Fresh Batch of Bundesliga

5 places and 3 points separate the contenders for the Bundesliga “Meisterschaft” (Championship) with 5 rounds remaining as a couple of considerable upsets look to have reshaped the league landscape for the umpteenth time this season.

Energie Cottbus somehow overcame table-toppers Vfl Wolfsburg at the Stadion der Freundschaft on Sunday to cap a marvelous turnaround after the club refunded fans who had travelled to see last week’s 4-goal drubbing at the hands of Schalke 04. The goals came in the last 20 minutes from Dimitar Rangelov and Ervin Skela respectively to give Cottbus the points and their success allied with the 1-1 draw played out simultaneously between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Arminia Bielefeld at Borussia-Park - goals from Karim Matmour and Robert Tesche ensuring a stalemate - leaves the East Germans 15th with 26 points, with Bielefeld having 25 and Gladbach on 24 although both sides below Cottbus boast a better goal difference as the gaps continue to close in a congested bottom 5.

Wolfsburg’s defeat rules out the possibility of Felix Magath eclipsing his own record of 15 consecutive wins at the helm but the Wolves do remain 2 points clear of second-placed Hertha Berlin with 29 games played.

Saturday’s biggest shock came from rock-bottom Karlsruhe SC as they grabbed an away win at the expense of Bayer Leverkusen, who are still without a win at their temporary home in Dusseldorf. The manner in which the win was achieved stirred memories of fairytale finishes of the past, including Frankfurt’s 5-1 win to earn a final day reprieve in 1999 clinched by a last-minute goal from Jan Aage Fjortoft (remember him at Swindon in the first season of the Prem?.

KSC’s fate has been seemingly sealed for some time but after a winner like theirs on Saturday there is always hope of the great escape. Defender Sebastien Langkamp admitted afterwards that his challenge near the half-way line had been aimed at seeing the ball into the “tribune” (stand) if only to halt a potential counter attack coming his way. That the ball gloriously flew upwards and sailed beyond the stranded German international keeper Rene Adler for a goal from 46.5m reminiscent of Jason Cundy in 1993 exceeded his wildest expectations as well as those of his team-mates, who acclaimed him as if he had just won them the Championship. Perhaps the 2nd division Championship, allowing them to fast-forward 12 months and embark upon their adventure all over again.

Karlsruhe remain bottom but won’t feel quite so lonely this morning as they gaze up at the 4 teams within 2 wins of them. Leverkusen are 9th and appear momentarily incapable of rediscovering their scent for goal with star striker Patrick Helmes scoreless since February and substitute Angelos Charisteas wasting a great opportunity to gain parity in “die Nachspielzeit” (injury time) on Saturday.

Scores of ‘warm-hearted sisters’ known as the “Barmherzigeschwestern” of the Holy Vincent from Pall were among the 69,000 who witnessed a colourful contest at the Allianz Arena on Saturday at the request of Munich chief Uli Hoeneß after they had knitted him his very own lucky scarf, but Bayern Munich were beaten 1-0 at home by Schalke 04 – a result which has seriously undermined their Championship bid.

The biggest surprise was that there were not more goals, saves at both ends keeping the match beautifully poised until its very last kick. The final shot-stopping contribution came from Schalke’s young number 1 Manuel Neuer, who reacted to his tipping over the bar of a swerving Hamit Altintop effort by racing to the corner flag and ripping it from the turf, an exact replica of former Bayern keeper Oliver Kahn’s celebration after pipping Schalke to the title in 2001 – an event watched by the 15-year-old Neuer in disbelief from Schalke’s former Park Stadion home, to which he later testified in the post-match interview.

It was the lesser-celebrated of the two Turkish brothers, Schalke’s Halil Altintop, who was to make the telling touch at the other end with a free header from a Christian Pander corner midway through the first half and take his team up to 6th in the table. But it was the four yellow cards and the two subsequent reds accrued by the guests’ Jermaine Jones and the hosts’ Franck Ribery that were to provide the bite to empower an already potentially poisonous atmosphere.

The home side was jeered off at the end, while cries of “Klinsmann raus!” reverberated around the Allianz, the spectators’ voices echoing ever louder as their side’s season spirals further into an abyss of mediocrity. Ribery saw much of the ball but appeared dis-spirited and at times disinterested as he continues to create, unassisted by his colleagues, his sending-off in the 76th minute a sign of the Frenchman’s frustration. Luca Toni failed to register a single shot, whether on target or off, during another fruitless 90 minutes and on one occasion was too busy pleading for a penalty to follow up a Mark van Bommel effort parried into his previous path. While 3rd in a 5-horse race all is not lost for Klinsmann’s side but any additional slip-ups could push the club back into the forbidden forest of UEFA-Cup Football and render the coach’s position untenable.

Two games that both resulted in 2-0 home wins, supported by a combined total of 135,552 fans, were to prove significant in the fluctuating momentum of the sides in the title hunt on Saturday with Vfb Stuttgart easing past 11th placed Eintracht Frankfurt whilst Hamburger HSV were dealt a blow by Borussia Dortmund.

Ludovic Magnin’s centre followed by Cacau’s bullet near post header were enough to give in-form Stuttgart the lead at the Mercedes Benz Arena and when stand-in skipper Mario Gomez was given the freedom of the West to see his scuffed shot over the line for the 19th goal – his 12th since January - of an increasingly triumphant campaign they were home and dry, despite Martin Fenin extending his advantage at the head of the “Aluminiumtreffer” (shots against the woodwork) charts by taking his tally to 6 and Cacau replying with one of his own by way of a fiersome half-volley tipped onto the post by Markus Proll late on. The win takes Markus Babbel’s boys behind Bayern in 3rd by virtue only of the Müncheners’ superior goal difference.

Hamburg had themselves started the day “punktgleich” (on the same number of points as) Munich but, after Neven Subotic had issued an early warning in the form of a long-range piledriver which skimmed the bar, Nuri Sahin’s aerial assist provided captain Sebastien Kehl the space in which to apply a measured first-time finish through Timo Rost’s legs and hand Dortmund the initiative on 32 minutes. Then, having survived one penalty scare, the away side were to eventually concede a spot-kick in the final minute, one which was put away without fuss by Swiss striker Alexander Frei to lift Jurgen Klopp’s energetic outfit into 7th and leave Hamburg, for whom Ivica Olic headed against the crossbar when trailing 1-0, the lowest-ranked of the 5 teams still harbouring title ambitions and their trainer Martin Jol has a severe selection headache ahead of their UEFA-Cup semi-final clash with rivals Werder Bremen on Thursday.

Hertha BSC leapt back into the title mix with a fortunate 1-0 win away to 1899 Hoffenheim on Friday night. The Herthaner’s 13th win by a single-goal cushion this season was earned through the awareness of playmaker Raffael to turn delightfully and burst into space from which Marko Pantelic found Patrick Ebert and the young German forced the ball in at Timo Hildebrand’s near post from the first attack of the game. Substitute Boubacar Sanogo again struck the woodwork in the second half to keep up his chase of Martin Fenin in the Aluminium stakes but the only sour note for the Berliners will be the continuingly indifferent performances of Pantelic. The former fans’ favourite was again hauled off before the end and when asked as to the situation with trainer Lucien Favre he responded with a deeply unconvincing and deadpan “Alles is wunderschön” (Everything’s wonderful). Despite carrying this baggage Hertha have hoisted themselves back into 2nd and can look forward to proving their credentials next week when they face Hamburg. Hoffenheim are 8th and in freefall and cannot wait for the summer break to give their overstretched squad an opportunity to achieve a clean bill of health for the first time since late last year.

When Vfl Bochum took a two-goal lead against Werder Bremen at the Weserstadion on Saturday, some of the home players would have been forgiven for beginning to think ahead to the more prevalent task of tackling their bitter rivals in Europe in midweek, but with Thomas Schaff calling for pride in what is left of this league campaign that was never likely to be contemplated. Bochum striker Stanislav Sestak had scored only 4 times all season before his hat-trick heroics in Hoffenheim two weeks ago and he struck twice in the first half here to put the hosts under the kosh at the interval.

Both goals had come from Werder mistakes and whatever was said in the dressing room at half-time all but eradicated any further errors as a flowing passing move culminated with Hugo Almeida tapping into an empty net after 54 minutes to give the hosts a way back into the contest. Naldo’s surging run, neat interchange and unerring finish then set up a grandstand finish and when Clemens Fritz’s up-and-under was brought down with ease by Diego with 10 minutes to play there was only ever going to be one outcome. The Brazilian turned on a sixpence and blasted the ball high into the Bochum goal to complete the comeback and cement Werder’s place in 10th, denying their guests what would have been a vital victory and dropping them to 15th place, 3 points the right side of the relegation line.

Hannover 96 and FC Köln met at the AWD-Arena on Saturday, with the points destined for “Entstation Enke” the German number one Robert Enke having held off numerous challengers this year to emerge as the leading candidate to solve the goalkeeping conundrum at Bayern Munich next season. He was on top form here to thwart a heavily improved second half display from the visitors, after two former Bremen players; Christian Schulz and Leon Andreasen combined to open the scoring for Hannover. Schulz’s lofted through-ball was guided in by Andreasen with a classy in-step volley and the former Fulham bench-warmer was on target again when Arnold Bruggink’s lifted pass presented him with a one-on-one situation for the second time with 32 minutes gone. Köln fought back and reduced the deficit within moments of the restart when Milivoje Novakovic turned in a drilled Nemanja Vucicevic cross for his 15th of the season. Köln now sit 12th - not yet technically safe but most likely holding enough in the locker to carry them over the finishing line. Hannover are now level with them on 32 points, 7 up from the division’s danger area.