WE HAVE A NEW LEADER

Leverkusen come from behind to snatch their 10th victory of the season
in the Rheinderby at Köln while Bayern who had their captain Effenberg
back on board fall in the "Derby of Germany" in Bremen. In other action
Dortmund rack up their 4th road win of the season at Munich's Blues
while Kaiserslautern also come back in impressive fashion by crushing
St. Pauli.

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

18 NOVEMBER 2001

NÜRNBERG			2-0		ROSTOCK
Michalke 51
Maul 86

Rydlewicz missed a sitter 1-on-1 with Kampa early on. New signing
Tommy Larsen who gave an inspired performance as playmaker headed
a Paßlack cross inches wide at the other end. Hertha-rejects and
Bert Handschumacher's favourite players Sanneh & Michalke linked
up following a short clearance, Kai Michalke with the 1-0 with a
deflected turnaround shot. Oswald was sent off with 2x yellow.
Maul completed Hansa's embarrassing misery tapping Möckel's centre
into his own net.

Assists : Sanneh, Möckel
Red Card : Oswald 81 (Rostock)
Attendance : 20,000


MÖNCHENGLADBACH		0-0		COTTBUS

Piplica made an excellent double save against Van Houdt & Van Lent
to kick-start this match. Reghecampf was all alone on the counter
attack and did everything right by rounding Stiel but the angle had
already become too tight so he only managed to hit the post.

Nielsen was sent off for an attempt at breaking Helbig's leg.
Mieciel went close with his now trademark falling overhead kick.
Piplica was outstanding in the nets for Energie saving at least
a dozen high% chances, his teammates really have to thank him!

Lots of diving, playacting and hard fouls in a match where BMG had
2-3 clear penalties denied but which Cottbus could also have won
had they been a little more focussed on their counter attacks.

Red Card : Nielsen 57 (Mönchengladbach)
Attendance : 27,800


17 NOVEMBER 2001

BREMEN				1-0		BAYERN MÜNCHEN
Skripnik 40 (Pen)

Frank Rost made a point blank save from a close-range Paulo Sergio
header. Kahn saved against fellow Brasilian Aílton with a mad charge
off his line at the other end. Frings was clear through on goal after
an excellent Aílton outside instep pass, Lizarazu brought him down
with a late tackle and ref Fandel pointed to the spot. Ukraine winger
Victor Skripnik, who had a truly great match, dispatched the penalty
for the eventual game-winner.

Bayern had a couple of semi-chances in the second half, still Werder
hung on to the not un-deserved victory. Effenberg made his comeback
after a 3 month injury lay-off in this game, his passing was sharp as
usual but he sorely lacked combatitiveness and workrate, thus giving
his teammates another alibi for the poor performance, the Man United
clash on Tuesday aside. Werder has now won 6 out of the last 7 while
Bayern suffer their first defeat after 9 (!) strait victories.

Torsten Frings has been an absolute rock for Werder since being moved
from right back/right midfield to the center of the park by coach
Schaaf. If he can maintain this stellar form for the rest of the
season he not only has to be on Germany's roster for Japan & Korea
but Rudi would also be stupid not to play him instead of Hamann or
Ramelow who have both been average all year long.

Assist : Frings
Attendance : 35,800 (sold out)


KÖLN				1-2		LEVERKUSEN
Kurth 57						Kirsten 63
						Neuville 72

Leverkusen was invisible offensively in the first half until Neuville
hit wood in the 45th minute. Keller was sent off 7 minutes into the
2nd half for his 2nd bookable offence. Still 10 Kölner struck first
on the counter attack when Kurth put away Reich's very soft cross with
a diving header.

Timm made his comeback at the hour mark, he came on for Marco Reich
after being on the shelf for over 3 months. Kirsten snatched the 1-1
after Ballack flicked onto Neuville's corner leaving him open at the
far post. Neuville then swapped passes with Sebescen, ran through the
FC defense and fired past Pröll for the game-winner.

Assist : Reich, Ballack, Sebescen
Red Card : Keller 52 (Köln)
Attendance : 41,000


1860 MÜNCHEN			1-3		DORTMUND
Häßler 78					Ewerthon 61
						Koller 70
						Amoroso 81 (Pen)


Reuter busted himself open badly during a collision with Dheedene
so Dortmund's captain had to leave the match after only 12 minutes,
Dheedene was able to play on with a "turban". Torben Hoffmann gifted
Borussia it's 1st goal when he "cleared" Stevic's cross straight to
Ewerthon who couldn't miss from 8m out, Hoffmann was subbed minutes
later...

Koller made it 0-2 with a header from Stevic's corner, Simon Jentzsch
didn't look particularly good on this one either. Häßler pulled one
back with a nice shot into the top-right angle from 25m but Amoroso
put the game out of reach only 3 minutes later with a penalty won by
Ewerthon.

Assists : Stevic, Mykland, Ewerthon
Attendance : 27,200


KAISERSLAUTERN			5-1		ST PAULI
Lokvenc 40					Marcão 30
H Koch 45
Klose 60, 78
Lincoln 71

US boy Gibbs caused a penalty with a clumsy challenge on Klose but
Bulat spectacularly saved Adonis' spot kick! At the other end Marcão
gave Pauli the shock lead by heading Rahn's cross high into the net.
Back came 'Lautern: Klose abused Baris *and* Amadou on the wing,
crossed and Lokvenc towered over Gibbs to head in the equalizer.

Harry Koch made up for his mistake from the spot by turning in
Arsenal-reject Malz' pull-back. Klose then pounced onto Malz' great
long pass, drove to the baseline and rounded Gibbs who was totally
out of his depth before finishing in style with a low shot into the
far corner which left Bulat flabbergasted.

And it came worse for Pauli: Tiny playmaker Lincoln headed in his
5th goal of the campaign before Klose grabbed his 2nd of the game
after a goalmouth scramble. Two goals, the assist on the equalizer
plus one penalty forced -- you can't ask a striker for more than
Miro Klose brought today.

Assists : Rahn, Klose, Malz (x2), Riedl
Attendance : 39,289


HERTHA				2-0		WOLFSBURG
Sarpei 22 (og)
Goor 82

Christian Fiedler was between the posts from the beginning for Hertha
for the first time in 1½ years as regular #1 Király is still nursing
his injury from the Gladbach match. Wolfsburg was totally responsible
for the first goal: Akonnor headed Hartmann's cross against Sarpei
from where it bounced into the net -- owngoala maxima! Maas was sent
off for handballing, his 2nd bookable offence within 19 minutes, how
utterly stupid!

Numbers were evened out at the break after Kühbauer followed up on
Tretschok with a kick into the nuts! Tretschok delayed the final
decision in this one when he wasted a 1-on-1 with the 'keeper after
a fantastic ball over the top of the "D" from Marcelinho Paraíba.
Goor received the ball from Dárdai in a suspiciously offside-looking
position and sent Reitmaier crashing onto his arse before tapping
into an empty net.

Goor had probably the greatest week you can ever imagine: He made it
to the World Cup Finals with Belgium, became a father and scored his
3rd goal in the last 4 games for Hertha!

Assist : Dárdai
Red Cards : Maas 38 (Hertha), Kühbauer 41 (Wolfsburg)
Attendance : 27,400


STUTTGART			3-0		FREIBURG
Meißner 4
Tiffert 75
Seitz 90

This "Schwabenderby" saw the clash of the Bundesliga's two youngest
teams. Freiburg was without 2 3rds of their regular defense (Kehl &
Kondé) and it hurt them badly! Bordon flicked onto Seitz corner,
Meißner slotted in at the far post. Old man Balakov struck the post
after selling Zeyer a rude dummy on the wing.

Tiffert made it 2-0 from the edge of the box after terrific build-up
play involving Adhemar, Balakov and himself. The 3-0 also came courtesy
of the "Bald Substitute Connection (BSC)" Adhemar & Tiffert (who both
seem to have the same hairdresser), Seitz with a standing (!) volley
from 22m.

Assist : Bordon, Balakov, Tiffert
Attendance : 33,000


HAMBURG			0-0		SCHALKE

It was the first goalless remis ever in a game HSV-S04 as the league's
two oldest sides squared off against each other. Asamoah hit the post,
Möller had the put-back disallowed for offside. Schalke should have
been awarded a penalty after Maltritz fouled Böhme in the 71st minute.
Hollerbach had to save against Sand on the line twice to deny Schalke
the deserved 3 points.

The "Jara Effect" is used up after 5 games already (actually it was
already over 3 weeks after he took over the team...). In this form
Hamburg is getting relegated.

Attendance : 55,300 (sold out)


Ciao,

Tim

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