With the German Bundesliga coming down to the final two matches, three sides still are within possible earshot of hearing their fans saluting the newly crowned “Kiesers.”

One thing for certain is that Bayern Munich will not be hounding the trophy again this time around. In fact, Bayern will be starting off next year in the lowly UEFA Cup, having been humbled out of the top three for the first time in what seems like ages.

As it stands now, Schalke, Stuttgart, and Werder Bremen are the clubs fighting it out for number one; Schalke has the slight edge by 1 and 2 pts., but they face the toughest match of the weekend as they travel, going into their local derby match this weekend against fierce rivals, Borussia Dortmund, who have themselves thrown off their early season blues and have climbed up to 9th spot in the league.

Stuttgart also play on the road this weekend as they face off against Bochum while Werder Bremen actually has the easiest game, playing at home against Frankfurt. So anything is still possible; however, neutrals and traditionalists alike are pulling for Schalke as the storied club has never won the Bundesliga, since its professional inception in 1963.

If Schalke can pull out 2 final victories, it will end a long draught that saw them last hold a league championship trophy in 1958. With such a long lag in silverware, it seems likely that Schalke just doesn’t know how to close out a championship, so look for another classic slip-up just like a few seasons ago when they lost out to Bayern Munich on the final day.

I just hope that the Schalke fans don’t start an early celebration this time around.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 11th, 2007 at 8:00 am and is filed under Soccer World, Germany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.