The boys from Munich totally dismantled Werder Bremen 4-0 on the road at the Weserstadion, warning the rest of the German steadies that this will be a season of maulings.

A Franck Ribery penalty (awarded for a foul on Luca Toni) before the break was followed by total annihilation in the second half. Involved in the buildup of the penalty, Toni added the second as the Italian target man settled fellow new-signing, Hamit Altintop’s cross and swept home in the box.

Ribery and Altintop linked up for the third goal as Altintop finished from the edge of the penalty area, and substitute midfielder Andreas Ottl added the bubbly as his thunder-strike from distance added insult to injury for the Bremen faithful.

The only other team to remain undefeated through the second weekend of the Bundesliga is Hamburg SV, who defeated Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 on Sunday.

Hamburg will encounter 5th place VfL Bochum in an important early game this Friday while Bayern will match up against 11th place Hannover 96 on Saturday at home.

Unfortunately, German striker Klose will be out (also for the International friendly against England in the midweek) due to an injury sustained during his return to the Weserstadion against his old club, but with the power of Bayern, I don’t think that he will be sorely missed in this one.

Having surrendered their usual lock-grip on the Bundesliga title last season, Bayern have made a number of summer signings to bring back the smiles to half of Germany including Franz Beckenbauer.

With an uncharacteristic 4th place finish last term, however, the high profile, new faces will have to be content with UEFA Cup action this time around while they fight through the Bundesliga, looking to ensure Champions League Football for next season.

Gone are the South American forward line of Pizarro (to Chelsea) and Santa Cruz (back to Paraguay or something), replaced by German International Miroslav Klose and Italian International strike force Luca Toni.

Owen Hargreaves has also left, thank God. French International Frank Ribery and the re-called Brazilian, Ze Roberto, will far out-way the loss of the Canadian, er-I mean English midfielder.

The new boys have already gotten a run out with their new team and looked absolutely lethal as they won the German Pre-season tournament. Of course the league will be a tougher story, but with how much Bayern have spent, anything less then title holders will be frowned on by the Bayern hierarchy.

Their opening run out against promoted side Hansa Rostock on Saturday couldn’t be any easier either while defending champions Stuttgart have a punishing, pulsating 1st match against league runner-ups Schalke in the Bundesliga opener on Friday.

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.

Schalke defeated Werder Bremen in the all-important match of the weekend’s round of Bundesliga fixtures. With the victory, Schalke go 3 pts. clear of Bremen, creating a little breathing space at the top.

As the usual suspects were of no consequence in the match, it was the forgotten man, the Danish and ex-Rangers striker, Peter Lovenkrands, who found 2 goals on each side of the half to push the Royal Blues to the German promontory.

Bayern Munich compounded their problems slipping to 4th with a loss in Friday’s match against Nurnberg, even with the return of manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, and have all but given up hopes on a 3rd consecutive Bundesliga title.

Oliver Kahn has publicly criticized his side as being “petty” and fragile, rounding on the Bayern management that have called on the stalwart keeper to be more vocal in the dressing room.

Stuttgart remains in 3rd spot with their 1-0 victory over Dortumund while Hertha Berlin rounds out the top 5 with a 2-1 victory over regulation fodder, Hamburg, who started off the season playing in the Champions League.

Next week will be another German powder keg as Schalke faces Hertha Berlin at home while Bremen meets up with Stuttgart on the road for another weekend of German top shelf matches.

Bayern’s 2nd loss in a row—this time a 3-0 embarrassment to Nurnberg—has opened the horizons and set this Sunday’s German classic between Werder Bremen and Schalke as a race for the skies.

Even if the game ends in a draw, the lead above Bayern will stretch to 9 pts. Currently, Bayern has slipped into 4th spot, with Stuttgart in 3rd, and Nurnberg and Hertha Berlin on the fringe.

Even with the sacking of Magath and the return of injured Hargreaves, Bayern still continued to show poor form in their loss to Nurnberg, giving the chance for either Bremen or Schalke to open the gap.

It’s boiling up to be a showdown between Klose and Kuranyi. Kuranyi, who has shown a return to form of late, and perhaps wanting to prove that Germany made a mistake when not selecting him for their recent World Cup squad, will be looking to pull Schalke clear as they are currently 2nd to Bremen, but only on goal difference.

Bring the Sauerkraut because this will be a German Boiler!

The Reds marked the 2nd half of the German league season with a (3-2) defeat at the hands of seasoned rivals, Borussia Dortmund. In a cracking game that witnessed 5 goals, it was the black-and-neon that edged out the reigning champions—though Bayern more then held the advantage in terms of possession.

Bayern have definitely felt the losses of both Ballack (now at Chelsea) and Hargreaves (through injury) and have had a difficult time this season keeping pace with Werder Bremen and Schalke (who both won their matches this past weekend). The squad reads more like a 2nd rate Dutch and Belgian side this time around with no clear leadership taking hold amongst the veteran, champion players.

While still in 3rd spot, Bayern now lags behind the top two by 6 points and look destined to miss out on a 3-peat German Bundesliga Championship. Coach, Felix Magath has issued the ultimatum that their upcoming match against lowly-side Bochum must be a victory, or the chance at glory will slip away.

Can you smell it? Something is in the air, and it has nothing to do with the Premiership. A good Mongoose must trust his senses and follow where his instincts tell him.

This weekend, with opportunities to watch ball from all corners of the earth, I choose to watch the Bundesliga. German Football is not just for Nazis, it has flare without the pizzazz.

The league is built on hard nosed football, but light skill is respected and overwhelms those who believe that blitzkriegs are the only way.

Big match ups in the Bundesliga this weekend are Werder Bremen vs. Energie Cottbus. That pits the number 1 team vs. number 6, but please don’t discount Cottbus because of their position. They have already appeared on Savage Strikes a few times this year, so they have a potent arsenal of guns. Speaking of Savage Strikes, Werder has made a few appearances also, and if my hunch is correct Miroslav Klose and friends will be gunning to make another appearance.

For the second big Budesliga bash, it will be Number 2 Bayern Munich vs. Number 3 Shalke 04. A terrifying match up on the books, and hopefully Bayern will be scared all the way home, but probably not, these guys put the G in German, so a high powered arms race will ensue.
 
The funny thing about this massive collision is that the Shalke fans are taking a stand and boycotting cheering for their team for the first 19 min. and 4 sec. This is due to their being kicked out of both the German Cup and the Uefa Cup in its early stages. So, for Bayern they have the first 20 min. to abuse Shalke with no reclamation from their opponent’s supporters.

This should make the ensuing 70 minutes a heart pounding affair. Hopefully the Munich fans will be silenced in the end with a scorching strike from Lincoln and his band.  

No matter what game your mouth waters for if you don’t have GolTV, you are out of luck! So pick up the channel, or drop your thoughts of seeing the Germans in their finest hour.

Meditations from Mongoose

The top two teams in Germany will face off on Saturday. Werder Bremen plays host to Bayern Munich at the Westerstadion, hoping to edge ahead of the defending Champions at the top of the table.

With the addition of the Portuguese playmaker, Diego, Bremen is undergoing a resurgence of form, as he adds that little bit of spice needed to enhance the power and industry of players like Klose, Klasnic, Frings, and Borowski. Diego has made an immediate impact scoring goals for Bremen in both league play and the Champions League.

Bayern Munich has shrugged off their sluggish start playing themselves up the table with adequate performances behind their seasoned and structured team. The addition of Podolski has not been as prolific as expected while manager Felix Magath has already called into question his players’ desire in the early stages of league play.

While both teams are attack minded in nature, Bremen holds the advantage as they are playing at home and playing sensational football. Perhaps it is too early for Bayern to have hit full stride, and they could be stabbing at shadows if Diego can conjure his Brazilian magic.

Some would say that Jurgen Klinsmann has now proved himself a tactician of the game as Germany pulled out its victory over Poland from the jaws of a very drab stalemate. 2nd half substitutes, David Odonkor and Oliver Neuville combined in the dying moments over a deflated 10-man Polish side�unfortunately, Poland is the first to be gutted and eliminated from Germany 2006.

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The Dagger says that Klinsmann needs to rethink his first team selection and tactics if he is to lead Germany past more renowned opponents. Once again, Germany showed its inconsistent form as they were a far cry from their 4-2 victory over Costa Rica. Against Poland, Germany looked lost of ideas and fell apart in-front of goal (Klose�s missed headers and Podolski�s glaring miss from close range).�

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Lahm has proved most influential in the attacking play of Germany. And, while it is great to see your defensive back get involved in the attack, Germany need to have their more illustrious players take charge and impose themselves upon the game.

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Moreover, I have never understood the German insistence and faith in Bernd Schneider�I thought he had finally proved enough of his ineffectiveness in Korea 2002�and believe that he will prove a spoiler once again. Also, one wonders about the exclusion of Kevin Kuranyi, who I believe has proved himself more adapt and consistent at scoring important goals than Podolski.

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The jury is still out�the nation is waiting�

The German big boys of Group A and a top 6 team in the tournament: I see Germany making the Semi-Finals before getting washed out by the eventual World Cup winners�the Czech Republic.
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Jans Lehman�Germany No. 1�is not shaky, but controversial enough to crack his own egg and play the spoiler for the boys who once were kings.
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To bad, so sad, Ballack: The German Captain will hit at least 4, bettering his tally in 2002. He will bring this loss to Chelsea though and begin to decay the English Champions from here on in�that is for after the cup talk though, when the leagues begin again.
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Miroslav Klose will hit at least one key goal in the knock out rounds (he already has 2 against Costa). Gerald Asamoah will also show his worth as the first Black German to play in the World Cup.
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One more player of note in my book is Bastian Schweinsteiger. This player is good in the most classical of senses, but he is young enough to breathe continuous life into this working midfield.