Bask in the Bundesliga

This week contains a special feature on the match between Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen.

Week 28 was another to forget for fans of Energie Cottbus. With their team struggling near the foot of the Bundesliga and seemingly destined for relegation at the end of next month, thousands braved the trip West to Schalke 04 only to return short-changed as their side were comprehensively out-classed by their opponents. Schalke created 4 very aesthetically pleasing goals, evenly spaced out over the 90 minutes, from Christian Pander, Halil Altintop, Jermaine Jones and Kevin Kuranyi - in the 4th, 23rd, 60th and 88th minutes respectively - making the visitors appear as comfortable in this league as fish out of water. However, as it turns out the one thing the travelling faithful will not be this morning is out of pocket. The club has decided that the display offered by the team was so inept and so inexcusable that they are consoling those who endured this Friday night fiasco with full refunds. Not that that is likely to arrest a slide which has seen Energie slip to 17th place in the table, more so it is the hope that there might just be 3 teams out there worse than them which may lift the gloom as they currently stand a single point from safety.

Karlsruhe went into their game against Hoffenheim at the Wildparkstadion on the back of 753 goaless minutes amid calls of "Becker raus!" (coach Becker out!) but were fortunate that while they welcomed back their captain Mike Franz after a long lay-off, Ralf Rangwick's visiting outfit continued to be decimated by the level of injury and suspension that has catastrophically curtailed the club's climb towards the German crown. This was not helped by the absurd aggressivity of their Brazilian midfielder Luis Gustavo, who was booked twice within 3 minutes approaching the game's climax for two 'orange' offences and then followed through on the second bruising challenge by shoving his victim over maliciously as the referee was attempting to appease the situation.

It had begun so well for the guests as Fejae Salihovic had produced a sharp turn and an adroit finish to put them ahead after half an hour. But KSC hit back to break the second-longest stalemate in Bundesliga history (Köln consequently keep their unwanted title) with a remarkably composed finish from Sebastien Freis, having beaten a poorly-laid Hoffenheim offside trap, to go in at half-time level. However, Hoffenheim took advantage of some statuesque defending by the home side to score a training ground goal 3 minutes after the turnaround, stand-in skipper Selim Teber easing into the area to convert a routine header from 8 yards. It seemed at that stage that the league's presumed wooden-spoonists were set to surrender another 3 points, but such has been the demise of Hoffenheim during this second half of the season that when Giovani Federico equalised with a tidy finish with nearly half an hour still to play the momentum was suddenly with the hosts. Their pressure so nearly told, too, as Federico was put through at the death - only to leave his manager forlorn on his hands and knees in despair and the contents of his pockets spilled onto the turf by sliding his shot against the inside of the far upright and into the arms of the grateful Ramazan Ozcan. The draw leaves Hoffenheim 8th, having been top at Christmas, and Karlsruhe still anchored to the bottom, an eye-opening 5 point chasm separating themselves from safety.

Marginally above Cottbus, occupying the least threatening of the relegation places, is Borussia Mönchengladbach and, after showing real signs of recovery at the turn of the year, they have slumped in form and were beaten 4-1 by Frankfurt at the Commerzbank Arena on Saturday, goals from Alexander Meier, Nikos Liberopoulos, Marko Russ and Michael Fink rendering Filip Daems' 75th minute spot-kick irrelevant and leaving Gladbach in real need of inspiration if they intend to maintain their top-flight status next season. Frankfurt's win after this impressive showing takes them up into 11th for the first time since before the Winter break and almost certainly guarantees them first division Football next year.

The two sides nearest to danger are, and have been for most of the campign, Arminia Bielefeld and Vfl Bochum who both faced tricky home games at the weekend. Whereas Bochum went down rather timidly to Jürgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund team 2-0, an early Patrick Owomoyela strike and a 54th minute effort from Nelson Valdez doing the damage, Bielefeld held their own with a little more defiance as they lost by the odd goal to Bayern Munich. Granted, the better chances inevitably fell to the away side in front of a sell-out crowd of 27,800 during a scrappy game cluttered with yellow cards but at the final whistle one was given the impression that without the reliable Franck Ribery in their ranks, Bayern may have struggled to break through Bielefeld's outer armoury, let alone put them to the sword. On 54 minutes the Frenchman flighted a teasing centre onto the greasy forehead of Luca Toni to present the whinger with a chance that even he couldn't pass up to break the deadlock with his 12th of the season.
Having said that, the as usual unimpressive, intelligence-devoid Italian did also manage to "force" a double save from Bielefeld stopper Dennis Eilhoff after being put through by another pin-point pass and presented with 2 gilt-edged opprtunities wrapped in 1 shortly before the end to undo some of his earlier good work. Bielefeld remain only 1 point ahead of Gladbach, with Bochum also 5 points clear of the boys from Borussia-Park. Bayern remain second, 3 points behind leaders Wolfsburg, and have not been on top of the pile all season long. However, there is an encouraging precedent for them, set in the 1985/6 season as Munich failed to snatch top spot until the very last matchday, at a time when current manager Uli Hoeneß was a member of the playing roster.

Felix Magath's side seem to be chasing the record for how many records can be beaten this season. Their "Zuschauerrekord" (attendance record) stands at 463,929 people through the turnstiles this year and that success has been replicated on the pitch by 13 league wins and 1 draw at the VW-Arena this season. They are currently on a run of 10 successive wins home and away, in search of the record of 15, held by Magath himself while in charge at Bayern in 2005. And their top marksman, the colossal Brazilian Grafite, has notched 25 goals in 23 appearances in total, 22 of those coming in the Bundesliga. He was on target to put the hosts into the lead with a 23rd-minute penalty against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, although the way in which the South American striker 'earned' his 9th penalty of the season was less appealing, a blatant dive conning the referee into awarding the "Elfmeter" (penalty - literally, 11 metres) which he duly dispatched low to the keeper's right with little regard for righteousness.

Leverkusen deservedly hit back after an energetic display allowed them to create numerous openings in a predictably open game of Football. Good work from Simon Rolfes and Stefan Kießling provided the on-loan Bayern attacker Toni Kroos space in which to control the ball with some tidy footwork and toe-poke home from the edge of the box for his first of the season. Wolfsburg could have already been out of sight at that stage had the referee deemed Bayer keeper and German number 2 Rene Adler's charge and subsequent rugby tackle on the pole-axed Grafite 40 yards from goal on the stroke of half-time as worthy of more than a free-kick in a game dominated by poor decisions.

As it was they were made to wait until the 85th minute, when one of the many beautiful slide-rule passes played through by the outstanding Zvjezdan Misimovic again found its target and, having previously wasted several chances for which he was berated by his strike partner Edin Dzeko throughout the game and beyond the final whistle, Grafite this time finished with aplomb to secure the victory. The Munich-born midfield playmaker Misimovic now has 19 assists to his name in 2008/9 and refuses to be outshone by his more-celebrated team mates. But before the party could start, the proceedings could not be brought to a close without one final aberration from the man in the middle. In added time the referee's failure to acknowledge an astonishingly obvious handball from the home side on the 6-yard line compounded his awarding of an earlier spot-kick at the same end in favour of the hosts in the first half, sealing one final record-achieving feat from Wolfsburg, who have now amassed a whopping 31 points from a possible 33, unchartered territory for any Bundesliga team at this stage of the run-in. Luckless Leverkusen will resume hostilities from 9th position in their challenge for a European place and will hope that the largely ineffective Patrick Helmes will rediscover his scoring touch in time to steal a march on their fellow competitors.

Vfb Stuttgart temporarily rocketed to 3rd on Saturday, but their stay was short-lived as Hamburg regained the initiative with a win over Hannover 96 a day later. Markus Babbel's remarkable run continued, as did that of on-fire "stürmer" (striker) Mario Gomez by way of a 3-0 win in Köln, all three goals coming from their talisman. Title talk has been banned at the Mercedes Benz Arena despite the players claiming their first win over Köln in 12 years to put themselves within touching distance of a Champions League place and keep the club on course for a mammoth meeting with the division's other form side, Wolfsburg, in two weeks time; a game which could have huge ramifications as to the destination of the coveted shield this season. Köln dropped a place to 12th and are currently at a low ebb, but should more than fancy their chances of steering their way to safety over the next few weeks based on the majority of their performances since their return to the top flight last summer.

Hamburg were also indebted to a prolific marksman, in their case the marauding Mladen Petric, who seems to be relishing the effects of manager Martin Jol's rotation system and appeared fresh right from the word ‘go’ yesterday, drumming in a lethal left-footed volley in the very first minute of the contest before converting a far simpler opportunity early in the second period to establish what proved to be an unassailable lead for his side. This in spite of Mikkael Forsell's 6th of the season, coming after one of the harsher handball decisions seen this term had allowed the Finn to reduce the arrears with 20 minutes still on the clock. Hamburg maintain more than an outside chance of scoring what would be a historic treble of Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal (German FA Cup) and UEFA Cup, with local rivals Werder Bremen standing in their way in both cup competitions, ensuring a hectic yet exhillarating end to the schedule for their long-suffering supporters, who have been starved of success since the heady days of the 1980's when they could boast the likes of Kevin Keegan on their books. Hannover have no such endeavours on the cards come May and, with 6 games to play, will not feel assured of safety just yet.

As the travelling Werder Bremen contingent absorbed Per Mertesacker's scrappy opening goal at the Olympiastadion yesterday the song emanating from the away end asserted "You'll never be German Champions" and it says much about the ambitions of the visitors in this regard that they have resorted to taunting the Hertha Berlin fans for even attempting to break their Bundesliga duck and claim their first title since 1931, rather than retaining the hope of reviving their side's flagging fortunes and challenging for the top honour in German Football at any point in the foreseeable future. As it turned out, this gibe proved inconsequential on all counts, as the decision of trainer Thomas Schaaf to rest star performers Diego and Mesut Özil, in preparation for the midweek DFB-Pokal semi-final vs Hamburg, eventually caught up with an out-of-sorts front line and the Berliners capitalised on their own coach Lucien Favre's decisiveness to overturn the deficit and run out 2-1 winners in front of a boisterous crowd of nearly 70,000 on Sunday.

As a spectacle, the game suffered massively from the absence, not only of Diego and Özil, but of Andriy Voronin, Hertha's key man this season, who looked on from the stands sporting designer sunglasses (a look that originally appeared unnecessary but consequently was proven to be spot-on as even Tim Wiese disregarded topping up his tan and maintaining his hair-do to don a cap for large parts of the proceedings) and a look that betrayed his desire to return to Liverpool (officially announced this week) after the centre-forward failed in his appeal to have a 3-game ban overturned for a cynical hack on an opponent and a not-so-subtle nudge of the ball into the back of his upended opponent in his team's previous fixture. His replacement, Marko Pantelic, idolised by the home fans who reacted angrily to his substitution after an hour, was largely ineffectual and coach Favre's decision to cut his losses and haul the Serbian off was thoroughly vindicated when his strike partner Raffael combined with Hungarian midfielder Pal Dardai from a free-kick to present Josip Simunic with a headed chance that the Croat glanced up and over the disappointing Wiese and into the Werder net for the equaliser. Three attacking alterations from the increasingly popular Swiss tactician Favre were to pay dividends again as Pantelic's indirect replacement, the Tunisian Amine Charmiti provided the pass for Raffael's clincher.

Another defender had already come forward for a set-piece to give the away side the lead 2 minutes before the interval. The manner in which Mertesacker bundled the ball in (and there is clearly no word more appropriate than 'bundle' for the way in which the ball was forced home off a mixture of hand and foot via two other players) was not favourably comparable to the contribution of Simunic but was very much in keeping with a first half that had stopped short of offering absolutely nothing by threatening to offer very little. Apart from a free header that struck an upright but which owed as much to the way in which the cross was defended as to that with which it was created, and a precise passing move orchestrated by the uncompromising yet uninspiring Claudio Pizarro that resulted in a fierce Sebastien Prodl drive being fielded by home keeper Jaroslav Drobny, there were air-shots from both Maximilian Nicu and Gojko Kacar for Hertha and mis-hit efforts from Frank Baumann and Alexandros Tziolis for Werder to show for the efforts of 22 players over 45, at times excruciating, minutes.

The goal ensured a far more open affair in the second half and a welcome change of impetus from the home side. Hertha almost visibly moved up through the gears with relative ease but were still second-best to the commanding presence of Thorsten Frings in the visitors' midfield and were left vulnerable to the counter-attack on numerous occasions, one such move culminating in the most glaring miss of the afternoon from Werder substitute Peter Niemeyer after Frings had worked his way to the by-line and found Tziolis, who in turn did exceptionally well to rescue the move's momentum at full stretch, diverting the ball back into the path of Niemeyer who had the simplest of tasks to nod the ball home but headed over the bar with the goal gaping.

That was to be Werder's final opportunity to gain a foothold in yet another match that was to slip away from them. Following Simunic's leveller, sub Chermiti disposessed the labouring Naldo and released Raffael, whose effort deflected off Mertesacker and looped over the head of the again stranded Wiese to grab a crucial win for the hosts in their bid for glory, as the boys from the capital look to begin one final assault on the league Championship from 4th place. Werder have been focusing on the cups for some time now in their quest for silverware and two meetings with their arch-nemeses HSV Hamburg will decide their fate for next season.