THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

This round of Bundesliga action was totally marked by the outlook on
Germany's crucial World Cup Qualification Relegation Games against the
Ukraine on November 10th and 14th. The question was who's hot and
who's not, you will find my comments on that matter later in this article.

All match reviews by Tim Leidecker <tim@milanmania.com> unless otherwise
stated.


4 NOVEMBER 2001

HERTHA				3-0		MÖNCHENGLADBACH
Marcelinho 12
Van Burik 29
Preetz 66

To the great relief of all Gladbach fans genial coach Hans Meyer has
extended his contract until 2004 (valid in 1. Bundesliga only!) during
the week. Király with a very long punt upfield, Nielsen with a capital
blunder ("clearance" strait into the run of Marcelinho), Hertha's n°30
with the first goal, his 6th (left footed) goal of the season.

Van Burik doubled the lead with an ultra-rare goal from over 30 meters
out! Preetz racked up another garbage goal with a nice half volley after
Maas who is enjoying his best season at Hertha flicked onto Marcelinho's
cross. Hertha had the game firmly under control, Gladbach rarely posed a
thread for the first time this season which resulted in their highest
defeat so far.

Hertha want to retire Deisler's n°26 at the end of the season just in
case he comes back some day...dreamers!

Assists: Tretschok, Maas
Attendance: 34,925


FREIBURG			3-1		COTTBUS
Iashvili 32					Kobylanski 43
Tskitishvili 61
But 76

It was Freiburg's 250th Bundesliga game and thus also the 250th game
for coach Finke who is managing the team in his 11th year now. Kehl
was harshly sent off for tapping Miriuta on the chest after the BSG
captain pulled his shirt. That was the initial ignition for Freiburg
as Iashvili gave the home side the lead 2 minutes later from But's
free kick. Kobylanski equalized 2 minutes before half time after a
capital blunder from Diarra.

Tskitishvili played in Tanko who clobbered 2 defenders, Piplica
parried his shot but was helpless on Tskitishvili's follow-up. But
took on the entire Energie defense, beat Sebõk and the otherwise
flawless Hujdurovic with a "cow" dribble before firing past Piplica
for the decisive 3-1. It was Cottbus 6th defeat in a row while SCF
has rebounded from their intermediate bad patch with 8 points from
the last 4 games.

Assist: Kondé
Red Card: Kehl 28 (Freiburg)
Attendance: 25,000 (sold out)


3 NOVEMBER 2001

LEVERKUSEN			2-1		KAISERSLAUTERN
Ballack 34, 50 (Pen)				Strasser 18

FCK was heavily weakened in this game by the absence of both playmakers
"AB" (Lincoln) and "DJ" (Djorkaeff) as well as star defender Alexander
Knavs. The new man in charge of midfield was Mario Basler and he racked
up an assist right away when Strasser scored from his trademark curled
free kick with a diving header.

Bayer equalized through former Red Devil Michael Ballack after Schneider
abused Strasser on the wing and Ballack finished with a delicate chip
into the far corner. Kirsten dived after being minimally pushed by Koch,
Ballack, who has been playing World Class football this season won this
top of the table clash from the spot with his already 7th goal of the
campaign.

Harry Koch missed a sitter approximately 50cm in front of goal following
a Basler corner. Leverkusen has set a new Bundesliga start record with
9 wins and 3 draws from the first 12 games while former league leaders
'Lautern are on a slide, having only won 1 of their past 4 games.

Assists: Basler, Schneider, Kirsten
Attendance: 22,500 (sold out)


BAYERN MÜNCHEN		3-0		HAMBURG
Paulo Sergio 70
Pizarro 84, 89

Bayern started well but fizzled quickly.  Most of the midfield are
injured, so we had Fink and Hargreaves running the show.  Fink was the
best Bayern player in the first half, creating most of the chances and
narrowly missing a goal.  Salihamidzic was also strong on the wing but
with mostly inaccurate passing.  The forwards, Santa Cruz and Pizarro,
with Paulo Sergio in support, were good on their own but failed to
effectively harmonise.  Hamburg had a good phase about 20-35' but had
only one really dangerous shot, on which Kahn made a diving catch. On
a corner at about 40' Fink rose as high as Nico Kovac usually does,
but missed the left post by the width of the ball.

In the second half both teams pressed for a goal, with Hamburg again
having a good phase for about 10' around 60', but both defenses were
very strong, especially in the middle and on headers.  So it was a
positional error by Pieckenhagen on a Bayern free kick at about 70'.
>From our seats at the opposite corner of the stadium it looked like it
went in directly... the goal was credited to Sergio but I don't know if
he struck it or got a glancing header (maybe Tim can help here...).
After this Hamburg had no really effective answer, but Bayern added on
with a magnificent free kick at about 84' and a diving header at about
89' both by Pizarro.  The final score of 3-0 was perhaps too high, but
the three points were well deserved.

Article by Bruce Scott <bds@ipp.mpg.de>

Assists: Hargreaves, Zickler, Sforza
Attendance: 55,000


ST. PAULI			0-3		1860 MÜNCHEN
						Gibbs 6 (og)
						Cerny 78
						Häßler 90

US boy Gibbs tackled Pürk's centre into his own net to kick-start
Pauli's misery. The "Kiezkicker" should have been awarded a penalty
when Cerny chopped down Marcão. 60 finished 'em off on the counter
attack in the 2nd half, Austria connection Cerny and Weissenberger
swapped passes on the run, Bulat parried Weissenberger's shot strait
down the middle and Cerny tapped his first Bundesliga goal since
December '99 into an empty net. Man of the Match Häßler combined
with Schroth to give the "Löwen" a comfortable 3-0 victory with a
low shot into the left pocket.

Bayern 3-0 Hamburg, Pauli 0-3 1860, the battle of North vs. South
ended with a pretty one-sided result.

Assist: Pürk, Schroth
Attendance: 19,617 (sold out)


DORTMUND			1-0		STUTTGART
Ricken 51

Ganea rounded Lehmann but fired into the side-netting! Stuttgart was
the better side in the first half but one genial trick won the game
for Dortmund after the break: Rosický found his compatriot Koller in
the box with one of his trademark laser-precision through passes, the
huge Czech forward unselfishly flicked the ball on to Ricken with his
heel and Dortmund's n°18 buried the ball under Hildebrand for the game
winner.

Assist: Koller
Attendance: 66,000


ROSTOCK			0-1		BREMEN
						Klasnic 74

Frings (I have no clue why he isn't on the roster for the games against
the Ukraine) clobbered Hirsch and Wibrån before hitting the outside of
the post. Schober made a World Class save from Lisztes' almost perfect
free kick! Frings laid the ball up for Stalteri who almost snapped the
post with a ferocious drive, the ball rolled across the goalmouth, then
Aílton substitute Klasnic arrived at the far post to bundle it over the
line. Lantz smashed against the post but that was as close as Hansa got
as Werder held on to the victory.

Bremen has now won 5 out of their last 6 games without conceding a goal!
For what's that worth will show when they host Bayern & Leverkusen and
play at Schalke and Dortmund in 4 of their next 5 encounters. If they
can get 6-8 points from these games they may indeed have a shot at an
UEFA Cup spot at the end of the season.

In a sad note Werder legend Andi Herzog will probably call it a day at
Werder after warming up the entire 2nd half but not even coming on as a
sub (and that after his World Class display against Israel crowned with
the goal that opened the door on the World Cup for Austria). The 33-year
old playmaker whose contract runs through July 2002 has claimed that he
will not return to Bremen after the national team break. Expect him to
be transferred to a Vienna club within the next 14 days for a symbolic
transfer fee.

What a sad end for what was arguably the most talented player ever to
don the green and white shirt!

Attendance: 16,000


WOLFSBURG			5-0		NÜRNBERG
Róbson Ponté 6, 30
Petrov 68
Kennedy 87
Munteanu 89

Kühbauer flicked the ball over the suspect FCN defense and Róbson Ponté
scored a beautiful, beautiful goal with a brilliant lob over the 'keeper
which looked oh so easy... "RP" then helped himself to his first BuLi
double pack, converting Petrov's centre to make it 2-0. Kühbauer fed
Wolfsburg's other lethal striker Petrov & the lightning quick Bulgarian
international had zero trouble shooting past young Kampa.

Jarolim won a penalty but Reitmaier saved Gomis' spot kick! Róbson Ponté
combined with Karhan to give 19-year-old Aussie striker Joshua Kennedy
his 2nd goal of the season. And it didn't stop there, Wolves hungry for
more goals, substitute Rau played in fellow substitute Munteanu with an
accurate through pass, "Munti" with a carbon copy of Róbson Ponté's goal
for the deserved 5-0 final result.

Nürnberg coach Klaus Augenthaler after the match: "We played like a
schoolboy team today and have no business in the Bundesliga in this
form". Is he asking to be sacked?

Assists: Kühbauer (x2), Petrov, Karhan, Rau
Attendance: 11,298


SCHALKE			3-1		KÖLN
Sand 45						Sinkala 37
Möller 54
Asamoah 80

Drab game until the 20th minute when Ebbe Sand woke up the 60,000 at
the sold out Arena with a blast against the crossbar. Scherz was sent
off for shooting at goal with play already interrupted, his second
bookable offence. Bayern reject Sinkala played a give-and-go with
Kurth before shooting high into the net after Olli Reck inexplicably
rushed out of his goal.

Sand ended his 5 month long goal "Ebbe" (German for drought) with a
diving header from Hajto's cross, his 1st goal of the season! Möller
swapped passes with Asamoah, irresistably drove into the box, shook
off Kreuz like an annoying bluebottle and finished with a sweet shot
into the far corner, classy finish! Sand chested down Möller's corner
and cracked a powerful first time volley at goal, Asamoah had a foot
in between and thus gets credited for the goal.

Assists: Kurth, Hajto, Asamoah, Sand
Red Card: Scherz 31 (Köln)
Attendance: 60,400 (sold out)


Ciao,

Tim

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