DAS BOOT! – Match Day 20 – A Ruud Awakening!

[Ghett0]

Well, we have awoken from our prolonged slumber, dear readers, and it has been a Ruud Awakening. Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy has recently signed a transfer agreement that will bring him to the Bundesliga. Hamburger SV acquired the Dutchman from Real Madrid in the hopes that he can help put HSV over the top and give them a chance at a Bundesliga title this season.

This week has also seen Zoran Tosic join Cologne from Manchester United on loan for the rest of the season. Yildiray Bastürk has also left VfB Stuttgart for Blackburn Rovers in the Premiership, and if rumours are to be believed, it appears that former captain Thomas Hitzlsperger may soon be on his way out at Stuttgart as well; Destination Unknown (Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby Soho!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NxfShLDLoI&feature=related

Meanwhile, the rumour has become fact; Halil Altintop was released from his contract by Schalke 04 and has since re-signed with Eintracht Frankfurt. Frankfurt’s attack will be well served by the fleet-footed Altintop while an otherwise dull transfer window appears to be coming to a frenetic close while the action continues here on Match Day 20 with another edition of everyone's favorite German Footy Blog.....

DAS BOOT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAWjYiDvZZk&feature=PlayList&p=B26E3C02370A9B88&index=0&playnext=1

Hamburg SV - VfL Wolfsburg

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; the two teams who face off in the Friday Fixture on Match Day 20 are both subject to some speculation at the moment. Both have had great expectations this season, and both would consider themselves as currently under-achieving in those expectations. Both have taken action due to this lack of achievement in the past week as well.

Starting with the home side, the Hamburgers have grabbed Ruud Van Nistelrooy on transfer from Real Madrid and signed him to a contract through to the end of next season. Despite the great performance of young Dutchman Eljero Elia, Hamburg haven’t had an out and out goal-scorer emerge from the depth of talent in their attacking lineup yet this season.

With Elia, Mladen Petric, José Paulo Guerrero, Markus Berg, and Tunay Torun who have scored 5, 4, 4, 3 and 2 goals thus far respectively, HSV bench boss Bruno Labbadia will be hoping that Ruud finds his stride quickly and becomes the go-to guy in front of goal to get Hamburg those key goals that will get them the victories they need to get back in the thick of it at the top of the table.

Currently sitting in 5th place with 34 points after losing a 1 – 0 slugfest at Dortmund last weekend, Hamburg want to get 3 points this weekend to scramble back into the fourth spot pending the results of the Stuttgart - Dortmund match this Sunday. Wolfsburg, meanwhile, are suffering from the Champion’s Curse. Sitting in 10th in the table and missing their master tactician, champion manager Felix Magath (Now at Schalke), Wolfsburg’s big change in response to their poor results was the sacking of manager Armin Veh.

The former Stuttgart bench boss simply could not follow in the footsteps of the Chess Master, and finds himself jobless again while reserve team coach Lorenz-Günther Köstner takes the reins in the AutoStadt. With 24 points, Wolfsburg are ten points behind Hamburg for a spot in Europe with a world of ground to gain. Considering the quality of the competition in the Bundesliga, these three points may become the turning point in Wolfsburg season, a point which will be have sharply under-scored to Köstner on his appointment.

What does this mean to the prognosticating public? That this is a dead even a match-up as you could ever ask for. Although it is tempting to believe that Ruud Van Nistelrooy is the lynch pin to the mechanics of the result of this match, that would be a bit pre-emptive an assumption. Chances are Ruud will NOT play in this game, and if he does, it will likely be to take a few touches when the result is already (for the most part) determined. Even if he does figure in this match, Ruud Van Nistelrooy is not on form and though even class like Ruud's is without question, any goals to his credit will likely be as much the hard work of the players around him as his own.

The Wolves will be true to their namesake; rabid and hungry for blood. Playing for Season and pride, after losing in the late stages of the game against Cologne last weekend, Wolfsburg will likely tighten up defensively in front of André Lenz who is playing in goal for the injured Swiss Diego Benaglio. Back at home after a loss to Dortmund on the road and buoyed by the signing of Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Hamburg will be hungry for points.

It’s going to be hotly contested and a tough one to call, and what do we do when we’re not sure who to pick to win, dear readers? We chalk it up as the Kindergarten special and we call it a draw. (If I were a betting man, however, I’d stay away from this one.)

Hamburg 2 – 2 Wolfsburg

[Ghett0]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAWjYiDvZZk&feature=PlayList&p=6737626AD07D841B&index=0&playnext=1
Mönchengladbach – Werder Bremen

BMG will be hosting the struggling Werder Bremen this weekend. “Word to your” Bremen currently sit in 6th with 28 points. Bremen have lost their past 4 matches, while BMG are in something of a funk themselves, having only won one of the past five matches, and that being against lowly Hannover 96. Hannover scored three own goals in that game to give BMG the victory. Mönchengladbach sit in 12th in the table with 22 points, just 5 fives ahead of Hannover in the final relegation spot.

With Bremen clearly the favorites in this one, it’s hard to think that they might lose, but keep in mind that not only do Bremen have a tendency to play uninspired football against lowly opposition, but BMG seem to enjoy bringing their best to the table against strong opposition. With Claudio Pizarro having suffered from the flu in weeks past, he will likely be looking to get back on stride with a strong showing for his squad.

Bremen will be doing themselves no favours if they don’t steal three points from BMG at home here. They simply can not afford to mail this game in and settle for a point if they hope to stay in the hunt for a spot in Europe and gain ground on Hamburger SV in the table’s top 5. Although Bremen SHOULD handily dispatch of BMG in Borussia-Park this weekend, I have this funny feeling that this match will wind up the Kindergarten Special.

Mönchengladbach 1 – 1 Werder Bremen

Eintracht Frankfurt - 1. FC Köln

The Frankfurters will be hosting Men’s Cologne, who silenced Your Humble Narrators criticism that saw me call them Ladies Perfume last weekend by stealing points from Wolfsburg during the late stages of their match. The Commerzbank Arena will be bumping and ready to welcome the arrival of the newest Frankfurter to join Eintracht, Turkish International Halil Altintop.

Altintop joins from Schalke 04 where he did not figure into the long-term planning of bench boss Felix Magath. Altintop will likely steal minutes from Czech finisher Martin Fenin, and will join the Greek Striking Duo of Ioannis Amanatidis and Nikos Liberopoulos.

Despite their savvy and experience, Amanatidis and Liberopoulos have created one three and one goal respectively. Given most of their goal output has been coming from the Mid-Field, Altintop will clearly look to make the striking combinations in Frankfurt more dangerous.

Currently sitting at 7th in the table with 28 points, Frankfurt are neck and neck with Bremen in the race for 6th, with Bremen getting the nod due to superior goal differential.

Cologne, meanwhile, have been making a season of it as of late, having come back from behind to beat Wolfsburg last weekend, and only narrowly losing by a score of 3 – 2 against 4th place Dortmund on Match Day 18. Despite the disappointing play of Lukas Podolski (which came as no surprise to YHN), Cologne have pulled up their socks and clawed their way into 13th place with 21 points.

Cologne will want to continue their turn-around by playing hard on the road in the Commerzbank Arena. In many ways, Frankfurt are finding the success that Cologne will have hoped for at the season’s beginning. With their team really coming together as a unit, I think this match should be quite an entertaining one. Though neither club is considered one of the sexier ones in the Bundesliga, both are far stronger sides than they are often given credit for.

It’s hard to say where this game will land. If there is a victory, I would presume we’ll see a one-goal game. With both teams hungry for points and goals, I think this game might end in a stalemate as well.

Frankfurt 1 – 1 Cologne

Hertha BSC – VfL Bochum

The Boredom Bowl returns as the owners of last year’s Boredom Bowl, VfL Bochum face off against the owners of this year’s Boredom Bowl, Hertha Berlin. Bochum had an inspired performance last weekend against Schalke, largely due to the play of the Iranian “Helicopter” Vahid Hashemian. Hashemian scored the first goal after coming on as a sub, then setup the equalizer that brought Bochum level at home in the rewirpowerstadion.

Bochum will look to put a little distance between themselves and the red zone in this match by taking three points in the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Currently sitting in 14th place in the Table with 20 points, a victory would give Bochum some breathing room, while a loss would leave them perilously close to the 17 points Hannover have in 16th place pending their results this weekend.

In Berlin, on the other hand, we have a proud franchise which has been in shambles since the departure of their striking pair of Marko Pantelic and Andriy Voronin. Struggling to score goals and having even greater issues preventing them since the departure of Josip Simunic for Hoffenheim on transfer this past summer, Berlin are looking to fight their way out of the Bundesliga Basement where they currently sit dead last in 18th place with a meager 10 points.

There have been some signs of hopes in the German Capital, however, with one of them coming in the form of their new striker Adrian Ramos. Ramos has netted himself 5 goals thus far, and seems to have found his groove in Berlin, showing a greater cohesion with his teammates in recent matches than he did at the season’s start.

With Florian Kringe off the shelf from injury, and Levan Kobiahvili and Theofanis Gekas coming in to this squad in the winter window, Berlin have reinforced their squad with fresh blood. Though they managed only to draw last weekend against BMG, they didn’t lose and at this point, every point is invaluable to the Berliners. Though they are far from being “die Meisterschaft” (roughly translated to “the Championship Team”) Berlin have made all the acquisitions they need to crawl out of the basement and try to stay alive in the Bundesliga. The rest is up to the players.

This match should be intense simply because Bochum are hot and Berlin are desperate. Desperate football leads to taking chances, and taking chances lead to goals. Will Hashemian the Helicopter earn himself a start due to his excellent performance last weekend? Will the Berliners put in a solid performance at home in front of 70,000 fans who don’t want to see their side relegated?

This one seems to be too close to call for me, and you know what we call it when it’s too close to call, ladies and gents. The Kindergarten Special!

Berlin 1 – 1 Bochum

FC Bayern - Mainz 05

FC Bayern will be looking to avenge a 2 – 1 loss at the hands of Mainz on Match Day 3 of this Bundesliga campaign; a loss which still sticks in the craw of many Bayern players to this day, most notably manager Louis van Gaal. The boys of Bayern will be buoyed by the return of French Midfielder Franck Ribéry, who is hoping to play AT LEAST a full half in this fixture to regain his fitness.

Bayern currently sit at 2nd in the league with 29 points, while Mainz are in 8th with 27 points. Though not many people predicted that Mainz would perform as well as they have in their first year back in the Top Tier, any long-time Bundesliga fan will tell you that Mainz is not exactly a fresh face in the top tier.

Once upon a time, Mainz was one of the many powerhouses of German Footy, and have made it clear that they have zero intention of returning to the second division any time soon with their strong play and willingness to acquire new talent to improve their club.

Though the boys at Mainz will hope for the same luck and cohesion as they found against Bayern in their first meeting of the season, the story will be quite different in the Allianz Arena. With 70,000+ Müncheners cheering on their squad and the Dynamic duo of “Robbenry” on the flanks by way of Dtuchman Arjen Robben and Frenchman Franck Ribéry, the forecast calls for goals, and lots of them as Bayern look to humiliate the side that stunned them a few short months ago. I boldly predict a Bayern thrashing in this fixture.

Bayern 4 – 1 Mainz

Hannover – Nürnberg

The 16th place Hannover hosts the 17th place Nürnberg. With 17 and 13 points respectively, both of these squads will want to take a handful of points out of this match in an attempt to salvage their season. Hannover recently sacked former coach Andreas Bergmann due to their string of poor results and assigned Mirko Slomka in his place.

Slomka inherits a Hannover squad which is still living in the shadow of the dark cloud cast over the club when German International Robert Enke took his own life this past fall. Slomka is not in an enviable in that respect, as not only was Enke a franchise quality Goal-Keeper, but the rest of this Hannover squad has been marked by the most dangerous pair of “I’s” in sport: inconsistency and injury.

Nürnberg have also been something of an inconsistent squad this season, and they were not helped by the fact that they lost stand-out midfielder Peer Kluge to transfer to the Royal Blues of Schalke 04 during the winter transfer window. There was a taste of poetic irony in Kluge’s subsequent injury just a half hour into his new playing career at Schalke.

Regardless, Nürnberg responded by acquiring a pair of defensive players from their Bavarian neighbours FC Bayern. On loan to “Der Club” for the rest of the season are 20 year-old Brazilian defender Breno and 24 year-old Andreas Ottl. Breno will slot alongside captain Andreas Wolf in defense while Andreas Ottl will likely fill Kluge’s shoes holding the midfield.

At the end of the day, one of these two teams will likely come out flying to steal points in this one and try to build some momentum. Which one it will be is anyone’s guess. Since I am in the habit of taking guesses in this publication, let’s be daring and presume that Hannover 96 shake the monkey off their back and take three points in this fixture.

Hannover 2 – 1 Nürnberg

Schalke 04 – Hoffenheim

In the late Saturday fixture this weekend, the boys from “Don’t call me David” Hoffenheim travel to the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen this weekend to take on the Chess Master’s Schalke 04. Schalke currently sit in 3rd place in the Bundesliga with 38 points, a welcome return to the top of the table for a team that, not so long ago, was a perennial threat to the dominance of FC Bayern.

Magath’s Royal Blues have acquired seven players this transfer season, tops in the Bundesliga and consistent with Felix Magath’s “Rotating Door” policy regarding his players work ethic and fitness levels. They have won four of their past five matches, and only JUST drew in Bochum last weekend when their Ruhr Rivals scored a late equalizer to split the points between the two sides.

Hoffenheim, meanwhile, are in a bit of a slump at the moment, winless in their past 6 matches and sitting 9th in the table with 25 points. A win over Schalke would be a huge moral victory for this team, and with Chinedu Obasi’s on his way home from the African Cup of Nations after his native Nigeria were eliminated by Ghana, there might be a touch more pace and electricity available on the bench to cause the Schalke defense fits in the late stages of the game.

Schalke, meanwhile, continue to be actively fine-tuning their line-up, as The Score's ticker has just informed me that Schalke have loaned young Lewis Holtby to Bochum. Props to the people are The Score for breaking this story before the Bundesliga website did!

Like their rivals at Bayern, Schalke are likely farming Holtby out to Bochum where he will receive far more pitch team on a squad that is not as deep in talent as the German Footy Giants who are neck and neck in the table standings at the moment. Schalke has now shaved two attacking players from their roster to make room for their recent addition of the Brazilian striker Edu.

Back to the game at hand, given their difficulty in scoring goals recently coupled with Schalke’s skill at preventing them, this game may wind up being a tactical, low-scoring battle. Schalke will look to dominate possession against Hoffenheim as Bayern did last weekend, and slowly wear down their fitness until they can pounce on a sharp counter-attack.

Though I predict something of a low-scoring match-up, it will not likely be a blow-out, with both of these squads needing to pick up points. Schalke are the obvious choice to come out on top in this fixture, but the real question is by how many. It’s not unheard of to think that Hoffenheim could draw level in this one and walk away with a point, but with the way their defense and goal-keeping have combined lately, I think a win is beyond their reach in this one.

Schalke are doing too well right now to let up, and Felix Magath will not allow his boys an inch of slack or a moment of pause as he presses them forward to stay in the race with Bayern and Bayer 04 at the top of the table. Although I’m loathe to admit it and I will be secretly hoping against it, I think Schalke get it done at home.

Schalke 1 – 0 Hoffenheim

VfB Stuttgart – Borussia Dortmund

The Black and Gold of Borussia Dortmund travel to the Mercedes-Benz-Arena to take on VfB Stuttgart. Stuttgart are on a three game winning streak which has brought them out of the basement and up to 11th in the table with 22 points. Prior to this streak, Stuttgart were languishing dangerously close to the Relegation Zone and looking lost and uninspired.

The addition of Christian Molinaro as well as the promise of the return of Christian Gentner next season seems to have buoyed Stuttgart’s confidence, and the former Bundesliga Champions have been playing much more like themselves lately. All good things come at a price, however, and the price seems to have been not only the captaincy, but the happiness of Thomas Hitzlsperger.

The former Aston Villa midfielder has been with Stuttgart since the summer of 2005, and had been the captain of Stuttgart for a year and a half before being deposed for now former Stuttgart bench boss Markus Babbel. Babbel himself was fired shortly there after, and since the appointment of Swiss coach Christian Gross, the many Christians of Stuttgart seem to be the secret to their success. Gross will be hoping his men can stay in sharp form and walk away with 3 points this Sunday.

Borussia Dortmund, however, have enjoyed the return of something which has eluded them in years past; consistency. Whether it be in defense, in attack, or in goal, BVB have been tight and consistent this season despite the loan of Florian Kringe, the switcheroo in attack that saw Alex Frei return to FC Basel in his native Switzerland and be replaced by the young Argentinean Lucas Barrios, and most recently, an injury to goal-keeper Roman Weidenfeller.

Still standing strong in front of deputy keeper Marc Ziegler, Dortmund were their trademark defensive best last weekend, keeping clean sheets when hosting Hamburg and winning by a single goal. Ziegler benefits from having played nearly the entire season 2 years ago when Weidenfeller was forced to sit out the entire year with another nagging injury.

Dortmund will be without their #10 Mohammed Zidan, who will be playing in the final of the African Cup of Nations for Egypt and looking to return to the Dortmund a champion in Africa. Though it is hard to deny or replace the magical on-the-ball ability of Zidan, Dortmund’s attack is not without creativity and pace in the form of Polish winger Jakob “Kuba” Blaszczykowski.

The fleet-footed Pole is a terror to defend, and with the Dortmund defense playing as tightly as they have lately, Dortmund will be putting their own six game winning streak on the line against Stuttgart’s victorious streak of three.

Although I may profess the tiniest bit of bias in that I have a secret love of Borussia Dortmund as well as being a Newsletter-receiving member of the Bayern München fan club (who are the dreaded rivals of VfB Stuttgart), I still feel that Dortmund’s winning streak is safer than Stuttgart’s.

Dortmund 2 – 1 Stuttgart

Bayer 04 – Freiburg

This weekend’s football in Germany will cap off with a game between Table-Toppers, the other Big Red Machine, Bayer Leverkusen. Leverkusen will host the visiting Fry Guys SC Freiburg in the BayArena. Leverkusen come into this game tops in the Bundesliga with 41 points. Undefeated thus far in the Bundesliga season, what is there to say about Leverkusen other than to applaud their team.

Stefan Kießling is scoring goals aplenty and currently leads the league with 12 to his credit. Young Toni Kroos has taken advantage of an injury to Renato Augusto to strut his stuff, with 8 goals to his credit and another 6 which he helped orchestrate. The young German has made quite a name for himself, sending numerous “Kroos Missiles” at goal from set pieces with a bending swerve that gives goal-keepers nightmares. At 14, Kroos has figured in on more goals than any other Bundesliga player, and all this in only 13 starts and 1206 minutes played total.

Combine that with an incredible crossing success rate of 47% and an over-all passing success of 75%, and Kroos has established himself as one of the most reliable and dangerous play-makers in Germany. Oh yeah, and did I mentioned he only turned 20 years of age this past month on January 4th? Although there will definitely be a VERY interesting tug-of-war between Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich at the season’s end over the rights to Kroos’ services (Kroos is on loan from Bayern), for the moment, Kroos will likely be a key player yet again this weekend as Bayer look to dismantle their competition from the Southern Border-Town of Freiburg.

The Fry Guys leave their comfortable University town sitting in 15th place in the Table with 18 points. They are a single point ahead of 16th place Hannover, and upset at losing last weekend to VfB Stuttgart in their southern Derby. Freiburg are winless in 5 matches, haven’t scored a goal in 4 matches, and though they showed some promise early in this Bundesliga season, they have looked quite mortal since losing a tight match against FC Bayern Munich on Match Day 9.

This small town which sits on the border with Switzerland might do themselves a favour by calling FC Basel and begging and pleading with them to authorize the loan or purchase of Swiss Striker and former Borussia Dortmund player Alexander Frei to help bolster their attack. If they could find a way to put the Frei into Freiburg, than this squad would hold a chance at staying up at year’s end.

As it looks right now, however, Alex Frei is happily plodding away at FC Basel, filling the void left by Eren Derdiyok, who is now on with none other than Freiburg’s opponents this week, Bayer Leverkusen. With Cameroonian striker Mohamadou Idrissou back from the African Cup of Nations, Freiburg will be hoping to break their goalless stretch.

Will that be enough to beat Bayer Leverkusen, the best team in Germany this weekend on their home turf?

To quote the legendary “Boisterous, Good-Natured” voice set from the epic role-playing game NeverWinter Nights by BioWare

“I’d say not.” <insert the sound of raucous belly-laughs here.>

Freiburg are not as bad a team as I initially feared they would be, but that will not be enough to spare them from a sound thrashing this Sunday at the hands of the Other Big Red Machine, and I still fear they may find themselves in the relegation zone once all is said and done this Season.

Leverkusen 5 – 1 Freiburg

(for those of you who like to gamble, I wouldn’t say that over 2.5 in this game is a lock, but there might be some value to be had by parlaying the Bayer win with the Over. I can’t imagine there’s much value on either of those 2 wagers on their own, but together, would be a well-weighted wager from a risk vs reward perspective.)

Other than that, we’re all a wrap here on this week’s edition of “DAS BOOT!” We’ve already seen some drama this week, as the Wolfsburg – Hamburg game looked to be the making of a Wolfsburg victory until Piotr Trochowski cranked a beautiful dipping Free Kick over the wall and dipping into the net, fooling André Lenz in the 92 minute and securing a point for Hamburg after an embarrassing miss off of a free kick earlier by Trochowski. Although this ratified our prediction here on “DAS BOOT!”, it negated my “Second thoughts” on the game that made me feel Wolfsburg would find a way to take all three points.

*Shrugs with a sigh* This is why I don’t gamble, dear readers. Football is simply too unpredictable and beautiful of a game for me to want to spoil the fun by investing money in the results.

What makes Bundesliga football beautiful is not predictable results, but the high drama involved in a league rife with parity and intriguing relationships between clubs. It’s the thrill that takes place on the pitch when previously unknown players like Mesut Özil become household names by upsetting FC Bayern in their own Arena with a pair of goals, including a laser beam off of his left-foot.

It is in the shock and awe of the prognosticators when they look at the league table during the winter Transfer window and say “How did the two teams at the top of the league last year end up at the bottom of the league this year, and two teams I’ve never heard of are fighting for a spot in European Competition?” Most importantly, it is in the uncanny ability of this “minor” soccer league to put so many previously unknown footballers on the map and help groom them for success at all levels of play, and the pride and fondness with which players of all nationalities often speak of the time they spent playing in Germany.

And, with any luck and with your help, dear readers, perhaps one day people may speak of the Bundesliga and say that their love of German Footy was aided by the work of Your Humble Narrator. Then again, perhaps not, but if we do not dare to dream, dear readers, we will never find the happiness we all seek in our lives.

Until next time, I hope you enjoy all of this weekend’s footy action in Germany and beyond, and thanks again for joining us here on another edition of everyone’s favorite German Footy Blog…..

DAS BOOT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAWjYiDvZZk&feature=PlayList&p=6737626AD07D841B&index=0&playnext=1

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