bundesliga blogger

Offside the Bundesliga: Making of Under Armour Football Boots

2009-08-25T00:54:00.001+02:00

The young American brand and outfitter of Hannover 96 Under Armour provides a look behind the scenes of the production of their new football boots. I found it pretty astonishing that it takes about five months from the first scrawls to the finished and actual shoe. On the other hand, I never really thought about it… Anyway, watch and learn:

Gone Coachy Gone

2009-06-07T18:01:00.000+02:00

Didn’t loyalty used to go a long way? I know, not with players who immediately leave clubs when they smell two Euros more at another one. Okay, there a few exceptions of course, Lukas Podolski for instance who returns to his love FC Cologne or Robert Enke who does not want to transferred away from Hannover but should and therefore has to. But with coaches? Coaches used to get sacked, fired or axed, as you like it, but this season might have ended an era of coaches being the weak link in the chain. Out of nowhere a huge amount of self-confidence and self esteem occurred among the trainers, letting four Bundesliga instructors leave their clubs during a running contract.

Felix Magath chose to leave Wolfsburg for Schalke at the end of the season. This became public, three weeks before the last game was played. Lucky for him, his squad didn’t let themselves be influenced as they became later Bundesliga champion. No harm done. Hamburg’s coach Martin Jol is off for Amsterdam now, after a disappointing end of the season and an argument with the management about the future of the club. Meanwhile in Leverkusen, Bruno Labbadia was also dissatisfied with his management, forcing them to release him from his contract in order to train the Redpants in Hamburg. Luckily, Bayer received around one million Euros from Hamburg for the transfer of the coach. The players will now be trained by the man who took care of Bayern Munich for the last five games of the season after Klinsmann’s dismissal. The 64-year-old pensioner, Jupp Heynckes, admitted that his short engagemt at Bayern’s sparked a fire inside him. It was a very surprising and unexpected move by Bayer and Heynckes.

And last but not least, Cologne’s coach Christoph Daum left his love, too, in order to train the guys from Fenerbahce in Istanbul. But the situation in Cologne is slightly different. Fans who feel cheated and punked by what should’ve had to be their savior, should blame their management. I don’t know whether a contract like the one they gave to Daum, has ever existed at any other club in the whole wide world where the coach has the right to step back from his engagement at two certain days a year without any declaration of reasons. But this not a big surprise for the football fans in Germany, Cologne has pretty much experience in stumbling from one ridiculousness into another. Well done FC, you proved yourself right once again!

Asianess

2009-06-04T12:32:00.000+02:00

After the dowdy draw againt China on Friday, Germany defeated the UAE 7-2 in Dubai on their second and last stop of the Asia trip on Tuesday. As suspected, it was a better training game, the only notable aspects were Schalke’s Manuel Neuer who debuted in the German goal and showed a strong and solid effort. The other thing was the four goals by Mario Gomez who somehow hadn’t scored in 15 consecutive caps while showing his goalgetter face only in the Bundesliga. A big relief for him, indeed.

Anyway, the point of the whole two game Asia trip was to put a German foot in the Asian market, believing that they have money left to burn. While all other big European leagues have multi-million-Euro deals with media corporations, the Germans hobble after them being three to four years behind as usual. But travelling with what has to be a better reserve squad to Asia, this goal was not going to be accomplished. And rightly so! Of course, many players couldn’t make the trip because they had to play in several cup finals or had other commitments but the atmosphere before and the arguments about the needlessness of this trip were nothing but an impolite slap in the face of Asian football fans. Therefore only a few fans managed to come to the games as Germany played in front of 7000 fans in Dubai.

The German football federation DFB should have sold the trip as what it was. A Thank You for the four Asian FIFA votes in order to get the 2006 World Cup to Germany. But it’s not really the proper way to thank someone with a lethargic and spiritless performance of a B-squad not to mention to earn any Asian money in the future. You still recognize the old and grey scabs in the managements of the DFB and the Bundesliga.

Christoph Daum off to Fener

2009-06-02T13:44:00.001+02:00

Big and surprising news this morning as Cologne FC Coach Christoph Daum unexpectedly canceled his contract to return to his second home Istanbul to coach the local club Fenerbahce. I can’t help it but this got an awkward smack of breach of trust. After a soap-opera kinda like office taking three years ago with press conferences held in hospitals, a lot of seesaws with quotes like ‘there are no pros and cons when it comes to love’ (great conclusion, though) and joyful elations in Cologne, the lost son leaves the city once again to return to his other love, Turkey. Media writes that he took this decision as he will earn 800.000 Euro more a year than in Germany bringing it to a total of an annual 3.5million Euro. Moreover, he was denied to go on a grand shopping tour in Cologne as the budget of the rather small club has shrunken after the transfer of 10million Euro man Lukas Podolski from Bayern Munich. The vacant position of the head coach has to be filled now, though the manhunt will become very competitive in the Bundesliga as four, maybe five other Bundesliga clubs are looking for new coaches:

Hamburger SV – Martin Jol leaving for Ajax Amsterdam.

Cologne FC – Christoph Daum leaving for Fenerbahce Istanbul.

Eintracht Frankfurt – Friedhelm Funkel had to resign after too much pressure from fans and the club.

Borussia Mönchengladbach – Hans Meyer resigned and retired, saying he’s too old for that.

Bayer Leverkusen (?) – Still on dispute, as Bruno Labbadia might get sacked or resigns himself in the next couple of days.

This reminds one less of a merry-go-round as there the positions get refilled, it’s more of a coconut shy where the coconuts or cans stay down.

Bundesliga Splashes

2009-05-31T13:12:00.001+02:00

Today’s Splashes do not really come from the Bundesliga as Germany played in China while Werder Bremen defeated Bayer Leverkusen in order to win the national cup, the DFB-Pokal.

Those who are students or did not had to work or whatever had the grateful opportunity to watch the China-Germany game at 0230pm (CET) on Friday. What they saw was a really horrible game as Lukas Podolski had to equalize early to bring the 1-1 draw home. Mario Gomez wasn’t able to score for Germany yet again, maintaining his two faces, the successful Bundesliga scoring performance as well as the international failing one. ‘Two Nations, One Passion’ was the motto of the China-trip, trying to make the Bundesliga and German football more popular in Asia. This did not only come a few years late after all other big European leagues have at least one foot in Asia’s market, but the only team who showed a bit of passion in this game, was the Chinese team. While they fought bravely against the apparently jet-legged German squad, Deutschland hardly did any advertizing with their performance. The next upcoming opportunity will be on Tuesday as they’ll take on the United Arab Emirates in hot hot Dubai.

Congratulations to Werder Bremen! The only goal of the match from Mezut Özil meant another DFB-Pokal win for Bremen as they’ll thereby have the desired chance to play in the new established UEFA-Euro-League after losing the UEFA-Cup final a couple of weeks ago. While the Bremen fans bid farewell to star midfielder Diego who leaves for Junventus FC and for retiring Captain Frank Baumann, the Bayer fans had to suffer a lost final once again. Bayer Vice-kusen’s Coach Bruno Labbadia is facing rough days now as he criticized his management before the game and is linked to several other Bundesliga clubs such as Hamburger SV where he should become the successor of Martin Jol.

See highlights of the final here!

Bundesliga Splashes

2009-05-28T21:49:00.000+02:00

Well, the Business-Punchinellos in the Bundesliga management decided before that season that it would be a great idea to bring back the 1991 abrogated relegation play-off games, meaning that the 16^th of the Bundesliga plays the 3^rd of the 2^nd Bundesliga in back-to-back matches. We now get treated with soccer-istical dainties such as Cottbus against Nuremberg. Anyway, the first match was played today, Cottbus lost 0-3 at home. Ouch! Nuremberg is getting ready to celebrate their promotion into the Bundesliga after the second leg on Sunday.

Meanwhile did Oliver Kahn interfere in the transfer politics of his old club Bayern Munich. And I’ve got to say, I share his opinion this time. He commented on Bayern’s request for Manuel Neuer, the goalkeeper of Schalke 04, saying that ‘he is a talented goalie, no more, no less’. And he doesn’t see a huge difference between him and Michael Rensing as they both have times where they play for the gallery as well as they’re fault-prone every now and then.

The next one could’ve been written by Mrs. Morissette. As Hamburg is losing their coach and are on the manhunt once again, you hear the name of Leverkusen’s coach Bruno Labbadia suddenly more often. He on the other hand is pretty much livin’ on the edge (yeah, this was Aerosmith, I know) at the Bayer club at the moment, as a loss in the DFB-Pokal final on Saturday would mean his sack. And who would Leverkusen lose to? Werder Bremen. Yes, their rival Werder Bremen who knocked the Redpants out of two semi-finals and defeated them three times in 19 days. So apparently, Werder could now help Hamburg to get the coach they want to have. Ah, Alanis…

Dances with Wolves – VfL Wolfsburg

2009-05-26T22:43:00.001+02:00

The 46th Bundesliga season has ended last Saturday, it’s time to look back at an exciting and high-scoring season. For the next few weeks, I will wrap up the season for each individual club, point out the highlights as well as the lows.

First in line, the new and first time Bundesliga champion, VfL Wolfsburg.

Wolfsburg simply impressed with statistics. Coming from the 9th position in the tables after the mid-season’s break in winter without a single away win, they elevated themselves onto the top position by winning ten games in a row. The strikers Grafite and Edin Dzeko scored both 54 of the 80 goals in total, helping the Wolves to become the first Bundesliga champion that comes from such a low mid-season position. Helpful here, was another detail. They were a real power at home, no other European team was as successful this season as Wolfsburg. They won 16 out of 17 home games, the only draw happened against… no, not Bayern, not Stuttgart, against Frankfurt (a 2-2 in week 3)!

The city of Wolfsburg was once founded by the Nazis in 1938 as a home for the staff of the newly built Volkswagen factory. Nowadays Volkswagen plays the central role of the organization as the football branch of the club is tied 100% to the Volkswagen Inc. A key fact that helped coach and manager Felix Magath to improve the squad with 60million Euro, an aid package that is going to be expected for the new season as well, despite any recessions and crises. Felix Magath will then be doing his job in Schalke while the former Stuttgart coach Armin Veh will take over his reign.

But even traditionalists have to admit that an incredible and outstanding season by the club from Lower Saxony led them to the deserved Bundesliga title.

Highlight of the season

Without any doubts the 5-1 against Bayern Munich. The fifth goal by Grafite, a slap in Bavarian faces.

Goof-up of the season

Apart from the fact that they’re still VfL Wolfsburg and come from the city Wolfsburg (yawn) a loss against Karlsruhe is barely legal. But, believe it or not, the green goal machine was defeated 2-1 by the relegated team in Bundesliga week 6. Booo!

Bundesliga Splashes

2009-05-26T17:44:00.000+02:00

Oh, what an eventful day! The merry-go-round is about to turn. First of all, the first big transfer for Bayern Munich this summer. Stuttgart’s Mario Gomez will join the Bavarians for the new season in exchange for 30million Euro, which makes it the most expensive transfer in Bundesliga history. The 23-year-old striker is about to sign a contract for apparently four years. It will be interesting to see how Luca Toni (tanti auguri, Luca!) will react to the transfer as he costs the club the most and is with 32years the oldest of the four Bayern strikers. Stuttgart on the contrary, will lose a brilliant striker who is able to score 20+ goals each season indeed, but they’ll also get a nice and fresh 30millions on their account, money which they can now use on the transfer for Barcelona’s Aleksandr Hleb. The transfer will probably put an end on the Bavarian bidding for Wolfsburg’s star striker Edin Dzeko but not to the search for a new goalkeeper. Schalke’s Manuel Neuer officially aroused interest there.

A couple of hours earlier Bremen’s star Diego was transferred to Juventus Torino for a nothingness of 24.5million Euro. The amount will be paid in three installments, plus an extra 2.5million Euro if Juve reaches certain goals. It will be interesting to see what Werder Bremen is doing with all that money and which talent they are going to conjure once again. Mönchengladbach’s talented midfielder Marko Marin is the latest gossip. But the question remains. Why did Diego move to Juventus. Certainly, the Old Lady is one of the most successful and popular club in the world. With rotten and unsafe stadiums, violence on every weekend, low attendances the Italian Serie A is not what it’s used to be anymore.

The third big news today was the leaving of Hamburg’s coach Martin Jol. Ajax Amsterdam chose him to become Marco van Basten’s successor, both clubs are negotiating a transfer fee. He led the redpants to two semi-finals and into the new established Euro League. A departure would mean a huge abuse of confidence as Hamburg was very happy to present him as their new coach after an exhausting search for a new coach last summer. Hence the manhunt will have to start over again.

Bundesliga week 34 – Los Grandos Finalos

2009-05-25T22:57:00.003+02:00

Yes, yes, it is done. Wolfsburg is the new Bundesliga title holder, Wolfsburg claimed the Meisterschaft, hitting every traditionalist in the crotch which we are of course not. Hence we compliment Volkswagen, I’m sorry, Wolfsburg on the deserved championship. A post on Wolfsburg later on but first, let’s have a look at the games from thi season’s last week of Bundesliga (boo hoo!):

VfL Wolfsburg- Werder Bremen 5-1

The neutral fans hoped for a tense and thrilling season finale but the green goal machine denied us this wish by scoring two early goals. Grafite is with his 27 goals the goalgetter of the season. Remarkably, he played only in games which gives him a goal average below 75minutes. Way to go!!!

Eh, well, in the standings’ no man’s land, a lost UEFA-Cup final a few days ago why should they make an effort. The last opportunity to win something besides dignity is the DFB-Pokal final on Saturday against Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayern Munich – VfB Stuttgart 2-1

Bayern reached their minimal goal by defeating their main rival for the 2nd place and thus the immediate qualification for the Champions League in an appalling game 2-1. Anyway, suddenly everything what Jürgen Klinsmann did was wrong and Jupp Heynckes was the holy savior. Let’s keep it that way.

Some VfB players will tell later that seeing on the scoreboard how their competitor for the 3rd place, Berlin, went down early, the motivation flew out of the window. One advice: Don’t tell that to the management. It becomes harder for them now to plan and to calculate for the new season as the Champions League qualifier will not start before mid-August when the season already began and the transfer window soon closes. Fools.

Karlsruher SC – Hertha BSC Berlin 4-0

4 goals! In one game! But apart from a decent farewell and some sort of regained dignity this victory means nothing but relegation. Bye bye Karlsruhe.

Wow, that was one hell of a loss. Receiving four goals against Karlsruhe which is pretty much illegal, throwing the Champions League spot in the garbage can, hence losing millions of Euros and thus key players like Pantelic and Voronin, this defeat was preety much the worst case scenario. Pretty much gone in 90 minutes.

Arminia Bielefeld – Hannover 96 2-2

Talking about relegation, Bielefeld joins the yellow-footers from Karlsruhe after a ridiculous week and an unnecessary draw against the worst defense of the Bundesliga. Having their coach sacked only one game from finish, the club falls more and more apart. I hope they will pick up courage and promote again next year.

The season was over a couple of games ago and thus this game provided Hannover to screw Bielefeld and to end some unfinished business. After 39-year-old veteran Michael Tarnat wasn’t probably saw off during the last home game (he even didn’t get a bouquet of flowers), Sergio Pinto attended to that in a great way.

Energie Cottbus – Bayer Leverkusen 3-0

A tough fight for the only Bundesliga club from the former GDR but they showed character and sent the once again disappointing team from Leverkusen back to the Rhine. Whether or not they’ll stay in the Bundesliga will be decided in two games against the third of the 2nd Bundesliga, Nuremburg, later this week. Fingers are crossed.

The game meant nothing for the Bayer-eleven, it’ll all come down on Saturday when they’ll face Werder Bremen in the DFB-Pokal final. A victory will provide the only chance to play international after a brilliant season’s first half was ditched by a following horrible second half.

Borussia Mönchengladbach – Borussia Dortmund 1-1

After two important wins in the last two games, Mönchengladbach rescued themselves pretty much last week. After a few moments of worrying, it was clear that relegation shouldn’t be an issue anymore. Congratulations!

Dortmund failed to crest their glorious comeback with a spot in the new Euro League after an unnecessary draw. It was a successful season though. Dortmund recovered from serious financial problems and fights within the team. The new coach Jürgen Klopp brought success and integrity back to the black and yellow.

Eintracht Frankfurt – Hamburger SV 2-3

The season is over, the not really beloved coach Friedhelm Funkel agreed to resign after the pressure from the management and the fans, all in all a usual theatrical season for United (Eintracht) Frankfurt.

Boooy, with a late winner and stunning goal Piotr Trochowski saved the season for Hamburg by kicking Dortmund from the 5th place and securing the Redpants a spot in the new established Euro League. And of course, he was offside.

FC Schalke 04 – 1899 Hoffenheim 2-3

Schalke is in the waiting for the savior and champion-maker Felix Magath to come and rescue the Königsblauen as their new coach and manager. And that’s how they played.

Although the game meant nothing for both clubs in the standings, the victory was a delayed gratification for Hoffenheim’s coach Ralf Rangnick who was sacked as Schalke coach in an ugly kind of way a few years ago.

FC Cologne – VfL Bochum 1-1

A not really eventful season is finally over and thus the waiting for Lukas Podolski comes to an end. All said.

Bochum had nothing to worry about in the last game as they managed to stay in the Bundesliga already last week. Therefore they scored a pretty great own goal…

Time is Ticking

2009-05-23T01:22:00.003+02:00

Oh boy, only a couple of hours left until the grande finale of the Bundesliga. It's gonna be extremely exciting once again, so thankful that we have yet another thrilling last day where anything can happen.
Wolfsburg? Bayern? Stuttgart? Who'll win the championship?
Dortmund? Hamburg? Who'll enter the new UEFA Euro League?
Karlsruhe? Cottbus? Bielefeld? Mönchengladbach? Who'll avoid relegation?
I'm off to bed now, but i'm looking forward to tomorrow, 1530pm when all 18 clubs play out the decisions in 9 games at the same time...
When Saturday Comes, indeed...

Bundesliga Splashes

2009-05-21T18:39:00.002+02:00

A bitter loss for Werder Bremen in the UEFA-Cup final yesterday, as they were defeated 2-1 by Schachtjor Donezk in extra-time. Without players like Diego, Per Mertesacker or Hugo Almeida, Bremen hoped to get through the extra 30minutes and into the penalty shoot-up while having with Tim Wiese an excellent goalkeeper between the posts. Unfortunately this Tim Wiese was not absolutely guiltless, allowing Jadson to score the cup winning goal in the 97^th minute. Eh, well, as much as I pity Werder, but on a certain level a blatherskite like Wiese deserved that.

After five years Eintracht Frankfurt’s coach Friedhelm Funkel resigned from his job, losing more and more advocates in the club. For several weeks now the entire stands shouted for his sacking, apparently because the club didn’t qualify for the Champions League or at least the UEFA-Cup. Which club do they think they support? With holding the 13^th spot in the tables the team stands where they belong to. No more, no less. Let’s see whom they present as Funkel’s successor. Fans like that would actually deserve a Lothar Matthäus as their new coach. I cross my fingers to that!

Therefore did Jürgen Klinsmann arrange for the hoot of the week by claiming that he would have had led Bayern to the Bundesliga championship. His first interview after his dismissal was a sweeping swipe against the Bayern management and several players. A bit of injured pride came to the surface, while he justified his behavior and clarified his actions. True words but it’s highly doubtable that he would’ve led the club to the Meisterschaft. Although it’s all left to speculations I question whether the team would’ve shown the spirit and the performance they currently have…

One of the players Klinsmann attacked was Lukas Podolski who learned to love the Bavarian club during the last days of his engagement. ‘This is the best club in Germany’ he said, while he has already packed up his belongings and sold his home in Munich. Although he is looking forward to return to his home in Cologne and to eat at his mom’s place again, he is going to miss his colleagues at FC Bayern. That’s why he left the back door open for another return, because ‘you never know’.

Bundesliga week 33 – Reaching for a Decision

2009-05-17T14:19:00.002+02:00

Oh, what a pity, Wolfsburg and Stuttgart won, Bayern and Berlin didn’t. It could’ve been really close and thrilling at the season’s finale, next weekend but unfortunately two competitors were not able to do what they had to. Winning, that is. The games:

Hannover 96 – VfL Wolfsburg 0-5

No surprise, another embarrassment by the club from lower Saxony. Poor Robert Enke received yet another 5 goals and has been licked once again. Hannover is bringing it now to a total of 67 goals against and we’re all very optimistic that the glorious 70 mark will be reached next week.

Dzeko, Grafite, Grafite, Dzeko, Dzeko. What else is there to say? Grafite is leading the scorer tables with 26, followed by Edin Dzeko with 25. That’s the Meisterschaft.

VfB Stuttgart – Energie Cottbus 2-0

A superior game by the Swabians, making a big step towards Champions League.

Oh, Cottbus, having an excellent opportunity while being 0-1 down but hitting the cross bar doesn’t change a game yet, demoralizing oneself moreover. Relegation is nearly unavoidable.

1899 Hoffenheim – Bayern München 2-2

Hoffenheim still had a bone to pick with the Bavarians after that bitter last-minute-loss in Munich in December. And they picked it, by probably ruining the Bundesliga Championship. You can’t hurt ‘em more…

That would have to be it. They blew this game and the Meisterschaft with missed opportunities, stupid mistakes and missing cleverness. They haven’t got anyone to blame but themselves.

Hertha BSC Berlin – Schalke 04 0-0

And so does Berlin. The club just needed to win against an insecure team like Schalke to maintain its chance to play a role in the title race but like Bayern they were not able to control their nerves in front of a sold-out Olympic Stadium.

Yeah, well, the season ended a couple of weeks ago, they haven’t lost, who asked for more?

Hamburger SV – 1.FC Köln 0-1

And talking about disappointments, Hamburg is able to fail big time! Lost in two semi-finals, lost ground in the battle for the championship last week and are now about to blow the Euro League. That would be one horrible season for the Redpants.

Who would’ve thought? They’re still alive! Oh my God, how did that happen?

VfL Bochum – Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0

Congratulations! There it was, the much needed win to rescue themselves and to stay at least a further year in the Bundesliga. Way to go!

Eh, well, they avoided relegation. Who apart from the Eintracht fans asked for more?

Werder Bremen – Karlsruher SC 1-3

Excuse me? Oh right, they don’t care about the Bundesliga anymore with two finals in front of them. So apparently you’re allowed to lose against a desperate bottom of the league team.

A stunning win by the yellow-footers! Been written off last week, they showed an enormous performance to keep a teeny tiny chance to rescue themselves.

Bayer Leverkusen – Borussia Mönchengladbach 5-0

Wow, the first and only win in their temporary home in Düsseldorf. Man of the match was the substituted veteran and all-time hero Bernd Schneider who did what he does best, giving an assist while being only a couple of minutes in the game. Just wow!

The Borussia is prooobably rescued although those five goals are displeasing and could lead to problems next week. But that is very hypothetical.

Borussia Dortmund – Arminia Bielefeld 6-0

With a superior and easy win, and a little help from Cologne which won in Hamburg, the black and yellow elevated themselves onto a precious Euro-League spot in the tables. Another win next week in Mönchengladbach secures the qualification.

A slight chance remains for Bielefeld to stay in the Bundesliga, so maybe that’s why the management sacked coach Michael Frontzeck after the game to keep that hope. The reason was good enough: ‘We didn’t collect enough points’. Yeah, well…

It’s getting tight, it’s getting thrilling, and we all can’t wait until the decisions will be made next week. When Saturday comes…

Bundesliga week 32 – Second Act

2009-05-14T17:16:00.000+02:00

Eintracht Frankfurt – Werder Bremen 0-5

The pressure on Frankfurt’s coach Friedhelm Funkel is rising and although the team managed to stay in the Bundesliga, the fans apparently want more. But with those players, there isn’t much more to achieve. Yet another case of lost of reality.

Bremen on the other hand continues to surf on cloud nine, having the opportunity to win two trophies, they can now lay back and enjoy the rest of the Bundesliga. Which they obviously did with a second stunning 5-0 win over Frankfurt this season.

Schalke 04 – VfB Stuttgart 1-2

The third straight loss for the Königsblauen doesn’t really change anything. There are no goals which could be aimed for, the issue of the new coach and manager is dealt with thus the season for Schalke is already over.

Even without a slightly injured Mario Gomez, Stuttgart was able to win another important three points to stay in the battle for the Bundesliga championship. And the longer the Swabians are in this race the more does the 2-2 draw in Bielefeld a couple of games hurt.

Hamburger SV – VfL Bochum 3-1

Hamburg had to win. It’s simple as that. After 19 horrible days in which the club lost two semi-finals and bid farewell to the Bundesliga championship they now have to collect the points in order to finish the season at least on the Europe League spots.

Bochum had to win. It’s simple as that. But they didn’t. And that keeps them only a single point clear from the relegation zone. Not the most comfortable cushion.

Energie Cottbus – Borussia Mönchengladbach 0-1

A real relegation final and Cottbus lost it with a latelate winner for Mönchengladbach. Nothing is over yet, but they gave the much needed three points away to a direct rival. Sad.

But congratulations to the Borussia on that second late win a row. Great last minute goal by Brazilian Dante Bonfim. They fought, they had the luck, they deserved it. I would bet on them now, I don’t think that they’ll be relegated with their current momentum.

Arminia Bielefeld – 1899 Hoffenheim 0-2

A bitter loss for the mighty Arminia! They had so many opportunities in this game while stupid and unnecessary mistakes gave at least the draw away. But everything is still possible. Side note: With this game, Markus Schuler established a new Bundesliga record by never scoring a single goal in all of his 181 Bundesliga games. Wait that it’s not true. In 2007 he produced an own goal against Dortmund. Congratulations(??).

Hoffenheim only won through the mistakes Bielefeld provided. And they did those mistakes because Hoffenheim’s jerseys distracted not only us viewers but also the players with acute pain in the eyes. Yuck!

Bundesliga Week 32 - First Act

2009-05-13T12:58:00.002+02:00

Finally some midweek action with the following games:

Bayern Munich – Bayer Leverkusen 3-0

Great game by Lukas Podolski who was involved in six of the last eight Bayern goals. However they missed a lot of opportunities against a weak Bayer side to close the gap to Wolfsburg in the goals-for-column, being still two goals behind. Technically they’re even three goals behind with one strike less on their side in total.

Bayer were denied two crystal clear penalties in the first twenty minutes that they didn’t had the slightest chance to recover from their ‘bad luck’ (let’s hope it was that). One other possibility that the referee didn’t blow his whistle could be that he was appalled by the ugliest Bundesliga jerseys this season. Where the hell did they get those from?

VfL Wolfsburg – Borussia Dortmund 3-0

Dzeko twice, Grafite once, 3 goals, 3 points, top of the league.

Borussia received their first defeat after winning seven games in a row. In addition Kevin-Prince Boateng was banned for four games and thus for the rest of the season after that kick.

1.FC Köln – Hertha BSC Berlin 1-2

They should be so lucky. Lucky, lucky, lucky that they collected the required points to stay in the Bundesliga during the first half of the season. With their current performance the billy goats would have deserved to relegate.

Berlin isn’t playing pretty, fair enough. But with their spirit, their performance and their tactics they keep winning and winning putting them in the reach for the Bundesliga championship. Everybody is focusing on Wolfsburg and Bayern while underestimating the kickers from the capital. This is clearly their chance to shock the established teams.

Karlsruher SC- Hannover 96 2-3

While leading 2-0, Karlsruhe keeper Markus Miller was probably already calculating the chances of his side to remain in the Bundesliga, not realizing that Hannover’s Frank Fahrenhorst shot on his goal. In the best English manner he paid tribute to the goalkeepers from the island, letting the ball slip through his hands and into the net for the 1-2. He’s now able to do the math pretty easily, Karlsruhe got relegated for real.

Good effort by Hannover to recover from a 0-2 although it was only Karlsruhe. German national keeper Robert Enke showed yet another astonishing performance demonstrating his side that without him there wouldn’t be many differences to Karlsruhe.

Bundesliga Wrap Up – Week 31

2009-05-10T21:38:00.000+02:00

Bayer Leverkusen – Arminia Bielefeld 1-1

For the Bayer team, a good luck charm is something else but the LTU-Arena in Düsseldorf. Remaining without a single win in their temporary home, Leverkusen is failing over and over again to defeat even the lower positioned teams. Anyway, they only have one ‘home’ game left before the season is over.

Bielefeld missed the opportunity to leave Düsseldorf with what would have been veeery important three points in order to avoid relegation. As a result it remains tight down there in the tables after Patrick Helmes scored the equalizer for Bayer in the 79^th minute.

Hannover 96 – Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1

Yaaawn. Two questions. Who would have missed this game if it hadn’t been played and who expected a different result in the first place?

Borussia Dortmund – Karlsruher SC 4-0

Great effort by the Borussia winning seven games in a row now, getting closer and closer to end the Bundesliga season on an European League spot. But where could they have finished if they hadn’t drawn an astonishing 13 times?!

You think that was it for Karlsruhe, failing to score in eight consecutive games having only 23 points on their account? Not this season, three games to go and still in reach for the rescuing 15^th place in the standings.

1899 Hoffenheim – 1.FC Köln 2-0

Twelve games without a win, made the surprising team of the Bundesliga season’s first half nervous and thus naturally led to self destructional tendencies having the self-absorbed coach shooting against everybody else in the club while the proud investor is not sitting down on this. Luckily the billy goats are visiting the town, because:

If you haven’t won in a long time, if you haven’t scored for several games, if you didn’t manage to keep a clean sheet for quite some matches, Cologne is the opponent you’re looking for! They once again made the grade to be the perfect and reliable sparring partner.

Hertha BSC Berlin- VfL Bochum 2-0

Look who’s back again! Berlin recovered from a few set-backs and managed to be back just in time for the chase after the Bundesliga championship.

The VfL is still struggling to get out of the swamp that soaks you into relegation. And it doesn’t get much easier next week, having another away game and that in Hamburg even!

VfB Stuttgart – VfL Wolfsburg 4-1

Mario Gomez having scored all four goals, among them with 30 seconds into the game the fastest of the season, winning three points against a competitor in the title race, being in a brilliant shape for the decisive last three Bundesliga games, what is there much else to say?

Is it the nerves, is it the disaffection of the coach, the lofty heights, was it the fast goal against them? The good thing for the team is that there isn’t much time for the media to rub it in, the next Bundesliga game will be already on Tuesday against Dortmund. And although this will be a tough game, it is a splendid opportunity to make up for the humiliating loss.

Energie Cottbus – Bayern Munich 1-3

You’re fighting to stay in the Bundesliga, you have limited abilities, you’re opponent is Bayern Munich with a new coach and a new spirit, how much to lose is there really? Exactly.

A confident and important away win gave them the second place in the Bundesliga tables separated from Wolfsburg by two goals only. Franck Ribery missed from the penalty spot in the last minutes of the game. Only a cynical pessimist expects consequences…

Borussia Mönchengladbach – Schalke 04 1-0

Although Marko Marin missed an early penalty, the Borussia managed with a last minute winner to scramble out of the relegation and onto a safe 15^th spot in the Bundesliga standings. It is getting really interesting in the red zone of the tables.

Schalke still on hold for their new coach/manager Felix Magath bid farewell to the European League spots and are thus ready for a complete reboot next season (if you wanna see it optimistically).

Werder Bremen – Hamburger SV 2-0

Of course the fans threw paper balls onto the pitch and of course did Bremen win the final game of their private 4-games-series with Hamburg again, denying the ‘Redshorts’ a UEFA-Cup final spot, a DFB-Pokal final spot and probably the opportunity to win the Bundesliga championship. Now that’s an archenemy for real!

Hamburg lost every decisive game, all to their northern rival from Bremen, getting screwed twice at their home, the breeze is blowing rougher and rougher…

…and congrats to SC Freiburg who made a clean sweep promoting to the Bundesliga today!

Remember throwing paper balls in school?

2009-05-08T13:28:00.001+02:00

A paper ball has rolled through every editorial department we have in Germany, being in the center of general attention, while the night before, it was responsible for Hamburg’s UEFA-Cup semi-final exit.

What happened? The HSV supporters had a beautiful choreography using paper tapes in their team colors blue, white and black. A few fans threw their scrunched up paper stripes on the pitch afterwards, where one particular paper ball lay peacefully until the 84^th minute. Then Hamburg defender Michael Gravgaard came. Bremen led 2-1 up until now, he wanted to pass an easy ball back to his goalkeeper, he struck out, but the ball rolled over that innocent paper ball and jumped against his leg where it bounced off over the line. Although the paper ball was offside the referee decided to give Bremen a corner kick. Diego’s kick first landed on Bremen’s Almeida’s head, then on Hamburg’s Trochowski’s before Bremen’s Frank Baumann pushed the ball with his forehead in the net, scoring the decisive 3-1.

Bremen have now won twice in Hamburg, kicking their northern rivals out of two semi-finals and lead the 4-games-in-19-days-series 2-1. The next clash will be in Bremen on Sunday, where Hamburg can make up for their decisive defeats and maintain their chance to reach one of the top spots in the Bundesliga tables at the end of the season. Bremen already gave up their Bundesliga season a couple of weeks ago which was the right tactic to focus on the decisive and important semi-final games against Hamburg. The UEFA-Cup trophy as well as the DFB-Pokal is calling for their name to be engraved on it.

And the paper ball? People suddenly go nuts and bid on the domain papierkugel.de, several paper balls were put on ebay and it remains to be seen how many paper balls the Bremen fans will through on the pitch on Sunday. But the fateful paper ball was given to Bremen’s manager Klaus Allofs who promised to provide a spot for it in the Werder-museum next to the now possible UEFA-Cup trophy.

You Gotta Love Those Speculations

2009-05-05T14:17:00.000+02:00

Fair enough. Cristiano Ronaldo’s impact on the Bundesliga or the German football in general is not really worth to mention. Okay there was Portugal’s EURO ’08 quarter-final loss or the whole bunch of young show-offs with golden football boots who try to copy this Manchester United poser.

At the same time is Real Madrid not only since the 2-6 disaster against Barcelona in San Bernabeu on the hunt for new players to make their team competitive again for the next season. It also happens to be the next president’s election at the royal club on May 14^th and former president Florentino Pérez who reigned the club from 2000-2006 and thus responsible for the Galácticos has to present his agenda, or better his shopping to the electorate.

And now you do the math. So what’s ManU’s plan? Of course Bayern’s Ribery. Apparently the Red Devils offered 70 million Euro for the Bavarian king who is according to the grapevine not really averse to get transferred away, especially not to Manchester (aren’t we in a recession or a crisis or something…?). His personal sponsor Nike would love to see him in ManU’s Nike jersey not only to get over the fact that their Ronaldo will be wearing Reals’ Adidas shirts.

But what happens with Bayern? Rumor has it that there have already been negotiations with Werder Bremen’s management about their star, Brazilian Diego. As for Bremen who simply have the talented to find young and talented successors for their leavings around the world, the Bavarians are more buy-the-best-players-from-their-rivals oriented. To name a ballpark, we’re talking about 15-20 million Euro. Besides Diego, Bayern also tries to convince Barcelona and the unhappy Aleksandr Hleb who could form a totally new creative centerpiece in their game. Talking about unhappiness, Madrid’s Rafael van der Vaart will probably be dispensable again next season. He mentioned that his former club Hamburg is his second home. But will he be really disappointed to play for Bayern Munich?

But it all comes back to the Ferrari-crasher up there in Manchester. He is the one who has to kick-off the merry-go-round. It’s getting interesting…

Northern Dress Rehearsal

2009-05-03T23:59:00.000+02:00

The two northern clubs Hamburg and Bremen had to play in the Bundesliga one more time before they’ll face each other on Thursday for the second leg of the UEFA-Cup semi-final.

Hamburg had to take on Berlin which is a direct competitor for the Bundesliga championship. But with a 1-1 draw the chances have shrunk for both teams although the upcoming opponents could be easier to play against than those for Wolfsburg, Bayern and Stuttgart.

In the meantime did Bremen lose 0-1 in Cologne with their backup team. Being in the no man’s land of the tables the loss had no further consequences for Werder in contrast to Cologne who assured themselves with this victory a place in the Bundesliga for next year. But we’ll see how game three of the Hamburg-Bremen clash will be like, Hamburg with maybe a more exhausted squad but therefore with a 1-0 away win in their back.