FREIBURG STAGGERS, DORTMUND SOLIDIFIES 2ND SPOT

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

7 APRIL 2002

DORTMUND			2-1		1860 MÜNCHEN
Kehl 20						Schroth 12
Heinrich 26

After thrashing Milan on Thursday Dortmund of course walked into this
match with a chest as bolstered as the Mt. Everest! But 1860 München,
who have won the last two encounters at the Westfalenstadion, shocked
the 66,000 when Schroth escaped his marker Metzelder of the left side
in the box and intelligently slotted Häßler's pass into the far corner.

Kehl made himself a World Class equalizer only minutes later: He won
the ball in midfield, quickly passed it to Addo on the wing, he whipped
in a cross and Kehl came running up from behind to powerfully head in
the 1-1. Great goal! Heinrich scored the game winner drilling Kurz'
short clearance past the insecure Jentzsch.

Dortmund had at least half a dozen crystal clear chances to improve on
their goal differential but did not use them, quite possibly because
supersub Amoroso was out suspended (5th yellow).

Assists: Häßler, Addo
Attendance: 66,000


FREIBURG			0-2		STUTTGART
						Fernando Meira 79
						Handschuh 87

Stuttgart plunged Freiburg into deep depression as they keep them rooted
near the bottom of the table with two late goals. Tiffert had a regular
goal wrongly not counted for "offside". Fernando Meira unchallengedly
tapped in Balakov's free kick, young man Steffen Handschuh (21) making
his Bundesliga debut finished the job on the counter attack courtesy of
an excellent through pass from Adhemar.

If Freiburg can not go ahead of Nürnberg in the next 3 games (the club
plays Bayern, Schalke and Leverkusen) they are doomed (= 2. Bundesliga).

Assists: Balakov, Adhemar
Attendance: 25,000 (sold out)


6 APRIL 2002

LEVERKUSEN			2-0		KÖLN
Butt 13 (Pen)
Lúcio 25

Neuville had a perfectly regular 3rd minute goal disallowed for offside
in which was already Leverkusen's 50th competitive game of the season.
Ballack slipped in the box, ref Fandel gave him a penalty still, Butt
converted for his 21st career goal (all from the spot). Scherz volleyed
against the crossbar at the other end. "Amigável Animal" Lúcio picked up
Sichone's hospital pass in his own half, dribbled 3 defenders and fired
home his 4th of the season from an acute angle, awesome goal, awesome
player! Sichone made up for his horrid mistake with an excellent block
on Neuville in the second half. Still Bayer had chances for two games
and should have easily won by a much larger margin.

Assist: Ballack
Attendance: 22,500 (sold out)


ST. PAULI			1-1		KAISERSLAUTERN
Meggle 69 (Pen)					Lincoln 48

Kaiserslautern were without both their first choice strikers Klose and
Lokvenc due to suspension and had to make do with the ancient Marschall
(turned 36 3 weeks ago) and playmaker Lincoln in attack. "Sexy" Ramzy
and Kientz collided so badly in the 17th minute that the Egyptian had
to be rushed to hospital afterwards with an arse injury. "Asshole" Held
was sent off 5 minutes later for a nasty foul on Knavs, his 2nd bookable
offence in a very, very rough game.

3 minutes into the 2nd half Bjelica beautifully one-timed Malz' longball
on to Lincoln, who was heavily whistled by the St. Pauli fans because he
(almost) ended white&brown defender Adamu's season in the two teams' 1st
encounter, still he had zero trouble scoring, dodging one defender and
then shooting past the 'keeper. Georg Koch then spilled Rahn's tame shot
and Patschinski threaded himself onto Knavs for a spot kick which Meggle
sovereignly converted.

With the 6th spot which is enough to qualify for the UEFA Cup this year
(because Leverkusen and Schalke, who will both finish Top 5, are the Cup
Finalists) virtually locked down for the Red Devils, 'Lautern seems to
choke having only taken 2 points from the last 5 matches, only 1 point
from the past 4 games on the road.

Assists: Bjelica, Patschinski
Red Card: Held 22 (St. Pauli), Strasser 89 (Kaiserslautern)
Attendance: 20,499


WOLFSBURG			1-3		HERTHA
Klimowicz 36					Hartmann 25
						Preetz 28
						Marx 48

"Hardy" Hartmann sprinted onto Beinlich's perfectly-timed throughball
and lobbed the awfully-positioned Ramovic for the 0-1 after 25 minutes.
Preetz added a second 3 minutes later after tapping in after Ramovic
spilled Marcelinho's harmless shot. Wolfsburg pulled one back before
the break when Róbson Ponté passed the ball into the box to Klimowicz,
the huge Argie striker muscled his way into Van Burik and while falling
down crashed a nice half volley past Király (his 6th goal from the last
7 matches, most impressive!). 20-year-old Deisler substitute Marx killed
the match 3 minutes into the 2nd half returning Franz' short clearance
from just outside the box.

Marcelinho was once again outstanding in this match. It is absolutely
incomprehensible how Felipão can continue to ignore him. Hertha are 3
points out of a Champions League Qualification spot.

Assists: Beinlich, Róbson Ponté
Attendance: 15,127


SCHALKE			2-0		HAMBURG
Mpenza 8
Sand 41

60,000+ at the sold out Arena were welcoming back Emile Mpenza after
another 2 month-long injury lay-off and he went to back to work right
away slotting home countryman Van Kerckhoven's cross at the far post.

4 minutes before the break Böhme swung in a huge cross, it bounced
off Fukal *and* Hoogma before landing on the feet of Sand who made no
mistake from close distance. Wilmots had another huge chance after
the break but Pieckenhagen denied him the 3-0.

Martin Pieckenhagen and Sergej Barbarez aside, Hamburg did not show
up in this one. The HSV is just abysmal away from home this season
having won only 2 of their 14 road matches which is a balance almost
Cottbusesque i.e. a balance you normally are relegated with.

Assist: Van Kerckhoven
Attendance: 60,683 (sold out)


BAYERN MÜNCHEN		2-2		BREMEN
Pizarro 21					Aílton 24 (Pen)
Santa Cruz 55					Krstajic 90

Bayern fielded Linke, Niko Kovac, Tarnat, Fink and Pizarro for Kuffour,
Hargreaves (both suspended), Lizarazu, Jeremies and Paulo Sérgio (on the
bench) compared to Tuesday's clash with Real Madrid. And Pizarro who in
my opinion made the difference in the Champions League proved his worth
again as he used Effenberg's great little chip over the Werder defense
to make it 1-0.

Directly on the next attack liability Linke leant up on Frings in the
box, clear penalty, Toni converted to again overtake his friend Pizarro
in the scoring charts. Bayern was extremely lucky to not have another
penalty whistled against them when Robert Kovac *clearly* handballed in
the box (I guess the ref just did not have the balls to call that one).
Werder was more than equal to the European Champions in the first half
and even though playing with only 1 attacker (Aílton) mightily troubled
the Bayern defense on their trips down the pitch.

First 10 minutes of the second half was boring summer football (maybe
it was Bayern's tactic as they put Werder to sleep), then Sagnol swung
in a cross from midfield, the awfully slow Verlaat who doesn't even have
his positioning game going for him anymore flicked onto the ball and the
lively Roque Santa Cruz chested the ball down before tapping in the 2-1
at the far post. One minute into injury time Krstajic, the rock in
Werder's defense who marked Élber out of the game, headed in Banovic's
free kick for a flattering equalizer.

Krstajic claimed in an interview he dreamt the goal the night before. :)

Bayern slip in their hunt for 3rd place. Werder will continue to have a
huge say in the awarding of the Champions League spots as they play host
to Schalke next.

Assists: Effenberg, Frings, Banovic
Attendance: 52,000


COTTBUS			3-3		MÖNCHENGLADBACH
Topic 31						Ašanin 37
Kaluzny 34, 70					Münch 64 (Pen)
						Piplica 85 (og)

Cottbus playmaker dished out a hat-trick of assists but it proved to be
not enough as goalkeeper Piplica pissed away the points in unique style
5 minutes before the end. Energie opened up a 2 goal lead through "home
striker" Topic (header, free kick Miriuta) and the huge Kaluzny (header,
corner kick Miriuta) before Ašanin headed one back after Stassin flicked
onto Münch's corner.

The former Bayern defender also scored the equalizer from the spot after
Van Lent went down in the box. It had begun to rain heavily by now, uck!
Kaluzny (Cottbus have the option to buy him for just EUR 1.4M, I bet his
price will more than quadruple after the World Cup) again gave the home
side the lead slamming home Miriuta's cross.

And what now happened was the scene of the game, the scene of the week,
heck, the scene of the season! Witeczek attempted to shoot from the edge
of the box, the ball deflected off a defender and looped up high into
the sky, 'keeper Piplica had all the time in the world to catch it as
nobody made a challenge but instead he just kept standing on his line
waiting for it to bounce *onto* his head and *into* the net!

If I hadn't seen it myself I wouldn't believe it either. By far the most
hilarious thing in football I have ever seen!

Assists: Miriuta (x3), Stassin, Van Lent, Witeczek
Attendance: 18,450


ROSTOCK			1-0		NÜRNBERG
Arvidsson 4

Arvidsson poked in Di Salvo's cross at the far post, Sanneh cancelled
the offside trap. Lange played a club record 159th game for Hansa in
this one.

Assist: Di Salvo
Attendance: 19,200


Ciao,

Tim

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