29 APRIL 2001

UNTERHACHING			3-2		1860 MÜNCHEN
Strehmel 5					Häßler 40
Rraklli 34					Tyce 63
Spizak 89

'Haching, on paper, played offensive football like never before with
3 strikers and 2 offensive midfielders on the pitch at the same time!
It paid off in the 5th minute already when Strehmel headed in Cizek's
excellent free kick. Häßler cracked a volley just wide after a great
lob over the 'Haching defense by Mykland. Breitenreiter fired against
the crossbar, Rraklli tapped the rebound into the empty net.

Bierofka won a free kick on the very edge of the box which Häßler
dreamlike converted. Häßler and Mykland swapped passes before "Icke"
set up Tyce who fired 60 level from just outside the area. 'Haching
besieged the "Löwen" area and were eventually rewarded when Spizak,
wearing a protective mask because of a broken nose, scored the last
gasp game-winner from a goalmouth scramble.

Vital points for 'Haching who have Bremen (A), Dortmund (H) and
Schalke (A) as final 3 games of the season.

Attendance : 15,300 (sold out)


HAMBURG			2-1		ROSTOCK
Heinz 46						Salou 3
Bester 90

Bachirou Salou shocked the massive home crowd by springing onto
Agali's great opening pass, holding off both Kovac and Ujfaluši
and finishing with a dry shot through the braces of Jörg Butt.
Ex-Hansa targetman Barbarez headed just over. The totally off
form Präger lifted the ball against the post from Barbarez'
through pass. Heinz equalized with a great turnaround shot
from the edge of the box after great work from Ujfaluši.

Heinz later smashed the rebound of his own shot against the
crossbar. Kovac headed into the ground and over wide open in
front of goal! Agali was sent off for his 2nd bookable offence,
a joke as he only complained about being pulled down by Kovac!
Former TV-man Bester came off the bench to head in the 90th
minute game-winner. HSV-coach Pagelsdorf again cried like a
baby after the game!

Red Card : Agali 75 (Rostock)
Attendance : 51,551


28 APRIL 2001

HERTHA				3-0		FRANKFURT
Alex Alves 2, 28
Preetz 32

Alex Alves sneaked away from his marker Bindewald to volley in
Rehmer's cross at the far post. Heinen was equal to Deisler's
wickedly curled free kick. "Double A" then racked up his first
ever Bundesliga "Doppelpack" by flicking in Deisler's corner
with his heel(!) against the indisposed Bindewald.

Preetz nodded in Hartmann's long cross to make it 3-0 just
after an hour, chaos in the Eintracht defense! Király made a
great save from Reichenberger's close range drive, Frankfurt's
only genuine scoring chance all game.

Frankfurt play Bochum (H), Wolfsburg (A) and Stuttgart (H) in
their final 3 games so not all hope is lost after this defeat.

Attendance : 35,969


KÖLN				4-0		COTTBUS
Lottner 21 (Pen), 33
Springer 46
Arveladze 81

Timm started deep in his own half, carried the ball into the area
and was clumsily brought down by Mátyus on the touchline, penalty,
and to add to insult the Hungarian marker also hurt himself while
fouling, compatriot Sebõk had to come on in his place and Lottner
cooly dispatched the spot kick. Kurth headed Kreuz' cross down to
the middle of the box and captain Lottner came running up from
behind to swing in the 2-0, his 11th goal of the season.

Cottbus should have been awarded a penalty when Dziwior struck
Latoundji in the area. Kurth badly abused Akrapovic on the wing,
Springer tapped in his centre only 26 seconds into the 2nd half
- the knockout for Energie. Arveladze came on as a sub and gave
the 30,000 at the Müngersdorfer Stadion what they wanted by
slotting in the 4-0 from Dziwior's centre.

Attendance : 30,000


STUTTGART			2-1		BREMEN
Adhemar 5, 49					Pizarro 48

Ernst fumbled the ball away in midfield and Balakov released Adhemar
who made it 1-0 with a run&shoot solo after missing the last 5 weeks
due to injury. It was Balakov's 1st assist in 5 months(!), yes, he's
making £2 million a year and is supposed to be the teams' playmaker.
Hildebrand made two fine saves from Pizarro in the middle of the 1st
half. Adhemar should have been sent off and banned indefinitely (no
shit!) for trying to break Rost's ankle, the nasty little bastard
escaped with a booking!

After nice build-up play by Eilts, Herzog & Banovic, Pizarro (who
else ?) volleyed Werder level from Frings' centre. Adhemar restored
the lead and scored the eventual game-winner only 80 seconds later
after Baumann weakly cut out Hinkel's cross, Rost still had a hand
on it. Pizarro stung Hildebrand's palms with a strong efford from
30 meters and Dundee hit a falling overhead kick just wide.

You can say what you want about Adhemar, that he's too short (1,68m),
too easily brushed off the ball or that he's only got limited ability
(he lives mainly off his big shot) but he definitely knows how to
score heavily (1 goal every 60 minutes!) and important goals (4x the
decisive 1-0).

Werder's defense, when missing the awesome Krstajic (this time due
to interior ligament trouble), is as "good" as the likes of Bochum
or Cottbus i.e. worst in the league!

Attendance : 34,000


KAISERSLAUTERN			0-1		LEVERKUSEN
						Neuville 9

Lúcio won a free kick 10 meters outside of the box, Zé Roberto stopped
the ball for Neuville who blasted a screaming cannonball into the top
right corner past the bedazzled Koch. Kovac headed in another Neuville
free kick only 6 minutes later but had the goal disallowed for offside.
Placente received a dark-yellow card for brutally destroying Klose from
behind. Matysek under no greater pressure sloppily played the ball to
Klose but the young attacker lose his nerves and blasted straight back
at the 'keeper.

Klose wasted another great chance wide open in front of goal although
from a tight angle. Kirsten dragged the 0-2 inches wide after a fabulous
defense-splitting, no-look pass from Neuville. "Der Schwatte" blazed
another high% chance over the bar after great work from Milan target
Zé Roberto down the wing. Vranjes struck the post from 25 meters after
playing give&go with Neuville. Djorkaeff drilled an acrobatic scissor
kick just wide at the other end and that was it.

Attendance : 41,500 (sold out)


BAYERN MÜNCHEN		1-0		FREIBURG
Scholl 64

Jancker started the game with a real highlight, a beautiful bicycle
kick from Sagnol's cross. Schumann headed Effenberg's 50m longball
over his 'keeper but cleared just before the line! Jancker headed
another Sagnol cross (damn, this guy can cross the ball, there are
few players in the league who do it as consistantly good as him)
against the left post, Kuffour bundled the rebound against the
right woodwork just before half time.

Kuffour stole Jancker a certain goal when he headed onto the bald
striker's goalbound header from an offside position - Jancker went
totally furious and looked like he wanted to rip Kuffour's head off
for that! Scholl won a free kick which he converted himself to give
Bayern 3 BIG POINTS in the hunt for the "Meisterschaft". Élber came
on as a sub only just over a week after knee surgery(!) and should
have made it 2-0 but his lob was cleared by Diarra on the line.

Still Bayern score a deserved victory to put enormous pressure on
Schalke who are only leading the league through a goal differential
which is +5 better than Bayern's.

Attendance : 63,000 (sold out)


BOCHUM			1-1		SCHALKE
Freier 22						Mpenza 70

Freier pounced onto Nemec's hospital pass, turned the "Meister"
inside out and shocked the "Reviernachbar" by scoring his first
ever Bundesliga goal with a brilliant shot high into the net.
Hajto single-handedly rescued Schalke the point, Asamoah sent
the big defender clear through on the wing with a delicate heel
trick, Hajto sold his marker and the 'keeper a rude dummy and
lifted the ball to the far post where Mpenza uncovered headed
in.

Attendance : 32,645 (sold out)


27 APRIL 2001

WOLFSBURG			1-1		DORTMUND
Juskowiak 10					Heinrich 22

Munteanu who played his 4th game in 7 days found Juskowiak with
a long punt out of midfield, the Polish attacker turned himself
around his marker Kohler who didn't attack him aggressively
enough and fired a left-footed blast past the slowly-reacting
Lehmann.

Heinrich brought Rosický's free kick under control and somehow
managed to curl the ball into the far corner despite being under
pressure from Akpoborie, ball also took a deflection. Reina took
out Kryger on the wing, cruised into the area but dragged the
match ball wide.

Juskowiak showed what separates him from the truly great strikers
by missing a sitter wide open in front of goal. Full three points
would have catapulted Wolfsburg into the UEFA Cup zone and
effectively ended Borussia's title hopes.

Attendance : 20,400 (sold out)


Ciao,

Tim

[TL] = Tim Leidecker

http://milanmania.com
http://soccer-europe.com