BAYERN DETHRONED

Stuttgart landed their third consecutive victory against the league leaders on
Saturday. Hamburg sent a warning to Juventus before their Champions League
clash on Wednesday by demolishing a helpless Bochum. Cottbus win their first
ever Bundesliga match while Rostock at least pick up their first point of the
season although remaining goalless.


8 SEPTEMBER 2000

UNTERHACHING			0-0			KAISERSLAUTERN

Hirsch fired just wide from Breitenreiter's pass. Reich hammered the ball against
the crossbar following his trademark penetrating dribble. Basler curled a free
kick inches wide.

It was the first 0-0 draw for Kaiserslautern since Friday 02/27/98 against
Karlsruhe (81 games ago). Unterhaching had never played 0-0 in their
Bundesliga history before.

Attendance : 13,000


9 SEPTEMBER 2000

KÖLN				1-1			LEVERKUSEN
Lottner 75						Kirsten 32

Kirsten slammed Ramelow's through pass against the crossbar. Arveladze was
1-on-1 with Zuberbühler but kicked fresh air ! Rink put through Kirsten following
a great solo, "Der Schwatte" finally found the back of the net with a turnaround
shot. Scherz curled a cross onto the bar.

Neuville clanged Ramelow's cross against the post with a spectacular scissor
kick. Vranjes emergency braked my (almost) namesake Timm -> red card,
Köln captain Lottner fired the resulting free kick through the wall which jumped
up and into the net.

Timm then had the possible game winner wrongly disallowed for offside.
Zivkovic headed Sichone's lob off the line as Köln remains unbeaten by
Leverkusen since 1986. Bayer are more and more turning into an 'ordinary'
team, already 3 points off the top of the table after 4 games.

Red Card : Vranjes 74 (Leverkusen)
Attendance : 40,000


BOCHUM			0-4			HAMBURG
							Kovac 24
							Mahdavikia 33
							Barbarez 55, 59

Toplak pulled down Mahdavikia in the box but no penalty given. Kovac headed
in Cardoso's free kick. Peschel hit the showers early at 28' for his 2nd bookable
offence. Kovac volleyed the resulting Cardoso free kick against the crossbar.

Barbarez centred Groth's through pass for Mahdavikia who was left with the
easiest of all tap-ins. Van Duijnhoven made a great save against Mahdavikia.
Hertzsch lobbed the ball over the Bochum defense on the counter attack,
Barbarez ran onto it and put it into the far corner at full speed - great goal !

Barbarez received another through pass, this time from Hoogma, drew out
the 'keeper and coolly put the ball into the empty net. Tøfting curled a free
kick against the left post, Barebarez hammered the rebound against the right
woodwork - wow !

Hamburg could've easily won 10-0 had they been a little more focussed in
front of the goal. Bochum's defense is abysmally terrible, possibly the worst
in the league (yes, even worse than Cottbus).

Red Card : Peschel 28 (Bochum)
Attendance : 20,500


WOLFSBURG			2-1			HERTHA
Akonnor 32 (pen)						Daei 88
Nowak 58

Reitmaier had to stretch himself to get to Deisler's wicked cross cum shot (no,
not what you're thinking...). Rische forced Király into a great save with a scissor
kick, Juskowiak pounced onto the rebound and took a dive over the 'keeper's
outstreched hands --> penalty, Akonnor dispatched the spot kick.

Juskowiak headed Sebescen's cross against the crossbar. Nowak received the
ball from Kühbauer who played as playmaker in place of the injured Munteanu
and rifled it under the crossbar from well over 20 meters out - dream goal (and
WOB's 150th in the BuLi as well) ! Kryger marked Alex Alves completely out of
the game, coach Röber took the Brasilian off shortly after the hour.

Nowak had to leave the game shortly after, Van Burik had slashed open his
calf. Király made a fine save from another Juskowiak drive, Rische bottled the
rebound. Ali Daei headed in the consolation goal from Beinlich's free kick but
too little, too late for the blue white Hertha. Daei only seems to score in
losing efforts.

Attendance : 18,000


1860 MÜNCHEN			1-1			SCHALKE
Beierle 64						Mpenza 54

Max almost blasted Reck out of his gloves with a furious effort early on.
Bierofka was wronly booked for diving. Hofmann made a good save against
Mpenza's acute angle shot and then another one against Böhme's point-blank
header.

Reck fantastically managed to direct a goalbound Häßler free kick out of the
corner and against the crossbar. Schalke's goal came from a learned play, Van
Kerckhoven flicked onto Hajto's long throw-in, Mpenza headed in at the far
post.

Häßler fired another free kick against the crossbar at the other end. Borimirov
sent Nemec crashing onto his arse with a rude dummy and centred for Beierle
who scored from an ultra-acute angle and through the braces of Reck.

Attendance : 35,500


STUTTGART			2-1			BAYERN MÜNCHEN
Thiam 30 						Jancker 5
Balakov 62

Brazzo dribbled past 3 defenders but Santa Cruz blazed his opening pass into the
sky. Jancker muscled Santa Cruz' pass over the line for his 5th goal of the (young)
season. Bordon forced Kahn into a Hollywood save with a furious drive from 30
meters out.

Thiam wide, wide, wide openly headed in Balakov's free kick, sloppy marking by
Santa Cruz. Soldo cleared Scholl's centre under highest danger as Brazzo was
there and ready to score behind him. Ganea stole the ball off Sagnol, cruised past
Andersson but Kahn meant stop for him as well.

Pinto showed Lizarazu his heels on the counter attack, Balakov passed his cross
against the run of Kahn into the far corner for the eventual game winner - what
a break! Bayern was depleted enough so the likes of Di Salvo and Hargreaves
got a game but that still doesn't explain a sub-par performance like this after the
gala's in recent weeks.

Attendance : 51,200 (sold out)


BREMEN				1-2			DORTMUND
Bogdanovic 78 						Wörns 41
							Addo 83

Wörns headed in Stevic's free kick. Micky then curled a free kick against the
crossbar (what has Sammer done with him, he has actually learned how to
threaten the opposing goal this season!).

Bogdanovic equalized with a header from Pizarro's cross. Evanílson played a
beauty of a through pass to Addo with his heel, Dortmund's Ghanaian all rounder
coolly shot across goal and into the far corner.

Werder dominated possession but didn't create any 100% chances. Dortmund
fought harder and perfectly exploited Werder's defensive weaknesses i.e. the
too-slow Verlaat and the off-form Frings.

Attendance : 31,800


10 SEPTEMBER 2000

COTTBUS			2-0			FRANKFURT
Labak 72
Helbig 90

Heinen made a great save against Horváth (it still puzzles me how he was able to
score *twice* against Italy in their recent WC qualifier with Hungary...), Latoundji
blazed the rebound over the bar. Reghecampf struck the crossbar. Heinen made
a spectacular save from Miriuta's free kick.

Helbig wonderfully bounced Vata's lob over the Eintracht defense off his chest but
Heinen managed to parry his one-motion turn around shot. The German attacking
talent Helbig then even struck the post after a good individual effort.

Sebõk flicked onto Latoundji's long throw-in and substitute Labak escaped his
marker to break the deadlock as he tapped in his first ever Bundesliga goal. The
Croatian forward then wasted another 100% chance 1-on-1 with Heinen when put
through by the great Miriuta.

"Ede" Geyer was sent into the stands for complaining before Sebastian Helbig
finally made his goal of the night courtesy of another brilliant opening pass from
Miriuta. Frankfurt was sporting nice black Real Madrid look-alike jerseys but that
didn't prevent them from falling to highly motivated Cottbuser either.

Attendance : 12,000


ROSTOCK			0-0			FREIBURG

Jakobsson headed Emara's cross against the crossbar. Pickenhagen made a good
double save against Iashvili and then against his former teammate Ramdane.
Emara cleared Baya's header off the line. Kovacec stung Golz' palms with an edge
of the area free kick.

Attendance : 10,000


Ciao,

Tim

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