NOT THE BEST BUT TOP TO BOTTOM THE MOST EXCITING LEAGUE

Hertha friend Bert summed up the situation in the league nicely when
he said: Dortmund obviously does want to win the league - impressive.
Teams, that nobody has on their plan, continue to be in the hunt as
well - Hertha, the dream lives on. Leverkusen didn't look like they
really give it all to win and were duly punished. Finally 'Lautern
missed the huge chance of jumping into 2nd place with their loss to
the BVB. 27 down, 7 to go, suspense...


30 MARCH 2001

WOLFSBURG		2-1			ROSTOCK
Kühbauer 14, 60					Majak 66

Kühbauer fired Wolfsburg into the lead from Schnoor's through pass and
increased it exactly one half later after Rische helped on Sebescen's
cross. Majak pulled one back from Rydlewicz' corner and Oswald struck
the post in the dying minutes as Wolfsburg got a lucky escape.

Attendance : 14,882


31 MARCH 2001

FREIBURG		5-2			FRANKFURT
Iashvili 35					Kryszalowicz 70, 72
Kobiaschwili 40
Sellimi 53, 90
Kehl 83

Iashvili was left unmarked so he could coolly gain control of But's free
kick and fire Freiburg in front. Reserve 'keeper Nikolov gifted Freiburg
the 2nd when he completely missed But's corner and Kobiashvili received
the ball at the far post before blasting high into the net.

The "Breisgau Brasilianer" further increased their lead in the 2nd half,
Willi won the ball off Branco and finished a superb 1 man, 50 meter
counter attack with an accurate centre which was easily converted by
Sellimi - great work by the German U-21 winger.

Kryszalowicz gave the Eintracht faithful some brief hope with two goals
in two minutes, the first a volley from Branco's cross, the second a
powerful header from Yang's cross. Heldt then carelessly lost the ball
in midfield to Iashvili who fed Kehl for the decisive 4-2.

Sellimi completed the rout with his 2nd of the afternoon courtesy of
Baya's through pass. Frankfurt, with the exception of Kryszalowicz,
was abysmal and looked like a safe bet for relegation. After the match
the Eintracht fans obstructed the departure of the team bus.

Attendance : 25,000 (sold out)


HAMBURG		1-1			UNTERHACHING
Barbarez 75					Seifert 79

Barbarez, who is allegedly sought after by Arsenal, struck the crossbar
in the early minutes. Kovac got into a promising position as well but
he lifted the ball over the bar after nicely swapping passes with Heinz.

'Haching, seeing as the HSV could do anything but score, became more
adventurous after the break as well: Zimmermann headed against the bar,
Breitenreiter struck the post on the rebound.

Barbarez snatched his 18th of the season with a header from Yeboah's
cross but Seifert equalized only 3 minutes later after Butt spilled
Grassow's bullet header and the defender smashed the rebound into the
net.

Attendance : 36,115


STUTTGART		0-3			KÖLN
						Springer 3
						Kreuz 23
						Baranek 76

Springer bundled in Kreuz' free kick. Balakov smashed a free kick
against the underside of the bar, Bulajic stopped Ganea's follow-up
with his hand, should have been a penalty right there but the ref
had other ideas.

Pablo Thiam, grown up football-wise in Köln, dangerously lost the
ball with the team in offense, Timm released the fast Scherz who
drew out and beat Hildebrand, the ball bounced a little bit too
far for him to shoot it but Kreuz was there to tap into the empty
net.

Timm clobbered 3 VfB defenders and spread the ball to Baranek and
the Kölner club record signing shot through Carnell's braces and
into the far corner for his 1st Bundesliga goal.

Attendance : 32,000


HERTHA			3-0			1860 MÜNCHEN
Alex Alves 19
Preetz 78, 89

Alex Alves headed in Deisler's pin-point accurate cross. Preetz helped
himself to his goals #14 & 15 with 2 tap-ins from Sverrisson's "chester"
and Hartmann's cross.

Attendance : 33,530


BAYERN MÜNCHEN	2-3			BREMEN
Élber 47						Pizarro 25 (Pen), 88
Jancker 65					Bode 58

Aílton was benched for the 1st time after 21 consecutive starts after
his recent poor showings, Canadian alrounder Stalteri played instead
of him. Rost made a super save from Élber after Verlaat completely
lost track of the Brasilian. Stalteri forced Jeremies into a turnover
in his own box but Kahn was there to make the save. Stalteri missed
another huge chance after Pizarro beautifully flicked the ball across
goal to him.

Werder won a penalty after Kuffour "held" Pizarro, the "fouled" player
converted himself. Hitzfeld then brought on Brazzo & Andersson for the
shaky Fink & Linke. Bayern responded well after the break: Andersson
promptly returned a short goal kick by Rost, Verlaat typically missed
the routine ball completely, Élber pounced onto it, breezed past him
and fired the equalizer past the helpless 'keeper.

Free kick Banovic: Baumann rose higher than anybody else to challenge
Kahn with a good header, the 'keeper saved but was without chance when
"Vokuhila" Bode shot the rebound high into the roof. Jancker replaced
Jeremies and 5 minutes later after coming on grabbed the equalizer
after Krstajic unluckily deflected Élber's shot to him.

But Werder wanted their first victory against Bayern at the Olympic
Stadium in the post-Otto era and they got it: After Baumann and again
Stalteri had blown 1-on-1 runs at the 'keeper Pizarro ended things
with a header from Stalteri's cross, helped by a grave positional
error from Kuffour. Pizarro is the best striker of 2001: 10 goals
from 9 matches - can I already hear Inter calling ? Bayern only gave
75% prior to their midweek clash with Man United and were duly punished.

Attendance : 45,000


LEVERKUSEN		0-3			SCHALKE
						Zivkovic 17 (og)
						Mpenza 51
						Asamoah 74

Zivkovic ended Schalke's scoring drought as he under pressure from Sand
steered the ball into his own net. Mpenza added a 2nd shortly into the
2nd half with an acrobatic shot while almost doing the splits ! Striker
#3 Asamoah scored goal #3 after a nice solo run. Bayer look burned out,
Nowotny doesn't look match fit, Bayer once again failed in a big match.

Attendance : 22,500 (sold out)


1 APRIL 2001

BOCHUM		1-0			COTTBUS
Reis 75

Reis struck the post after a free kick. Colding headed a Miriuta free
kick off the line. Reis volleyed in Colding's corner 15 minutes from
time for the game winner.

Attendance : 12,351


KAISERSLAUTERN		1-4			DORTMUND
Lokvenc 58					Bobic 33
						Addo 46
						Ricken 62
						Heinrich 76

After 30 minutes played and lots of good chances on both ends not used
Addo fed Bobic at the edge of the box, Fredi dribbled his way through
the clumsy FCK defense and made the 0-1 with vision against Koch. The
BVB caught 'Lautern cold again a minute into the 2nd half, Rosický with
a poem of a through pass to Addo who made no mistake and placed the
ball into the far corner.

The Czech playmaker had another huge scene minutes later when he
destroyed Basler on the wing with a simple body fake, dribbled Ramzy
into the ground and forced Koch into a great save from close distance
and tight angle. FCK pulled one back through Lokvenc's lob over
Lehmann from Basler's excellent ball over the top of the yellow-black
defense.

Ricken broke their spirit with his 4th goal of the season from Addo's
through pass. Heinrich put the game out of reach with a nice stroke
from the edge of the box where he was left unmarked. Balakov, Bobic
& Élber were the "Magic Triangle" at Stuttgart; Addo, Bobic, Ricken
& Rosický look like a "Sensational Square" at the moment.

Attendance : 41,500 (sold out)


Ciao,

Tim

[TL] = Tim Leidecker

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