DEFENDING CHAMPS CLOSE THE GAP ON SCHALKE
Unterhaching hand Frankfurt their fifth consecutive defeat (Eintracht's
last victory was against Bayern - it's a curse !!!). Wolfsburg shows
Leverkusen their limits. Köln come from two down to rescue a point from
the feet of autumn champs Schalke. Dortmund ease to victory over
Hansa.
1860 München hang on to victory over fellow strugglers Hamburg.
Stuttgart - Freiburg, a game to forget...quickly ! Klose helps Brehme's
Red Devils to another 3 pointer. Bayern take maximum advantage of it's
adversaries' mistakes. Cottbus become the 2nd East Club in a row to
beat Bremen.
15 DECEMBER 2000
UNTERHACHING 2-0 FRANKFURT
Hirsch 19
Breitenreiter 86
Fjørtoft had the first chance of the night but was unlucky when his
good turn-around shot crashed off the crossbar. Rraklli dived for a
free kick at the edge of the box under a pathetic challenge from
Lösch, Hirsch fired in the resulting free kick.
Eintracht's second 'keeper Schmitt made a good save from Rraklli
on the counter attack. Seifert shot just over after a corner.
Tremmel fantastically parried Kryszalowicz' shot against the post,
easily Frankfurt's biggest chance after the break.
Haber crossed(!) against the post at the other end. Zimmermann
laid the ball past Houbtchev on his right, ran past the snail-paced
defender on the left and then centred for Breitenreiter who had a
field day putting away the decisive 2-0. [TL]
Attendance : 6,000
16 DECEMBER 2000
WOLFSBURG 2-0 LEVERKUSEN
Müller 55
Nowak 88
Akonnor headed Muneanu's corner against the crossbar. Young man Sven
Müller ran onto Nowak's backheel, clobbered Nowotny(!) and fired the
ball past Matysek from a very acute angle - great goal ! Juskowiak
wasted a 1000% chance wide open in front of goal.
The big Pole should have been sent off for blatant diving, kept going
down like a cheap whore all game long. Finally Nowak put the game out
of reach with a long header off the post from Akonnor's free kick.
Leverkusen simply didn't happen in this game, pathetic display against
a Wolfsburg which was without key starters Thomsen, Kühbauer,
Sebescen and Akpoborie.
[TL]
Bayer Leverkusen's record against the Top 6 clubs in the Bundesliga :
3 WINS : 2-0 v BVB, 4-2 v FCK, 4-0 v BSC
1 DRAW : 0-0 @ S04
1 LOSS : 0-2 @ FCB
Attendance : 12,955
KÖLN 2-2 SCHALKE
Donkov 72 Böhme 11
Cullmann 75 Asamoah 34
The pitch in the Müngersdorfer Stadion was in awful condition so this
game turned out to be a real fight. Böhme pounced onto Sand's header,
clobbered Cichon on the wing and drove to the middle of the box before
curling a beautiful shot into the top-right corner with his weaker
right foot. Christian Timm who extended his contract with Köln until
2004 despite interst by Bayern and Hertha wasted a great chance from
Lottner's through pass.
Asamoah did better from Van Kerckhoven's throughball, Schalke were up
2-0 just after an hour an deservedly so. The Knappen then had plenty
of chances to further increase their lead but what happens when you
don't use them ? Right, the opponent gets back into play : Scherz
flicked onto a long punt out of defense, substitute Donkov ran onto
the ball and fired past Reck from an acute angle.
Cullmann even grabbed the equalizer 3 minutes later with a header from
Lottner's free kick but Köln underwent massive pressure until the end
of the game from now on : Voigt was sent off for handballing, his 2nd
bookable offence and Schalke should have been awarded a penalty when
Cichon handballed in the box but it stayed 2-2. From the course of the
season i.e. Köln's strength at home this result would mean a point won
for Schalke, from the course of the game it's two points lost. [TL]
Schalke 04's record against the Top 6 clubs in the Bundesliga :
3 WINS : 0-4 @ BVB, 3-2 v FCB, 0-4 @ BSC
1 DRAW : 0-0 v LEV
1 LOSS : 2-3 @ FCK (very controversial, read my Round 11 report)
Red Card : Voigt 78 (Köln)
Attendance : 42,000 (sold out)
ROSTOCK 1-2 DORTMUND
Rydlewicz 57 (Pen) Reina 8
Addo 48
Addo ran onto a great through pass from Nerlinger, Reina bundled
his centre over the line despite having Yasser all over him. Billy
R. then missed an open goal by inches after breaking through on the
wing. Agali should have been awarded a penalty after Lehmann mowed
down the tree-long Nigerian in the box.
Dortmund had an optimal start into the 2nd half as well, Addo ran
onto Oliseh's HUGE 50 meter pass and lobbed the ball over Pieckenhagen
who came out into the empty net. Agali received his penalty when
Lehmann pulled his leg after completely missing out on a cross,
Rydlewicz hammered the ball into the meshes for the consolation
because this was as close as a clever Borussia let them. [TL]
Borussia Dortmund's record against the Top 6 clubs in the Bundesliga :
1 WIN : 2-0 v BSC
0 DRAWS : /
4 LOSSES : 0-4 v S04, 0-2 @ LEV, 1-2 v (lucky) FCK, 2-6 @ FCB
Attendance : 14,000
STUTTGART 0-0 FREIBURG
Ahem. <clears-his-throat>
Freiburg had no 'juice' left but Stuttgart was unable to capitalize.
Soldo had the biggest chance of the game when he headed against the
crossbar. Both teams will meet each other again in cup play midweek.
With this draw Stuttgart coach Rangnick has earned another 4 days
"on probation". [TL]
Attendance : 19,500
BOCHUM 1-0 KAISERSLAUTERN
Klose 37
Man of the hour Miroslav Klose scored the only goal of the afternoon
with a 'run-in' from Strasser's cross. Milinovic was sent off for
elbowing Klose as last man. [TL]
Kaiserslautern's record against the Top 6 clubs in the Bundesliga :
3 WINS : 1-2 @ BVB, 3-2 v S04, 4-2 @ BSC
1 DRAW : 0-0 v FCB
1 LOSS : 2-4 @ LEV
Red Card : Milinovic 80 (Bochum)
Attendance : 15,800
1860 MÜNCHEN 2-1 HAMBURG
Bierofka 23 Barbarez 74
Agostino 63
Great! Now, as our injury trouble gets down to a normal level, the
team has a virus infection... Due to this infection, some injuries
(Cardoso) and the ban for Nico Kovac (5th yellow) we had to play
without our first midfield (again *sigh*) and our new signing
Meijer. As 60 is not in their best shape either, the result was
a dull game with a deserved winner from Munich.
The game started with a Häßler freekick hitting wood and Butt
being substituted by Schober because of injury. The injury happened
in the warm-up, but Butt tried to play... The keeper of 60 was more
intelligent : He got an injury in the warm-up as well but didn't play.
Bierofka played give and go with Agostino and the post(!) and scored.
In the second half Schober deflected a shot into the middle of the
area right in front of Agostino who scored easily. After more than
one hour my team noticed that this was a Bundesliga-match and tried
to start to play football - the result came immediately : A few
chances and Barbie scoring from 16m after a Doll pass.
Some minutes later our beloved referee Dr. Markus Merk(würdig)
sent off Barbie with his second yellow - he jumped for a header
with Jentzsch, 60's keeper... Thank you for deciding this game, MM.
60 had some more good chances while HSV couldn't do anything with
10 vs. 11. Despite MM's funny decision it was a well deserved
victory for 60 as we played football only for a few minutes in
the second half. [SM]
Red Card : Barbarez 85 (Hamburg)
Attendance : 19,700
17 DECEMBER 2000
HERTHA 1-3 BAYERN MÜNCHEN
Preetz 25 Santa Cruz 16
Effenberg 33 (Pen)
Zickler 60
Teenager Roque Santa Cruz who got a rare start paid back the trust
Hitzfeld gave him with a spectacular scissor kick while laying on
the ground after Király just parried his diving header. Michael
Hartmann, playing as left piece of a flat back four, cut through
the Bayern defense like a sharp knife through fresh birthday cake,
Preetz had no problems putting away his centre for the equalizer.
Alex Alves, back from suspension, stupidly tackled(!) Brazzo in
the box (this happens when attackers try to "help" in the opposite
area), penalty, Tiger Effenberg coolly sent Király the wrong way
for his 1st goal of the season.
Alex Zickler, the other Bayern striker getting a rare start, ran
onto Effenberg's beautiful opening pass and smashed the ball past
the 'keeper, "Zicko" is just deadly on the counter attack. Hertha
had some semi-chances but Bayern brought this baby home through
solid defending and could have even added a couple more on the
counter attack. [TL]
Bayern München's record against the Top 6 clubs in the Bundesliga :
3 WINS : 4-1 v BSC, 6-2 v BVB, 2-0 v LEV
1 DRAW : 0-0 @ FCK
1 LOSS : 2-3 @ S04
Attendance : 57,169 (sold out)
COTTBUS 3-1 BREMEN
Kobylanski 4 Aílton 38 (Pen)
Helbig 44
Mátyus 68
Helbig played in Reghecampf who had to wait for ages before Kobylanski
finally arrived so he could centre and the Pole unchallenged shot high
into the net. Thielemann tore down Aílton in the box, Toni put away the
spot kick himself.
But Werder, masters of conceding goals at psychologically inconvenient
moments, again let another one in shortly before half time, Helbig ran
onto Hujdurovic's long punt out of defense, did a little dancing with
Skripnik and sent a deflected shot past Rost. Mátyus headed in Miriuta's
free kick after being on the pitch for a whole 15 seconds.
Werder's cowardly coach Schaaf started the game with one attacker
only (Aílton) which stuck the Green White Attack into a tactical
straitjacket, when he brought on Pizarro after an hour it was
already too late as the players had already given up mentally.
If Werder loses against 'Haching they're well cemented in the
relegation zone and have to celebrate x-mas as 17th. [TL]
Attendance : 12,738
Ciao,
[TL] = Tim Leidecker
[SM] = Sven Mischkies
Tim Leidecker
http://milanmania.com
http://soccer-europe.com
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