WE HAVE A NEW LEADER
Schalke drops the hot potatoe a.k.a. league lead as the "Knappen" are
destroyed in Cottbus. Fellow "Ruhrpott" teams Dortmund and Bochum are
not much better, they fall to 1860 and Hertha respectively. Bayern
put on a good show at home power Wolfsburg while Leverkusen is the
only team of the top four which can keep the pace with a victory at
bogey team Unterhaching.
In other action Werder wins the North Derby against Hamburg to make
coach Pagelsdorf's chair even shakier, Brasilian topscorer Adhemar
scores a hattrick in Stuttgart's 6-1 romping of Kaiserslautern,
Eintracht Frankfurt wins it's first game after axing Magath despite
lots of 'red' and Freiburg scores a quiet win in Köln as the SC
continues to silently climb up the table.
2 FEBRUARY 2001
1860 MÜNCHEN 1-0 DORTMUND
Häßler 53 (Pen)
Bierofka, the best player on the pitch, penetrated into the area,
Evanílson slightly bumped into him, the U-21 winger went down and
the ref pointed at the penalty spot. "Icke" Häßler converted against
his old club. Ricken cleverly got himself sent off in the very last
minute for his second bookable offence. Awful, awful game. Dortmund
had no attitude towards this game, basically didn't take place at
all and deservedly lost.
Red Card : Ricken 90 (Dortmund)
Attendance : 20,000
3 FEBRUARY 2001
KÖLN 0-1 FREIBURG
Kobiashvili 87 (Pen)
This match featured one of the best offensive lines in the league
(Köln, 38 goals scored) against one of the premier defenses (Freiburg,
only 21 goals conceded). The pitch was in a terrible condition though
and it was raining cats & dogs as well which prevented this game from
becoming pretty. Scherz had the biggest chance of the 1st half when he
ran onto Willi's incredible hospital pass and rounded Golz but was then
brilliantly stopped by the awesome Diarra who simply took the ball off
him.
After Köln had shot their load in the 1st half Freiburg made the music
in the 2nd: Iashvili barely missed from But's free kick. Coulibaly
tested reserve keeper Bade (once again in the nets for the injured
Pröll) with a Roberto-Carlosesque free kick and Sellimi missed a huge
chance 1-on-1 with the 'keeper. After missing another two big chances
Freiburg finally broke through when Dorn won a penalty and Kobiashvili
converted.
Conclusion: The FC is not European material as some of their faithful
may wish. Freiburg wins their first ever Bundesliga game in Köln because
they played harder, more aggressive and simply better under difficult
pitch conditions. The SC is in really good form these days.
Attendance : 28,500
BOCHUM 1-3 HERTHA
Peschel 62 Preetz 32
Michalke 67, 90
"Das Phänomen" Michael Preetz scored his 12th goal of the season from
a goalmouth scramble after half an hour, not much had happened before.
It took the game another 30 minutes until the next remarkable scene,
the agile Drincic sent Peschel on a journey with a brilliant through
pass (Hertha's defense was standing far too high up the pitch though)
and "PePe" scored off the post.
Hertha replied: Michalke, on for the hurt Deisler, bounced Tretschok's
free kick off his chest, his marker Schindzielorz unluckily slipped,
Michalke scored with a crisp turn around shot into the near corner.
The Berliner then put the final nail in the coffin on the counter
attack: Hartmann, Tretschok and Michalke exchanged passes on a 3 on 2
break, Michalke with the easy finish against his old mates (he played
for 12 years in Bochum before joining Hertha 2 years ago).
Hertha wins their 1st ever game in Bochum (their record was an
astounding 0-0-13 before) while the VfL looks set for Liga 2.
Attendance : 15,302
BREMEN 3-1 HAMBURG
Pizarro 45, 89 Heinz 56
Aílton 71 (Pen)
Hamburg was the better team in the first minutes, Heinz was guilty
of missing two bigger chances. Defensive liablilty Barbarez fouled
Trares in dangerous position, Claudio-Pizarro-Fußballgott stepped
up and hammered the resulting free kick under the bar to give Werder
the psychological momentum just before half time. The game picked
up a tremendous pace after the break but Werder in shape of Aílton
and Pizarro kept wasting chances.
Thus Heinz equalized with a powerful shot into the middle of the
goal courtesy of a grave positional error by "slow snail" Verlaat
(assist Barbarez). Rost made a great save against Mahdavikia, his
counterpart Butt denied Aílton at the other end and Heinz struck
the crossbar. The game was on the razor's edge when Bode won a
penalty for being 'pulled' by Groth and Toni hammered the ball
past the 'keeper from the spot.
Rost had to make another super save against Heinz under the eyes
of national team boss Völler and then Pizarro put the game out of
reach with a blast past Butt after he won the ball off Kovac and
swapped passes with Trares. Hamburg has now lost 10 out of their
last 11 games, how long can Frank Pagelsdorf still hang on to his
job ? Werder however has now won their last 5 consecutive home
games and are unbeaten at home in 8 games.
Attendance : 31,526
WOLFSBURG 1-3 BAYERN MÜNCHEN
Juskowiak 27 Élber 13, 60
Scholl 45
Scholl shocked the home crowd for the first time after 10 minutes when
his header crashed off the post, Élber had the subsequent putback
disallowed for offisde. Bayern kept piling forward: Zickler ran onto
a Brazzo longball, took 5 meters off Kryger in the running duel,
centred and Élber was left wide open to tunnel Reitmaier for the 0-1.
Kahn then gifted Wolfsburg the equalizer with an unchacteristic mistake:
The Bayern 'keeper spilled Juskowiak's header leaving the big bum to
crash home the equalizer.
Bayern carelessly pissed away several high% chances before Scholl slid
in his 6th of the season from Sagnol's excellent centre to finish off
the first half in style. There was simply no stopping these Bayern (at
least not for Wolfsburg), the VfL then even gifted them their 3rd goal
when young Nigerian defender Ifejiagwa completely missed another Sagnol
cross, Reitmaier came out of goal and Élber splashed in between to head
home his 2nd of the afternoon.
Zickler kept on abusing Kryger some more but forgot to score the goals
(his old achilles' heel), otherwise Bayern could have easily doubled
their lead. Defensive and workrate liability Sforza was finally put on
the bench by coach Hitzfeld and it showed: Bayern once again had 11
(not only 10) players on the pitch who played well and fought hard and
with this attitude they're very tough to beat.
Attendance: 20,400 (sold out)
COTTBUS 4-1 SCHALKE
Miriuta 1 Sand 54
Helbig 42
Kobylanski 72
Labak 75
Schalke was without their influential defense boss Waldoch who's out
with torn ligaments in his ankle for at least another six weeks. The
Kings' Blues were also missing Andy Möller but at least they were
welcoming back Belgian Player of the Year Emile Mpenza who has been
cured of his thigh trouble. Kick off: Kobylanski was fouled by Mulder
in promising position and set piece specialist Miriuta curled in the
resulting free kick after only 47 seconds (helped by a pathetic
'keeping attempt from Reck though).
Schalke's 'keeper then cost his team another goal when he punched
Thielemann's cross onto Hajto and Helbig only had to tap the rebound
into the empty net. The hopes of the S04 faithful briefly flickered
back up when Sand put away Mpenza's centre barely 10 minutes into
the 2nd half but Cottbus instantly replied: Reghecampf clashed a shot
against the crossbar and after Böhme saw 'red' for lashing out on
Beeck, Kobylanski did them in on the counter attack with a soft chip
over the 'keeper from Miriuta's excellent through pass.
Labak completed the humiliation of the league leaders with the fourth
and final goal after great work by Helbig. Olli Reck had another bright
moment shortly before when he came out of his goal to intercept a
through pass and in the feeling of false sovereignity played it into
the feet of Reghecampf who aimed at the empty goal but barely missed.
Schalke kept claiming they cannot win the league anyway so now that a
couple of first team regulars are hurt the "2nd suit" has a fitting
alibi.
Red Card : Böhme 62 (Schalke)
Attendance : 16,009
STUTTGART 6-1 KAISERSLAUTERN
Adhemar 11, 53, 78 Basler 21
Ganea 31, 37, 85
Brasilian topscorer Adhemar opened his Bundesliga account with a
deflected shot past Koch after Ganea flicked onto Hildebrand's huge
punt upfield. Bjelica won a free kick at the opposite side which
Basler slammed against Kauf's thigh from where it tickled into the
opposite corner for the equalizer. Basler curled another free kick
onto the post. Ganea hit the post as well but then banged in his
own rebound. Bordon sent a long ball out of defense, Ganea bounced
it off his chest and hit a turnaround shot past the off-guard Koch.
Into the 2nd half: Ganea headed onto Yakin's candle and then it was
once again Adhemar who splased between Koch and the FCK defense to
mark the 4-1. Stuttgart 4, Kaiserslautern 1, Adhemar 2, Ganea 2.
Adhemar then completed his hattrick on the counter attack courtesy
of another ball over the top of the defense by Ganea. It looked like
these two guys had been playing together for ages... Thiam had a
fantastic goal disallowed for offside, didn't matter though as Ganea
completed the half dozen with a left-footed shot through Koch's legs.
Adhemar & Ganea: 6 goals, 3 assists -- I have not seen a better
performance from any two strikers this season.
Attendance : 18,000
4 FEBRUARY 2001
UNTERHACHING 1-2 LEVERKUSEN
Straube 32 Kirsten 27
Neuville 53
Leverkusen returned to the venue where they had lost the championship
last season. Despite missing suspended playmaker Ballack, Bayer took
care of business, Kirsten out of nowhere volleyed in Zivkovic's long
ball courtesy of a grave, grave positional error by Herzog. 'Haching
equalized when Zuberbühler (not good enough for the Bundesliga)
pathetically spilled Ahanfouf's admittedly stiff shot and Straube
nodded in the rebound.
Neuville snatched his 10th goal of the season and the eventual game
winner with an ultra-rare header from Zé Roberto's free kick. Bayer
then sat on their lead but as 'Haching had little dangerous to offer
offensively Leverkusen easily held on to the 3 points. In a nasty
finish defender Hendrik Herzog, who had already been guilty of both
Bayer goals, got himself sent off for a mild elbow-check on Rink.
Red Card : Herzog 90 (Unterhaching)
Attendance : 9,000
ROSTOCK 0-2 FRANKFURT
Kryszalowicz 30
Gebhardt 45
-6°C in this one -- brrrrr... <shiver>. Chen Yang bounced the ball
off his chest, crossed, Heldt let it run through to Kryszalowicz who
signlessly fired into the top-right corner. Schröder was sent off for
his 2nd bookable offence, the next low blow for Hansa. Heldt played
a corner back to Kryszalowicz who completely missed but Gebhardt was
there to rip a fierce shot past Pieckenhagen just before half time,
awesome goal !
The 2nd half had little to offer except a harsh red card for Eintracht
captain Kracht because of a non-last man foul on Rydlewicz, Frankfurt's
interim-coach Rolf Dohmen being sent off for dissent and Chen Yang
picking up his 2nd yellow for obstructing the execution of a free kick.
Pickenhagen was once again excellent in the nets for Hansa but he can't
score the goals as well... Frankfurt played smarter and more effective
and thus...won !
Red Cards : Schröder 36 (Rostock), Kracht 66, Yang 90 (Frankfurt)
Attendance : 11,000
Ciao,
Tim Leidecker
http://milanmania.com
http://soccer-europe.com
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