Bundesliga: Huge win for Köln

Sunday’s matches had considerable drama, but ended well for only one club, Köln…

BUNDESLIGA, Round 20 (after Sunday)

 SC Freiburg	       -   Werder Bremen    2:2 (1:1)   22,000   (Makiadi, Schmid - Pizarro 2)
 1. FC Kaiserslautern  -   1. FC Köln	    0:1 (0:0)   38,043   (Roshi)      

 1  Borussia Dortmund (M)	20    13   4    3    45:14   +31    43
 2  Bayern München	  	20    13   2    5    47:14   +33    41
 3  FC Schalke 04 (P)	  	20    13   2    5    46:25   +21    41
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 4  Borussia M'gladbach	  	20    12   4    4    31:12   +19    40
 5  Werder Bremen	  	20     9   5    6    33:34   -1     32
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 6  Bayer Leverkusen	  	20     8   7    5    28:27   +1     31
 7  Hannover 96	  	        20     7   9    4    22:24   -2     30
 8  1899 Hoffenheim	  	20     6   6    8    22:24   -2     24
 9  1. FC Köln	  	        20     6   3   10    29:40   -11    24
10  VfL Wolfsburg	  	20     7   3   10    24:36   -12    24
11  VfB Stuttgart	  	20     6   5    9    26:28   -2     23
12  Hamburger SV	  	20     5   8    7    25:34   -9     23
13  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	20     5   7    8    28:34   -6     22
14  1. FC Nürnberg	  	20     6   3   11    19:31   -12    21
15  Hertha BSC Berlin (N)	20     4   8    8    25:31   -6     20
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16  1. FC Kaiserslautern	20     3   9    8    15:24   -9     18
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17  FC Augsburg (N)	  	20     3   8    9    19:33   -14    17
18  SC Freiburg	  	        20     4   5   11    25:44   -19    17

A fierce relegation battle in Kaiserslautern, and you would have to figure that Köln would be struggling, with their superstar Lukas Podolski out. However, the visitors showed some effort, and were the better team in the first half against the nervous Lauterers. Indeed, things got worse for the hosts as midfielder Borysiuk got his ass tossed for a second yellow shortly before half. It became clear that the only winner would be Köln, but they’re not exactly a force on offense without Podolski. Coach Solbakken had his squad pressing, but they couldn’t break down K’lautern’s defense. Finally, Albanian international Odise Roshi, who had just come on, headed home the winner with about 20 minutes left. K’lautern attempted desperately to try and equalize, but Köln was organized tightly and easily withstood the last assaults. A huge win for the Rhein club, moving them up from the relegation zone, and Lautern will lament the loss in a match where they really needed the 3 points.

With Freiburg and Bremen, you’ve got the worst two defenses, so you’d figure on goals, and you’d be right. Werder pressed and took the lead twice through their goal machine Claudio Pizarro, but the Bresigauer fought back and were rewarded with a point. A positive result for them, especially since they had to play teh last few minutes with ten – they were out of subs, and Krmas went out injured. One expects more from Bremen, but the point does move them above another disappointment, Leverkusen. A good result for Freiburg, but they remain at the bottom.

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