Dortmund extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points. Mainz lost while Leverkusen huffed and puffed to another victory.
Dortmund is solid in defence, solid in attack and extremely good in midfield. The only team that can perhaps take Dortmund down is a full strength and an in-form Bayern side. However, that fixture is going to take place in 2011. Dortmund is rolling on and easily disposed of Hamburg.
Dortmund hasn't been beaten in the previous 11 Bundesliga games. They drew only one of those games. They however, did lose on opening day. The team to take them down is their main rival at the moment, Leverkusen.
Leverkusen hasn't played eye-catching football this season. What this cursed side has done is win games. Leverkusen has had too many "near misses" in the past and perhaps finally wants to win the Bundesliga. Unbelievable as it might be, Leverkusen has never won the Bundesliga in their history. They have finished second on four occasions.
Meanwhile, Mainz lost again and this is what allowed Leverkusen to draw level with them. Hanover was the team which defeated them this time around. Despite the fact that Hanover went a man down in the 68th minute, Mainz failed to come back into the game. The fairy tale seems to be coming to an end.
The game started off with a flurry of attacks but then slowed down. The first half saw very little action. The visitors failed to break down the hosts who were typically strong in midfield and in defence. Hamburg had a good spell for about ten minutes in the first half but ever time they threatened, either, Piotr Trochowski played a poor final pass or Dortmund easily cleared their lines.
Dortmund opened the scoring three minutes after the second half began. Lukasz Piszczek received a pass from Sven Bender close to the half-way line, ran down the pitch and cut back to Shinji Kagawa. Kagawa’s strike took a deflection off Jose Paulo Guerrero and entered the back of the net for 1-0.
Hamburg threatened a few times but was on the back foot more often than not. They couldn’t even produce good and fast counter-attacks when all the Dortmund players were attacking. The second goal was set up by Mario Goetze. Goetze found Kevin Grosskreutz who flicked the ball onto Lucas Barrios. Barrios found the back of the net and sealed the three points for his side.
Gladbach had the better chances in the first half. Novakovic went close to breaking the deadlock though. His shot from a free-kick went marginally over the bar. In the second half, Dante came on for Gladbach. Raul Bobadilla opened the scoring in the 51st minute from a well taken free-kick. His shot went into the back of the net off the post.
Moments later, Mohamadou Idrissou sent his header over the bar. Dante had to be taken off on a stretcher as he was injured while going for the same ball as Idrissou did. Idrissou’s pass from the left-flank found Bobadilla. Bobadilla passed to Michael Bradley. Bradley’s deflected shot found the back of the net.
For the third, Bradley passed to Marco Reus. Reus found Igor de Camargo who scored his second goal in two games. Bobadilla scored a fourth in the 90th minute to put the icing on the cake and win the Rhineland derby. The result lifts Gladbach to seventeenth while Köln finds itself at the foot of the table.
Wolfsburg opened the scoring early on in the game. Marcel Schaefer’s cross found Grafite, who headed the ball into the back of the net for 1-0. Wolfsburg had a chance to double the lead. Peter Pekarik found Grafite in the penalty area with a lovely pass, but, Grafite’s shot from a very narrow angle went over the bar.
Wolfsburg did get a second and once again, Schaefer created it. Schaefer’s cross into the box found Edin Dzeko. Dzeko’s slightly scuffed shot saw the ball enter the net for 2-0. Schalke halved the deficit before half-time.
Atsuto Uchida found Jefferson Farfan on the right flank. Farfan’s ball into the box was a good one; Edu got on the end of it and scored. From Wolfsburg’s point of view, the goal could perhaps have been prevented with better defending.
Farfan played a similar pass for a second time but nobody managed to get on the end of it. Schalke found the equalizer. Lukas Schmitz found Klaas Jan Huntelaar who scored for 2-2.
Wolfsburg almost won it at the end but Manuel Neuer and Lukas Schmitz managed to clear off the line under Grafite’s nose. The result leaves Schalke in sixteenth position while Wolfsburg is four places above the Royal Blues.
Kaiserslautern had a great chance to open the scoring but Srdjan Lakic couldn’t get the job done. Stuttgart instead opened the scoring. Arthur Boka passed to Ciprian Marica. Marica returned the favour with a great through-ball to Boka. Boka lobbed Tobias Sippel brilliantly for 0-1.
While Kaiserslautern was busy appealing a misdemeanor in Stuttgart’s penalty area on Christian Tiffert, Stuttgart launched a counter-attack. Ciprian Marica found Cacau and Cacau scored for 2-0. Martin Amedick fouled Ciprian Marica inside the box. The decision was a close one and FCK might have felt slightly aggrieved at it. Christian Gentner took the penalty and scored. Stuttgart might have felt that they had won the game.
However, FCK felt differently and came storming back. With home support, FCK managed to launch one of the comebacks of the season. Ilijan Mitsanski scored when he sent Christian Tiffert’s cross into the back of the net. At the other end, Marica failed to get the touch required to send Timo Gebhart’s cross into the back of the net.
Kaiserslautern’s second strike was a thing of beauty. Ivo Ilicevic received the ball from Tiffert and went around three Stuttgart players. He then unleashed a screamer from distance for 3-2. Tiffert’s free-kick was headed in by Mathias Abel to complete the comeback.
Marica once again had a chance to win the game for his side but sent his header over the bar from Cristian Molinaro’s cross. FCK earned a free-kick but Alexander Bugera’s shot was saved by Sven Ulreich. Jens Keller must still be wondering how his side did not come away with three points.
Bayer Leverkusen is now officially one of the main contenders for the Bundesliga crown. They went level on points as well as on goal difference with Mainz after a 1-0 win over St.Pauli. The match wasn’t a very good one.
Leverkusen launched attack after attack in the first half; but each of their attacks were toothless. Patrick Helmes took a shot from the edge of the box but sent it over the bar. St.Pauli failed to counter attack time and time again, and, as a result, didn’t even produce one good attacking move in the first half.
Holger Stanislawski brought on Gerald Asamoah and Fin Bartels in the second half. Bartels immediately troubled Leverkusen as he came booming down the right flank. His cut back to Gerald Asamoah almost led to the opener. Unfortunately, for the former Schalke striker, his shot came back out from the inside of the post.
The pace of the game improved as Bayer and St.Pauli both started looking for the winner. In the end, Leverkusen got it. Simon Rolfes, on the by-line, somehow managed to send the ball across the face of goal. Renato Augusto finished with a simple touch.
Marko Marin drew the first good save of the match. His powerful shot was saved by Oka Nikolov. Mikael Silvestre’s header from Aaron Hunt’s corner was cleared off the line by Sebastian Jung. Theofanis Gekas broke the Werder offside trap easily; but when the cross came from midfield, he sent the ball up and over the bar.
Gekas missed another golden chance shortly afterwards. Nikolov sent his team mate’s shot from Wesley’s cross over the bar, thus, preventing an own goal. Marin then headed over the bar from Silvestre’s cross.
In the second half, Gekas headed over the bar once again from Georgios Tzavelas’ corner. Marin failed to get on the end of a Hunt cross, when only a touch would have led to the opener.
Daniel Jensen drew a save from Nikolov with a drive from distance. Pirmin Schwegler’s shot was parried by Tim Wiese. However, Gekas failed to convert from close range. Gekas missed one more chance before the end of the game as he sent his header wide of the post.
Both teams had enough chances to win the match. Michael Skibbe and Thomas Schaaf looked very disgruntled on the sidelines. The result leaves Frankfurt in fourth and Werder in eleventh position in the table.
Mainz had initially gone seven Bundesliga games without a defeat. Their loss to Hanover was their fourth defeat of the season. Of the four matches that Mainz has lost, three were lost by a single goal. In all of those losses Mainz failed to score.
Bayer Leverkusen’s win brought them to equal points with Mainz and with the way things seem to be going, Leverkusen will overtake Mainz sooner rather than later. The only factor in Mainz’s favour is that Leverkusen’s next opponent is a certain Bayern München.
As for the game, a strike by Sergio Pinto gave all three points to Hanover. One has to remember that Hanover lost their previous two games by a combined eight goals against attacking sides. Also, Karim Haggui, after his rather silly red card against Dortmund, started serving his five match ban and thus was suspended for this one.
A Hanover corner was cleared by the Mainz players. The clearance fell to Pinto whose shot took a few deflections before entering the back of the net. For a third game in a row, Hanover had a man sent off. Steve Cherundolo was sent off in the 68th minute after his second yellow card off the game for blocking Andre Schuerrle.
Robin Dutt’s unfancied outfit beat Hoffenheim with virtually the last kick of the game. Hoffenheim sunk down to eighth after the result while Freiburg went up to fourth. Freiburg’s keeper Oliver Baumann denied Hoffenheim time and time again. As the match headed towards a 0-0 draw, Papiss Demba Cisse decided that his side didn’t want to share the points.
In injury time, Stefan Reisinger managed to fend off the Hoffenheim players. He passed to Papiss Demba Cisse who managed to get in between two Hoffenheim players and put the ball past Daniel Haas. The goal was Cisse’s tenth of the season, leaving him one behind leading scorer Theofanis Gekas and three ahead of his nearest challengers in third.
The second derby of the match-day was a one-sided affair. The first half was dull but Bayern had 62% of the possession. They took the lead in the tenth minute. Daniel Pranjic ran with the ball, passed to Andreas Ottl and received a pass inside the box. He played the ball across the face of goal allowing Mario Gomez to tap the ball across the line.
Toni Kroos hit the bar with a thunderous shot. Martin Demichelis missed narrowly with a header. Nuremberg rarely threatened the Bayern back-line. At the beginning of the second half, Borges Breno came in for Martin Demichelis.
In the second half, Nuremberg had a great chance. Mike Frantz’s cross only needed a soft touch to enter the goal; however Julian Schieber’s touch was heavy and the ball went over the bar. Nuremberg’s other chance was also wasted by Julian Schieber.
Mario Gomez was fouled in the box by Raphael Schaefer soon afterwards. The vice-captain, Philipp Lahm stepped up and calmly converted for 2-0. Despite the Bayern central defence making error after error, Nuremberg failed to take advantage.
Bayern ultimately scored a third when Mario Gomez headed the ball into the back of the net from Franck Ribery’s corner. Gomez had a chance to score a hat-trick when Thomas Mueller earned a penalty; however, he comically sent the ball into the crowds from the spot. The result leaves Bayern in sixth and their opponents in tenth.
Dortmund hasn't been beaten in the previous 11 Bundesliga games. They drew only one of those games. They however, did lose on opening day. The team to take them down is their main rival at the moment, Leverkusen.
Leverkusen hasn't played eye-catching football this season. What this cursed side has done is win games. Leverkusen has had too many "near misses" in the past and perhaps finally wants to win the Bundesliga. Unbelievable as it might be, Leverkusen has never won the Bundesliga in their history. They have finished second on four occasions.
Meanwhile, Mainz lost again and this is what allowed Leverkusen to draw level with them. Hanover was the team which defeated them this time around. Despite the fact that Hanover went a man down in the 68th minute, Mainz failed to come back into the game. The fairy tale seems to be coming to an end.
The game started off with a flurry of attacks but then slowed down. The first half saw very little action. The visitors failed to break down the hosts who were typically strong in midfield and in defence. Hamburg had a good spell for about ten minutes in the first half but ever time they threatened, either, Piotr Trochowski played a poor final pass or Dortmund easily cleared their lines.
Dortmund opened the scoring three minutes after the second half began. Lukasz Piszczek received a pass from Sven Bender close to the half-way line, ran down the pitch and cut back to Shinji Kagawa. Kagawa’s strike took a deflection off Jose Paulo Guerrero and entered the back of the net for 1-0.
Hamburg threatened a few times but was on the back foot more often than not. They couldn’t even produce good and fast counter-attacks when all the Dortmund players were attacking. The second goal was set up by Mario Goetze. Goetze found Kevin Grosskreutz who flicked the ball onto Lucas Barrios. Barrios found the back of the net and sealed the three points for his side.
Gladbach had the better chances in the first half. Novakovic went close to breaking the deadlock though. His shot from a free-kick went marginally over the bar. In the second half, Dante came on for Gladbach. Raul Bobadilla opened the scoring in the 51st minute from a well taken free-kick. His shot went into the back of the net off the post.
Moments later, Mohamadou Idrissou sent his header over the bar. Dante had to be taken off on a stretcher as he was injured while going for the same ball as Idrissou did. Idrissou’s pass from the left-flank found Bobadilla. Bobadilla passed to Michael Bradley. Bradley’s deflected shot found the back of the net.
For the third, Bradley passed to Marco Reus. Reus found Igor de Camargo who scored his second goal in two games. Bobadilla scored a fourth in the 90th minute to put the icing on the cake and win the Rhineland derby. The result lifts Gladbach to seventeenth while Köln finds itself at the foot of the table.
Wolfsburg opened the scoring early on in the game. Marcel Schaefer’s cross found Grafite, who headed the ball into the back of the net for 1-0. Wolfsburg had a chance to double the lead. Peter Pekarik found Grafite in the penalty area with a lovely pass, but, Grafite’s shot from a very narrow angle went over the bar.
Wolfsburg did get a second and once again, Schaefer created it. Schaefer’s cross into the box found Edin Dzeko. Dzeko’s slightly scuffed shot saw the ball enter the net for 2-0. Schalke halved the deficit before half-time.
Atsuto Uchida found Jefferson Farfan on the right flank. Farfan’s ball into the box was a good one; Edu got on the end of it and scored. From Wolfsburg’s point of view, the goal could perhaps have been prevented with better defending.
Farfan played a similar pass for a second time but nobody managed to get on the end of it. Schalke found the equalizer. Lukas Schmitz found Klaas Jan Huntelaar who scored for 2-2.
Wolfsburg almost won it at the end but Manuel Neuer and Lukas Schmitz managed to clear off the line under Grafite’s nose. The result leaves Schalke in sixteenth position while Wolfsburg is four places above the Royal Blues.
Kaiserslautern had a great chance to open the scoring but Srdjan Lakic couldn’t get the job done. Stuttgart instead opened the scoring. Arthur Boka passed to Ciprian Marica. Marica returned the favour with a great through-ball to Boka. Boka lobbed Tobias Sippel brilliantly for 0-1.
While Kaiserslautern was busy appealing a misdemeanor in Stuttgart’s penalty area on Christian Tiffert, Stuttgart launched a counter-attack. Ciprian Marica found Cacau and Cacau scored for 2-0. Martin Amedick fouled Ciprian Marica inside the box. The decision was a close one and FCK might have felt slightly aggrieved at it. Christian Gentner took the penalty and scored. Stuttgart might have felt that they had won the game.
However, FCK felt differently and came storming back. With home support, FCK managed to launch one of the comebacks of the season. Ilijan Mitsanski scored when he sent Christian Tiffert’s cross into the back of the net. At the other end, Marica failed to get the touch required to send Timo Gebhart’s cross into the back of the net.
Kaiserslautern’s second strike was a thing of beauty. Ivo Ilicevic received the ball from Tiffert and went around three Stuttgart players. He then unleashed a screamer from distance for 3-2. Tiffert’s free-kick was headed in by Mathias Abel to complete the comeback.
Marica once again had a chance to win the game for his side but sent his header over the bar from Cristian Molinaro’s cross. FCK earned a free-kick but Alexander Bugera’s shot was saved by Sven Ulreich. Jens Keller must still be wondering how his side did not come away with three points.
Bayer Leverkusen is now officially one of the main contenders for the Bundesliga crown. They went level on points as well as on goal difference with Mainz after a 1-0 win over St.Pauli. The match wasn’t a very good one.
Leverkusen launched attack after attack in the first half; but each of their attacks were toothless. Patrick Helmes took a shot from the edge of the box but sent it over the bar. St.Pauli failed to counter attack time and time again, and, as a result, didn’t even produce one good attacking move in the first half.
Holger Stanislawski brought on Gerald Asamoah and Fin Bartels in the second half. Bartels immediately troubled Leverkusen as he came booming down the right flank. His cut back to Gerald Asamoah almost led to the opener. Unfortunately, for the former Schalke striker, his shot came back out from the inside of the post.
The pace of the game improved as Bayer and St.Pauli both started looking for the winner. In the end, Leverkusen got it. Simon Rolfes, on the by-line, somehow managed to send the ball across the face of goal. Renato Augusto finished with a simple touch.
Marko Marin drew the first good save of the match. His powerful shot was saved by Oka Nikolov. Mikael Silvestre’s header from Aaron Hunt’s corner was cleared off the line by Sebastian Jung. Theofanis Gekas broke the Werder offside trap easily; but when the cross came from midfield, he sent the ball up and over the bar.
Gekas missed another golden chance shortly afterwards. Nikolov sent his team mate’s shot from Wesley’s cross over the bar, thus, preventing an own goal. Marin then headed over the bar from Silvestre’s cross.
In the second half, Gekas headed over the bar once again from Georgios Tzavelas’ corner. Marin failed to get on the end of a Hunt cross, when only a touch would have led to the opener.
Daniel Jensen drew a save from Nikolov with a drive from distance. Pirmin Schwegler’s shot was parried by Tim Wiese. However, Gekas failed to convert from close range. Gekas missed one more chance before the end of the game as he sent his header wide of the post.
Both teams had enough chances to win the match. Michael Skibbe and Thomas Schaaf looked very disgruntled on the sidelines. The result leaves Frankfurt in fourth and Werder in eleventh position in the table.
Mainz had initially gone seven Bundesliga games without a defeat. Their loss to Hanover was their fourth defeat of the season. Of the four matches that Mainz has lost, three were lost by a single goal. In all of those losses Mainz failed to score.
Bayer Leverkusen’s win brought them to equal points with Mainz and with the way things seem to be going, Leverkusen will overtake Mainz sooner rather than later. The only factor in Mainz’s favour is that Leverkusen’s next opponent is a certain Bayern München.
As for the game, a strike by Sergio Pinto gave all three points to Hanover. One has to remember that Hanover lost their previous two games by a combined eight goals against attacking sides. Also, Karim Haggui, after his rather silly red card against Dortmund, started serving his five match ban and thus was suspended for this one.
A Hanover corner was cleared by the Mainz players. The clearance fell to Pinto whose shot took a few deflections before entering the back of the net. For a third game in a row, Hanover had a man sent off. Steve Cherundolo was sent off in the 68th minute after his second yellow card off the game for blocking Andre Schuerrle.
Robin Dutt’s unfancied outfit beat Hoffenheim with virtually the last kick of the game. Hoffenheim sunk down to eighth after the result while Freiburg went up to fourth. Freiburg’s keeper Oliver Baumann denied Hoffenheim time and time again. As the match headed towards a 0-0 draw, Papiss Demba Cisse decided that his side didn’t want to share the points.
In injury time, Stefan Reisinger managed to fend off the Hoffenheim players. He passed to Papiss Demba Cisse who managed to get in between two Hoffenheim players and put the ball past Daniel Haas. The goal was Cisse’s tenth of the season, leaving him one behind leading scorer Theofanis Gekas and three ahead of his nearest challengers in third.
The second derby of the match-day was a one-sided affair. The first half was dull but Bayern had 62% of the possession. They took the lead in the tenth minute. Daniel Pranjic ran with the ball, passed to Andreas Ottl and received a pass inside the box. He played the ball across the face of goal allowing Mario Gomez to tap the ball across the line.
Toni Kroos hit the bar with a thunderous shot. Martin Demichelis missed narrowly with a header. Nuremberg rarely threatened the Bayern back-line. At the beginning of the second half, Borges Breno came in for Martin Demichelis.
In the second half, Nuremberg had a great chance. Mike Frantz’s cross only needed a soft touch to enter the goal; however Julian Schieber’s touch was heavy and the ball went over the bar. Nuremberg’s other chance was also wasted by Julian Schieber.
Mario Gomez was fouled in the box by Raphael Schaefer soon afterwards. The vice-captain, Philipp Lahm stepped up and calmly converted for 2-0. Despite the Bayern central defence making error after error, Nuremberg failed to take advantage.
Bayern ultimately scored a third when Mario Gomez headed the ball into the back of the net from Franck Ribery’s corner. Gomez had a chance to score a hat-trick when Thomas Mueller earned a penalty; however, he comically sent the ball into the crowds from the spot. The result leaves Bayern in sixth and their opponents in tenth.
