Paderborn has one of the worst defenses. Instead, the home side showed little, a lethargic performance that certainly was head scratching. Paderborn actually showed some defensive organization, and then did enough to grab and important away win, which firmly establishes them in mid table no-mans-land. FCK would suffer more as the round developed, as St.Pauli was lurking in the background…
Leaders Köln were solid, getting a fine performance from Patrick Helmes. The returning striker has been superb since coming back from the wilderness of Wolfsburg, and this seems to be a pattern of ex-Geisböcke – perhaps they should convince Prinz Poldi to come back yet again. Anyway, Köln dominated from start to finish, and Dresden can thank the leader’s benevolence it did not receive a worse hiding.
A shocking match in Bielefeld, as struggling Arminia delivered an ass whipping on promotion favorite Greuther Fürth.
The visitors were not prepared for the aggressive Arminen, figuring they could just show up and their superior talent would get them the points. Instead they were taken aback by the fighting homeside, and when they missed some chances to hold off the upstarts, eventually got overrun by Bielefeld. Arminia desperately needed this win, and to their credit, they went out and seized it. Greuther Fürth used to be all about fighting hard, but since their stay in the Bundesliga, now back down with the dregs, they’ve gotten a bit snooty.
St.Pauli is back in the hunt as they stun everybody by vaulting into 3rd with a solid performance at 1860. The homeside was pathetic, completely uninterested in playing. The Paulistas didn’t really know what to do, but eventually figured out they should just score a couple of goals and get a nice road win. The Toothless Lions? Worst offense in the league. Can’t even score more then Sandhausen, for goodness sakes!
Union Berlin had completely lost their way after a good start, and Bochum had shown some signs of life. So this was a critical match for both, and the visiting Berliners decisively kicked ass. Bochum were like toothless lions – well actually more like toothless kitty-kats, as 1860 already claims the “Lions” – and Unions ran rings around them, doing whatever they pleased. The Berliners took out some of their recent frustration and delivered a sound hiding, perhaps a sign that they’re back. Bochum? Back to the drawing board…
A crucial match in Cottbus goes to Düsseldorf. Energie actually lived up to their name, attacking furiously and getting an early goal thanks to a rather lame defense by Fortuna GK Fabian Giefer. However the future Schalker was brilliant the rest of the way, as he was death to multiple excellent Energie chances. Meanwhile, Fortuna put it together and launched deadly counters, and Cottbus was sucker punched. The grim result is that Cottbus has lost contact with the rest of the field, and since they’ve already fired their coach, it’s hard to see an adrenaline boost there. For Düsseldorf, an important road win that helps stabilize the ship.
The “nobody cares derby” between the two dwarves Aalen and Sandhausen ended in a predictable snoozer. A good point for each, and both continue to perform above expectations.
Another relegation battle in Aue, and Ingolstadt can feel a bit perturbed that they didn’t get the calls. They scored what looked like a fair early goal, but the ref called it off. Then a harsh penalty was awarded against them, but their GK stopped it. So the match petered out to a draw, perhaps a fair result, as Erzgebirge had more of the play, but the Schanzer can feel like they deserved the points.
A shocking outcome in Karlsruhe, where sinking FSV Frankfurt pulled a reverse-Nürnberg – down 0-3 at half, the Bornheimers battled back to draw! Of course, the home side has only themselves to blame. KSC was kicking FSV’s ass severely and had things wrapped up by half. Then they took their foot off the gas pedal, and received a clinical lesson in why you never do that. If you’re up 3-0, you try for 4-0, and if 4-0, why not make it 5-0? And then half-dozen is nice, and if you get seven or more, it’s legendary. Instead the KSC players went to the pub and FSV woke up and launched a furious comeback. Interesting that they got a penalty goal from Kapllani. This is noteworthy because a couple of games ago, the Albanian international was fighting with his teammates over taking a penalty. So the coach kicked him off the team. But the same teammates asked that the hothead be allowed back, and in his first game back, he scores off a penalty. Anyway, an unexpected point that FSV needed badly. Karlsruhe fans must be completely outraged.
1. FC Kaiserslautern - SC Paderborn 07 0:1 (0:0) 23,794
0:1 Wurtz (73.)
1. FC Köln - Dynamo Dresden 3:1 (2:0) 45,000
1:0 Helmes (14., Brecko)
2:0 Helmes (25., Gerhardt)
3:0 Brecko (52., Helmes)
3:1 Aoudia (56.)
VfR Aalen - SV Sandhausen 0:0 (0:0) 4,781
Energie Cottbus - Fortuna Düsseldorf 1:3 (1:1) 7,050
1:0 Affane (7., Bickel)
1:1 Hoffer (11., Paurevic)
1:2 Benschop (63., Erat)
1:3 Erat (83.)
VfL Bochum - 1. FC Union Berlin 0:4 (0:2) 13,117
0:1 Quiring (13., Dausch)
0:2 Quiring (36., Dausch)
0:3 Terodde (47., Kopplin)
0:4 Köhler (52., direct freekick)
Erzgebirge Aue - FC Ingolstadt 04 0:0 (0:0) 7,200
Karlsruher SC - FSV Frankfurt 3:3 (3:0) 13,500
1:0 Micanski (8., Torres)
2:0 Hennings (28., Torres)
3:0 Micanski (32., Torres)
3:1 Yelen (65., direct freekick)
3:2 Kapllani (83., Hand penalty)
3:3 Yelen (87., Epstein)
Arminia Bielefeld - SpVgg Greuther Fürth 4:1 (1:1) 11,313
1:0 Schönfeld (24., Lorenz)
1:1 Fürstner (26., Trinks)
2:1 Lorenz (51., Appiah)
3:1 Jerat (76., Appiah)
4:1 Rahn (78., Lorenz)
Monday:
1860 München - FC St. Pauli 0:2 (0:1) 23,700
0:1 Nöthe (43., Rzatkowski)
0:2 Bartels (81., Buchtmann)
1 1. FC Köln 18 10 6 2 29:8 +21 36
2 SpVgg Greuther Fürth (A) 18 10 2 6 34:22 +12 32
--------------------------------------------------------------------
3 FC St. Pauli 18 9 4 5 26:21 +3 31
--------------------------------------------------------------------
4 1. FC Kaiserslautern 18 8 4 6 30:19 +11 28
5 Karlsruher SC (N) 18 7 7 4 24:17 +7 28
6 1. FC Union Berlin 18 8 4 6 27:24 +3 28
7 1860 München 18 8 3 7 16:19 -3 27
8 SC Paderborn 07 18 7 5 6 31:32 -1 26
9 Fortuna Düsseldorf (A) 18 7 4 7 19:26 -7 25
10 SV Sandhausen 18 6 6 6 16:17 -1 24
11 VfR Aalen 18 6 5 7 18:20 -2 23
12 VfL Bochum 18 6 4 8 18:20 -2 22
13 Arminia Bielefeld (N) 18 6 3 9 25:32 -7 21
14 FC Ingolstadt 04 18 6 3 9 17:24 -7 21
15 Erzgebirge Aue 18 6 3 9 21:29 -8 21
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16 FSV Frankfurt 18 5 5 8 25:27 -2 20
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Dynamo Dresden 18 4 8 6 20:29 -9 20
18 Energie Cottbus 18 3 4 11 21:31 -10 13
A = Absteiger just Relegated
N = Neuling just promoted
1st line: Promotion to Bundesliga
2nd line: Playoff with 16th Bundesliga
3rd line: Playoff with no.3 of 3.Liga
4th line: Relegation to 3.Liga