Old Foes Meet in Munich
February 17, 2005
Looking at the standings, the Bayern Munich-Dortmund match is lacking any real attractiveness. Munich sit atop the league and Dortmund are dangling in 11th place. But Bert van Marwijk's side is on a run since the start of the second leg -- 3 victories and a draw have drawn the boys in yellow and black away from the shadows of the relegation zone.
Just when the fans and leaders of the Ruhr Valley club could breathe a sigh of relief for their team on the field, they are faced with more gloom and doom off of it as the club's financial situtation is on the verge of collapsing. But that is nothing that should concern the players at the moment. As goalie Roman Weidenfeller said after their 1-0 victory against Bochum, "We're back."
It is hard to say if that is enough to topple Felix Magath's superstars. Not one current Dortmund player has won a game in Munich -- a stretch that goes back 13 years.
The competition has it a little easier
Schalke 04 don't play until Sunday when they face Mönchengladbach who are still not completely clear of the relegation zone. Gladbach have a more than impressive home record against the "Royal Blues" from Gelsenkirchen, having lost only four times in 32 matches.
One of the players of interest in this match will be Jörg Böhme. The former German national midfielder was sitting on Schalke's bench in the first leg before he was given his papers to Gladbach. There he has a spot in the starting line-up, but is not satisfied with his play so far.
"I can certainly play better," he told kicker magazine, "I lost a half year of play, but I'm positive it will get better."
Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick hopes that won't happen in this match.
Third place Werder Bremen play in Hanover, who find themselves in a bit of a funk at the moment, having won just one game in their last five matches. A worse opponent couldn't be coming as Bremen has lost only one time to Hanover in the last 17 match-ups.
Bremen, on the other hand, are experiencing a renaissance in coming away victorious their last three matches. Thomas Schaaf's side is on a roll and letting the competition know they will be fighting for the title come the 34th week.
Clash in Stuttgart
The second Sunday match, Stuttgart vs. Berlin, provides an opportunity for one team to put a huge chink in the armor of the other. Stuttgart have had a suboptimal start in the second leg, losing two of four games and dropping to fifth place. Matthias Sammer's team seems to be losing confidence and Wednesday's 0-0 against Italian side Parma in the UEFA Cup won't do much to shore up their self-belief.
Hertha Berlin are going in the opposite direction -- upwards. With eight points in four second leg matches, Berlin are in fourth place on 36 points. Hertha have lost just one match to Stuttgart in their last nine. In fact, Falko Götz' players are almost forgetting what it's like to lose – they haven't done so since October 26, 2004.
Another high-flyer at the moment are Hamburg SV. At one point in the season, they were wallowing in the relegation zone, now they rest in seventh place on 34 points. Coach Thomas Doll is the man responsible for the turnaround and he thinks Hamburg can achieve greater.
"Hamburg is just begging for international soccer," he told kicker online, "we don't want to be 'also rans' any more."
Kaiserslautern are also hitting on all cylinders. They also had to overcome a horrendous start but now have only lost once in their last ten matches. Something will have to give in Hamburg on Saturday.
Another title aspirant, Bayer Leverkusen, travel to Nuremberg. Leverkusen coach Klaus Augenthaler is quite familiar with Nuremberg, a team he led for three years. Now, he can not afford to be too nostalgic about his old side. Leverkusen are just one point away from a UEFA Cup spot. Nuremberg are crashing down the table, hoping not to be sucked into the relegation fight too soon.
The fight against relegation starts here
Bochum (16th place) and Freiburg (17th) have not always been standbys in the top division. It almost belongs to their nature as clubs to be in the fight against relegation every season. This Saturday they meet in Bochum and whoever wins will do itself a great service in trying to remain a top division club. Probably the only thing that will not help is a draw. This seems realistic however.
Rostock is firmly rooted at the bottom of the standings on 13 points. Already, the first personnel decisions in the headquarters have been made -- one ticket salesman and the archivist have already been released. On Saturday, Rostock play in Wolfsburg, not exactly one of their dream opponents. Jörg Berger's club has yet to win one of seven matches in Wolfsburg. Another ticket salesman may lose his job on Monday if the Baltic Sea club don't at least draw.
Finally, Bielefeld hosts Mainz. Bielefeld is another club that annually battles the drop to the second division but this season they are playing solid soccer and last week's decisive victory against Bayern was a sign of that.
Mainz have been on a long downward slide. Only strong play in the first 14 games has saved Jürgen Klopp's team from already being in the relegation zone. As it now stands, they are in 15th place, resting on a seven-game losing streak, six points from dropping into a relegation spot.