The upstarts continue to rule the roost in the 2.Liga. Favored teams have been having a bit of a struggle, and some of the unfavored sides have taken advantage. FC Ingolstadt is the surprise leader, as they easily brushed aside Aalen in what should have been an even bigger scoreline.
Leipzig had a hard battle with Braunschweig, but withstood the test to get a win, keeping them in a promotion spot. Clearly this has all the makings of Hoffenheim, The Sequel as the RedBull money takes the Rasenballsportler in teh direction of the Bundesliga.
Darmstadt remains a surprise as they win again, and once again Dominik Stroh-Engel is the key, getting an assist and goal. He’s been carrying this club on his back for the past two seasons, but looks like he can do it again. I don’t expect the 98ers to challenge promotion in the long run, but gathering all these points early would seem to indicate a solid season free of worry. On the flip side, the losing Erzgebirgers are in deep trouble, having no points and desperately need a couple of results now, lest they fall out of striking distance of safety.
Kaiserslautern dominated against FSV Frankfurt, as the guests were harmless up front and insecure at the back. So FCK has to be a bit disappointed that they were only able to get one goal. However the hosts seemed nervous, especially when they had chances to score, so perhaps they are happy that they just got the points.
Bochum and Karlsruhe are two clubs with promotion ambitions, and they both wanted the points. It was a hard fought match that either side could have won, but a draw is the correct result.
Greuther Fürth is one of those favorites having problems. They certainly expected a win against struggling nobodies Sandhausen (you need Google Maps to even find them), but instead come away with egg on their faces. They had their chances – they even missed a penalty, but couldn’t take them. And Sandhausen was determined to fight for a result, and were eventually rewarded with all 3 points.
1860 is once again all over the place. Just when you think that they will continually stink (or dominate, for that matter), they turn around and get a result (or suck). This time, it was result. The Lions had a tough match at St.Pauli, who were pushing throughout, but 1860 was clever and took their chances, and let the Hamburgers run around aimlessly.
Heidenheim got a nice win over struggling Union Berlin. The guests had their moments, but overall just seemed a step slower, and Heidenheim eventually gained the upper hand.
Monday night was a huge match, as Nürnberg hosted Düsseldorf. Neither side has gotten off to a great start, so a win here was necessary to get that jumpstart needed. FCN started out brightly, but Fortuna was smarter and grabbed the critical win.
1. FC Kaiserslautern - FSV Frankfurt 1:0 (1:0) 27,275
1:0 Orban (37., Demirbay)
FC Ingolstadt 04 - VfR Aalen 4:1 (1:0) 6,100
1:0 Lex (11., P. Groß)
1:1 Ludwig (52., Brust, Klauß)
2:1 B. Hübner (62., P. Groß)
3:1 Leckie (82., P. Groß)
4:1 Hainault (90. + 2, own goal, Engel)
VfL Bochum - Karlsruher SC 1:1 (0:1) 21,168
0:1 Torres (19., Kempe)
1:1 Tasaka (62., Latza)
RasenB Leipzig - Eintr. Braunschweig 3:1 (2:0) 24,949
1:0 Poulsen (19., Kimmich)
2:0 Frahn (20., Morys)
2:1 Nielsen (48., Reichel)
3:1 Poulsen (84., Kimmich)
SV Darmstadt 98 - Erzgebirge Aue 2:0 (1:0) 11,100
1:0 Heller (42., Stroh-Engel)
2:0 Stroh-Engel (68., Sirigu)
FC St. Pauli - 1860 München 1:2 (1:2) 27,892
0:1 Leonardo (21., penalty, Wojtkowiak)
1:1 Verhoek (31., M. Görlitz)
1:2 Y. Stark (45. + 1, Okotie)
SV Sandhausen - SpVgg Greuther Fürth 1:0 (0:0) 4,608
1:0 Wooten (84., Bieler)
1. FC Heidenheim - 1. FC Union Berlin 3:1 (0:0) 11,000
1:0 Schnatterer (57., Heise)
2:0 Niederlechner (60., Schnatterer)
2:1 Köhler (82., penalty, Nemec)
3:1 Bagceci (90. + 1, Schnatterer)
1. FC Nürnberg - Fortuna Düsseldorf 0:2 (0:1) 26,658
0:1 Hoffer (23., Schauerte)
0:2 da Silva Pinto (62., Benschop)
1 FC Ingolstadt 04 5 3 2 0 12:4 +8 11
2 RasenBallsport Leipzig (N) 5 3 2 0 7:1 +6 11
----------------------------------------------------------------
3 SV Darmstadt 98 (N) 5 3 2 0 8:3 +5 11
----------------------------------------------------------------
4 1. FC Kaiserslautern 5 3 2 0 9:6 +3 11
5 VfL Bochum 5 2 3 0 10:5 +5 9
6 Karlsruher SC 5 2 3 0 7:4 +3 9
7 Fortuna Düsseldorf 5 2 2 1 8:5 +3 8
8 1. FC Heidenheim (N) 5 2 2 1 8:8 0 8
9 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 5 2 1 2 9:5 +4 7
10 1. FC Nürnberg (A) 5 2 0 3 6:8 -2 6
11 1860 München 5 1 2 2 7:10 -3 5
12 VfR Aalen 5 1 2 2 5:8 -3 5
13 Eintracht Braunschweig (A) 5 1 1 3 8:9 -1 4
14 FSV Frankfurt 5 1 1 3 4:6 -2 4
15 SV Sandhausen 5 1 1 3 3:7 -4 4
----------------------------------------------------------------
16 FC St. Pauli 5 1 1 3 4:9 -5 4
----------------------------------------------------------------
17 1. FC Union Berlin 5 0 3 2 3:9 -6 3
18 Erzgebirge Aue 5 0 0 5 1:12 -11 0
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