Reality bites. Dynamo Dresden was flying high with a good start and stunning upset of Schalke in the DFB-Pokal. Then they faced Erfurt in an eastern derby and were brought back to earth. RWE dominated the match and slapped the Dynamos silly.
An excellent performance by Wehen as they overpowered Stuttgart-B. The villagers got off to a good start last season too, but faded down the stretch. (They moved their home games to Wiesbaden, although I don’t see the point, given that nobody goes to their games. Wiesbaden is notoriously worthless when it comes to football. Americans would be interested that Wehen was Jeff Agoos’ club when he played in Germany many years ago.)
Unterhaching is also off to a good start. Christian Ziege’s mini-Münchenkins destroyed a hapless Mainz-B squad. And now that the Bundesliga has started, perhaps Mainz-II will get even weaker, and certainly less people will be interested in watching.
Another tense regional derby saw Münster get back on track with a win at Osnabrück. The Preußen had given a respectable showing against Bayern München midweek in the DFB-Pokal, and were able to continue their improvement. The winner was scored by Erik Zenga, who had in fact just transferred to Münster in the offseason – from Osnabrück.
Eric Ziemer was on fire, scoring all four for Rostock in a wild match at Regensburg. This is his first season with Hansa, and if he continues, it could bring the Rostockers out of their doldrums. He’s managed around 70 goals in a 10 year career that is mostly 3.Liga, but also includes even a couple of Bundesliga goals. Regensburg GK Stephan Loboue celebrated his birthday, so he mustn’t have been too happy with Ziemer crapping all over the cake…
Arminia Bielefeld has disappointed, but seemed to get back on track with a commanding win over Fortuna Köln. Bielefeld is one of the pre-season favorites for promotion, only to drop last season in the playoff.
Halle continues their weak home form and were dumped by Stuttgarter Kickers, who have been picked to struggle. The Kickers therefore have to be happy with their start, collecting points.
Sunday Chemnitz hosted Duisburg, with CFC looking to re-take the leadership. Neither team showed too much, and the result was a rather drab draw.
Total attendance: 56,477 (avg 5,648)
SG Shf Großaspach - Borussia Dortmund II 0:0 (0:0) 1,934 SV Wehen Wiesbaden - VfB Stuttgart II 4:1 (2:0) 2,575 VfL Osnabrück - Preußen Münster 0:1 (0:1) 12,212 1. FSV Mainz 05 II - SpVgg Unterhaching 1:5 (0:2) 731 Jahn Regensburg - Hansa Rostock 4:4 (0:1) 3,807 Holstein Kiel - Energie Cottbus 0:1 (0:0) 4,484 Rot-Weiß Erfurt - Dynamo Dresden 2:0 (1:0) 10,676 Arminia Bielefeld - Fortuna Köln 2:0 (2:0) 8,544 Hallescher FC - Stuttgarter Kickers 1:2 (1:1) 5,390 Chemnitzer FC - MSV Duisburg 0:0 (0:0) 6,124 1 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 5 4 1 0 11:5 +6 13 2 SpVgg Unterhaching 5 3 2 0 13:5 +8 11 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Chemnitzer FC 5 3 2 0 7:1 +6 11 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Stuttgarter Kickers 5 3 1 1 9:5 +4 10 5 Dynamo Dresden (A) 5 3 1 1 10:7 +3 10 6 Borussia Dortmund II 5 2 2 1 9:5 +4 8 7 Rot-Weiß Erfurt 5 2 2 1 7:4 +3 8 8 Energie Cottbus (A) 5 2 2 1 5:4 +1 8 9 Preußen Münster 5 2 1 2 8:7 +1 7 10 Arminia Bielefeld (A) 5 2 1 2 6:8 -2 7 11 MSV Duisburg 5 1 3 1 7:8 -1 6 12 SG Sonnenhof Großaspach (N) 5 1 3 1 5:6 -1 6 13 Holstein Kiel 5 1 2 2 4:4 0 5 14 Hansa Rostock 5 1 2 2 9:11 -2 5 15 Hallescher FC 5 1 1 3 7:9 -2 4 16 Fortuna Köln (N) 5 1 1 3 6:8 -2 4 17 VfL Osnabrück 5 1 1 3 5:9 -4 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Jahn Regensburg 5 1 1 3 9:15 -6 4 19 VfB Stuttgart II 5 1 0 4 4:12 -8 3 20 1. FSV Mainz 05 II (N) 5 0 1 4 7:15 -8 1 A = Absteiger just relegated N = Neuling just promoted 1st line: Promotion to 2.Liga 2nd line: Promotion Playoff with 2.Liga 16th place 3rd line: Relegation to Regionalliga