Bundesliga Update - Borussia Dortmund win the Championship again

As the sun set on the AWD Arena on Sunday afternoon the final game of the weekend in the Bundesliga had an end of season feeling. But while Freiburg squeezed the point they needed out of Hannover to guarantee the own safety, there is still a great deal left undecided in the final few weeks of the season even if the most important issue is now resolved.

On Saturday, the Bundesliga title was decided with two games to go at Borussia Dortmund's packed 80000 capacity stadium, the Westfalen. BVB needed to beat fourth placed Borussia Mönchengladbach in order to seal the deal. For a moment it looked like the three points were unnecessary until Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich popped up in the dying seconds of the earlier game against Werder Bremen. The Frenchman's strike and subsequent 2-1 win declared that Bayern had not given up their claim on the title despite resting key players ahead of their Champions League semi final at the Bernabeu this week.

Dortmund were perhaps a little nervous to begin with. However, they faced a 'Gladbach side who were missing Roman Neustadter in the midfield and have generally struggled to find the same zest that they showed for so many months and has taken them to the brink of the Champions League.

The game ended 2-0 with goals from two players with less than certain futures at the club. The Croatian, Ivan Perisic has been a star off the bench this season and scored some memorable goals (perhaps the most notable being against Arsenal). A few weeks ago he'd expressed his frustration that he was not starting enough games and that maybe his future lay elsewhere. Perhaps his headed goal in the game that sealed the title will make him feel better about hid role and decide that life is pretty sweet playing in front of the Westfalen's mammoth south stand, the Sud Tribune.

The other goal scorer was the whirlwind Japanese international Shinji Kagawa with a lovely tight angled rifled shot to beat 'Gladbach keeper, Marc Andre Stegen, at the far post. The diminutive attacker has a new contract offer from his club which he won't sign. The feeling is that the Premier League is calling and it will be of no surprise if he leaves in the Summer. In truth, Kagawa was erratic on the day. Snatching the ball from teams mates, unwilling or unable to distribute effectively and finally getting his first yellow card of the campaign. Then came redemption with the goal and a mighty bear hug from his adoring coach, Jurgen Klopp. After that 'Gladbach accepted the reality of the situation and allowed BVB their moment.

On the final whistle the players celebrated in the time honoured tradition of wasting copious amounts of beer by pouring it all over their coach. Winning back to back titles for any Bundesliga club that isn't Bayern Munich is rare and impressive. Dortmund themselves achieved it once in the nineties. However, the price they paid was too high as financial mismanagement was the legacy of those golden days and the club almost went to the wall as a consequence. This Dortmund team was assembled on the principle of fiscal frugality, relatively speaking. That is why this generation's achievement will probably be regarded as the greater by Bundesliga historians of the future. The next step is the prospect of doing the double and winning the German FA Cup, the DFB Pokal, in a few weeks against Bayern Munich in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

The Munich club may be smarting from having gone two seasons without lifting the Bundesliga Trophy but they can rightly claim Champions League bragging rights this season. In fact if they can overcome Real Madrid in their semi final and win the Champion League in their own stadium against Barcelona or Chelsea and take the DFB Pokal then you could make an argument that this will be Bayern Munich's season.

In terms of European action, the final running order has yet to settled. 'Gladbach could still automatically qualify for the Champions League despite their defeat on Saturday. This is because Schalke were unable to break down a resolute Augsburg side who are on the verge of avoiding relegation after only one season in the top flight, something no one, possibly including themselves, would have expected of them. Only two points separate Schalke and 'Gladbach with two games remaining.

The two regular Europa League spots are pretty much sorted with Stuttgart and Leverkusen checking their passports are renewed. However, there is the unwanted slot that would have gone to the Pokal winners that will now go to the team in seventh place. That will be contested between Hannover and Werder Bremen.

At the bottom, it's curtains for Kaiserslautern despite their 2-1 win over second from bottom Hertha who are unable to get out of the bottom three and may miss out on the third from bottom play off spot currently occupied by Cologne. The is a four point gap between the Billygoats and fourth from bottom Augsburg. While they managed a 1-1 draw against high flying Stuttgart it looks very much like the best they can hope to achieve is a two legged play off against St Pauli, Paderborn or the hated Fortuna Dusseldorf who are currently contesting third place in Bundesliga 2.

Technically, Eintracht Frankfurt can still finish third in the second division and contest that play off themselves. However, they will join Greuther Fürth in the Bundesliga 1 automatically if they beat bottom of the table Alemennia Aachen on Monday 23rd April. Aachen, in turn will be relegated if they lose. It could be an emotional night.

Bundesliga 2 round up - Week 28: Squeaky at the bottom

Despite the obvious charms of the old Tivoli stadium and concerns of their supporters over ticket prices, Alemannia Aachen moved in to the brand new Tivoli in 2009 with ambitions of returning to the top flight. Three years later they find themselves third from bottom of the second division after five consecutive defeats.

The latest was at home to Dynamo Dresden. 1-0 was the final score and the result proved to be the final straw for coach Friedhelm Funkel who was sacked before the weekend was out. Aachen  are second from bottom and form part of a trio of clubs who have been separated from the rest of the league by five points.

Rock bottom are Rostock who managed a rare win and away from home, to boot. Freddy Borg got the only goal at the Allianz Arena against 1860 Munich. They weren't the only winner in the bottom three, however. Karlsruhe beat Union Berlin 2-0 at the Wildparkstadion.

Realistically, all three club's best chance of survival is to nail that third from bottom spot in which the occupier plays the third best team in the third division. There are three points separating Karlsruhe, Aachen and Rostock.

On the other side of that five point gap are Duisberg who drew 1-1 at Ingolstadt. Above them are FSV Frankfurt who also drew with Energie Cottbus.

At the top, Eintracht Frankfurt nudged ahead of Greuther Fürth to take top spot after beating Bochum 3-0  and Furth dropping two points at Erzebirge Aue. Paderborn kept their hopes of promotion alive with a 0-0 draw against Braunschweig but the once tight top five is now covered by ten points with Frankfurt and Greuther Fürth establishing some distance at the very top.

The final game of the weekend was on Monday night between third placed Fortuna Dusseldorf and fourth placed St Pauli. Neither team will be satisfied with the 0-0 result, especially Fortuna as they had a man advantage for seventeen minutes after Carlos Zambrano was sent off for St Pauli. As the Peruvian left the field he was seen to spit as Fortuna's Sascha Rösler. All very unsavoury and with potential consequences should the DFB decide to intervene.

That's it. Results and tables here. 

Bundesliga 2 round up: Five into six

We’ll start at the bottom this week and a relegation six pointer between bottom club, Hansa Rostock, who travelled to second from bottom Karlsruhe. For the away side it was a chance to move one place up the table and for Rostock, a chance to keep the dying embers of their survival hopes aflame. Alas, the result proved of little value to either side.

The away team's very own Timo Staffelt opened the scoring. The trouble was that it was for the home side. The midfielder put through his own net on 36 minutes. Up stepped Alexandre Iashvilli to spare his comrade’s blushes. The Georgian striker went on to score another but his brace was not enough and the game finished 2-2. Freddy Borg scored Rostock’s second goal.

There was no significant change in the bottom three as Aachen lost 3-1 to Union Berlin. This allowed Duisberg to establish some distance which they did after their 2-1 derby win against Bochum. Three points now separate the Zebras from the drop-zone. Immediately above them are FSV Frankfurt who drew 0-0 with Eintracht Braunschweig.

At the top, the promotion race is getting a little more stretched with six points separating the top five. Almost certainly out of the promotion running is 1860 Munich who were thrashed 4-1 at home by the all conquering Greuther Fürth. According to reliable sources the league leaders were magnificent. Olivier Occean was on the mark twice in the rout.

Some other top clubs lost ground: SC Paderborn who were humped by an improving Ingolstadt side 4-0. Paderborn midfielder Enis Alushi scored an own goal and got sent off so he was buying the post match chips. St Pauli were subject to another last minute goal. This time it was Erzebirge Aue with the 90th Minute winner.

Elsewhere, Eintracht Frankfurt kept the pressure on the leaders with a 3-0 win against Dynamo Dresden. Finally, Fortuna Dusseldorf rescued a point with a crisp finish from Adam Matuszczyk against Energie Cottbus who took the lead through Dennis Sorensen. Fortuna stay third on fifty one points.

That’s it. Results and table here.

Bundesliga 2 round up - Week 25: Ghostbusters and Occeanman

Few will argue with the inherent coolness of the name of  Olivier Occean, currently playing for Bundesliga 2 leaders, Greuther Furth. The Canadian striker (right) may sound like a night club singer but he has proved himself to a reliable goalscorer in Norway and the German Lower leagues. He has scored twelve goals this season including the solitary strike in the game against Aachen last Friday.

That win for Furth was essential as the chasing pack is still snapping at the Franconian club’s heels. Eintracht Frankurt are in second place after a 5-1 win at Rostock. Fortuna Dusseldorf moved up to third with a 3-1 victory against Aue. Paderborn lost ground as they could only manage a 0-0 draw against Bochum but 1860 Munich chances of a late dash for promotion took another dent because they lost 3-1 to FSV Frankfurt.

On Monday, St Pauli had a chance to overhaul Paderborn and move into fourth place if they beat Karlsruhe at the Millerntor. Indeed, they did just that with a cracking long range lob from Moritz Volz.

And so the top five are separated by three points.

Elsewhere, there was only one fixture which could be regarded as meaningless and that was a 1-1 draw between the comfortably mid table Energie Cottbus and Eintracht Braunschweig.

At the bottom we’re getting close to the point where we can wave goodbye to Rostock. Karlsruhe are second from bottom but still in touch with the clutch of relegation candidates starting with Aachen, then Duisberg who drew 1-1 with Union Berlin, Ingolstadt who also drew with Dresden and Aue who have a game in hand against 1860 Munich on Wednesday 14th  March.

Returning to that Dresden game against Ingolstadt, this game was played behind closed doors despite being a sell out. The supporters were locked out as punishment for crowd trouble in a German Cup game against Borussia Dortmund, last year. However, the club put “ghost tickets” for the match up for sale in the hope that the fans would make solidarity payments to compensate for the loss of income. All 32,066 tickets were sold and the fans assembled outside the ground to watch the game on the big screens. It was a bit of a shame then that the team couldn’t manage a goal for their supporters.

That's it. Results and tables here. 

Bundesliga 2 round up: St Pauli Funk it up

Five could have become six in the promotion chase for the German second division when sixth placed 1860 Munich met fifth placed St Pauli on Monday evening in Bavaria. An 1860 win would have taken them to within two points of the top five. It wasn't to be however, as they had to preserve their unbeaten run with a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena.


Despite the home side carving out a number of chances, St Pauli took the lead with a penalty by Florian Bruns which was oh so very nearly saved by 1860 goalkeeper and former Crystal Palace legend, Gabor Kiraly. The Munich club enjoyed much of the possession but ran out of steam just as they were getting to the important bit in front of goal. That was until some calamitous defending by Patrick Funk allowed Kevin Volland to grab the equaliser with minutes to spare.


After groaning like a stuck pig for five games, the goal laxatives have kicked in good and proper at Fortuna Dusseldorf. The club had slipped out of the promotion spots in recent weeks after dominating the first half of the season. At last, they notched up their first win since the Winter break with an emphatic 5-0 demolition of Karlsruhe. While the win does not see Fortuna shooting up the table it still keeps them firmly in the hunt for promotion spots and must come as a blessed relief to all concerned.


Karlsruhe had conceded more goals at home than any other club before the game and that dubious distinction is going to be difficult to match. They remain in the bottom two and can look forward to St Pauli, next weekend.


Gruether Furth remain at the top of the table for another week after winning at Duisberg, last Friday. Olivier Occean and Robert Zillner heaped the pressure on MSV coach Oliver Reck who received a vote of confidence from the board after the defeat. In fairness, the bottom of the table is as tight as it is at the top (with one exception) and a couple of wins from any team could see them rise up the division.


Still in the promotion hunt are Paderborn who continue to impress with a 3-0 win at Aachen. Eintracht Frankfurt overcame a dogged Energie Cottbus display with a 1- 0 win thanks to a goal from Erwin Hoffer.


Elsewhere, Ingolstadt are moving away from the drop-zone with a ding-dong 3-3 draw against Union Berlin who themselves only have one win in five. Speaking of ding-dongs, Aue’s new coach, Karsten Baumann, registered his first win in his first home match. Ronny König was on the mark, twice in a 4-3 win against FSV Frankfurt in which the away side took the lead.


Finally, things are looking grim for bottom club, Hansa Rostock: They lost 3-2  to Eintracht Braunschweig and there are reports that their coach Wolfgang Wolf was pelted with missiles after the game. A gap is beginning to appear between Rostock and the rest and they look set to return to the third division unless that can improve on their record of two wins in the season so far.


That’s it. Results and tables here.

Bundesliga 2 round up - Week 23: Six Fürth Special

The German second division has a new leader and it's a club with an old name. Greuther Fürth were contesting championships as far back as the early twentieth century. The second Bundesliga leaders are a different club to the original and have spent many years in the doledrums. Now, after years of steady improvement they sit top of the pile. 


There were three reasons for this: Firstly, the previous leaders, Eintracht Frankfurt were thrashed 4-2 by Paderborn. Secondly, St Pauli could only manage a goalless draw with Eintracht Braunschweig. Thirdly, Fürth capitalised with a 6-2 hammering of Bochum. Former Schalke and German international Gerald Asamoah signed for the Franconian club in January and his transfer from St Pauli is looking like a smart move. He scored two goals in the rout along with contributions from  Edgar Prib,  Dani Schahin and Bernd Nehrig.


If the top of the table wasn’t congested enough, the race for promotion has another contestant coming up on the outside lane. Just over a year ago, 1860 Munich were on their knees and almost out of business. However after having been rescued by Jordanian investor Hansa Abdullah Ismaik the club, who have produced a fine array of young players down the years, are on the way back. They managed a late winner against Union Berlin to make it eight wins from their last ten games. 


At this rate there will be six teams vying for the two and a half promotion spots, assuming of course, Fortuna Dusseldorf don’t arrest their alarming slump. Their once prolific forwards are lacking confidence and were unable to break down Alemannia Aachen. A scoreless draw was the best they could muster and Fortuna remain in fifth place.

At the bottom it seems that Hansa Rostock’s minor resurgence proved to be very minor indeed. They had the chance to gain some ground on fellow relegation strugglers, Ingolstadt but lost at home, 2-1. The away side move out of the relegation places at the expense of Erzebirge Aue who did not get that new coach bounce after sacking Rico Schmidt last week and replacing him with Karsten Baumann. They lost 2-0 to Energie Cottbus. Karlsruher are second from bottom after a 2-1 defeat to FSV Frankfurt.


Finally, threatening to join the relegation fray is MSV Duisberg. Last season’s German Cup finalists have lost four games in a row, the latest was a 2-0 defeat to Dynamo Dresden who themselves successfully appealed against a one year ban from appearing in the German Cup next year, following crowd trouble in a cup tie in 2011 against Borussia Dortmund. Instead the club will pay a fine of €100,000.

The Irresistible Force meets the Immovable Object

Terry previews this Sunday's Borussia Dortmund v Hannover 96 match.

After watching his team get knocked out of the Europa League last Thursday by Hannover 96, Club Brugge coach Christoph Daum  said that if he were a Hannover player, he’d walk through fire for their coach, Mirko Slomka (right). The motivational powers of the 43 year old trainer are a matter of public record. But his players are not just brave and hard working. They’re tactically disciplined and actually very good.

Christian Pander was the star of the show during his team’s 4-2 victory over Stuttgart, last Sunday. That result continued an unbeaten league going back to November. Mind you, things got a bit dicey toward the end and Martin Harnik’s consolation was doubled by a spectacular over-head kick from Shinji Okazaki. In fact, had former Manchester United goalkeeper, Ron Robert Zieler, not made a smart save from Vedad Ibisevic late in the day, Stuttgart may have made a comeback that seemed unlikely earlier in the game. The club’s latest arrival also came from Man United in the shape of Mame Biram Diouf who was transferred in January. The Senegalese striker failed to make it at Old Trafford but has two goals in three games for Hannover.

Like Borussia Monchengladbach, Hannover have a reputation for counter attacking football. This is based on a miss-perception: they are both small clubs and surprise packages therefore they must lack the playing resources to be multi faceted. Like ‘Gladbach, however, Hannover are not just about sitting back and hitting teams on the break. They move the ball quickly and crisply and while they favour the strong centre forward, it would be a mistake to assume that this is all they do. Their opponents on Sunday will not form that conclusion, not if they know what is good for them.

If Hannover 96 are the immovable object then Borussia Dortmund are the irresistible force. The current Bundesliga champions have won their last 11 (eleven) games in all competitions. So far, over the season  they have suffered injuries to key players, Neven Subotic, Sven Bender and Mario Götze (the latter is still out with an injury to his pubic bone, whatever that is) and found able replacements in Felipe Santana, Sebastien Kehl and Shinji Kagawa. The Japanese international, Kagawa, was magnificent in the first half of last campaign before injury ruined his season. He took a bit of time to get going but his return to form came around the same time as Götze’s injury. Up front, Paraguay international striker, Lucas Barrios, has returned to form and is working well with the Polish forward Robert Lewandowski who is set to be a big name in Euro 2012.

Dortmund’s fluidity and range of passing provides some of the best football in Germany, this season. Coach, Jurgen Klopp, has his players pressing all over the pitch barely giving the opposition a chance to breath. Hannover’s players don’t have the same range of passing and don’t play as high up the pitch as BVB but their pace and economy will worry the home supporters at the Westfalen.

The Dortmund club sit top of the table going into the weekend and will stay there, whatever transpires elsewhere. Needless to say, dropped points would make things awkward but given that they are facing a side that have gone so long without defeat, Borussia should not get too down on themselves, should they not win.

Hannover, are a small club going through a massive growth spurt. They are looking to sustain their success by playing in the Europa League for another season. At present they are scrapping with their northern rivals Werder Bremen and the miss-firing Bayer Leverkusen for those two qualification spots at fifth and sixth in the Bundesliga table.

Borussia Dortmund v Hannover 96 kicks off Sunday 26th February at 4:30pm. It will be broadcast in the UK on ESPN.

Bundesliga 2 Week 22 - Fortuna on the rocks

The 2011 / 2012 German second division season is turning into one of the most exciting in years. Terry will be providing weekly round ups of the action for the Football Fairground. 

Fortuna Dusseldorf are definitely a club for the neutrals. They have the moderately cool Die Toten Hosen punk metal band as their celebrity fans and have recovered after years in the doldrums to move into a new stadium. They ended 2011 at the top of the Second Division. 2012 however, has seen the club from the North-Rhine Westphalia region of Germany descend into a worrying slump.

Since returning from the Winter Break, coach Norbert Meier’s team have failed to claim three points in a match. A 1-1 draw at Ingolstadt two weeks ago was followed by the same result against fellow title contenders, Eintracht Frankfurt. The latter result was only achieved by a highly controversial last minute Jens Langeneke, penalty to Fortuna. On Sunday, the slump worsened after a 2-1 defeat to 1860 Munich at the Allianz Arena.

Dusseldorf’s winless run of five games stretches back to the last two games of the Winter Break. That run that has contributed to what promises to be a fiercely contested Bundesliga 2 title and promotion race where three points separate five teams.

Top of the table are Eintracht Frankfurt who hammered their city rivals, FSV Frankfurt 6-2. Algerian international, Karim Matmour scored a hat-trick. In second place are St Pauli. The Hamburg club who were relegated along with Eintracht last season, secured a 1-0 away win at Duisberg thanks to a Fabian Boll strike on 21 minutes. Third placed Greuther Furth only managed a 0-0 draw with Ingolstadt. Fortuna are now fourth and outside the promotion spots.

The final team of the five are Paderborn who are the smallest club of the five and largely considered to be the most likely to drop off as the season builds to a climax. They salvaged a last minute equaliser against Dynamo Dresden. 2-2 was the final score. Matthew Taylor with the last gasp for Paderborn.

At the bottom of the table, Karlsruhe are now three games unbeaten, having previously only won two from their last nineteen games. They beat Energie Cottbus 2-0 at the Wildparkstadion. Another basement dweller on the revival road are Hansa Rostock. The former GDR club had only one in the win column in the entire first half of the season. However, they beat Duisberg 4-2, last week and secured a goalless draw against Aachen on Sunday. While still rock bottom of the table, there are signs of life for the Hanseatic club.

That's it. Results and tables here.
.

One year to bring the golden days back to ‘Gladbach

Borussia Mönchengladbach’s rise to the upper echelons of the German top flight has been so sudden that you want to soak up as much of it as possible lest they fall back to where they were just over a year ago at the bottom of the Bundesliga. But as their coach, Lucien Favre approaches his first anniversary in post, is this sudden success sustainable?

“Last season is like a bygone era.” said Borussia Mönchengladbach Sporting Director Max Eberl on DW Sport “We were bottom of the table and we took a lot of grief for that and so did the fans.” It would have been more than interesting to be a fly on the wail of Ebert’s office when Lucien Favre was offered the coach’s job at Borussia Park. Was the job sold to him or did the former Hertha coach do the selling? Did he tell his prospective boss that one year from now he’d be pushing for a Champions League qualification place? Unlikely.

Yet there they are, one year later, fourth place in the Bundesliga and in the Semi-Final of the German Cup. After a last ditch relegation play off in May and an attempt in the Summer from former player Stefan Effenberg to depose Eberl, both he and Favre have engineered an extraordinary turnaround for a club that may have had some bookies paying out on their relegation as early as the Winter Break, last season.

Since taking over, Favre’s team have conceded only 21 goals in the Bundesliga. Marco Reus has realised his potential and become the talk of the Bundesliga. Patrick Hermann has proved that ‘Gladbach does not have a one man attack and that perennial underacheiver Mike Hanke is a player transformed since his transfer from Hannover 96. At the back, Marc Andre Ter Stegen, the 19 year old who, according to his captain Filip Daems, has the “charisma of a 30 year old” is arguably the in form goalkeeper in the Bundesliga and has given renewed confidence to the regular back line of Filip Daems, Dante, Martin Stranzl and the excellent Tony Jantschke.

However, probably one of the more compelling of the ‘Gladbach narratives is whether their success can be sustained not just until the end of this season but for campaigns yet to come. Is this the beginning of another golden age at Mönchengaldbach?

A foundation stone for their building blocks has to be the coach, Lucien Favre. But this is more that just a question of whether he will stay or move on to another challenge but if he does remain, will he be properly resourced? Irrespective of where ‘Gladbach finish in May, the squad is set to lose both Reus to Borussia Dortmund and the influential midfielder, Roman Neustadter who’s contract expires at the end of the season and has agreed to join Schalke. While these players may not to be immediately replaceable, it will be necessary bring in players to succeed them.

When Favre took Hertha Berlin to fifth place in the Bundesliga in 2009, he lost a some influential players at the end of that season (most notably the imposing Ukraniain forward, Andriy Voronin) and was unable to replenish his squad. After a poor start to the following campaign, Favre was dismissed. This is a fact that will surely not be lost on him in the Summer as he thinks about the next season. To avoid history repeating itself, the ‘Gladbach’s squad needs to grow. Presumably a portion of the transfer fee of €17.5 for Reus will be available. That sort of money can go along way if spent wisely. However, if Favre can get his team into a Champions League spot and subsequently into the group stages then the possibility exists to not just fill the gaps in the squad but to move it forward to such an extent where a second consecutive top four finish may be a realistic ambition.

But there are of course so many variables involved in that particular equation. For one, while ‘Gladbach may be able to raise plenty of money from Champions League football, there is the club’s wage structure to consider. While the Borussia Park regularly sells out, the club is by far from the richest in the Bundesliga and will have a wage structure in line with their turnover. Being able to afford the transfer fee for top players is pointless if they are not in a position to meet their wage demands.This raises the further possibility that their remaining players become the subject of transfer bids. Even if they could offer the player’s Champions League football, would ‘Gladbach be in a poisition to fend off Bayern Munich if they came calling for Tony Jantschke or Patrick Hermann?

And then of course there is the small matter of actually finishing this season in the top four in the first place. Failure to achieve this will render all other permutations moot. In 2009 Favre’s Hertha looked in a strong position to finish in the top three and perhaps even win the title. Instead they finished fifth which although impressive, could have been so much more and indeed, Hertha were relegated the following season. If ‘Gladbach don’t make it to the big show, next season, could the same fate befall them?

The good news is that all will be revealed over the next few crucial months of this season and the early week’s of next season. The mission is straightforward: If Favre can keep his squad onside and be given sufficient funds to bring in replacement bodies while keeping hold of his top young players plus qualifying and securing a place in the Group stages of the Champions League then maybe this is the start of a new golden age for ‘Gladbach. That’s a lot of plates to keep spinning at the same time but there is a healthy gap between themselves and fifth placed Bayer Leverkusen. It is entirely likely that one year hence, Lucien Favre will be celebrating a second year as coach of Borussia Mönchengladbach. That alone would be some feat.

Former GDR clubs prepare for the Bundesliga Restart

This year Terry  hopes to spend a little more time looking at  clubs from the old East Germany, starting with those in the second division.

Their fans may not appreciate it but the German capital's second club (behind Hertha) is 1. FC Union Berlin. Based in the old old East Berlin this club has a romantic story as an anti-stasi club during communist era and has had a fantastic reputation as a fan oriented club. After promotion and rebuilding their stadium with supporter labour, the club have acclimatised themselves to the second tier and sit in a relatively stable seventh place as they prepare for the restart.

Prior to the final game of the Hinründe, Union had gone on a five game unbeaten run. This run included a 5-2 thrashing of Hansa Rostock and 4-0 mullering of FSV Frankfurt. Coach Uwe Nuehaus’ has assembled a forward line consisting of the Columbian John Mosquera, who has scored five goals in fifteen games, the Brazilian Silvio (5 in 17) and German, Christopher Quiring who has also score five goals in his seventeen appearances, this season.

But the players may have miss-read their calenders and figured the winter break had come a week early as they were walloped 5-0 by Greuther Furth in the final game before Christmas.

In terms of transfers it has been a quiet few weeks. In fact the only movement has been away from the Stadion An der Alten Försterei when 26 year old striker, Halil Savran, left for Erzgebirge Aue.

Aue (who used to play in Chemnitz, by the way, but that's another story) challenged for a promotion spot last season but tailed off towards the end and finished with nine points away from the third place play off spot. So far this season they are in thirteenth with a forward line that have only mustered just the seven goals between them. Savran’s goal return is less than steller (no goals in five games) but a change is as good as a rest and perhaps the Wiesbaden born “striker” will find his shooting boots at the Erzgebirgstadion.

Two places above Aue in the 2. Bundesliga are Dynamo Dresden, newly promoted with a swanky new stadium, Dynamo represent a brave new future for clubs in the former East Germany. For a club that has spent a very long time in the doldrums, there is a certain reassurance in the unspectacularliness of their season. But let’s not forget that they did for the mighty Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup First Round after storming back from 3-0 down to win 4-3 after extra time.

As with many clubs associated with the old east Germany, there is a perception that their supporters can be troublesome. This is not necessarily unwarranted. However, the Dresden club are in a position to look forward and after a season of transition, who knows?

Victory against Furth on Friday will take Dynamo above Energie Cottbus, albeit for a day or so, at least. The Brandenburg club were in the first division as recently as 2009. I have fond memories of Dimitar Rangelov occassionally terrorising opposition defenses at the Stadion der Freundschaft. The Bulgarian rejoined Cottbus at the beginning of the season after spending a couple of seasons at Dortmund and Tel Aviv. The return to Energie seems to have energised him and the attacker has scored eight goals so far. They play 1860 Munich on Monday 23rd.

Another former East German club recently in the First Bundesliga is Hansa Rostock. The Hanseatic club were a mainstay in the top division for ten seasons before getting relegated in 2005. They returned for one season in 2007 but financial problems have beset them and they suffered the indignity of relegation to the 3-Liga.

After one season they bounced back but it would appear that their position in the third flight was not false. They are second from bottom on a run of eight games without a win. So far, only right full back, Marek Janecka has joined them during this January from Slovakia. You feel that it will be a long season for the Rostock.

Finke’s lineage still strong at Freiburg

To use a hackneyed expression it’s all gone Pete Tong at SC Freiburg. Bottom of the table at the Winter Break, listed with another booted out for a breach of club discipline and now, the southern German club have taken the extremely uncommon decision, for them at least, to sack their coach, Marcus Sorg, mid-season.

The year old Sorg’s appointment was consistent with Freiburg’s previous hire, in that they promoted from within. Sorg’s predecessor, Robin Dutt, had replaced long time coach Volker Finke in 2007 and the club’s sporting director, Dirk Dufner, wasted no time in sticking to that policy with the appointment Sorg’s replacement, Christian Streich. SCF are a club in a hurry and at least having made the decision swiftly, Streich has the bulk of the Winter Break to prepare for the second half of the season and work on bringing some new faces into the squad.

The decision to sack Sorg suggests a conviction that the club’s foundations are strong but that their choice of head coach was incorrect or ill timed. Having said that there is no doubt that Sorg had his work cut out for him when he took up the reins, last Summer. For one there is the weight of history to carry. Freiburg is the beneficiary of a legacy left by Volke Finke who managed the club for sixteen years. SCF were a serial second tier club up until his arrival in 1991 (when SCG were in the Bundesliga South division). In 1993 he got the club in to the first division. There they stayed until 2005 with the exception of two relegation seasons in which they bounced back straight away. Their third relegation proved to be Finke’s last as on that occasion they failed to return. Robin Dutt, Finke’s assistant, took over in 2007 and after three near misses, the club returned to a league that, despite their modest size, had become their natural habitat. Under Dutt’s stewardship, SC Freiburg have retained their top flight status, for two seasons.

When Dutt left for Bayer Leverkusen, he took central defender Omer Toprak with him. A key player who has been missed. Indeed, the only significant signing to help bolster the squad was Garra Dembele, a striker from Levski Sofia. If you follow the axiom that playing squads need to be reinforced and refreshed then Sorg received little help. Perhaps it is no surprise then that Freiburg’s form has been wretched with only three wins in the first half of the season. That kind of form is likely to get any coach the sack, even one with such a strong connection with the club as Marcus Sorg.

Christian Streich, like Sorg and Dutt were coaches under Finke and it is understandable that they appoint from within. One can only imagine the difficulties in bringing a coach in from the outside, especially mid season, both to the club and the new coach. If Freiburg are relegated at the end of this season then Streich will be given time in the Second Bundesliga to get them back into the top flight. Dufner is banking on Finke’s lineage being strong enough without having to make radical (not to mention expensive) changes to the coaching structure by bringing in outsiders.

SCF’s return to action on 21st January could not be more tasty. Their opening game is a relegation six pointer with Bundesliga first timers, Augsburg. Central to Streich’s plan for a revival are Papiss Demba Cisse who has scored nine goals this season and at the back, Oliver Baumann in goal who is one of Germany’s more underrated goalkeepers. Look out also for Jan Rosenthal who has struggled with injury but scored on his return to the first team against Dortmund on Matchday 17. His experience, battling against the drop with his previous club, Hannover 96, will be invaluable.

Of equal importance is whether the five transfer listed players can be shifted of the wage bill and replacement brought in during the January transfer window. All being well, the club will start that big game against Augsburg with a refreshed squad and a renewed purpose. Anything less could spell trouble for the club from the Black Forest.

Profile: Arturo Vidal

It’s turning into a tough night in San Juan. Chile are embroiled in a surprisingly difficult Copa America match with a surprisingly obstinate Mexico side. It is a night where Chilean international Arturo Vidal finds himself apologising to his team mates, once again. After an ill conceived volley has almost gone out for a throw in, a few minutes later some edge-of-the-box trickery has resulted in another hasty and fruitless shot. Mexico are defending a one-goal lead and despite their dominance, Chile are running out of options.

Eventually, the Chileans strike back with two set-piece goals. In a Copa America tournament where the favourites are struggling, Chile laboured to narrowly beat a massively under strength Mexico team. The second goal was a bullet header from that man Vidal. As the whistle blows, relieved and elated, Vidal celebrates with his team mates. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Germany, some very anxious people in Leverkusen and Munich are waiting for Vidal's return as they'd like his help in resolving a transfer issue, namely his.

Vidal is one of those players who confounds the tacticians. Technically, he’s supposed to be a defensive midfielder. However the ten Bundesliga goals and eleven assists to his name last season suggests a slightly more rounded player, to put it mildly.

In fact, Vidal is the epitome of the kind of modern midfielder who can do pretty much everything a modern football coach asks of him. They may be different players in many respects but in terms of football values, he is similar to Nuri Sahin or Luka Modric. More than an all-rounder, in the sense of a utility player. More like the cricketer Ian Botham who was brilliant with the bat, ball or in the field, Arturo Vidal is a jack of all trades and master of all, to boot.

There is an element of romance about his back story. Vidal hails from San Joaquin, a working class community in Santiago. No doubt he had to emerge from a congested field of hungry boys, desperate to fulfil their dreams of professional football and improve their lives. Vidal joined the youth ranks of the Santiago giants, Colo Colo. Two Aperturas and one Clausura later, he made the move to Europe and Bayer Leverkusen.

Needless to say, as a Leverkusen player, he has found domestic honours somewhat hard to come by, although he has come pretty close to the Bundesliga title since his arrival in 2007. Last season, however, was his big season and Vidal, perhaps benefiting from his experience in Marcelo Bielsa’s Chilean World Cup team, has matured into one of the best midfielders in the Bundesliga. Next season, he should be regarded as one of the best in the world as he takes his place in the UEFA Champions League. The question is, for which club will he be playing?

Vidal’s contract is up next year with no suggestion that he intends to renew. Leverkusen’s position is that they plan to keep him for the remainder of his contract, even if that means letting him go for no transfer fee. Presumably, the rationale behind this is that if he helps last season’s League runners up finally win the Bundesliga title and steers them into the Second Round of the Champions League then he will have easily made back the roughly €10 million that Bayern Munich have offered to take him a year early. Alternatively, Sporting Director Rudi Völler is making big noises to try and extract more money.

An added complication is a bid from Italian club, Juventus. However, to what extent Vidal can be lured by the prospect of Serie A football and no Champions League may depend on whether the Old Lady can convince him that at 23 he still has time to grow into a renewed Juve or how much cash they are prepared to offer him.

At the time of writing, the smart money seems to be that he will stay at Leverkusen for another season before joining his old boss Jupp Heynckes at Bayern Munich. However, for all we know he could arrive at the airport to take him back to Germany from Argentina, with or without a Copa America winner’s medal, only to find a Learjet waiting for him on the runway containing a well known sausage merchant holding a flight plan to Munich.

The Bundesliga Show Episode 25 - Season Finale & stats chat with Opta Franz

We've reached the end of an exciting Bundesliga season! What better way to sign off for the
summer than with a round up of the campaign?

Jon Hartley and Terry Duffelen talk about the relegation play-off between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bochum, chat about the standout moments of the season and are joined by special guest Holger Ruhl from Opta Sports.

It is the final show of the season but do come back and check out the podcast at the beginning of the next campaign.

Click here to listen to the podcast or right-click on the link to download it.

The Bundesliga Show - Episode 24 - DFB Pokal Final Special

Join Terry Duffelen and Jon Hartley for a very special edition of The Bundesliga Show recorded in Berlin at the DFB Pokal final.

Savour the atmosphere at the Olympic Stadium of Schalke's convincing triumph in the Cup Final. The pair round up the match, Schalke's season and Manuel Neuer's potential legacy at the Royal Blues...also there's a trip to Regionalliga Nord club Türkiyemspor.

Click here to listen to the podcast or right-click on the link to download it.

The Bundesliga Show Episode 23 - Beer, Bratwurst and Bundesliga

Join Jon and Terry at the Zeitgeist pub in South London as we enjoy the final day of the Bundesliga season over some beer and bratwurst. A few special guests drop by to say hello as well.

Click here to listen to the podcast or right click on the link to download it.
.

The Bundesliga Show Episode 22 - Relegation and the last chance saloon

With one more matchday to go, Terry Duffelen and Jon Hartley look at the what is needed for the relegation threatened crowd of Borussia Mönchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg. One team though is already down, The Bundesliga Show say 'Tschüss' to the goodship St. Pauli during their brief stay in the German top flight.

Also, join the boys at the Zeitgeist Pub, Vauxhall in South London for the final day of the season (Saturday May 14th) for a recording of next weeks show.

Click here to listen to the podcast or right click on the link to download it.

The Bundesliga Show Episode 21 - Deutscher Meister Dortmund & Uli Hesse

The Bundesliga champion for this season has been crowned... Borussia Dortmund. Jon Hartley and Terry Duffelen look back at how the worthy winners captured the title and also caught up with German football author and journalist, Uli Hesse, for his take on his team BVB and their championship campaign.

There's also a look forward to the penultimate round of fixtures. Can Gladbach can pull off the 'Great Escape'? And there's an announcement of an end-of-season special! Terry and Jon will be at the Zeitgeist pub in Vauxhall, South London on the final day of the season and urge Bundesliga fans to join them to watch the final round of games and join in the podcast.

Click here to listen to the podcast or right click on the link to download it.
.

Carnival Cologne in search of a game face

Borussia Dortmund celebrated their first Bundesliga title since 2002 last Saturday. The reason why they claimed the championship so soon was partly because their nearest rivals Leverkusen lost to their local rivals 1. FC Köln on the same day, thereby losing their footing in the title race. Meanwhile, Köln’s 2-0 victory was the latest twist in a tumultuous season, even by their own chaotic standards.

According to the inestimable Uli Hesse, it wasn’t that long ago when Cologne was a Borussia Dortmund city. Despite the city’s own club winning the inaugural Bundesliga title in 1963. FC Köln’s territory was marked by the big bear that is BVB - one of Germany’s best supported clubs which is a couple of hours' train ride up the road.

However, the club has done a magnificent job in building a new fan base. The RheinEnergieStadion regularly sells out at 50,000 spectators and most Köln fans have developed a reputation for good humour and self-deprecation. At times, the supporters have needed that well-developed funny bone given the team's inconsistency on the pitch.

In recent years, though, they have tried to shake off the tag of being something of a yo-yo club.

Fans of English clubs couldn’t be blamed for marvelling at the idea of a club with such high attendances that couldn't be anything other than a stick-on top flight outfit, but the economics of the Bundesliga are different to the Premier League. Affordable ticket prices and conservative spending has shaped a culture where clubs like Köln are considered quite small, relatively speaking.

Moreover, the City of Cologne is a party city and 1. FC Köln is labelled a carnival club and its supporters have a profile to match. However, in recent times there have been signs that the consensus is breaking. This season there has been some decidedly random behaviour within the club leading to two coaching changes within the space of the season and death threats aimed at the latest coach by people claiming to support the club.

The season began on a note of cautious optimism. Coach Zvonimir Soldo, a former Croatian international and Stuttgart legend was looking forward to his second full season in charge. The team, under his charge, had had a difficult season and they were far from the easiest on the eye but there was no reason to think that Köln would not enjoy a comfortable third season back in the First Bundesliga. Unfortunately, by November, the team had mustered only two league wins and both Zoldo and his boss, Sporting Director Michael Meier, had left the club. Frank Schaefer was bumped up from the Under-23s and club President Wolfgang Overath went in search of a new man to oversee the revival of the club.

That man was 63-year-old Volker Finke, something of a legend with the Black Forest club Freiburg. He was manager there for 1 years and when the call came from Köln he was working as Sporting Director for the Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds in the J-League. Finke promptly handed his in his notice and by February his feet were under his new desk at the RheinEnergieStadion.

Meanwhile, Schaefer started to work his mojo on the team. The new boss was popular with the players and Schaefer encouraged his team to be more aggressive going forward, giving his players the confidence to score more goals. After the winter break, results picked up pretty quickly and The Billygoats went on a seven-game hot streak in which they only lost one. This run included a rip-roaring 3-2 win against Bayern Munich.

Some players who were key to Köln’s revival were:

New goalkeeper Michael Rensing (left), who was released by Bayern Munich for, in their eyes at least, failing to fill Oliver Kahn’s mighty gloves and being out of contract. Köln signed him last December and he's put in some match-saving displays

Centre Forward, Milivoje Novakovič (right) - slow, clumsy, disinterested and generally rubbish under Soldo but with Schaefer he was fast of mind and body. Most of his 14 goals this season have come under Schaefer’s watch

19-year-old Christian Clemens (left) who has broken into the first team this season and will almost certainly be attracting the interest of some bigger clubs in Europe very shortly.

Then of course there is Prince Poldy himself, Lukas Podolski (right). The Prince returned to Köln at the beginning of last season after an unhappy period at Bayern Munich. He is a player who confounds his many admirers and like Miroslav Klose, the suspicion is that he is a German player first and a club player second. However, during Köln’s run he was superb. His main weakness, in my opinion, is that his play is too reliant on the team system and he seems unwilling or unable to adapt when circumstances change on the pitch. Consequently, when Schaefer organised the team better, Poldy responded.

Köln were winning. They seemed to have a management team that worked and their fans could look forward to closing out another tough campaign and restarting the next one after a full pre-season with a new young coach.

At that point, everything started to go wrong. After a 6-2 thumping at Hamburg, Köln mustered a 1-0 win over Nurnberg before shipping twelve goals in three games. Having risen to a position of relative security, the club were sliding back down the slippery slope. Things got out of hand after a small group of fans issued a crude death threat to Schaefer in the form of a banner at the club’s training ground to that effect. Within days, Schaefer had resigned as coach, citing personal reasons, however it began to emerge that Schaefer was unhappy with what he perceived as interference from his boss, Volke Finke, and that he had quit out of frustration. The relationship between Sporting Director and Coach, despite the prevailing attitude in England, works fine, but once that relationship breaks down there is usually only one outcome.

So Köln are back without a coach until the end of the season. At least that’s the official story. Finke has reluctantly agreed to take control of first team matters for now. However, if it is true that he overstepped his mark with Schaefer, perhaps he intends to epitomise Admiral Kirk in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and take over the centre seat for good. He’s certainly got off to a good start with that win against Leverkusen.
.

The Bundesliga Show Episode 20 - Sadness for Schalke, Stuart Dykes and the title on hold for Dortmund

This week on The Bundesliga Show, Terry Duffelen and Jon Hartley are joined by Schalke UK's Stuart Dykes to talk over the Champions League semi-final against Manchester United. It may have been a sad night for Schalke amidst a wonderful Champions League campaign and the pod crew talk about the star of the show, Manuel Neuer and the bright times ahead for the Royal Blues.

Also on the podcast, a look at the players who have been turning the fortunes of some relegation threatened sides. Plus a preview of some of the key matches up coming on matchday 32 of this rollercoaster Bundesliga season. By next week will there be a new champion and who may have taken the drop?

Click here to listen to the podcast or right click on the link to download it.

The Bundesliga Show Episode 19 - Bayern batter Bayer plus Phil Bonney and the run-in

After another decisive weekend in the Bundesliga, Terry Duffelen and Jon Hartley look at the big games with the top crop - Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich and talk about the future at BVB.

Plus the show welcomes back its first ever guest, Bundesliga commentator Phil Bonney, to look forward to the run-in for the final four games of the season. What will it mean in the race for Europe and for those seeking to hold off relegation?

If that isn't enough, find out about yet another managerial move in the Bundesliga!

Click here to listen to the podcast or right click on the link to download it.