The winner of course this weekend is no surprise: Bayern München. The champions didn’t even play in Germany, instead winning the worthless World Club Championship to yet another trophy to the 2013 haul and officially crown themselves as the world’s best club side. Instead, the rest of the teams demonstrated that the “Uli Hoeness rule” (“The other teams are too dumb to win the title”) is alive and well, as both Dortmund and Luserkusen went down in flames.
Dortmund was stunned at home by Hertha, but can’t blame anybody but themselves. They grabbed an early lead, but failed to deliver a knockout. Hertha struck back and held off immense Neon pressure, as the home side seemed to lack ideas on how to break through.
A defensive lapse did in the Dortmunders, as new defender Marian Sarr fumbled the ball, and let journeyman Sami Allagui steal the ball and score. Despite non-stop Dortmund assault, the goal held up. Great win for Berlin, but BVB should have had this one.
Meanwhile the Aspirins had an “easy” match on paper, against flailing Bremen. But although Luserkusen held the ball and seemingly had things under control, Werder fought fiercely and eventually clubbed the Corporates. A deserved (and desperately needed) win for the struggling homeside, since the Bayer side didn’t look they really cared enough.
Hamburg has lost their way, and Mainz seems to have found theirs. The visitors kept on playing till the end, and were rewarded with a nice away win, largely thanks to the outstanding Shinji Okazaki, another fine Japanese import. HSV was too lethargic and deservedly takes it on the chin.
Frankfurt was energetic, but didn’t have much of a clue on how to break down Augsburg’s strong defense. As a result, lots of kickabout and lost passes on both sides.
Freiburg seized their chance to climb back into viewing distance of the safety area from relegation. The Breigauers totally outplayed Hannover, and setup the win in the 1st half. After the restart, the 96ers woke up and tried to get back, but SCF was strong in defense and easily held on until time was basically up. There are increasing rumours of an Xmas ass-firing for 96er coach Mirko Slomka, who not that long ago was being hailed as the architect of Hannover’s best ever. The most interesting rumour is that he might be replaced by Werder Bremen legend Thomas Schaaf.
Braunschweig keeps on fighting, and held on against Hoffenheim, despite being a man down in the stretch. An exciting, hard fought match, and perhaps the Hoppers did deserve something. The highlight however seems to have been the post-game interview from Hoff coach Markus Gisdol, railing like a psycho against Braunschweig’s tactics or something. Yeah, whatever, STFU, you lost because you didn’t kick the round thing into the net…
Nürnberg once again failed, so they have to wait till next year until getting win. Schalke was apparently taking the “fan friendship” with FCN too seriously, as they basically did zero the whole match. Der Club had several good chances, but not surprisingly, they failed. I don’t think anyone can complain, except of course the fans that had to watch this…
Gladbach and Wolfsburg delivered the best match of the weekend, both sides in for and going for a win. In the end, a draw is a fair result, and both go into winterbreak with something positive: Gladbach is in a Champions League spot, and the VWs actually have had their best first half season start, even better than their stunning title from a few years ago.
Eintracht Frankfurt - FC Augsburg 1:1 (1:1) 46,400
0:1 Bobadilla (33.)
1:1 Rosenthal (42.)
Borussia Dortmund - Hertha BSC 1:2 (1:2) 80,645 *
1:0 Reus (7., Kehl)
1:1 Ramos (23., Allagui)
1:2 Allagui (45.)
Werder Bremen - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1:0 (0:0) 39,145
1:0 Garcia (74., Makiadi)
SC Freiburg - Hannover 96 2:1 (2:0) 23,200
1:0 Mehmedi (25., Fernandes)
2:0 Mehmedi (36., Schmid)
2:1 Bittencourt (90. + 3, Prib)
Hamburger SV - 1. FSV Mainz 05 2:3 (1:0) 50,918
1:0 Calhanoglu (21., Badelj)
1:1 Okazaki (47., Malli)
1:2 N. Müller (50., Okazaki)
2:2 van der Vaart (79., Tah)
2:3 Okazaki (90. + 2, Pospech)
Eintracht Braunschweig - 1899 Hoffenheim 1:0 (1:0) 21,600
1:0 Oehrl (29., penalty, Bicakcic)
1. FC Nürnberg - FC Schalke 04 0:0 (0:0) 42,687
Bor. Mönchengladbach - VfL Wolfsburg 2:2 (0:0) 53,301
0:1 Diego (53., Rodriguez)
1:1 Raffael (59., M. Kruse)
2:1 Arango (64., direct freekick)
2:2 Dost (85., RLuiz Gustavo)
Wednesday:
VfB Stuttgart - Bayern München -:- (-:-)
1 Bayern München (M, P) 16 14 2 0 42:8 +34 44
2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 17 12 1 4 32:16 +16 37
3 Bor. Mönchengladbach 17 10 3 4 35:19 +16 33
4 Borussia Dortmund 17 10 2 5 38:20 +18 32
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5 VfL Wolfsburg 17 9 3 5 28:19 +9 30
6 Hertha BSC Berlin (N) 17 8 4 5 27:20 +7 28
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7 FC Schalke 04 17 8 4 5 32:28 +4 28
8 FC Augsburg 17 7 3 7 21:25 -4 24
9 1. FSV Mainz 05 17 7 3 7 25:31 -6 24
10 VfB Stuttgart 16 5 4 7 29:31 -2 19
11 Werder Bremen 17 5 4 8 22:37 -15 19
12 1899 Hoffenheim 17 4 6 7 36:38 -2 18
13 Hannover 96 17 5 3 9 23:31 -8 18
14 Hamburger SV 17 4 4 9 33:38 -5 16
15 Eintracht Frankfurt 17 3 6 8 20:29 -9 15
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16 SC Freiburg 17 3 5 9 16:31 -15 14
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17 1. FC Nürnberg 17 0 11 6 17:33 -16 11
18 Eintracht Braunschweig (N) 17 3 2 12 10:32 -22 11
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