Train TicketsArchive for the ‘Bundesliga’ Category
Leverkusen tops hapless Hoffenheim: Bundesliga
December 3rd, 2011 | 
Author: Sidney Sam sealed a 2-0 win for Bayer Leverkusen to ensure Hoffenheim’s miserable Bundesliga run continued on Friday.
Sam scored in the 79th minute with a neat chip over goalkeeper Tom Starke after Stefan Kiessling headed on a long ball forward from Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno.
Eren Derdiyok opened the scoring in the 11th, when he followed up Andre Schuerrle’s free kick to head in the rebound from Starke’s save.
“We’re getting to the stage where we’re winning the games in which we perhaps didn’t play so well,” Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt said.
Sam wasted a great chance in the 32nd, shooting on goal instead of passing to one of three teammates facing only two Hoffenheim defenders.
“It was 50-50. You pass or score. I decided to try and score and unfortunately it didn’t work out,” Sam said.
Hoffenheim should have scored immediately afterward on a counterattack, but Ryan Babel fired over from close range after Peniel Mlapa whipped in a cross.
It remained Hoffenheim’s best chance, and only Starke prevented Schuerrle and Lars Bender from putting Leverkusen further ahead.
“We put in so much effort to create chances,” said Hoffenheim coach Holger Stanislawski. “We cannot score as many goals as we’re conceding.”
It was the fifth Bundesliga game in a row without a win for Hoffenheim, which has never beaten Leverkusen.
Leverkusen remains sixth, while Hoffenheim drops to 10th ahead of the weekend’s games.
Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2011/12/02/sp-soccer-bundesliga.html
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Bundesliga Weekly Surprise rise of the Borussias
A few months, even a few weeks, ago, it would have been silly to assume that the game between the two Borussias – Dortmund and Mönchengladbach – on the coming Saturday would pair the league leaders with the runners-up. Too difficult was Dortmund’s start to this season, too narrowly did Gladbach avoid relegation in the last season for anyone to predict this match would be anything special.
But the last two matchdays have brought so many unexpected results that, for the second time in only three weeks, the top four teams will be having it out among themselves: Gladbach versus Dortmund, topping the table level on points, and Bayern versus Bremen, one and three points behind, respectively.
The main reason for this surprising turn of events is, of course, that Bayern have suffered two losses in a row, the second of which was probably the shock result of the season so far. The Munich giants followed the narrow home defeat at the hands of Dortmund with a wholly inexplicable showing at Mainz, who are nowhere near the force they were last year.
The amazing thing about Mainz’s 3-2 win over Bayern was that it was well-deserved, as the hosts always looked more fluent and dangerous from open play, while the visitors seemed disorganised and only threatened through set pieces. (Both goals came from free kicks, and both were scored by centre-back Daniel van Buyten.)
Television pundit Thomas Strunz, the former international, later argued that Bayern are missing Bastian Schweinsteiger’s presence in midfield more than was to be expected and that the suspension of the experienced Anatoliy Tymoshchuk hurt, too, as the pairing of David Alaba and Luiz Gustavo as holding midfielders meant Bayern lacked dominance in the centre of the pitch.
Not quite as surprising but still noteworthy was the ease with which Borussia Dortmund won the much-anticipated Ruhr derby against Schalke. If anything, the 2-0 scoreline flattered the visitors, who normally do quite well in Dortmund yet were this time not only outplayed but also lacked the fire you’d expect from a team playing in the most celebrated derby in the land. “Too many of our men didn’t give their all,” a fuming Horst Heldt, Schalke’s director of football, said after the game. “The longer I think about it, the more angry I become.”
But it isn’t just the top of the table that has become crowded again following the recent results – teams have also edged nearer to each other in the lower third. History was made in Augsburg, where the hosts won their first-ever Bundesliga home game (against Wolfsburg, who have already lost six away games, the worst record in the league), and also in Hoffenheim, where Freiburg picked up yet another point.
They did so by finding the net in the final minute of regular time, which means Freiburg have now scored a crucial goal in the 90th minute or later in three consecutive games – which is particularly unusual when you consider that this feat was pulled off by a team fighting to stay up (which normally means luck is not on your side) and that it wasn’t even Freiburg’s one single reliable goalscorer, Papiss Demba Cissé, who found the target. Instead, it was the summer signing Garra Dembélé, who tied the game late with his first-ever Bundesliga goal. That’s very good news for Freiburg. The club parted with more money than ever before to sign the Malian striker, supposedly €2 million, mainly to prepare for the day Cissé leaves. This day could be drawing nearer now, as the rumour mill has it that Bayern have renewed their interest in Cissé.
However, once the highlight reels of this season are being compiled, the one moment from the past matchday that most definitely will not be missing from any of them happened not in Augsburg or Freiburg, nor even in Mainz or Dortmund. It was a corner Sérgio Pinto took for Hannover 96 after 79 minutes of their home game against Hamburg with the visitors leading by one goal. Because Pinto did not cross the ball into the box. Instead he sent it into the general direction of Jan Schlaudraff, who was lurking outside the penalty area. Schlaudraff met the ball some 20 yards from goal and volleyed it into the triangle to make it 1-1 – a goal that could have given Eren Derdiyok a headache when it comes to the Goal of the Season votings. (Derdiyok’s bicycle kick against Wolfsburg probably still has an edge, but be sure to check out Schlaudraff’s goal too.)
Matchday 14 – or, better, the days leading up to this round of games – also brought the first notable transfer confirmation. Bayer Leverkusen announced they have secured the services of Nuremberg’s 22-year-old centre back Philipp Wollscheid for next season. Nuremberg will pocket at least €5.5 million for a player whom coach Dieter Hecking called up from the reserve team (which competes in the fourth division) less than two years ago and who only made his Bundesliga debut one year and one week ago.
And yet there will be many Nuremberg fans who only reluctantly call this a great deal. They know that it’s this club’s fate – for the time being, at least – to find and nurture talent only to see it leave for some bigger club after a few good seasons. It is, of course, frustrating, but as long as the club can continue finding and nurturing such talents, the situation is probably preferable to the days when Nuremberg regularly overreached and overspent. (In the mid-90s, the club were often in danger of having their licence for professional football revoked, meaning an automatic demotion to amateur football.)
Frustration is also the keyword in Dresden at the moment. One month ago, Dynamo Dresden’s rather notorious support rioted before and during an away game in the German FA Cup – or DFB-Pokal – at Dortmund. Last week, the DFB announced it would penalise the Bundesliga 2 side by banning it from next season’s cup competition altogether. It was an admittedly harsh sentence, but there has been a recent surge in crowd trouble that probably convinced the DFB a signal had to be sent out.
The league and the FA have also set up a ‘Task Force for Security’, made up of 17 people, five of whom represent the fans. Hendrik Grosse Lefert, the chairman of this panel, said: “At the end of the day, the fans themselves decide whether or not the conditions for people who attend football games in Germany will have to change in the future.” By which he most probably meant: get this under control if you want to keep terracing.
Article source: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story/_/id/990223/bundesliga-weekly:-surprise-rise-of-the-borussias
Bundesliga Review – Underdogs Gladbach should encourage strugglers
As a manager, being able to get the best out of your players is pivotal but it’s something Lucien Favre has managed to do in the Rhineland. He could not have dreamt of the position Borussia Monchengladbach is currently in when he took the reins just over nine months ago.
Back then Die Fohlen (The Foals) were sitting rock bottom of the Bundesliga. After a 3-1 loss on the road to St Pauli, in stepped Favre who secured what seemed an improbable survival with a victory in the relegation play off against Bochum.
Momentum has been the key for Gladbach as they have discovered their joie de vivre under Favre. Since his arrival, they’ve won 15 out of 26 matches, including Friday’s 3-0 dismantling of fierce rivals Cologne.
Mike Hanke took a rare starring role for the title chasers as on many occasion he has selflessly sacrificed much for the team. However, Hanke was rewarded with a two goal haul against the Billy Goats. Venezuelan Captain Juan Arango netted the other with a delightful curling free kick, enhancing the reputation of his cultured left foot.
When talking about Gladbach, it’s impossible not to mention Marco Reus. He was prominent in Friday night’s victory despite not getting on the score sheet but in Favre’s time in power, “Rolls Reus” has been pivotal.
So there Borussia Monchengladbach remained proudly on top of the Bundesliga before Borussia Dortmund rained on their parade. They dispatched Schalke 2-0 in the Revierderby, meaning the Foals dropped to second. Nevertheless, their progress should assure those at the bottom what can be achieved with some momentum.
Results over the weekend suggest Gladbach’s fighting spirit from last season lives on at the foot of the table as three of the bottom five secured victories. Those who didn’t, Freiburg and Hamburg, gained valuable draws. The latter, gradually slinking away from the trap door, is certainly a club with the prowess to reach Lucien Favre’s side dizzy heights.
Newly promoted Augsburg finally gained their first home win in the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win against Wolfsburg. Nuremberg also overcame sinking Kaiserslautern but the result of the weekend goes to Mainz. Thomas Tuchel’s men roared out the traps last season with seven consecutive wins but after a summer of transition, they have flattered to deceive this season – until now.
They slipped past Bayern Munich 3-2. Their illustrious visitors have now suffered back-to-back defeats in the Bundesliga. For long periods last season, Mainz were the darlings of the Bundesliga but Gladbach, seemingly assuming this role, appear to have more about them than their south-western counterparts.
Their story is certainly one for football romantics – how a team fighting for survival one season can go to title chasers in the next which is what makes the Bundesliga so endearing. Whilst teams should take encouragement from Monchengladbach’s revival, Lucien Favre will be searching for something to inspire his side onto title glory. Judging by his unblemished reign so far, he won’t find that too difficult. He came close with Hertha Berlin when they came fourth in 2009.
“We learned a lot from last season. We learned that we can beat anyone if we just believe in ourselves.”
These are the words of Marco Reus speaking to Eurosport 2. It’s worth noting though how Reus says ‘we.’ Ultimately though, “he” is very important to their chances as well.
As long as Marco Reus stays at the club and keeps fit, anything is possible for Gladbach.
Goal of the Weekend
Have a look at this terrific strike from Hannover’s Jan Schlaudraff. This was the equaliser in Hannover’s 1-1 draw with Hamburg and he couldn’t have hit this any sweeter.
For more musings on the Bundesliga, follow me @arhindtutt
Matchday 14 Results:
Cologne 0-3 Gladbach
Augsburg 2-0 Wolfsburg
Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Schalke
Hertha Berlin 3-3 Leverkusen
Hoffenheim 1-1 Freiburg
Nuremberg 1-0 Kaiserslautern
Hannover 1-1 Hamburg
Werder Bremen 2-0 Stuttgart
Mainz 3-2 Bayern Munich
League Table
Table thanks to Bundesliga Official Website
Article source: http://www.footballfancast.com/2011/11/football-blogs/bundesliga-review-underdogs-gladbach-should-encourage-strugglers
The Fate Of Bundesliga Outfits In UEFA Champions League
The future of three Bundesliga outfits – Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen, lies in three different quadrants in the Champions League. There is a very slim chance that all three teams can actually qualify for the next stage of the competition, but such an optimistic outcome will require favorable results from other matches in the group. Let us take a thorough look at the situation on hand for the German teams in the Champions League.
Bayern Munich
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Form Guide: WWDWW
Bayern Munich top Group A and have already qualified for the next stage with one game in hand. They are yet to lose a single game in the competition. As things stand, their toughest test in the group league stage awaits them in the City of Manchester, when the Citizens host them in the final round. The result of the game would not matter much to Bayern, but will have a lasting effect on their oppositions as they Blue half of Manchester must win the game to make it to the next round.
Bayer Leverkusen
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Form Guide: LWWLW
As things stand, Bayer Leverkusen are the surprise group leaders in Group E. Leverkusen have been far from being clinical and have hardly been consistent. Their position – a distant seventh place in Bundesliga holds a fair testimony to their inconsistency in the current season. Yet, the team seemed to have more or less done enough to just slip through to the next round.
Mainly based on a superior home form, Leverkusen have climbed the top of the group. The Bundesliga outfits have won all their home games in the continental tournament this season. Their final game in the group league is against the whipping boys of the group, Genk. The good thing from Leverkusen’s point of view is that they need only a point to qualify for the next round irrespective of the result of the game between Chelsea and Valencia.
The point of concern is Leverkusen’s dismal away form in this season’s competition. Leverkusen have lost both the away games in this season, to Chelsea and Valencia. Genk, who have already been eliminated from the competition, will be playing for pride and playing in front of home crowd will definitely work as a positive catalyst for them.
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The Werkself lads turned the match on against Chelsea
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Leverkusen are, at present, one point ahead of nearest rivals Chelsea and Valencia who are both tied with same points. Now, in case Leverkusen fail to earn a point in their game against Genk and if Chelsea and Valencia play out a draw, they all stand with nine points apiece. Under such a scenario, Leverkusen will still qualify for the next round ahead of the nearest rivals solely down to the fact that they have managed to earn six points in their four games against both Chelsea and Valencia; whereas Chelsea and Valencia have both managed only five points in their four games against each other. So things look rosy for the perspectives of Werkself fans.
Borussia Dortmund
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Form Guide: DLLWL
The German Champions would rather prefer to forget their return to Europe’s most prestigious club competition, following a slew of below par performance throughout. Currently the club sits at the bottom of the league with four points in five games, three points adrift from second placed French outfits, Marseille and two points behind Olympiakos. As things stand, they are highly likely to end their negative advertisement of the upward graph of German football in style, by finishing at the bottom of the league, owing to their consistent poor performances, having scored only four goals in five matches.
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Dortmund players left listless in their defeat against Arsenal in the Champions League
Dortmund’s decline in the Champions League leaves little explanation behind. The entire team took part in this road to failure. They lost all three of their away games, conceded 8 goals with a goal difference of minus 6. The team is yet to lose on home turf but they looked far from comfortable even in their own backyard, narrowly holding Arsenal in the very first game and unconvincingly registered their solitary victory in this season’s Champions League.
Despite all the hiccups, Dortmund can still crawl through to the next round. Dortmund’s present goal difference is -5 as compared to +2 of their oppositions, second placed Marseille. The last game will be a must win game for Dortmund. Not only that, they’ll have to make sure that they maintain a victory margin of four goals or more against their French outfits to overcome the head-to-head goal deficit. Not only that, Dortmund fans will have to keep their fingers crossed for the other game on the final day where Arsenal must beat Olympiakos to take them through.
Even if Dortmund even out the goal difference with Marseille with a victory, they will still fail to qualify if Olympiakos earn at least one point against Arsenal in the final game as Dortmund can no longer improve their head-to-head goal-difference against the Greek outfits. All in all, Dortmund are the unlikeliest candidates to qualify for the next stage.
Article written by Arnav Bose
Article source: http://www.thehardtackle.com/2011/the-fate-of-bundesliga-outfits-in-uefa-champions-league/
Bundesliga boosted by European success
Thu Nov 24 05:50PM
After years of watching rivals from England, Spain and Italy grab the limelight, German clubs can be forgiven for believing they have finally cracked the Champions League.
Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich both won this week to book places in the last 16 of Europe’s top competition. And though Borussia Dortmund lost again after seeing talisman Mario Goetze limp off against Arsenal, they still have an outside chance of going through.
Bayer Leverkusen’s qualification with a match to play has surprised everyone at the club. Their 2-1 victory against Chelsea means that whatever happens in the final round of games, coach Robin Dutt can count on Champions League football in the new year.
Die Werkself were perhaps lucky to plunder a late winner against Chelsea (former Stamford Bridge star Michael Ballack admitted as much), but Manuel Friedrich’s towering header might just be a turning point in their season.
”This is a big victory for us, but we believed in it for every minute,” a beaming Ballack told journalists after the match.
Dutt hasn’t changed too much on the pitch since taking over at Leverkusen last summer, but off it he has sought to impose his own ideas. He even banned much-loved chocolate spread Nutella from the club canteen.
The former Freiburg supremo’s job was in peril after a listless home defeat to Schalke a month ago, but team malcontents Simon Rolfes, Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kiessling are now letting their football do the talking. Seven points from three Bundesliga games and Champions League qualification have silenced the critics.
Like some Leverkusen players, Uli Hoeness isn’t a big fan of modern healthy-eating fads: the Bayern president is a very wealthy man, but his riches come not from his wonderful goalscoring with Bayern in the 1970s but from a hugely successful sausage business. Hoeness recently told a business magazine that he had ”never seen a happy vegan.”
Like the rest of Bayern’s hierarchy, Hoeness was delighted to see their team seal top spot with a match to spare in what was labelled the ”group of death.”
Bayern swept aside a dangerous Villarreal side aside 3-1 with a performance full of pace, determination and teamwork.
Franck Ribery was particularly bullish after the match. “I want to play in the final in Munich. That is a dream for us. We should not fear anyone.”
His coach Jupp Heynckes also saw the match as a statement of intent.
“It was a very difficult group with teams from the four best leagues in Europe and we have marched through,” he said. “It was important that we could decide the group before the last matchday.”
What’s particularly satisfying is seeing moneybags Manchester City struggle to make it through the same group. It’s long been a bone of contention for Germans that – while they must balance the books – their English, Italian and Spanish rivals can run up massive losses. And Manchester City are the biggest villains of the piece, having last week announced an English record loss of £195 million.
“After winning such a tough group, all you can do is pay compliment to the team and the coach,” said chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Now Bayern want to eliminate City by beating them in their final group match.
“We are not going to give anything away in Manchester,” Rummenigge insisted. “First of all, there are points for the five-year ranking at stake, and then there is 800,000 euros to the winner.”
In the week City announced their staggering loss, the Bavarian club posted profits of 1.3 million euros, loose change for City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan but a figure Hoeness and Co. are proud of in the current economic climate.
But how good are Bundesliga teams on the pitch?
After the Dortmund match, Arsene Wenger said he believed the standard of the Bundesliga has risen sharply, while Benfica coach Jorge Jesus this week insisted the Premier League was below the standard of the Bundesliga.
Alex Hleb, who has played in Spain, England and Germany isn’t so sure: ”Barcelona and Real Madrid are fantastic teams. I don’t think Bayern stand a chance against them.”
Still, the signs are good for the Bundesliga. In each of the three seasons between 2006 and 2009, Germany had only one Champions League quarter-finalist, but in 2009-2010 Bayern reached the final and last year Schalke surprised everyone by reaching the last four. The Bundesliga is now the third strongest league in the UEFA classification so will have an extra Champions League spot from next year.
With Schalke and Hannover set to qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League, perhaps the tide is turning in favour of German teams in Europe.
- Comments1 – 8 of 8
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germany,the only european nation with any kind of economy at the moment and their league is the most profitable in europe.about time we asked the question,what are they doing that the rest of us arent?part of the reason must be that they fill all their stadiums every game due to low ticket prices.£60-80 to go to the emerites to watch arsenal take on fulham?over £50 to watch bolton at home?
From amcquater on Thu Nov 24 06:27PM
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They do not pay outrageous salary to player. They require players to play professional football. They do not charge fans outrageous price to go into the ground. They do not sell live football right in the highest possible price but aim to have the wildest coverage. I actually prefer Bundasliga than PL.
From chonetsao on Thu Nov 24 07:15PM
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The reason for this is what # 2 stated. They play financially responsible football. I haven’t ever heard of Bundesliga teams eg. do the crazy transfers some clubs (Real, Man City…) do with those crazy sums of money, and I’ve never heard of a Bundesliga club paying the explicit wages that PL clubs does to its top players. Also I think this makes for a more unpredictable, entertaining league, as money has less role in defining the positions of clubs and it’s more about talent.
From da_flyin_finn on Thu Nov 24 07:22PM
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Bundesliga is the best!
From jarharnamme on Thu Nov 24 07:32PM
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The reason for their improvement is obviously the reform they made on youth development 11 years ago. They’ve invested 520 million euros since 2000 and now we see every age group they produce 4-5 top class players and plenty of above average players. Also, thanks to that they start producing great young coaches like Klopp,Tuchel,Fink,Dutt,Slomka,Rangnick,Markus Babel,Stanislawski,etc. Bayern were lucky to have a great coach like Van Gaal who gave them a new philosphy that they will use for many years. He gave young players a chance (Badstuber,Mueller,Contento,Alaba,Kroos) and transformed Schweinsteiger from a winger into a top central midfielder.Schalke’s success in the Champions League was a miracle though. The way they eliminated Valencia was so lucky.Valencia missed millions of chances. Inter were terrible last season(and they still are) so that wasnt really a surprise.Then they got found out against United.Still Schalke has plenty of great youngsters so they will do well in Europe in the next years as long as they dont lose them like Neuer.
From filip_vas19 on Thu Nov 24 07:55PM
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The Bundesliga is a brilliant league and like Serie A and the EPL can be very unpredictable. But where it ranks higher is the way it promotes itself and operates. When I lived in Germany near Stuttgart, I used to watch football on free-to-air television and I was even lucky enough to go to a game. The fans were a great bunch and even though my German was rubbish to start with, they were a decent, friendly bunch – I think I saw some idiots once or twice but it wasn’t really noticeable. Fans feel valued in Germany, whether they make it to games or not. And the atmosphere for the 2006 world cup was the best.
As well as laying the foundations for successful, great football, Germany really deserves it, too.
From blythesimon on Thu Nov 24 07:57PM
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English stadiums are famous for their great atmosphere, but if teams keep raising ticket prices because they need to offset their financial mismanagement, the fans will some day stop going. Even in the lower leagues ticket prices can be extortionate. In 2005 I once paid £14 for a student ticket to watch Oxford united in league 2!! You can get a ticket to watch Bayern Munich or borussia Dortmund for 20 quid and they are champions league teams.
In England players are ridiculously overpaid and the fans are the ones paying for teams risky investments and rising debts.
The German league should serve as a prototype for other leagues of how to manage their finances and still remain competitive. Plus they have the best stadiums in the world thanks to the 2006 world cup and the boom that came with it. You don’t see any poor facilities anymore anywhere in the top 2-3 divisions. With very few exceptions.From h_fend on Thu Nov 24 09:54PM
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Velbert 02 über Alles
From felice_tedechi on Fri Nov 25 01:31AM
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Article source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/the-ballacks/article/162/
Ref’s suicide bid forces media rethink
BERLIN — While the reasons for the attempted suicide of Bundesliga referee Babak Rafati remain unclear, calls are coming from within German football to change the image of referees in the media.
Both the German Football Federation (DFB) and Cologne police have refused to release the reasons behind Rafati’s suicide attempt after he was found in the bathtub of his Cologne hotel on Saturday having slashed his wrists.
The 41-year-old was discovered by his assistant referees just hours before he was due to officiate a German league game between Mainz 05 and Cologne, but was released from hospital on Monday and is continuing to receive treatment.
German daily newspaper the Cologne Rundschau reported Monday that a senior investigator from the Cologne police had said Rafati’s attempted suicide was for ‘private reasons’ not related to football.
In the past, Rafati has on several occasions been voted the Bundesliga’s worst referee in a poll of professional players by German football magazine Kicker.
The magazine’s CEO has said they are considering doing away with such surveys in future.
“We are considering whether or not in the future to include surveys of Bundesliga players on the question of who is the worst league referee,” Kicker chief Klaus Smentek told SID, an AFP subsidiary.
That comes after calls from within German football to cease such negative treatment of referees.
Germany’s former World Cup referee Bernd Heynemann, who officiated at France ’98, has said the ‘worst referee’ polls have to go.
“These polls are not meaningful, the referees have the weakest lobby and so such surveys are a waste of time,” he said.
Lawyer Rainer Domberg, a spokesman and ombudsman for Germany’s top referees, says the blame culture aimed at football officials here has to change.
“Referees need a different culture of recognition,” he said.
“In 95 percent of the games that they officiate, their performance is flawless. Referees seem to suffer under a curse they don’t deserve.”
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.
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Article source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gZJCOSbeUoA6BdqFN-qyqmsK9t5g?docId=CNG.79f628c9c1938ad91cee1d0a964c4b1a.c1
German Bundesliga Team of the Week
All eyes were on the Allianz Arena this weekend as Borussia Dortmund recorded an impressive 1-0 win over Bayern Munich.
By Gabriel Tan
Mario Gotze may have claimed the credit with his well-taken second-half strike, but it was the Dortmund rearguard who had to be at their very best to keep out the potent Bayern attack.
Elsewhere, Marco Reus kept up his impressive scoring run with a hat-trick against Werder Bremen, while Schalke were dominant in their 4-0 win over Nuremberg.
Here, we take a look at this weekend’s standout performers.
GK: Thomas Kraft (Hertha Berlin)
The one-time Bayern man may have conceded two goals against Freiburg, but it was his brilliant save in the 28th minute that kept his side in the game when he made a fine stop from Anton Putsila’s long-range effort.
Also showed good handling throughout the game, but will have to work on his kicking, having nearly handed Freiburg early on when he completely missed a backpass.
RB: Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund)
The Polish international remained steadfast against Bayern despite coming up against the dangerous Franck Ribery.
Piszczek managed what most defenders often fail to do – focus on the ball rather than Ribery’s tricky footwork. It resulted in the Frenchman having a quiet game, which normally means half the battle against Bayern is won.
CB: Dennis Aogo (Hamburg)
The versatile defender played an integral part in Hamburg’s 2-0 win over Hoffenheim on Sunday. Carried out his defensive role well by keeping the opposition attackers at bay, and also laid on an assist for Marcell Jansen with an incisive pass.
CB: Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)
The German international showed absolute disregard for his body against Bayern, throwing himself in front of numerous goal-bound efforts, and did not lose a single aerial challenge all night long.
Also put in a number of crunching challenges on Mario Gomez, which helped ensure the normally-lethal Bayern striker had a quiet game.
LB: Filip Daems (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Despite the Gladbach youngsters getting the plaudits for the club’s stunning performances this season, Daems showed there is plenty of life left in this old dog left against Bremen on Saturday.
The Gladbach captain emerged triumphant every time an opposition attacker ran at him, and belied his increasing years with a number of lung-bursting runs down the left.
Gave Sokratis Papastathopoulos a torrid time, which arguably resulted in the Greek international getting sent off after he let his frustration boil over.
RM: Hasan Salihamidzic (Wolfsburg)
Another veteran who looks like he could still give the younger brigade a run for their money, netting a brace in Wolfsburg’s 4-1 win over Hannover.
Gave his side the lead in the 22nd minute when Ron-Robert Zieler let his rather tame effort fly past him, before he showed good awareness to nod home from close range after Chris had flicked on a corner.
CM: Michael Ballack (Bayer Leverkusen)
And making it three senior players in a row is Ballack, who was the dominant player in Leverkusen’s 2-0 win over Kaiserslautern on Friday.
Held on to the ball well and dictated proceedings for Leverkusen, and was even rewarded for his efforts when Kevin Trapp fumbled his shot into the back of the net.
CM: Lewis Holtby (Schalke)
Just when you thought it would be a week of experienced players dominating the Team of the Week, 21-year-old Holtby claims his place with an accomplished display against Nuremberg.
Now regularly deployed in a deep-lying role, Holtby protected his back four well, but always looked to drive his team forward. Managed to get on the scoresheet in the 84th minute, when he danced his way past a dejected Nuremberg defence, before firing past Raphael Schafer.
LM: Martin Harnik (Stuttgart)
Stuttgart claimed a 2-1 win over Augsburg on Sunday evening, and they have Harnik to thank for after the Austrian netted a well-taken double.
Harnik handed his side the lead four minutes before halftime when he capitalised on a poor clearance from Dominik Reinhardt and fired past Mohamed Amsif, before netting bagging a second-half winner when cut in from the left, before dispatching his shot into the far corner.
ST: Marco Reus (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Although normally deployed as a winger, Reus was fielded as a supporting striker against Bremen on Saturday, but made a mockery of playing in an unfamiliar role as he bagged a hat-trick.
The 22-year-old got on the scoresheet with an outstanding solo effort, carving the Bremen defence open with an incisive run before firing past Tim Wiese, before he doubled his tally with a clever chip after Patrick Herrmann cut the ball back to him.
And he ensured the match ball was his to keep in the 51st minute when he reacted the quickest after Wiese had blocked Mike Hanke’s effort.
ST: Stefan Reisinger (Freiburg)
Freiburg looked dead and buried before the end of the first half against Hertha after going 2-0 down thanks to goals from Adrian Ramos and Peter Niemeyer.
Enter Reisinger, who singlehandedly rescued a point for his team with a second-half double. He pulled one back when he danced past a challenge before powering a shot into the bottom corner, before rescuing an unlikely draw five minutes into injury time when he tucked home a Papiss Demba Cisse cross.
Article source: http://www.espnstar.com/editorial/news/detail/item709614/German-Bundesliga-Team-of-the-Week
Bundesliga Weekly Thirteen – Cologne Klungel
It’s a long story, like these things always are, but the German term “Klungel” comes from the same stem as the English “cling”. Thus it has to do with sticking together, which is why it originally meant a knot or a bundle. Until the inhabitants of Cologne got hold of the word, that is, because they changed the meaning to denote kith and kin, family.
This is the story behind an expression every German knows: Kolscher Klungel – Cologne Klungel. It’s usually defined as a local form of nepotism, though this explanation falls somewhat short. For one, because the term also has positive connotations, such as friendship, or better: loyalty.
Second, because many people who happen to come from somewhere else now use this expression rather freely to describe bizarre goings-on on the shores of the river Rhine that utterly mystify strangers. In other words, whenever something happens in Cologne that doesn’t appear to make any sense whatsoever, you can just shake your head ever so briefly, smile and say: ‘Well, that’s Kolscher Klungel for you.’
And you would have done that on Sunday at 2.49pm. That was when Cologne FC president and club legend Wolfgang Overath, having opened the annual general assembly of club members nine minutes earlier by saying “My club is Cologne FC,” declared that he and the rest of the board would step down.
Trust this club to grab the headlines even during an international break and two days before a much-anticipated game between rivals Germany and Holland! And headlines Overath’s departure did make, as it had been entirely unexpected. Friedrich Neukirch, vice-president and as such a member of the board, later explained why nothing had leaked out: “We didn’t want to kick up a breeze before the meeting, that’s why we didn’t speak with any of the club panels.”
In a way, this statement was emblematic of one of the problems at the root of the dispute that led to the board’s and Overath’s demission. Over the last couple of years, the board had come under heavy criticism from some of the club’s members, in part because they felt the board was running the club in an aloof and autocratic manner. This led to the formation of a pressure group called “FC:Reloaded” that demanded a change of the club’s statutes to give the members more influence.
Another criticism levelled at Overath and his men was that the club had not made any progress in sporting terms since he became the president in 2004. At the time, Overath said his plan was to qualify for Europe within four years, but the seven years since have seen eight different coaches (plus two interim coaches), three different business managers (or directors of football, as the post was renamed in late 2010) and a series of relegation fights.
There are some observers who considered both charges unreasonable, arguing that things will be even more chaotic when members try to run a professional club and that expecting Cologne to challenge for honours borders on having delusions of grandeur (the latter is an accusation regularly levelled at the club’s support).
Be that as it may, the matter came to a head during the 2010 general assembly. Cologne had just lost 4-0 at home to fierce rivals Monchengladbach and were in last place, so the meeting was predictably tumultuous. Overath and the other members of the board were loudly criticised, not always in a proper manner, and the members voted not to exonerate the board of their responsibility for the previous fiscal year. This – basically a technicality having to do with German club law – amounted to a vote of no confidence and deeply hurt Overath.
You can call that thin-skinned, but the beginning of the 2011 meeting made clear that tempers were still flaring. Overath, suffering from a cold, made a strange noise before beginning his speech – whereupon one of the members yelled: “Yeah, go ahead and weep!” And when Overath then looked back at the 2010 meeting, saying that he had been “insulted and vilified by a small group only, I know the others aren’t like that,” there were boos and someone shouted: “Step down!”
It proved to be an unexpectedly prophetic heckle.
Believe it or not, but that was the civil part of the afternoon. After the president had made his announcement, most of the rest of the meeting became a shouting match between the pro-Overath camp and the “FC:Reloaded” group. At 6.56pm, a member declared Cologne were just “a carnival club” and three minutes later brawls broke out in two different corners of the assembly hall.
And suddenly quite a lot of eyes will be on a seemingly rather mundane clash between Cologne and Mainz on Saturday, despite the fact Bayern play Dortmund and Monchengladbach meet Bremen – meaning the top four sides play among themselves – on the very same day. The Cologne players certainly have some experience as regards performing in the shadow of boardroom upheaval and internal strife, but it’ll be interesting to see how Lukas Podolski copes.
After all, the team’s biggest, perhaps its only, star has now lost two men he liked and trusted very much – first coach Frank Schaefer, now Overath – and is known as a player who needs a harmonious environment to blossom. It’s probably over-interpretation, but Podolski had a quiet, subdued game against Holland, while all around him the German attack dazzled, delighting the Hamburg crowd.
Bayern’s coach Jupp Heynckes, incidentally, will have been as thrilled by the Holland game as the fans. For one, national coach Joachim Low achieved the prestigious 3-0 win against Germany’s eternal rivals even though he rested both Philipp Lahm and Mario Gomez. Second, two of the best players on the night were Toni Kroos, in splendid form pretty much since the season started, and Thomas Muller, while the defence, built around Holger Badstuber, Jerome Boateng and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, kept yet another clean sheet against notable (and normally goal-hungry) opposition.
However, at least one of them will have a major challenge ahead of him even before he meets second-placed Dortmund at the weekend. On Thursday, Manuel Neuer will be a contestant on the celebrity edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”
Article source: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story/_/id/984189/bundesliga-weekly:-thirteen---cologne-klunge
Bundesliga blog: Big match preview – FC Bayern vs Borussia Dortmund
By Ross Dunbar in Mirror Football Blog
Published 12:10 14/11/11
Welcome to our new German football blog, courtesy of
BundesligaFussball
‘s Ross Dunbar
***
All eyes will be on the Allianz Arena on Saturday night as the Bundesliga resumes following the last international break of the year.
For some, it is the perfect cure to the lack of domestic club football over the past two weeks and it is certainly shaping up to be a cracker.
Current German champions Borussia Dortmund make the trip to Bavaria to face up to the flying league-leaders FC Bayern who are looking to extend their five point gap.
In the race for the championship, it is a crucial match even at this early stage in the season and both sides will have a few injury blows to contend with.
The home side will be without key midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger after he sustained a broken collarbone in the Champions League clash with Napoli.
FC Bayern will also be missing dynamic Ukranian midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk who picked up a red card against FC Augsburg last Sunday.
Even without Schweinsteiger and Tymoshchuk, Heynckes is expected to stick to his 4-2-3-1 formation and is likely to re-call Luis Gustavo to the starting eleven.
But that still leaves the FC Bayern coach with some selection headaches with the other midfield position to be filled.
Austrian youngster David Alaba started against FC Augsburg but has started just twice this season and the 19 year-old could find himself thrown in at the deep end on Saturday.
As for Dortmund, they will have a huge hole in their back-four with Neven Subotic ruled out for up to six weeks following a serious facial injury sustained last week.
It would appear to be a simple decision for Jurgen Klopp with Felipe Santana the third-choice central defender at the Westfalen.
But it could pose a serious problem for Dortmund with BVB relying hugely on the continuity of their back-five and it was no coincidence to see Die Borussen’s sticky form coming when there were selection issues at the back.
Klopp’s men are expected to line-up almost identical to the side which beat Wolfsburg 5-1 last week and it throws up some interesting battles in the match.
The Dortmund coach looks to have hit the jackpot after finally settling on a midfield pairing since Nuri Sahin departed for Real Madrid in the summer.
Rookie midfielder Moritz Leitner (
click here for a profile of Leitner
) has taken over from Ilkay Gundogan and Sebastian Kehl to partner the industrious Sven Bender in the middle of the park.
The 18-year-old Leitner, who had a spell with 1860 Munich last season, could find himself locking horns with FC Bayern’s teenager David Alaba in what could be a fascinating battle between two of the best prospects in German football.
But Klopp has a tendency to draft in former Dortmund skipper Sebastian Kehl in to the midfield which brings a staleness to the side with Bender and Kehl both defensive-minded players.
The champions overcame a massive hurdle in February when they beat FC Bayern for the first time in 20 years at the Allianz Arena to kill off their title hopes.
Goals from Lucas Barrios, Nuri Sahin and Mats Hummels capped off a sublime performance from the young Dortmund side in a 3-1 victory.
It is almost imperative Dortmund don’t allow the gap at the top of the Bundesliga to open up to eight points between them and FC Bayern.
And perhaps more importantly, BVB’s rivals for the Champions League places – Schalke, Gladbach and Werder – could already have opened up a gap if they win on Saturday afternoon.
***
Read more from Ross at
BundesligaFussball
or follow
@rossdunbar93
on Twitter
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