FCK STAYS ON TOP, DORTMUND STAYS UNDEFEATED, 1860 STAYS ROCK BOTTOM
The 2nd Round of Bundesliga play didn't have bigger surprised but
still some highly entertaining games and great individual efforts:
Mehmet Scholl for example inspired Bayern to bounce back from their
defeat at the hands of Gladbach and tear apart the "4-Minuten-Meister"
Schalke. Dortmund survived 30 strong minutes by Hertha to keep their
perfect starting record (2 games, 2 victories, 4-0 goals).
Leverkusen impressively won at their bogey team Rostock which took
all 6 points off them last season. Last but certainly not least
Kaiserslautern incredibly come back from 2 goals down to win their
game against newly promoted Mönchengladbach, all within 23 minutes!
Saturday 08/04/00, 15.30 cet
BAYERN MÜNCHEN 3-0 SCHALKE
Pizarro 6
Scholl 13
N Kovac 39
Before the game Bayern 'keeper Oliver Kahn was voted German Footballer
of the Year for the 2nd year in a row! And his Bayern started out like
the fire brigade: Élber pressed Oude Kamphuis into turning the ball
over to Scholl, Mehmet dribbled two defenders and rolled the ball to
the far post where Pizarro reacted quicker than his marker to mark the
1-0 after only 6 minutes!
Two minutes later the Peruvian ace, IMO the most complete attacker in
the league, cracked a shot from 25 meters out against the post. Only
5 minutes later Bayern's playmaker got himself on the scoreboard as
well with a textbook free kick from the edge of the box. Niko Kovac
effectively ended the game after 40 minutes and consolidated his spot
in the starting 11 with a powerful header from Scholl's corner.
In the 2nd half Bayern shifted back 3 gears and experiencedly stayed
the course but should have even scored the 4th but ref Fandel denied
Niko Kovac a penalty when roughly tackled by Böhme.
Assists: Scholl (x2), Hargreaves
Attendance: 63,000 (sold out)
WOLFSBURG 1-1 ST. PAULI
Karhan 85 Rahn 7
U-21 winger Christian Rahn opened the scoring with a nicely curled
free kick in the 7th minute. Rische, playing for the injured Juskowiak,
missed the equalizer by inches after Madsen's ball over the top of the
Pauli defense. Miroslav Karhan, signed in the offseason from Besiktas,
grabbed the late equalizer with a header from Munteanu's free kick.
Assists: Rath, Munteanu
Attendance: 16,187
HERTHA 0-2 DORTMUND
Amoroso 52
Stevic 87
The hosts completely dominated the first 30 minutes culminating in
Preetz' header against the crossbar. At the end of the first half
Dortmund got into the game better, Amoroso easily went by Van Burik,
Király could only parry his shot into the middle but Koller ballooned
the rebound! Huge miss!
7 minutes after the break Tomasz Rosický unleashed a huge through
pass with his outside instep, Amoroso sprung unto it, outpaced
Konstantinidis and Goor in the running duel and while falling
lifted the ball over the 'keeper who came out of his goal.
Textbook counter attack!
Koller missed another sitter after rapid passing from Brasilian
Connection Evanílson & "Glamoroso". Substitute Reina clobbered
his marker on the wing, rolled into the box and cut the ball back
to Micky Stevic who beat Király with a low, hard shot into the
near corner from just inside the area.
Assists: Rosický, Reina
Attendance: 55,000 (sold out)
BREMEN 3-1 COTTBUS
Ernst 15 Kaluzny 25
Aílton 55, 64 Labak 29
Energie 'keeper Piplica spilled Banovic's corner, Fabian Ernst blasted
in the rebound. Polish 1,92m tank Radoslav Kaluzny headed the Lausitzer
level from Miriuta's free kick. But things should even get worse for
Werder: Age-old liability Eilts headed Kaluzny's cross straight into
the run of Labak who beat Rost with a delicate chip. Back came the
green-whites': Klasnic send his strike partner Aílton, he ate up his
marker on the running duel but instead of shooting he tried to dribble
the 'keeper, Piplica had other ideas and grabbed the ball from his feet.
Toni had much more luck in the 2nd half: Baumann headed Banovic's corner
on to the Brasilian who flicked the ball in at the far post. The fast
paced goalgetter who was sought after by Fiorentina in the off-season
and now even dreams of Seleçao honors also gave Werder the game winner:
Beautiful through pass by Ernst, Aílton takes the ball with him while
running across goal, backs off his marker Hujdurovic and scores the 3-2
with a cracking half volley past the helpless 'keeper. Silenced the
critics who claimed the moody Brasilian was only effective with Pizarro.
Assists: Miriuta, Baumann, Ernst
Attendance: 26,040
HAMBURG 2-0 STUTTGART
Albertz 40
Meijer 50
5 minutes before the halftime break "Awesome Albertz", playing with
a painful knee injury sustained in a clash with young VfB fullback
Hinkel, perfectly killed Hollerbach's cross, went past the sleeping
Rui Marques and fired the ball into the net. 5 minutes after half
time "Hammer Ali" burrowed himself through on the wing and played a
perfect pass back to the edge of the box from where Erik Meijer (!)
made it 2-0 with a cracking left-footed blast.
Assists: Hollerbach, Albertz
Attendance: 39,026
KÖLN 2-0 1860 MÜNCHEN
Kurth 47, 88
Häßler (volley, from Borimirov's cross) and Sichone (header, from
Reich's cross) had the only chances of note in the first half.
After the break a Kurth double strike decided the game: His first
was a wicked, looping header into the far corner from Lottner's
free kick, his second a tap-in from Voigt's cross which took a
heavy deflection off Dheedene though. Häßler struck the crossbar
from a free kick as usual (did that an astonishing 10 (!) times
last season).
Assists: Lottner, Voigt
Attendance: 30,000
ROSTOCK 0-3 LEVERKUSEN
Bastürk 12
Kirsten 65
Sebescen 76
Bastürk collected Schneider's free kick in the box, turned Maul inside
out and slipped the ball past Schober into the net. Zé Roberto struck
the post from Neuville's corner. By now it had began raining, so
heavily it weren't even cats & dogs anymore, cows & pigs probably...
Butt made a good save from Salou after he had somehow found a way
through Lúcio and Nowotny!
Schneider sent Neuville down the wing on the counter attack, "Little
Olli" shot, Schober saved, the ball fell back to him, this time he
centred and who else but Oldie Ulf Kirsten was there to tap in his
first goal of the season. Sebescen put the game out of reach with a
bullet into the top-left corner from the right side of the box, made
possibly by another "Lúcio special", an unstoppable 70 meter ride
over half the length of the pitch.
I cannot help but go into raptures about this player yet again.
Man of the Match for the 2nd week in a row now, scores and creates
goals on a regular basis almost at will! Roma has now almost tripled
their initial offer to a much more realistic £25 million! Leverkusen
have declared him not for sale but they also did that with Paulo
Sergio, Émerson,...
Assists: Schneider, Neuville, Lúcio
Attendance: 25,100
Sunday 08/05/00, 17.30 cet
KAISERSLAUTERN 3-2 MÖNCHENGLADBACH
Basler 67 Van Lent 52, 61
H Koch 89 (Pen)
Ramzy 90
Van Lent ran onto Nielsen's through pass, 'Lautern's defense was totally
sleeping and the Werder reject beat Koch from a tight angle. Not even 10
minutes later the Dutch goalgetter shocked the 40,000+ at the Fritz
Walter Stadion again by making it 0-2 with a tap-in from Eberl's centre.
Basler pulled one back with an effort from 30 meters out which took a
heavy deflection off Korell though. At 89 minutes, just when the game
looked everything but decided, Asanin clumsily pulled down Marschall in
the box, Adonis dispatched the spot kick for the equalizer.
Typical for 'Lautern games at the Betzenberg the FCK now even went on to
win the whole thing, Basler launched a longball from deep out of his own
half, Korell's short headed clearance, his 2nd grave mistake of the game
fell straight to Ramzy who didn't hesitate to bury a first timer for the
game winner.
Assists: Nielsen, Eberl, Ratinho, Marschall
Attendance: 40,600
NÜRNBERG 2-0 FREIBURG
Michalke 23
Gomis 56
Gomis flicked onto Sanneh's cross, Lars Müller, the next Dortmund
reject after Timm, But and Tanko to become famous at his new club,
swung the ball back in, Michalke nodded past Golz for Nürnberg's
first goal back in the top flight.
Frey had a goal disallowed for whatever? (ref probably didn't know
it either...). Michalke struck the post with a tame shot. Gomis
sealed the deal with a header from Müller's cross.
Kampa was once again outstanding in goal for the Franken, by far
the best 'keeper during the first two rounds of Bundesliga play.
Assists: Müller (x2)
Attendance: 36,700
Ciao,
Tim
tim@milanmania.com
http://milanmania.com
http://soccer-europe.com
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