- Borussia Dortmund – VfB Stuttgart 3:0
- Hertha BSC Berlin – Energie Cottbus 0:1
- Werder Bremen – 1899 Hoffenheim 5:4
- VfL Bochum – Bayer Leverkusen 2:3
- Hamburger SV – Borussia Mönchengladbach 1:0
- Hannover 96 – Bayern München 1:0
- 1.FC Köln – Schalke 04 1:0
- Eintracht Frankfurt – Arminia Bielefeld 1:1
- Karlsruher SC – VfL Wolfsburg 2:1
When talking about the ranking of the Bundesliga in Europe people in the German media always point out that the games played here are not spectacular enough to draw the attention of audiences across the world. An argument which completely goes against the popularity of the Italian Serie A, but never mind. Still this years everything seems to be slightly different. This weekend saw a spectacular display of offensive fireworks, especially with the 9-goal match in Bremen. Hoffenheim, Bundesliga rookies, pushed championship favourite Werder a good deal and only the inexperience of the young team from southern Germany assured the win for them with a wonderful goal by Mesut Özil who more and more looks like the player Werder needed. Branded a failed talent who has only big bucks in his head at Schalke he transferred to Bremen to get his career back on track. And, boy, what a fine player he is. His goal against Bayern München was top notch and the two he scored against Hoffenheim were of no lesser quality. This game was no fun for people who like strong defensive displays but for those who just like to watch football for the fun of seeing teams score a lot of goals this was excellent. In a time when most teams secure a 0-0 draw first this was anachronistic to the max. All out attacking football for the masses.
And this trend seems to go on and on all around the league. On Friday 1.FC Köln took apart another big name, Schalke 04 (1-0). Schalke didn’t stand a chance at all and had they scored the equalizer in the last minute it would have been an undeserved point. Cologne on the other hand revamped themselves and showed their attacking face to their fans who simply loved it. Chance after chance, attack after attack was rolling towards the Schalke goal and the team from the Ruhrgebiet area had to thank their young stand in goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann, who saved almost every ball hit into his direction. The speed of the game was breathtaking and was only rivaled by what was to come on Saturday at Bremen.
Leverkusen are one of those offensive teams as well as they stormed to another victory at Bochum (2-3) after thrashing Hannover (4-0) at home the previous week. With the acquisition of Patrick Helmes their front row looks impressive and with the intelligence of Arturo Vidal and Renato Augusto they are surely a force to be reckoned with.
The biggest surprise however came at Hannover were a struggling 96 side edged out a win against high favourites Bayern who just don’t seem to find their rhythm. Coach Jürgen Klinsmann didn’t take along some first team players and the side he sent onto the pitch didn’t show any spirit at all. The Bayern bosses must be fuming right now and the transition of Klinsmann from a national side coach to a domestic league trainer looks to be more difficult than expected. Although they are still missing the magic of Franck Ribéry who is still recovering from his leg injury this team has enough potential to win games without their creative mastermind. Something else must be missing.
Things are close in the Bundesliga and that’s how we like it! This season is a lot of fun right now.
Fortuna Köln got their campaign back on track with a 1-1 draw against division leaders SG Wattenscheid 09, a match up which remeinded a lot of people of times long passed. Both teams had met in the 2. Bundesliga a long time ago playing a thrilling 5-6 match at the Südstadion in Cologne in 1989. This time the settled with a point each.
2 Responses to “Bundesliga 08/09 Day 6: That’s Entertainment”