NUMBER ONE IN MÜNCHEN, NUMBER ONE IN GERMANY?

Köln and Wolfsburg play out a pathetic goalless draw to bore many
people to sleep on Friday. Miriuta magic lifts Cottbus to victory
in the East Derby against Hertha. Agali & Arvidsson send Bochum
down into Liga 2. Eintracht icon Fjørtoft helps Frankfurt to a
point against Hamburg before going home.

Sand & Mpenza are to blame as Schalke remains without a goal for
another 90 minutes -- this time against Freiburg. Leverkusen beats
Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion as Borussia continues to blow
against other top teams. Bayern wins the 2nd Münchner Derby of the
season. 'Lautern snap Werders 7-game home winning streak and
Stuttgart and 'Haching end the Round the way it has begun, with
another dull 0-0.


16 MARCH 2001

KÖLN			0-0			WOLFSBURG

Akonnor had the only (!!!) chance of the game in the 82nd minute
but Sinkala cleared his header from the line. Miserable. Wretched.

Attendance : 27,500


17 MARCH 2001

COTTBUS		3-0			HERTHA
Miriuta 19
Franklin 43
Helbig 72

Labak won a free kick at the edge of the box, Miriuta scored his 6th
of the season against countryman Király (the Bundesliga record for
most directly converted free kicks is 7 [Basler] by the way). Hertha
should have been awarded a penalty when Scherbe and Kobylanski put
the screws on Alex Alves in the box.

Franklin should have been sent off for trying to break Schmidt's
kneecap, instead Energie's "mascot" headed in his 2nd goal of the
season from Miriuta's very soft cross. Workhorse Helbig put the game
out of reach by heading in Miriuta's free kick midway into the 2nd
half.

Hertha's "fans" threw pyro's onto the pitch all game long, should
result in a juicy fine for the visitors. Miriuta, one more time,
gave a World Class display in this game: Energie's "engine" played
very effective (1 goal, 2 assists) and varied the pace the way it
suited his team best. Simply outstanding, a shame he's already 32...

Attendance : 19,780 (sold out)


ROSTOCK		2-0			BOCHUM
Agali 71, 80

Hansa should have been awarded a penalty when Sundermann handballed
in the box. Fahrenhorst made a great last second tackle to deny Agali
a 1-on-1 with the 'keeper. Comebacker Arvidsson came on for Baumgart
at 67' and only 4 minutes later he perfectly put through Agali on the
counter attack => 1-0 Hansa.

The Swedish striker then proceeded to make the 2nd as well, he won the
ball in his own half, skipped a tackle and took it to Fahrenhorst at
full speed before centering for Agali who had a field day slotting in
his first Bundesliga "double pack" of his career. Mandreko fired against
the crossbar but too late.

Christiansen was sent off for following up on Schröder.

VfL coach Schafstall said after the game that "talking about staying in
the league would be unrealistic and inappropriate".

Red Card : Christiansen 90 (Bochum)
Attendance : 15,000


FRANKFURT		1-1			HAMBURG
Sobotzik 78					Kovac 54

Butt made very good saves from Preuß and Kutschera on successive
corners. Hamburg got the lead off a set piece: Hollerbach swung in a
short corner, Meijer at the near post headed it on to Kovac who lost
his marker Mutzel and nodded in.

Eintracht hero Fjørtoft, playing his final game for Red & Black before
leaving for Norway, helped making the equalizer: Guié-Mien mis-hit his
tricky backheel pass to substitute Sobotzik who unmarkedly beat Butt
from the edge of the 5m area.

Attendance : 33,000


SCHALKE		0-0			FREIBURG

Sand ballooned a sitter wide open in front of goal. Möller slotted
agonizingly wide after Böhme pulled the ball back for him from the
touchline. Sellimi had the biggest chance for Freiburg when he hit
the post after swapping passes with Coulibaly.

Mpenza blazed another sitter high over the bar after good work from
Büskens down the left lane. Schalke could've been awarded a penalty
when Kehl bumped into Sand, ref didn't think so. Golz made a great
save from a point blank Sand header in the dying minutes.

Zeyer was sent off for a clumsy challenge on Van Hoogdalem after
already been booked. Schalke are without a goal for 384 minutes
and play static football.

Red Card : Zeyer 85 (Freiburg)
Attendance : 34,214


DORTMUND		1-3			LEVERKUSEN
Wörns 15					Schneider 7
						Kirsten 10
						Brdaric 90

Schneider intercepted Oliseh's hospital pass and beat Lehmann who
was too far out of his goal from the kick-off circle with a saucy
yet perfectly struck shot. Kirsten made it 0-2 from Ballack's free
kick only 3 minutes later, poor positioning by ex-Bayer Wörns on
this one. Oliseh hammered a 40 meter (!) free kick against the
post, Heinrich bottled the rebound into Matysek's rear, the ball
deflected into the air and as the 'keeper lost track of it Wörns
came running up from behind to head in the 1-2. Zé Roberto missed
an open goal courtesy of Wörns' hospital tackle just before half
time.

Matysek made a great save from Rosický on a delayed counter attack
and another one from Ricken's stunning drop kick minutes later.
Nowotny made his comeback after an hour only 4 weeks after tearing
ligaments in his ankle, another small medical wonder by the Bayer
health squad. Matysek kept on frustrating the hosts with tremendous
saves from Wörns' header and the substituted Nijhuis. The defender
from the Netherlands also had Borussia's best chance of the second
half but he only struck the post when wonderfully put through by
Rosický.

Ballack was sent off for his 2nd bookable offence, a rough foul on
Dedê with a quarter of an hour still to play. We jump into the 90th
minute: Lehmann is in Bayer's area. The BVB is caught offside.
Ramelow quickly executes the free kick, it's Brdaric against Dedê
and Wörns: With a simple body fake he gets rid of the Brasilian and
makes the 1-3 with an accurate shot from 30 meters. Game over.

Red Card : Ballack 75 (Leverkusen)
Attendance : 68,600 (sold out)


1860 MÜNCHEN		0-2			BAYERN MÜNCHEN
						Élber 48
						Paulo Sergio 80

Cerny and Jentzsch made 2 vital saves on their own goalline against
Jancker and Kuffour in the opening minutes. Borimirov found Häßler
with an awesome pass over 25 meters but Kahn had no problem with
his tame shot. Jeremies was lucky to escape with a yellow card for
destroying Stranzl from behind. Max hit the side-netting from Tyce's
centre.

Jeremies should definitely been sent off for tackling Hoffmann with
play already interrupted, the only mistake by ref Krug who was still
intimidated by the harsh criticism he received for his calls in the
Münchner Derby a few years ago. Kahn made a spectacular save from
Borimirov's drive to end the first half.

3 minutes after the break Élber ran onto Scholl's through pass,
Jentzsch cleared the ball to the side, Scholl picked it back up,
centred, Brazzo's shot was blocked but Élber was there to bang
Bayern into the lead. Defender Hoffmann lifted the ball wide
after beating the Bayern offside trap at the other end.

Kuffour made a World Class tackle to deny Max and Kahn ruined another
Lions' chance by defusing Häßler's free kick with a Hollywood catch.
Brazzo dragged his maybe third sitter of the night wide after nice
interplay with Élber. Substitute Paulo Sergio decided the game with
a cool finish from Salihamidzic's cross on the counter attack.

Despite losing, 1860 was much better than Arsenal on Wednesday.

Attendance : 69,000 (sold out)


18 MARCH 2001

BREMEN			1-2			KAISERSLAUTERN
Herzog 58					Lokvenc 11, 39

Lokvenc had his first headed goal for 'Lautern disallowed for 'shoving'
Baumann. Pettersson had a clear run at goal wrongly called off for
offsides. Koch made a good save from Pizarro's shot. Lokvenc banged
the 0-1 in off the post from Strasser's(!) through pass as Werder was
still mourning over Pizarro's missed chance.

Barten cleared on the line to repair his own mistake of letting the
Swedish striker get away. Aílton won a penalty after 23 minutes but
even I would have saved his soft, centrally struck spot kick - so
did Georg Koch. 'Lautern duly punished his slack efford through
Lokvenc who bundled Strasser's cross over the line. Pettersson had
to make it 0-3 but his volley went into the Westkurve.

Playmaker Herzog pulled one back after the break from his potential
successor Banovic's excellent through pass. Werder had a couple of
semi-chances and 'Lautern missed two huge opportunities on the break
in person of Ratinho and Strasser so it stayed like that. Before
you ask: Verlaat stunk up the pitch again and without the suspended
Krstajic Werder's defense was only a torso.

'Lautern has won 5 out of their last 6 road games.

Attendance : 29,250


UNTERHACHING		0-0			STUTTGART

Hildebrand saved from the wide-open Seifert in the very first minute.
His counterpart Tremmel made good saves from Ganea and Dundee at 35'.
'Haching could have been awarded a penalty when Bordon bumped into
Rraklli but as the Albanian forward has the reputation of a "diver"
the ref didn't give it. Stuttgart still unbeaten under Magath.

Attendance : 12,000

Ciao,

Tim

[TL] = Tim Leidecker

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