Round 37, May 16
The promotion race is over and two ex-Bundesliga sides are going up. The only question remaining is for the last relegation spot.
Duisburg and Kiel faced off in the auto-promotion playoff in front of a large crowd. Both teams had been in fine form, and the match lived up to it’s billing. Kiel jumped out to a great start, but MSV didn’t show that they were worried. Instead they pressed hard and were equal within 10 minutes. They continued their Kraftakt (“power display”) and proceeded to slam the Storks in a seven minute period that decided the match. From then on the Zebras merely stayed firm, and although the Holsteiners tried very hard to get back into the match, they weren’t able to recover. Duisburg therefore goes back to the 2.Liga, and could even go as champion. Kiel still has a chance, as they will playoff against the no.16 of the 2.Liga.
Arminia Bielefeld also celebrated their promotion. A large crowd was on hand to celebrate, and it should have been easy, as they faced off against already relegated Regensburg. But Arminia has been dicking around for the last few weeks, resting on their laurels. In fact, after grabbing the lead, they already started partying, and Jahn had enough. Two late goals, and Bielefeld was staring at an embarrassing home defeat. But Pascal Testroet came on and scored a late equalizer and got Bielefeld the necessary point. Main thing, they’re going up immediately after last year’s relegation, so perhaps the champion title is really secondary.
At the bottom, Dortmund-II is joining Regensburg. The BVB-Bubis needed a win against Dresden to stay alive, but a home defeat (in front of a somewhat decent crowd for U23 sides, 10x what was in Stuttgart) sends them down. Dortmund-II was generally a difficult opponent, but basically just good enough to lose.
Mainz-II got a huge win to stay alive and actually give them the best chances. They defeated Halle on the road, and that puts them in 16th. With a superior goal difference, they basically need a draw at home against Chemnitz to secure their status.
Unterhaching kept barely alive by defeating Münster. Anything but a win would have sent them down. They are still in the drop zone, but they have a chance. They will need to win on the road at Erfurt. That’s not impossible, as RWE has been the worst team in the league since winter, just recently ending a nine game losing streak. They have nothing to play for, so the mini-Münch(en)kins could pull off a win.
Rostock is suddenly worried. Hansa had been doing OK, but took a tail dive right near the end, and are in trouble. If Unterhaching wins at Erfurt, it will be red-alert. Rostock lost a bitter struggle at home to Cottbus and finish up with another ex-DDR rivalry: at Dresden. I’m sure that Dynamo and their fans would love to send Rostock down. A draw may not be enough for Rostock either, since Mainz needs only one point, and thumping Haching win would recover the goal difference. So to be sure, Hansa needs to win at Dresden.
The rest of the matches were pretty ho-hum. Chemnitz defeated Großaspach, underlining their good post-winterbreak form. Stuttgarter Kickers knew their season was basically over, so a point was all that was needed against Erfurt (who *really* want their season to end, given their collapse from promotion to mediocrity). Fortuna Köln basically is trying to beat Großaspach to “best promoted side” and got the win against Wehen.
Total attendance 104,311 (avg 10,431), 56.5% capacity
VfB Stuttgart II - VfL Osnabrück 0:0 (0:0) 400 Hallescher FC - 1. FSV Mainz 05 II 1:2 (0:0) 6,217 Chemnitzer FC - SG Sonhf Großaspach 2:0 (0:0) 6,081 Arminia Bielefeld - Jahn Regensburg 2:2 (1:0) 25,008 Fortuna Köln - SV Wehen Wiesbaden 2:1 (0:0) 1,573 MSV Duisburg - Holstein Kiel 3:1 (3:1) 31,002 Stuttgarter Kickers - Rot-Weiß Erfurt 0:0 (0:0) 4,730 SpVgg Unterhaching - Preußen Münster 1:0 (1:0) 3,600 Borussia Dortmund II - Dynamo Dresden 2:3 (1:2) 4,100 Hansa Rostock - Energie Cottbus 0:1 (0:0) 21,600 1 Arminia Bielefeld (A) 37 21 8 8 74:41 +33 71 2 MSV Duisburg 37 20 11 6 63:39 +24 71 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Holstein Kiel 37 18 13 6 53:28 +25 67 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Stuttgarter Kickers 37 17 11 9 59:47 +12 62 5 Chemnitzer FC 37 17 7 13 43:35 +8 58 6 Energie Cottbus (A) 37 15 11 11 48:47 +1 56 7 Preußen Münster 37 15 9 13 52:47 +5 54 8 Dynamo Dresden (A) 37 15 8 14 50:47 +3 53 9 Hallescher FC 37 15 8 14 51:51 0 53 10 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 37 14 8 15 53:44 +9 50 11 VfL Osnabrück 37 13 10 14 47:51 -4 49 12 Rot-Weiß Erfurt 37 13 9 15 46:54 -8 48 13 Fortuna Köln (N) 37 12 10 15 38:43 -5 46 14 SG Sonnenhof Großaspach (N) 37 12 10 15 39:59 -20 46 15 VfB Stuttgart II 37 12 8 17 45:55 -10 44 16 1. FSV Mainz 05 II (N) 37 10 11 16 42:51 -9 41 17 Hansa Rostock 37 11 8 18 53:66 -13 41 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 SpVgg Unterhaching 37 11 8 18 51:66 -15 39 19 Borussia Dortmund II 37 7 15 15 39:50 -11 36 20 Jahn Regensburg 37 7 7 23 40:65 -25 28 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