30 GOALS, 5 PENALTIES AND 5 RED CARDS!

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


24 FEBRUARY 2002

BREMEN				0-1		HAMBURG
						Romeo 74

Barbarez had to be substituted after 9 minutes with a strained (torn?)
muscle, Heinz came on in his place and proceeded to do absolutely
nothing all game long and was even taken back out by coach Jara in the
end (probably the worst punishment your coach can give you)! Rost made
a tremendous save from a lethal Romeo strike at 24 minutes. Frings
volleyed against the post following a capital mistake by Werder-reject
Wicky. Pieckenhagen made a World Class save from Frings' 2x deflected
shot! Bode characteristically wasted a great chance after a phenomenal
Skripnik through pass.

Lisztes received the ball from Aílton in the box, turned and swept it
against the post. Pieckenhagen made another huge save 1-on-1 with Toni
Aílton only seconds later. Hamburg's defense shook like my drunken
grandmother at the hour mark! What had to happen, happened: Skripnik
tried to head a longball back to his 'keeper, Romeo splashed between
and volleyed Hamburg's lone chance of the 2nd half past Rost for the
totally undeserved lead.

Werder created a couple more great chances but were denied either by
their own inability or by Martin Pieckenhagen who probably played his
greatest game in a HSV shirt so far. Hamburg also have to thank
goalgetter Romeo who indeed made the difference once again but most
of all thanks have to go out to Lady Luck because if football was any
fair, they would have been annihilated tonight!

Attendance: 32,250


LEVERKUSEN			4-0		DORTMUND
Ballack 32
Ramelow 50
Neuville 64
Berbatov 74

Ewerthon pounced onto Koller's mishit shot and rounded Butt before
tapping into an empty net, but no! ref Dr. Fleischer disallowed this
perfectly regular goal because Amoroso was offside on Koller's shot,
did not interfere with the action in any way though. Placente made
an overlapping run down the left wing, Zé Roberto passed him the
rock in Evanílson's back and Placente centred for the wide-open
Ballack who slotted the ball through Lehmann's braces for the 1-0
half time result, his 13th goal of the season!

Kirsten fired Zé Roberto's pinpoint cross right at the 'keeper.
5 minutes into the 2nd half Lehmann palmed a corner to the far post
where Ramelow was lurking, the blond midfielder beat Kehl to the
ball and doubled the lead with a well-placed header. Koller was sent
off for his 2nd bookable offence, a frustration foul on Placente.
Neuville added a 3rd with a glancing header from Zé Roberto's free
kick before Berbatov completed the rout after a fantastic passing
move from Lúcio and Neuville.

Dortmund have no business winning the league this year!

Assists: Placente, Zé Roberto, Neuville
Red Card: Koller 53 (Dortmund)
Attendance: 22,500 (sold out)


23 FEBRUARY 2002

HERTHA				5-1		KAISERSLAUTERN
Marcelinho 13 (Pen), 69				Klose 45
Goor 37
Preetz 43, 60

West bumped Alex Alves in the box to cause a penalty which Marcelinho
coolly converted. Via West's arse AA's shot landed at the feet of Goor
who made it 2-0 from close range. Alex Alves then burned West on the
wing, Preetz had plenty of time and space to bring his cross under
control before bagging his 8th goal of the season. Klose volleyed home
the consolation goal thanks to Hristov's 30m ball over the Hertha "D".

Marcelinho curled a free kick against the crossbar and then released
Beinlich down the wing, Alex Alves whacked a tame shot at goal from
his centre, reserve 'keeper Weidenfeller spilled it, Preetz was on
hand to capitalize. Marcelinho scored his 2nd of the afternoon as
well after Preetz headed Goor's cross against the bar. Alex Alves
received mark '1' and West a straight '6' in Monday's kicker...

Assists: Alex Alves (x2), Hristov
Attendance: 33,652


BAYERN MÜNCHEN		6-0		COTTBUS
Pizarro 15, 55
Effenberg 35 (Pen)
Scholl 45, 48
Élber 74

Bayern should have been awarded a penalty after Kaluzny pulled down
Pizarro. Scholl clobbered Hujdurovic on the wing, Pizarro, getting
a rare start this year (!) put away his cross with a diving header.
Miriuta curled a free kick against the crossbar, "Wembley Style".
Scherbe nailed Pizarro in full run, clear penalty, Effenberg took
it and scored. Mátyus was undeservedly sent off for a simple
"pulling" foul on Jancker, neither was he last man, nor was it an
overly brutal foul (wasn't brutal at all!). Scholl drilled the
resulting free kick through the wall and into the keeper's corner.

Scholl added a 2nd 3 minutes into the 2nd half from Pizarro's
through pass. Bayern's #7 then returned the favour by providing
the cross to the Peruvian's 2nd headed goal of the afternoon.
Pizarro then got Reghecampf sent off for a blatant dive under
pressure in a running duel. Élber came on for Scholl and had all
the space in the world to bounce Sagnol's cross off his chest,
have a little picnic in the area, and volley home the 6-0.

Bayern even had the luxury to let Kahn take a penalty after
Kaluzny pulled down Kuffour but Piplica deflected his admittedly
well-taken spot kick against the post to deny Bayern the 7-0
and Kahn his 1st career goal.

Assists: Scholl (x2), Pizarro (x2), Jancker, Sagnol
Red Cards: Mátyus 44, Reghecampf 58 (both Cottbus)
Attendance: 28,000


SCHALKE			3-0		FREIBURG
Böhme 15
Asamoah 37
Wilmots 39

Böhme gave "Königsblau" the lead with his patented left-footed hammer
from 25m. Wilmots flicked onto Oude Kamphuis' 50m cross, Sand bounced
the ball off his chest and then played a no-look overhead pass to
Asamoah who scored with a beauty of a first time strike. Marvellous
goal through and through! Wilmots headed in Asamoah's cross to make
the game safe.

I firmly believe Schalke can go all the way this season! (weaufx,
weaufx!)

Assists: Asamoah (x2), Sand
Attendance: 60,683 (sold out)


NÜRNBERG			2-0		KÖLN
Cacãu 2, 71

Zellweger inexplicably let Nikl's longball pass him, Pröll managed to
save Rink's shot but Cacãu banged in the rebound. Zellweger almost
undressed Rink, so hard he pulled his sleeve, but the ref missed it.
Cacãu decided the game on the counter attack after easily clobbering
donkey Cichon and placing a low shot past Pröll.

Köln is probably gone.

Assist: Rink
Attendance: 25,100


ROSTOCK			1-1		STUTTGART
Rydlewicz 30 (Pen)				Fernando Meira 72

Fernando Meira clipped Di Salvo in the box, Rydlewicz smashed in the
penalty. Gerber, getting a rare start, struck the post with a long
range efford. Into the 2nd half: Yasser chopped down Seitz outside
the area, Krug still gave a penalty but 38-year-old 'keeper Perry
"Grim Reaper" Bräutigam corrected this crying injustice by saving
Balakov's spot kick. Meißner was sent off for flooring Rydlewicz
with a hard clothesline. Seven million misunderstanding Fernando
Meira headed in Adhemar's free kick to rescue the VfB a point.

Assists: Di Salvo, Adhemar
Red Card: Meißner 59 (Stuttgart)
Attendance: 12,000


WOLFSBURG			1-3		1860 MÜNCHEN
Biliskov 53					Tyce 54
						Max 59
						Weissenberger 90

Icke Häßler was on the bench for only the 2nd time since joining 1860
after clashing with coach Pacult. It was snowing heavily, as a result
the pitch was in awful condition (all muddy and shit...)! Petrov got
the ball out on the wing, cut inside and hammered against the crossbar.
Karhan hit the 'bar as well with a heavily deflected shot.

Biliskov poked in Petrov's free kick 8 minutes into the 2nd half. Tyce
equalized with a bomb! of a long range free kick (this evil thing bend
away from the 'keeper at the last second!) only 60 seconds later! Max
put away Tyce's centre to make it 1-2 before Häßler substitute and
potential successor Weissenberger decided the game from countryman
Cerny's pass. Thug defender Franz was sent off for his 2nd booking.

Assists: Petrov, Max, Tyce, Cerny
Red Card: Franz 77 (Wolfsburg)
Attendance: 10,612


ST. PAULI			1-1		MÖNCHENGLADBACH
Kientz 35					Van Lent 31

Pitch was covered with 5cm of snow (Pauli officials wanted it that way),
this was legal gambling if you ask me! Van Lent pounced onto Eberl's
longball, ball went stuck in a puddle of snow so "Thomas D" Stanislawski
couldn't reach it with his tackle so the BMG goalgetter closed in on
goal before giving his side the lead with a shot through the braces of
'keeper Henzler. "Zidane's favourite opponent" Jochen Kientz equalized
with a spectacular scissor kick from Rahn's free kick. Pauli's best
chance of the 2nd half came when Rahn whipped a long cross onto the
crossbar.

Assists: Eberl, Rahn
Attendance: 20,629 (sold out)


Ciao,

Tim

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