Bundesliga last month before holidays

Judging by the way the nationalelf played yesterday You would think the holidays have already started? I have played beach soccer games in Gran Canaria where the players showed more effort than the mannschaft yesterday. To be fair the English came at them fast and hard and it was a friendly and the weather was not good etc but you can not keep making excuses. The Germans played a good half against Russia in Qualifying but otherwise have not played well this year at all. I was under the impression they were out of their 10 year slump but I am not so sure now? A poor euro cup performance with maybe a few good spots, like the game against Poland was OK and a 20 minute spell againt Portugal but otherwise not that much to write home about? I have no problem with them letting in two golas, in fact i excpect them to allow 2-3 goals a game, but nothing coming forward. i could not count how many bad passes were made in the midfield yesterday? You could see what they were trying to do but they just could not pass accurately, which is something you normally do not say about the national team? Anyhow it was just a friendly and they can noly get better in 2010.

1	Bayer Leverkusen		13		9	1	3		31:15	16		28
2	1899 Hoffenheim (N)		13		9	1	3		34:19	15		28
3	Bayern München (M, P)		13		7	4	2		29:20	9		25
4	Hertha BSC		13		7	3	3		18:16	2		24
5	Hamburger SV		13		7	2	4		20:21	-1		23
6	Borussia Dortmund		13		5	6	2		24:18	6		21
7	Werder Bremen		13		5	5	3		31:24	7		20
8	FC Schalke 04		13		5	5	3		19:12	7		20
9	VfL Wolfsburg		13		5	4	4		28:21	7		19
10	1. FC Köln (N)		13		6	1	6		14:17	-3		19
11	VfB Stuttgart		13		5	3	5		18:17	1		18
12	Eintracht Frankfurt		13		3	4	6		15:23	-8		13
	Hannover 96		13		3	4	6		15:23	-8		13
14	Borussia M'gladbach (N)		13		3	2	8		14:24	-10		11
15	VfL Bochum		13		1	7	5		15:20	-5		10
16	Karlsruher SC		13		3	1	9		12:24	-12		10
17	Arminia Bielefeld		13		1	6	6		12:22	-10		9
18	Energie Cottbus		13		2	3	8		7:20	-13		9

Fr 21.11.08 20:30 Karlsruher SC - Borussia Dortmund -:- (-:-)

I think that Dede is coming back soon, next to Micheal Zorc he probably has played more for Dortmund than anyone else? Dortmund have only lost twice this season, so I will not put any money on a home team win.

Sa 22.11.08 15:30 Bayern München - Energie Cottbus -:- (-:-)

hard to beleive but bayern just may end up being the winter champion the way things are going? they should be well rested since none of the internationals really played on wednesday.

FC Schalke 04 - Borussia M'gladbach -:- (-:-)

Two young players to watch for in this game Manuel Neurer who still may become the german number one expecially after the way Adler played yesterday and Marko Marin who may of been the only player that was not crap yesterday for Germany.

VfL Wolfsburg - VfB Stuttgart -:- (-:-)

The game of the day. Stuttgart should be doing much better this year?

Eintracht Frankfurt - Hannover 96 -:- (-:-)

I would not call this a relegation battle, both teams probably will stay up but they are close to the bottom.

VfL Bochum - Hertha BSC -:- (-:-)

Hertha are having a good year, Voronin seems to be fitting in nicely. If Hertha win this game and the other results work in their favour they will be a Champions league team????

Arminia Bielefeld - Bayer Leverkusen -:- (-:-)

Was Simon Rolfes playing for England yesterday? He made some beautiful passes that kept going to English players. Really nice accurate perfectly weigfed passes. A win should keep Bayer on the top of the table
1. FC Köln - 1899 Hoffenheim -:- (-:-)

why would Loew pick Commper for the national team? Is he better than Andreas Beck or Christoph Janker??? Is it a racial equality thing? Was yesterdays game the first time the German nat team played two "African" players? It is nice to see but neither of them ( Jones or Commper) are very good.

So 23.11.08 17:00 Hamburger SV - Werder Bremen -:- (-:-)

And the game of the week and the only game on Sunday again. Next year or the year after german football will not be as oraganized and precise as it is now. Games will be played at all sorts of different times. That is assuming the Tv deal goes through? I assume this has helped the EPL get a better TV money so maybe it will work for the bundesliga? I am not sure if Diego played against Portugal yesterday or even went to Brazil? ( I know Kaka did and judging by the score won the "superstar" battle against Ronaldo). If so the Sunday kick off is helpful to Bremen. Hamburg is at home so you would excpect them to win, but I have this feeling Bremen will put on a good display since they are due a good game?

The lil darlings of Germany

Finally got to see Hoffenheim play on the weekend and according to the GOLTv commentator ( Ray Hudson, whom I find very entertaining and enthusiastic) Hoffenheim 1899 are everybody's second favourite team in Germany! According to the post's on this group I am not sure if that is true? But they just may be my second favourite team for now. I think I wrote last week that they would be my second favourite team if they scored 5 and conceded three- a la Werder Bremen- well they only scored four and only gave up one goal so a little dissapointing but good enough for me. I also wondered if Ibesivic is going to be the Next Gerd Muller? gerd muller has a phenomenal goal scoring record, he once scored 40 goals in a season in the Bundesliga playing 34 games and this is when the bundesliga was at it's peak. German top scorer: 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, oddly enough he was only German footballer of the year twice which just may be a reflection on how good the league was back in the 70's? Anyhow, Ibisevic is probably not as deadly accurate in the box as Muller but he is not that bad either? So what are my impressions of Hoffenheim? You get the feeling that this is a tight knit group, they seem to be very supportive of each other and play a very selfless style of play. They have enough skill players who seem to have a lot of confidence i.e Defender Andreas Beck made a nice behind the back sort of move ( A move i like to do myself) kind of like Cryuff used to do, but while coming out of defence. It was not a big deal but it does show the kind of confidence this team has and as Tottenham Hotspurs have shown recently a team playing with confidence is better than a team with skilled players ( though not always). So yes i do like Hoffenheim and I hope they are succesful and become the next Bayern Munchen.

Tabelle

Pl.	Verein		Sp.		g.	u.	v.		Tore	Diff.		Pkte.
1	1899 Hoffenheim (N)		11		8	1	2		31:16	15		25
2	Bayer Leverkusen		11		8	0	3		26:11	15		24
3	Bayern München (M, P)		11		6	3	2		25:17	8		21
4	FC Schalke 04		11		5	5	1		17:8	9		20
5	Hamburger SV		11		6	2	3		17:18	-1		20
6	Borussia Dortmund		11		4	6	1		19:16	3		18
7	Hertha BSC		11		5	3	3		15:15	0		18
8	Werder Bremen		11		4	4	3		28:23	5		16
9	VfL Wolfsburg		11		4	4	3		23:18	5		16
10	VfB Stuttgart		11		5	1	5		16:15	1		16
11	1. FC Köln (N)		11		5	1	5		11:13	-2		16
12	Eintracht Frankfurt		11		3	3	5		13:17	-4		12
13	Hannover 96		11		3	3	5		13:20	-7		12
14	Karlsruher SC		11		3	0	8		9:20	-11		9
15	VfL Bochum		11		1	5	5		14:19	-5		8
16	Arminia Bielefeld		11		1	5	5		12:20	-8		8
17	Borussia M'gladbach (N)		11		2	1	8		10:22	-12		7
18	Energie Cottbus		11		1	3	7		6:17	-11		6

Fr 31.10.08 20:30 Bayer Leverkusen - VfL Wolfsburg 2:0 (0:0)

Another good result for Leverkesen I think they can keep Bayern behind thenm until the Winter break and maybe longer?

Sa 01.11.08 15:30 Bayern München - Arminia Bielefeld 3:1 (1:1)

Bayern is already in 3rd place after being mid table just a few weeks ago? Borowski seem to be starting now.

Werder Bremen - Hertha BSC 5:1 (3:0)
Did not get to see this game but I bet Diego and pizarro were back ( they were) and maybe just maybe the Werder mid season melt down is over? If they score 5 against panathanaikos I will beleive it.

VfB Stuttgart - 1. FC Köln 1:3 (0:1)

Stuttgart are really going down like a Lead Zeppelin!

Hannover 96 - Hamburger SV 3:0 (2:0)

Hamburg like to lose by this score it seems? They have conceded more goals than they scored as well. They do have a chance in the UEFA cup and i would concentrate more on that then the Bundesliga if it were my team?

Energie Cottbus - FC Schalke 04 0:2 (0:0)

got to give Schalke an A for consistency and defending, but beating Cottbus 2-0 is not a big deal.
1899 Hoffenheim - Karlsruher SC 4:1 (1:1)

k
Karlsruhe came out flying but were not good enough for a hoffenheim team that took control of the game after 20 minutes. I hope to see Hoffenheim play again soon.

So 02.11.08 17:00 Borussia Dortmund - VfL Bochum 1:1 (1:1)

i can not remeber if i picked this as my upset of the week????

Borussia M'gladbach - Eintracht Frankfurt 1:2 (1:1)

A big jump to keep frankfurt out of the relegation zone.

A somewhat rare midweek group of games see Hoffenheim clinging to a one point lead, while Bayern start to move up the table, I kind of doubt Bayern will be Christmas champions but that is kind of a curse anyhow? Hertha Berlin are another team that is quietly moving up the table. Vedad Ibisevic is the top scorer with 11 goals in ten games! So this guy must be the new Gerd Muller?!?!? Who is he anyhow? Well he has played everywhere from Switzerland to St. louis to the Mustard regions of france and of course Germany. Depending on who I talk to he may have had a father who was a professional players, he possibly broke all kinds of US college records and has played as few as two times for Bosnia or as many as 18? Well this weekend the good folks at GOLtv are showing the Hoffenheim game so I can see if he actually will be the new Gerd Muller or just another Sergei Barbarez?


Tabelle
Pl. Verein Sp. g. u. v. Tore Diff. Pkte.
1 1899 Hoffenheim (N) 10 7 1 2 27:15 12 22
2 Bayer Leverkusen 10 7 0 3 24:11 13 21
3 Hamburger SV 10 6 2 2 17:15 2 20
4 Bayern München (M, P) 10 5 3 2 22:16 6 18
5 Hertha BSC 10 5 3 2 14:10 4 18
6 FC Schalke 04 10 4 5 1 15:8 7 17
7 Borussia Dortmund 10 4 5 1 18:15 3 17
8 VfL Wolfsburg 10 4 4 2 23:16 7 16
9 VfB Stuttgart 10 5 1 4 15:12 3 16
10 Werder Bremen 10 3 4 3 23:22 1 13
11 1. FC Köln (N) 10 4 1 5 8:12 -4 13
12 Eintracht Frankfurt 10 2 3 5 11:16 -5 9
13 Karlsruher SC 10 3 0 7 8:16 -8 9
14 Hannover 96 10 2 3 5 10:20 -10 9
15 Arminia Bielefeld 10 1 5 4 11:17 -6 8
16 VfL Bochum 10 1 4 5 13:18 -5 7
17 Borussia M'gladbach (N) 10 2 1 7 9:20 -11 7
18 Energie Cottbus 10 1 3 6 6:15 -9 6

Fr 31.10.08 20:30 Bayer Leverkusen - VfL Wolfsburg -:- (-:-)

It is a good thing that Leverkuesen has a pharmeceutical company in town because the players will need some help after playing only a couple of days ago ( I really could as well after tearing a hamstring last night playing againt some hard running oafs, but i refuse to take NSAIDS or any drugs that do not come from a Chinaman or Columbian or beer bottle) . this should be an interesting game and the KDF team can prove if they are for real with a good performance.

Sa 01.11.08 15:30 Bayern München - Arminia Bielefeld -:- (-:-)

Bayern looked OK against Frankfurt but still are not that impressive, Borowski finalyl started a game and Ze Roberto played Left back. Against Bielefeld it should not matter who plays but I still think they can be beaten by the likes of a hard running well trained team.

Werder Bremen - Hertha BSC -:- (-:-)

The way Bremen is playing I can see Hertha winning this easily.

VfB Stuttgart - 1. FC Köln -:- (-:-)

Same sentence as above just replace Bremen with Stuttgart.

Hannover 96 - Hamburger SV -:- (-:-)

Hamburg are still in the running and need to win.

Energie Cottbus - FC Schalke 04 -:- (-:-)

Same sentence as above replace hanburg wit Schalke

1899 Hoffenheim - Karlsruher SC -:- (-:-)

Ah the game of the day! (For me at least.) If they score five goals and allow three i will become a Hoffenheim fan!

So 02.11.08 17:00 Borussia Dortmund - VfL Bochum -:- (-:-)

If Dortmund win and all the other top 3 to5 teams lose it will be a real tight top of the table in Germany and anybodys guess who to pick for winter champions?

Borussia M'gladbach - Eintracht Frankfurt -:- (-:-)

The commentator on GOLtv for the Bayern v frankfurt game made it known to everybody dozens of times how badly hit with injuries Frankfurt is but regardless I though they played well againt Bayern and think they will win this game.

Hoffenhiem ( bundesliga week 8 review)

I find it hard to understand that so may people are concerned about some old billionaire supporting his old team financially and taking them to the top of the Bundesliga? If I had 6 billion Euro's i would try to bring Rapid Wien back to it's former glories? Hell I would even try to bring my father's club Waldhof Mannheim back into the 1st div and whilst I was at it I would help Bremen too. Now granted Vienna and Hoffenhiem have a slight population difference but if you are including the area Hoffenhiem is in, it is not that different from Kaiserslautern. In fact Kaiserslautern has "whored" itself out to foreign military money which is worse in my opinion than some ex player with deep pockets? Or what about Leverkuesen being owned by a Pharmaceutical company!?!?!!? Yes it would be great if he put all that money into local charity like helping the poor kids who dropped out of the University of Heidelberg with their drinking problems and such but if the guy has a passion for his team and not drunken University drop outs then fair enough. I would love if someone would spend money to try to come up with a low carb beer that actually tastes like beer? And do not tell me there are some because their are none! Stella Artois light is being marketed here in Kanada and it has certain beer like qualities but it is still a "near beer". Anyhow, Hoffenhiem 1899, the team is not full of big name foreigners, it had at least 6 German players (one Austrian that i will include being half Austrian myself ;) ) starting in the 5-2 win over Hannover (they have yet to show a Hoffenhiem game here on TV yet, but hopefully soon?) and that does not include the subs. The only player's I know of are Andreas Beck who used to play for Stuttgart and the Austrian International Andreas Ibersberger, but if they brought in Tim Borowski why is that a big deal? He is building a new stadium, it can only help the local economy? Unlike, Real Madrid or Chelsea or Manchester United he has not gone overboard spending money on signing players so if the club fails in few years you will have a new empty stadium, and some empty hotels, restaurants and sports shops? But if the team keeps winning and they score 5 goals a game then I am sure people will support them. Anyhow it is crazy that he (Hopp) has had death threats ( Dortmund fans of course!) and has so many against him. Anyhow, the more interesting story was the 3-3 draw on Saturday between Bremen and Dortmund.

Tabelle
Pl. Verein Sp. g. u. v. Tore Diff. Pkte.
1 Hamburger SV 8 5 2 1 15:12 3 17
2 1899 Hoffenheim (N) 8 5 1 2 21:14 7 16
3 Bayer Leverkusen 8 5 0 3 20:11 9 15
4 Hertha BSC 8 4 2 2 10:9 1 14
5 VfL Wolfsburg 8 3 4 1 18:12 6 13
6 FC Schalke 04 8 3 4 1 12:8 4 13
7 VfB Stuttgart 8 4 1 3 13:10 3 13
8 Borussia Dortmund 8 3 4 1 16:14 2 13
9 1. FC Köln (N) 8 4 1 3 8:9 -1 13
10 Werder Bremen 8 3 3 2 22:19 3 12
11 Bayern München (M, P) 8 3 3 2 16:13 3 12
12 Karlsruher SC 7 3 0 4 7:10 -3 9
13 Hannover 96 8 2 2 4 9:16 -7 8
14 VfL Bochum 8 1 4 3 12:13 -1 7
15 Arminia Bielefeld 8 1 3 4 10:16 -6 6
16 Energie Cottbus 8 1 2 5 3:11 -8 5
17 Borussia M'gladbach (N) 8 1 1 6 8:17 -9 4
18 Eintracht Frankfurt 7 0 3 4 5:11 -6 3


Der 8. Spieltag
Bochum - M'gladbach 2:2 (0:1)

The one point for BMG has taken them off the bottom of the table, it was not that long ago when BMG and Eintrach Frankfurt were winning UEFA cups and that was back in the day when the UEFA cup was more difficult to win, sort of like today's champions league.

Bremen - Dortmund 3:3 (0:0)

Great game and to sound like an English commentator "the reason that the Bundesliga is the best league in the world!" Bremen are the most offense minded team in the world! Unfourtantely they are also the weakest defensive team in the world! Dortmund are not that much better defensively so it was odd that after the first 45 minutes and a couple of steins of Becks it was still 0-0 with few goal scoring chances? You knew it had to change but the people who had come over to watch the game and go fishing and smoke a few Silvestre cigarettes were probably thinking oh no a boring 0-0 soccer game ( actually they were saying exactly that). Sebestian Frey who has scored in every game I have seen him play in this year (including Internationals) of course scored the first goal it took almost an hour and at least 3 bottles of Becks but we had the first goal! Per Mertesaker was not playing, instead Frank Baumann dropped back to play central defense and it is not that he is bad defensively he is just not as good as Mertesaker, but regardless he was going to make the best of it and equalized for Bremen a few minutes later. Bremen made the usual offensive minded changes bringing on Almeida and Hunt, Dortmund brought on underrated and underplayed Egyptian Zidan and by the 90 th minute is was 2-2, the excellent Pizarro then gave Bremen the win in the 92 minute. Then just as I was about to get my tackle box and fill the cooler with Becks and low carb vile beer, Zidan scored to make it 3-3 with the last kick of the ball! Pizarro is a great fit for Bremen.

Köln - Cottbus 1:0 (1:0)

Cologne are having a good season.


Hannover - Hoffenheim 2:5 (0:1)

How can people dislike a team that scores 5 goals????

Frankfurt - Leverkusen 0:2 (0:1)

I know i wrote I hate pharmaceutical companies and the German pharmaceutical business is just as bad as the American, but i do like Leverkuesen as a team and they also do score many goals.

Wolfsburg - Bielefeld 4:1 (2:0)

This was my upset pick of the week?????

Hertha - Stuttgart 2:1 (1:0)

Stuttgart are going down like a lead Zeppelin! I seems Super Mario has lost confidence and the team in general is not playing like champions. Hertha on the other hand made some good signings like Voronin, Kaka ( no, not that Kaka) and Lucio ( no the other Lucio) and are doing well. I like Berlin (the city) it reminds me of New York 25 years ago except that the people are much friendlier and gay.

KSC - Bayern 0:1 (0:0)

Bayern won a game! Klose scored as well, Borowski did not start even though he is the teams top scorer? If I was Klinsmann -and this may explain why I am not a trainer- i would get rid of Toni and play Podolski up front with Klose, I would include Borowski and Kroos in the team at the expense of mindless hacker Van bommell and old timer Ze Roberto, I would play Lahm more as a midfielder than defender, play a 3-5-2 and get rid of Lucio and find a new keeper, anyone would do, like the old Wolfsburg keeper Simon Jentzch, I am sure he would cost nothing.

HSV - Schalke 1:1 (1:0)

"The game of the week" turned a bit ugly, not like English league break legs, elbow to the face ugly, but cheap fouls and diving ugly, though David Jaralim did not attack anyones genitals this game. Trochowski had a good game and scored a goal similar to the one against Wales. he may not have the dribbling skills of Littbarski or Hassler yet but he does remind me of them and his shooting is quite good as well. Hamburg fans were booing Kuranyi and he had a poor game, he has a better chance of making the Brazilian national team than the German national team now(Brazil is really lacking up front presently) and probably wished he had not chosen "die nationalelf"?
Sorry Sven, I just do not like this Hamburg team?

Bundesliga week 8

The national team had a good week in that they got two wins and at times played very well. The game against Russia started off well in the first half with a 2-0 lead but Germany then had to hang on to win 2-1. The game against the Welsh was nothing to write home about but a win is a win and the Welsh did put 8 players in front of their goal and blocked all but one of the 25 or more shots that Germany had. Not sure if Adler will now be the number one keeper choice but i am pretty sure that Kuranyi will not be the number one striker choice? Though in the past players like Effenberg, Schuster and Matthaus have been removed from the team only to be asked(begged) back? "Die mannschaft" ( I heard the guy on GOLTV say it a half dozen times so it is not just me!)goes into hibernation for the winter, though they do play a friendly against England next month. The U-21 "mannschaft" also qualified for the junior European cup.


Fixtures, Matchday 8 17.10.2008 - 19.10.2008
Date Home Away Result
17.10.08 20:30 VfL Bochum 1848 : Bor. Mönchengladbach

Christian Ziege is the new Manger of BMG -at least for the time being- and an away result against Bochum would be helpful to his coaching career. Oh and Bochum could use a win as well (then again so could every team)

18.10.08 15:30 Werder Bremen : Borussia Dortmund

One of my favourite match ups and a fingers crossed hope that GOLTV shows this game on Saturday. Dortmund now have Frei back and have a good team, Bremen are still under achieving in my opinion.

18.10.08 15:30 Hannover 96 : 1899 Hoffenheim

If Hoffenheim win and Hamburg lose Hoffenehiem will regain the title lead. Nobody seems to like Hoffehiem but money and owners and what other issues are with the team I always like to see a new team do well.

18.10.08 15:30 Hertha BSC : VfB Stuttgart

Another good game and i bet GOLTV will show this because of the Mexicans playing for Stuttgart?

18.10.08 15:30 VfL Wolfsburg : Arminia Bielefeld

Let me pick Bielefeld to win as my upset of the week

18.10.08 15:30 Eintracht Frankfurt : Bayer Leverkusen

Should be a win for Leverkuesen

18.10.08 15:30 Karlsruher SC : Bayern München

All the bayern players were off on international duty so this alone would make it a good time to beat them, add to that they are playing poorly and Karlsruher have a great chance to win? You just have to figure Bayern will start rolling soon?

18.10.08 15:30 1. FC Köln : Energie Cottbus

Cologne have done well so far and should stay up this year, Cottbus may go down.

19.10.08 17:00 Hamburger SV : FC Schalke 04

Pretty sure this will be the Sunday game on TV, tough game for Hamburg.

UEFA WCQ Pr/Review

Another great weekend up here on the Iceberg, warm sunny temps in the mid 20'sC caught a couple of big northern pikes, a few small walleyes and a couple of decent Bass. The TV coverage here for World cup qualifiers is great, Setanta shows almost every game and the others are either on GOLTV, FSC, TV5, ESPN, RAI or the Latin channels we get all the South American games as well and the CONCACAF games.



Sa 11.10.08 16:00
4 Finnland - Aserbaidschan 1:0 (0:0)
no surprise

9 Schottland - Norwegen 0:0 (0:0)
Saw this game or at least parts of it, could of gone either way, I will give the Scot fans credit for not booing Iwelumo. I guess they are not as Racist as the English?

Sa 11.10.08 17:00 7 Färöer - Österreich 1:1 (0:0)

Austria screwed this one up, they need to beat teams like Faroe islands if they want to win the group!

Sa 11.10.08 17:45 2 Schweiz - Lettland 2:1
(0:0)

Sa 11.10.08 18:15 6 England - Kasachstan 5:1 (0:0)
A win is a win, not a great performance but you could see they were resting for the Belarus game. The racist chants and booing directed to Black player was terrible! someone should fine the English FA and deduct points! Credit to the "Stans" for not giving up and scoring a goal after going down on a bad goal (no corner kick and keeper was fouled on the first goal)

Sa 11.10.08 18:30 4 Wales - Liechtenstein 2:0 (1:0)
This was a boring game.

8 Georgien - Zypern 1:1 (0:0)


Sa 11.10.08 19:00 6 Ukraine - Kroatien 0:0 (0:0)
Saw the end of this one and I can not say anything about it.

Sa 11.10.08 19:45 1 Ungarn - Albanien 2:0 (0:0)

Sa 11.10.08 20:00 Schweden - Portugal 0:0 (0:0)

Another 0-0 result!

Dänemark - Malta 3:0 (2:0)
-
5 Türkei - Bosnien-Herzegowina 2:1 (0:1)
-
Sa 11.10.08 20:15 7 Serbien - Litauen 3:0
(2:0)
-
8 Bulgarien - Italien 0:0 (0:0)

Another 0-0!?!?!?!? The Italians started some younger players finally!
-
Sa 11.10.08 20:30 2 Griechenland - Moldawien 3:0 (2:0)
-
Luxemburg - Israel 1:3 (1:1)
-
3 Polen - Tschechien 2:1 (1:0)
What is it with Poland and qualifying lately??? They seem to do so well?
-
San Marino - Slowakei 1:3 (1:2) -

Sa 11.10.08 20:40 7 Rumänien - Frankreich 2:2 (2:1) -
France came down from 2-0 down, is that a good sign that they can come back or a bad sign that they can allow two goals to be socred against them so quickly?

Sa 11.10.08 20:45 3 Slowenien - Nordirland 2:0 (0:0) -

4 Deutschland - Russland 2:1 (2:0)
A game of two half's (or is it halves) if there ever was one, Germany came out flying could of been ahead by 3 or more goals and went into the first half looking comfortably ahead.In the second half they hung on to win 2-1. Now were they taking it easy because they have to play Wales on Wednesday? Did the Russians wake up in the 2nd half? Not sure but i think a bit of both?
The good:
Adler did well he did not make too many mistakes and did not appear too nervous
Podolski scored again for Germany, Bastien played well and Gomez did not miss a clear cut goal scoring chance in front of goal. kuranyi talked himself or walked himself off the team.
The bad:
The oaf Ballack scored which means he will play until he is 40 as he is regarded as such a hero and team leader. Lahm still is shaky on defence but how can you not play him when he works so hard and is so cute and only 15 years old!?!?!?!?

5 Belgien - Armenien 2:0 (2:0) -

Estland - Spanien 0:3 (0:2) -
The record continues for Spain no loss since I don't know when?

9 Niederlande - Island 2:0 (1:0)

Up coming games

Mi 15.10.08 17:00 4 Russland - Finnland -:- (-:-)

This is a tough game for Russia the rivalry is strong and Russia will be tired from a strong second half against Germany. A draw would suit the Germans fine I am sure.
Mi 15.10.08 17:30 3 Tschechien - Slowenien -:- (-:-)

I think the Czechs are showing signs of age?

Mi 15.10.08 18:00 2 Lettland - Israel -:- (-:-)

7 Litauen - Färöer -:- (-:-)

Mi 15.10.08 19:00 9 Norwegen - Niederlande -:- (-:-)

Tough game for the Dutch

Mi 15.10.08 19:30 1 Malta - Ungarn -:- (-:-)

Mi 15.10.08 20:00 6 Kroatien - Andorra -:- (-:-)

Weißrussland - England -:- (-:-)

even with Hleb missing I think the White Russians will give the English a tough time?
8 Georgien - Bulgarien -:- (-:-)

9 Island - Mazedonien -:- (-:-)

Mi 15.10.08 20:15 2 Luxemburg - Moldawien -:- (-:-)

3 Slowakei - Polen -:- (-:-)

5 Bosnien-Herzegowina - Armenien -:- (-:-)

Mi 15.10.08 20:30 2 Griechenland - Schweiz -:- (-:-)

5 Estland - Türkei -:- (-:-)

7 Österreich - Serbien -:- (-:-)

The Austrians must win this game against those ....

Mi 15.10.08 20:45 3 Nordirland - San Marino -:- (-:-)

4 Deutschland - Wales -:- (-:-)
Germany seems to have a tough time against Wales? maybe it has something to do with a fear of Dragons?

5 Belgien - Spanien -:- (-:-)

Interesting game belguim seems to be getting better again? But Spain is the best team in the world right now!

8 Irland - Zypern -:- (-:-)

Mi 15.10.08 20:50 Italien - Montenegro -:- (-:-)

Mi 15.10.08 22:00 1 Portugal - Albanien -:- (-:-)

Since i have not made an upset call yet let me pick this one.

Bundesliga Week 7 review upcoming WCQ

Was up in the mountains in Quebec celebrating Oktoberfest and did not watch much TV. So what if everyone looked strangely at me when I tried to order schweinfleisch und bier, at least they had Bratwurst, sauerkraut and Becks. Most of the music was country music but it was still like Oktoberfest in that we were sitting in an arena on benches and a lot of "old" people were dancing poorly.
I only saw the Schalke v Wolfsburg (2-2) game and I was feeling pretty tired at the time. I think Kuranyi played in his 200th game according to the TV commentators and if so it was a good game for him. He scored two goals, the last to tie the game up with about 5 seconds left, this probably means he will be back in the starting line up for Germany on the weekend? Neuer made his return and could be faulted with one of the goals according to the TV mouthpieces but I think not. Why let a Brazilian take a penalty (remeber Zico) when you have the best German striker in the league (Not Kuranyi, Westerman!)??? There was a move towards the end of the game which gave Schalke the penalty that Rafinha missed which looked more like a Brazilian centre forward move than a german Defender on the attack. I kind of just saw it with one eye closed and and still feeling a bit "tired" from the night before but he took it really well. He has played a few times now in the advanced position and has looked really good. He Should get a call up for "die mannschaft " as a striker.

Tabelle
Pl. Verein Sp. g. u. v. Tore Diff. Pkte.
1 Hamburger SV 7 5 1 1 14:11 3 16
2 1899 Hoffenheim (N) 7 4 1 2 16:12 4 13
3 VfB Stuttgart 7 4 1 2 12:8 4 13
4 Bayer Leverkusen 7 4 0 3 18:11 7 12
5 FC Schalke 04 7 3 3 1 11:7 4 12
6 Borussia Dortmund 7 3 3 1 13:11 2 12
7 Werder Bremen 7 3 2 2 19:16 3 11
8 Hertha BSC 7 3 2 2 8:8 0 11
9 VfL Wolfsburg 7 2 4 1 14:11 3 10
10 1. FC Köln (N) 7 3 1 3 7:9 -2 10
11 Bayern München (M, P) 7 2 3 2 15:13 2 9
12 Karlsruher SC 6 3 0 3 7:9 -2 9
13 Hannover 96 7 2 2 3 7:11 -4 8
14 VfL Bochum 7 1 3 3 10:11 -1 6
15 Arminia Bielefeld 7 1 3 3 9:12 -3 6
16 Energie Cottbus 7 1 2 4 3:10 -7 5
17 Eintracht Frankfurt 6 0 3 3 5:9 -4 3
18 Borussia M'gladbach (N) 7 1 0 6 6:15 -9 3


Fr 03.10.08 20:30 Arminia Bielefeld - Karlsruher SC 1:2 (0:1)

Karlsruhe are now level with Bayern on points and will be hoping to leapfrog Bayern to avoid the relegation zone in a few weeks. Bayern's form hopefully does not reflect the form of the Nationalelf next week?

Sa 04.10.08 15:30 Bayern München - VfL Bochum 3:3 (2:1)

When Klinsmann took over the national team a few years ago, a lot of fans thought he lacked experience to be in such a high position? Well they were right, his style was fun to watch but they failed to win a world cup that was loaded with mediocre teams, he is doing the same at bayern, except they do not even play a high flying style (scoring 3 against Bochum means nothing). Instead he puts the shot putter Van Bommel as captain and decided that he did not need a creative centre midfielder they could also use a better central defender as well, oh and maybe everything through the centre from the keeper up!

VfB Stuttgart - Werder Bremen 4:1 (2:0)
Glad i missed this game! Stuttgart seems to handle Bremen easily. Four goals and Gomez did not score? To be fair Bremen had a tough game against Inter a few days before and do not have the luxury of resting players ( well they could put Aron Hunt up front!?) and this is my opinion on how they could do so poorly? So no call up for Gomez but maybe a call up for Sami Khedira?

Bayer Leverkusen - Hertha BSC 0:1 (0:0)

Leverkuesen have no excuse for at least not getting a draw, I assume that Drobny -the hertha keeper- had a great game and to be fair the goal was scored in the final minutes.

Borussia M'gladbach - 1. FC Köln 1:2 (1:1)

Cologne are now ahead of bayern in the Standings. I think the last time that happened Bayern bought half the Koln team? Or was it karlsruher?

1899 Hoffenheim - Eintracht Frankfurt 2:1 (0:0)

Hoffenhiem in the Champions league next year?????

So 05.10.08 17:00 FC Schalke 04 - VfL Wolfsburg 2:2 (1:0)
Kuranyi scored twice and will now get a call up for "die manschaft"


Borussia Dortmund - Hannover 96 1:1 (1:1)
Good result for hannover

Energie Cottbus - Hamburger SV 1:2 (0:0) Hamburg are this weeks leader but better be careful Hoffenhiem are right behind them


UEFA WCQ

Sa 11.10.08 16:00 4 Finnland - Aserbaidschan -:-

Germany's group and game you would assume the Fins would win but i am not so sure?
9 Schottland - Norwegen -:-

This game should be a draw?

Sa 11.10.08 17:00 7 Färöer - Österreich -:-
(-:-)
Die andere mannschaft" should win this game

Sa 11.10.08 17:45 2 Schweiz - Lettland -:- (-:-)

Die Andere, andere mannschaft need to win this game.

Sa 11.10.08 18:15 6 England - Kasachstan -:- (-:-)

England had a good game against Croatia and will win this game easily, but they will have a tough time against belarus on Wednesday.

Sa 11.10.08 18:30 4 Wales - Liechtenstein -:- (-:-)


8 Georgien - Zypern -:- (-:-)


Sa 11.10.08 19:15 7 Rumänien - Frankreich -:-
(-:-)
Probably the match of the day to watch.

Sa 11.10.08 19:45 1 Ungarn - Albanien -:- (-:-)

Sa 11.10.08 20:00 Schweden - Portugal -:- (-:-)

Should be interesting as well.


5 Türkei - Bosnien-Herzegowina -:- (-:-)

Ditto
6 Ukraine - Kroatien -:- (-:-)

Ditto
Sa 11.10.08 20:15 1 Dänemark - Malta -:- (-:-)


2 Luxemburg - Israel -:- (-:-)


7 Serbien - Litauen -:- (-:-)


8 Bulgarien - Italien -:- (-:-)
Sa 11.10.08 20:30 2 Griechenland - Moldawien -:- (-:-)


3 Polen - Tschechien -:- (-:-)

San Marino - Slowakei -:-


Sa 11.10.08 20:45 Slowenien - Nordirland -:- (-:-)
4 Deutschland - Russland -:-

This is possibly the toughest game for Germany, playing at home to Russia. The game is in Dortmund i think? If a lot of bayern players play, then the game will be a disaster!

Das Aufgebot:

Tor: Robert Enke (Hannover 96), Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)
Abwehr: Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC), Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Serdar Tasci (VfB Stuttgart), Heiko Westermann (FC Schalke 04)
Mittelfeld: Michael Ballack (FC Chelsea London), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Jermaine Jones (FC Schalke 04), Simon Rolfes (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV)
Angriff: Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Patrick Helmes (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Miroslav Klose (FC Bayern München), Kevin Kuranyi (FC Schalke 04), Lukas Podolski (FC Bayern München)

Robert Enke will play goal. Loew is not sure that Mertesaker is 100 percent yet but I assume he will play as will Lahm, not sure who else will play but hopefully Westermann and Tasci?

The oaf Ballack will play as will Schweinie, not sure who else he will pick, probably Trochowski? I do not understand why Jermaiane jones is on the team list?

Maybe Klose and Helmes? Klose and Podolski probably?


5 Belgien - Armenien -:- (-:-)
Estland - Spanien -:- (-:-)
9 Niederlande - Island -:- (-:-)

Lucky 7 Bundesliga preview

Week seven in the Bundesliga and it is Oktoberfest in Germany and it is Oktoberfest here on the Iceberg and it really is an iceberg, it is supposed to go down to close to zero on the weekend! So we are 1/857142r through the season, the time when you can start to see who may be showing title hopes and who will be getting replaced by Kaiserslautern next year. A reasonable performance in the midweek by Bremen, a not so great one by Bayern and as of the time of typing a miserable time for Schalke as they lose 0-1 at home. According to kicker live ticker ( hey that rhymes!) a bad pass by Kuranyi caused the goal by APOEL but they do have a healthy aggregate still? Hamburg is winning 0-2 in some place against some team I never heard of? I think they are Rumanian judging by the name? Some good games this weekend and even a derby match.

Fr 03.10.08 20:30 Arminia Bielefeld - Karlsruher SC -:- (-:-) To be honest not a game i am interested in and since GOLTV does not show Friday night games any more i am even less interested in it.


Sa 04.10.08 15:30 Bayern München - VfL Bochum -:- (-:-)

Bayern need to put up a good performance otherwise the old bastrds will start yelling at each other like an German Oldtimers team playing in a weekend tournament. But it is Oktoberfest so they may not care yet??
VfB Stuttgart - Werder Bremen -:- (-:-)

The gane of the day and once again the good people at GOLTV are showing this one. Even though Bremen only managed a goal against Inter they only conceded one as well, ( does that mean Hoffenheim has a better attack than Inter?) so if they are now sound defensively no one in the Bundesliga can touch them. Stuttgart and Super mario need to pick it up a bit.

Bayer Leverkusen - Hertha BSC -:- (-:-)

Lweverkeusen are another hot team but Hertha did win their UEFA cup round and should be confident.

Borussia M'gladbach - 1. FC Köln -:- (-:-)

BMG could use a win otherwise no more karneval for you

1899 Hoffenheim - Eintracht Frankfurt -:- (-:-)

Who are these guys from Hoffenheim? They are the favourite to win this game.



So 05.10.08 17:00 FC Schalke 04 - VfL Wolfsburg -:- (-:-)

The game of the day and also on TV but I doubt i will be able to focus clearly this early in the morning.

Borussia Dortmund - Hannover 96 -:- (-:-)

Dortmund has looked good at time recently but still are too unpredictable to have Champions league hopes.

Energie Cottbus - Hamburger SV -:- (-:-)

The battle of the east! (my sister would hate to hear me say that) How about battle of the north? I think Cottbus have some Kanadians on the team?

Crazy Bundesliga Results

More Crazy results from the weekend, almost as crazy as my weekend, with crazy Chileans, ADD kids, midnight fishing trips and way to much Cuban rum. I only got to see the North vs South game between Dortmund and Stuttgart due to an almost karneval like weekend at the cottage, next weekend is the Oktoberfest so i am not sure if I will see any games? Some of this weekends results seemed almost unreal and i will have to watch the highlight show to make sure I got them correct. So every team has lost at least one game and Hamburg are back on top for the week

Fr 26.09.08 20:30 1. FC Köln - FC Schalke 04 1:0 (1:0)

No Karneval for Schalke this week and no first place either.

Sa 27.09.08 15:30 Werder Bremen - 1899 Hoffenheim 5:4

(4:2)


Bremen score 5 goals again! Is Hoffenehiem really that good? Is Bremen's defence really that bad? I hope the good people at GOLTV show Bremen games every weekend. Maybe this is their year? Will Hoffenheim become the new bayern munchen?

Hamburger SV - Borussia M'gladbach 1:0 (1:0)

So Hamburg are back in first and Gladbach are last and yet they could only win 1-0?

Hannover 96 - Bayern München 1:0 (1:0)
Oh dear another loss for Bayern, will the old bastards at Bayern stick with Klinsmann? Did they rest players for the Champions league? Is Uli Hoeness going to complain about petrol prices and the Hanover Mafia ?

Hertha BSC - Energie Cottbus 0:1 (0:1)
So this means that Cottbus is the best team in the east?

VfL Bochum - Bayer Leverkusen 2:3 (0:2)
Good for Bayer, a good young team that can give any team headaches ( get it! Bayer - Aspirin- headaches...0)

Borussia Dortmund - VfB Stuttgart 3:0 (2:0)
Dortmund looked good and deserved to win this game. Alex Frei came on as a sub and scored again, Mario Gomez worked hard but still did not score, I think his days as the "new super forward" of Germany are over? This may not be the Dortmund team of 10 years ago that was full of stars and winning the champions league and no more Dede either, but they do have Nelson Valdez who for some unknown reason is seen as a star forward in Germany and they still have a full stadium every week.

So 28.09.08 17:00 Eintracht Frankfurt - Arminia Bielefeld 1:1 (0:1)


Karlsruher SC - VfL Wolfsburg 2:1 (0:0)

Not a huge upset but still another top team loses.



Tabelle
Pl. Verein Sp. g. u. v. Tore Diff. Pkte.
1 Hamburger SV 6 4 1 1 12:10 2 13
2 Bayer Leverkusen 6 4 0 2 18:10 8 12
3 Werder Bremen 6 3 2 1 18:12 6 11
4 FC Schalke 04 6 3 2 1 9:5 4 11
5 Borussia Dortmund 6 3 2 1 12:10 2 11
6 1899 Hoffenheim (N) 6 3 1 2 14:11 3 10
7 VfB Stuttgart 6 3 1 2 8:7 1 10
8 VfL Wolfsburg 6 2 3 1 12:9 3 9
9 Bayern München (M, P) 6 2 2 2 12:10 2 8
10 Hertha BSC 6 2 2 2 7:8 -1 8
11 1. FC Köln (N) 6 2 1 3 5:8 -3 7
12 Hannover 96 6 2 1 3 6:10 -4 7
13 Arminia Bielefeld 6 1 3 2 8:10 -2 6
14 Karlsruher SC 5 2 0 3 5:8 -3 6
15 VfL Bochum 6 1 2 3 7:8 -1 5
16 Energie Cottbus 6 1 2 3 2:8 -6 5
17 Eintracht Frankfurt 5 0 3 2 4:7 -3 3
18 Borussia M'gladbach (N) 6 1 0 5 5:13 -8 3

Bundesliga week 6 preiview

OK It is only the sixth game of the season and Hoffenheim, a tiny little town of about 50 or 60 people are in 2nd place! You are probably thinking Hoffenheim that is where they have the formula one races and such? Well no, it is actually not far away but Hockenheim is where they have the car and bike races. Hoffenhiem is close to Mannhiem ( in fact they play in Mannheim because the stadium in Hoffenhiem is to small) My dad is from the Mannheim Heidelberg area and I can honestly say I had never heard of Hoffenheim until this year. For those of you that do not know Hoffenheim 1899 have this rich owner named Deitmar Hopp (started SAP software)that half of Germany seems to hate, at least the football fans seem to hate? He has brought them up from the regional leagues and now they are 2nd place in the bundesliga! Hoffenhiem did come back down to earth in the cup game yesterday losing 3-1 to another "little team", Freiburg, so maybe it was all just a dream?


Friday 26.09.2008 20:30
1. FC Köln - Schalke 04

Good looking game to start off the weekend, league leader Schalke go to Cologne to enjoy Karnival, (their always seems to be a karnival in Koln? ) and a win. koln have not looked good so far this season and are also out of the cup.

Saturday 27.09.2008 15:30
Werder - Hoffenheim

Is Bremen for real after the big win against Bayern? Is Hoffenheim for real period? Will Werder fans threaten Dietmar Hopp? Will I be able to resist temptation and not drink Becks beer on Saturday? Will GOLtv show this game? So many questions around this game will hopefully be answered.

HSV - M'gladbach

A good chance for Hamburg to rebound from the loss against Wolfsburg. BMG are another candidate for relegation this season.

Dortmund - Stuttgart

Ah a classic game, even if these teams are at opposite ends of the country I like to see these teams play each other.


Hannover - FC Bayern

Crazy Oma lives in Hannover so I assume everyone in Hannover is crazy? Do they even have Oktoberfest in Hannover??? (they do) Frank Ribery is back, hopefully Borowski plays and Klose seems to be scoring goals again.

Hertha BSC - FC Energie
A game between the "easterners"

Bochum - Bayer 04

Let me go out and predict a Bochum win in this game! No reason just a feeling that bochum will surprise bayer.

6. Matchday
Sunday 28.09.2008 17:00
Eintracht - Arminia

Lower table, keep from relegation battle

Karlsruhe - Wolfsburg

On paper this should be a game Wolfsburg would win but I think it will be difficult?

Bundesliga (R) ach du lieber!

Fr 19.09.08 20:30 Bayer Leverkusen - Hannover 96 4:0 (2:0)

Sa 20.09.08 15:30 Bayern München - Werder Bremen 2:5 (0:2)

FC Schalke 04 - Eintracht Frankfurt 1:0 (1:0)

Energie Cottbus - VfL Bochum 1:1 (1:0)

Arminia Bielefeld - 1. FC Köln 2:0 (0:0)

Borussia M'gladbach - Hertha BSC 0:1 (0:1)


So 21.09.08 17:00 VfL Wolfsburg - Hamburger SV 3:0 (3:0)

VfB Stuttgart - Karlsruher SC 3:1 (1:1)

1899 Hoffenheim - Borussia Dortmund 4:1 (2:0)

If kicker is calling the result from Bayern 'das Debakel" I wonder what they are calling the result Wolfsburg? Maybe Das Beetle? Das Sirocco ? I only got to watch the Bayern v Bremen game due to a nice weekend here on the Iceberg. I managed to even sneak a Becks in while watching the game ( I am supposed to be on a low carb diet so I can play again this winter and not have to push myself with a walker or some other device to support my added girth) I really miss beer and it has been only a week! I have converted to Vodka and soda with lime and sugar free mojito for the next few weeks or until I lose 10KG.
Anyhow the game of the week did not disappoint especially if you are a Bremen fan -and I am, I like their style of play-. If you ever watched one of those games where everything you have been saying about teams and players come true this for me was one of those games. So with no fear of over exaggeration or hyperbole here is what i have been saying, that came true on Saturday (sort of)

1. The clumsy overrated Ballack should be replaced by Tim Borowski. OK he only played 30 minutes or less and his team lost 5-2 but he did score two nice goals and he is much more skillful then Ballack! Most skilled midfielder in Germany.

2. Phillip Lahm is great going forward but lacks something on defense (see result)

3. (remember no hyperbole) Per Mertasaker is the best defender in the world. Yup he totally marked Toni out of the game and was superb on his return back from injury. young, tall, clean, strong, maybe a little bit slow but still the best defender in the world and he will only get better! so what if Bayern scored two goals as long as your team scores five, according to my calculations you will always win? Pretty sure about that statement.

4. Schalke were stupid to sell Mehmut Ozil, he is the best young midfielder in the world and very shrewd to choose to be German! Excellent game by the young "German" not sure if he has played yet for "Die Mannschaft" or "nationalelf" sorry?. With young players like him and Toni Kross "die Mannschaft" sorry erm... uh nationalelf should be runners up for many world cups and Euro cups to come! Maybe even win one again!?!?!?

5. Rensing is not the right keeper to replace Kahn. Now remember no hyperbole, but Rensing is the worst keeper in Germany. OK if he was English he would be the national teams backup or maybe starter but he is the worst keeper in Germany! Even Lehamnn was better!

6. Why did Chelsae get rid of Pizzaro? Was he that bad? I though he played well considering he never got a chance in the EPL? Why wouldn't a Blackburn or Spurs or West Ham or some team with more money than Bremen sign him? If castoffs from the bundesliga like Santa Cruz and Berbatov are top scorers in the EPL why not Pizarro?

Have not read the kicker articles from the weekend about Hamburg's loss or Leverkuesen's big win and may not even bother but if Bremen play like this every game ( they will not) they will win (remember no hyperbole on my part here) the Champions league!

Bundesliga Preview

Got to start my preview early, plan to get out to the cottage tomorrow afternoon for a long weekend and enjoy the last weekend of Summer. Two interesting games and both just happen to be on TV so Thank you to the good people at Gol TV even if you no longer show the Friday Bundesliga games.

Die Mannschaft aus Hamburg spielen... No I am sorry to offend or confuse anyone but the mannschaft can only mean the national team and a "Mannschaftspiele" can only mean a game involving the German national team unless it is a super Mannschaftspiele and that would involve both Austrian and German national teams so for anyone reading when I say mannschaft I am referring to the German national team or possibly the Austrian national team or in very rare cases the Swiss national team.

Fr 19.09.08 20:30 Bayer Leverkusen - Hannover 96 -:-

Hannover had a great game last week and Schlaudruff is maybe finally living up to expectation? Hannover have a few good forwards and could be fighting for a UEFA spot, Leverkuesen should be in the top half as well and maybe even working up into a Cl spot? Not sure how Bayer did not make the UEFA cup this year?
Sa 20.09.08 15:30 Bayern München - Werder Bremen -:-

The game of the day and on Television! The Lowenbrau will flow from one side ( yes i know Lowenbrau is 1860's fans beer) and the becks from the other ( i have Becks at the cottage -lower carbs you know) Both teams played in The CL in midweek. i would love to see Bremen play that free flowing attacking style I have seen them play on a few occasions last year.

FC Schalke 04 - Eintracht Frankfurt -:-

Frankfurt should be well rested and Schalke play on Thursday so this may be a good upset prediction, not sure what the odds are but it might be worth a bet on Frankfurt?
Energie Cottbus - VfL Bochum -:-

Cottbus is looking for a first win this season, this might be a good chance to do it?
Arminia Bielefeld - 1. FC Köln -:-
Cologne could use a win if they want to stay up in the 1st Division

Borussia M'gladbach - Hertha BSC -:-

BMG are probably still hurting from last weeks game. Hertha played on Tuesday against St. Patrick's Athletic in Berlin so they are either in fine form or are tired from the game? Most of the starters played.

So 21.09.08 17:00 VfL Wolfsburg - Hamburger SV -:-

The game of the Day between two undefeated teams, my half sister lives in Hamburg or just outside in a town called Halstenbeck so I have to go for a Hamburg victory! Even if i would rather see St Pauli in the 1st div! The Reeperbahn aint what it used to be but it still beats any town here on the iecberg. I mean where else can you go from seeing the Lion king one minute to seeing the Loin queen the next? On top of that Volkswagen's have too many electrical problems so I could never support a team from KDF stadt . Both teams play on Thursday in the UEFA cup i believe?

VfB Stuttgart - Karlsruher SC -:-

Stuttgart play in the UEFA cup on Thursday as well, unlike English teams that could put out 3 or 4 squads at any given time meaning you can rest all sorts of players Stuttgart and most bundesliga teams can not, this means that the Stuttgart players will be playing on two days rest and this means Karlsruher have a chance to upset.


1899 Hoffenheim - Borussia Dortmund -:- (-:-)

The Tiny millionaires play against a Dortmund team that have a tough game against udinese to play on Thursday night. See above for reasons why Hoffenheim may win .

week 5
Tabelle
Pl. Verein Sp. g. u. v. Tore Diff. Pkte.
1 Hamburger SV 4 3 1 0 11:7 4 10
2 Bayern München (M, P) 4 2 2 0 10:4 6 8
3 FC Schalke 04 4 2 2 0 8:4 4 8
4 Borussia Dortmund 4 2 2 0 8:6 2 8
5 VfB Stuttgart 4 2 1 1 5:3 2 7
6 1899 Hoffenheim (N) 4 2 1 1 6:5 1 7
7 Bayer Leverkusen 4 2 0 2 11:8 3 6
8 VfL Wolfsburg 4 1 3 0 8:7 1 6
9 Werder Bremen 4 1 2 1 8:6 2 5
10 Hertha BSC 4 1 2 1 6:7 -1 5
11 VfL Bochum 4 1 1 2 4:4 0 4
12 Hannover 96 4 1 1 2 5:6 -1 4
13 1. FC Köln (N) 4 1 1 2 4:6 -2 4
14 Karlsruher SC 3 1 0 2 2:4 -2 3
15 Borussia M'gladbach (N) 4 1 0 3 5:11 -6 3
16 Eintracht Frankfurt 3 0 2 1 3:5 -2 2
17 Arminia Bielefeld 4 0 2 2 5:9 -4 2
18 Energie Cottbus 4 0 1 3 0:7 -7 1

Die Bundesliga (R) Ruhr valley derby comments

OK so most Bundesliga teams spend less on players than the Coca cola league teams (or whatever the 2nd div in England is called) Charlton probably spends more than most of the big teams in the Bundesliga and yes you always hear about match fixing scandals and if you are a Shalke fan you might be a little justified in thinking that, but i still like the Bundesliga, it is the highest scoring league and the players are good even if they are not household names like in the EPL. It is not as good as what it was in the late 70's or early 80's but you can still stand up in the end zones, you can still drink beer in the stands and you can still take a discount train to the games ( at least you could the last time I was there?) I got to watch two games over here in Kanada on the iceberg -which was really wet this weekend thanks to the after shock of Hurricane Ike, close to 100mm of rain which meant no fishing on the weekend though we did manage our old timers game on Friday night in what felt like a Sauna- got to see the Ruhr valley derby and a game which I oddly enough had never seen in Germany before- the 1972 European cup final between USSR and West Germany.

Der 4. Spieltag
Frankfurt - KSC -:- (-:-)
HSV - Leverkusen 3:2 (1:2)
Hoffenheim - Stuttgart 0:0 (0:0)
Köln - FC Bayern 0:3 (0:0)
Hertha - Wolfsburg 2:2 (0:1)
Bremen - Cottbus 3:0 (0:0)
Dortmund - Schalke 04 3:3 (0:2)
Hannover - Gladbach 5:1 (2:0)
Bochum - Bielefeld 2:0 (2:0)

Dortmund 3 Schalke 3

Schalke went ahead 3-0 by the 60th min. Westermann looked as if he was playing as a Striker, Kuranyi was working hard even if he is not a goal scorer and you would assume the game is over? But this is the Bundeliga and a Ruhr Derby, the game is never over until the final whistle. After 60 minutes the game came apart for Schalke with two red cards and an "english refereeing decision" for a late penalty. ( english referees tend to think that whenever the ball touches your arm or anything close by that it is a penalty, even if you drive it as hard as you can at the defenders arm and their is no possible way he could move no matter how hard he tries, they do make up for that though by usually giving you at least 3 yellow cards before showing you red). Outside of the refereeing, the big change came from Alex Frei, the Swiss striker who was injured in Switzerland's first game at the EC 2008, not sure if the Swiss would of gone through if he had played but he is a striker up there with Dortmund's old Swiss striker star S.Chapiusat. two goals from Frei, the first being a beautifully struck left footed shot outside the area the second a penalty taken with the right foot. He also set up the first Dortmund goal with a nice cross.
You can see why Schalke lost to Atletico Madrid so badly as well, the creative midfielder is red card recipient Fabian Ernst a player who had some how manged to play for the mannschaft about 20 times. Come to think of it Schalke have a bunch of non talented players who managed to play for the national team somehow? G. Assamoah was on the team and probably played about 30 times? Jermaine Jones is on the fringe even though he is not good enough to play for the USA, Christian Pander has played a couple of times and I think even scored against England in a friendly last year? And Keven Kuranyi who has manged to get back on the team through hard work and determination are all internationals!??!!?!? To be fair Pander is young and has a ferocious shot and is probably the reason Westermann is playing an almost attacking midfielder spot and not in the back. This may not be the Dortmund of ten years ago when they were World champions but they still can give a good performance and refereeing or not a great comeback.

West Germany v USSR 1972 final in Belguim 3-0

Possibly the best german team of all time? Beckenbauer, Netzer, Muller, Maier, J. Heynkes and a young Paul Breitner are some of the players that were on this team. I had to get out the Bitburger for the game even at the high prices we pay in Kanada for beer, c'mon over 2 dollars a can! Oh and if you are at a pub you are looking at over 6 dollars or over 4 Euros or 3 pounds ! Even at the beer store or liquor store ( Kandians are not allowed to buy beer in Supermarkets except for Quebec)you pay almost 40 dollars for 24 bottles (330ml) of the local swill!! At the Billa or the Spar I used to get a bottle for 30 cents! Anyhow the marijuana is good ( or so i am told, heaven forbid i would dare try it!) and you can buy a house for a couple of dollars or a fur pelt. The Russians had a good team as well and it was interesting that many of the players were from Georgia and the Ukraine. The back pass rule was odd to see after so many years of it being outlawed but the style of play has not really evolved that much. Netzer loved to send those long passes across midfield Beckenbauer was moving in to the attack seamlessly and no one was afraid to shoot from any distance, the 3-0 margin was maybe a bit flattering to the Germans but they still deserved to win.

Bundesliga weekend preveiw

Bundesliga
Any time you have the Ruhr derby it is a big weekend in the bundesliga, add to that an interesting match between Hamburg and Leverkuesen and it promises to be a big weekend.


Fr 12.09.08 20:30 Eintracht Frankfurt - Karlsruher SC -:-

The Friday night game is between two teams of the past. The big story is how the Madonna Concert ruined the pitch! Wearing Stiletto's on the soft ground, jumping around like a teenager on Ecstasy, for shame!

Sa 13.09.08 15:30 Werder Bremen - Energie Cottbus -:-

Bremen need to win, especailly before the Champions league starts. Mertesaker is still out with injury.

Hamburger SV - Bayer Leverkusen
the new big spenders of the Bundesliga vs the Aspirin boy's. Leverkeusen have keeper Adler returning from injury, potentially a better game than the Ruhr derby if you ask me.
Hertha BSC - VfL Wolfsburg -:-

Hertha has Voronin on loan from Liverpool ( not sure why Liverpool dropped him?). Wolfsburg have yet to lose in the new season.

Borussia Dortmund - FC Schalke 04 -:-

Almost always a good game, Shalke is the better team now but that means nothing.

1899 Hoffenheim - VfB Stuttgart -:-

The early season leaders (after first two rounds!) should lose to Stuttgart.

1. FC Köln - Bayern München -:-
About 30 years ago this would of been a big game. Will Podolski get to play against his former and possibly new club ( if man city do not by him in the winter?) Bayern signed another old dog or got him on loan I think ( Massimo Oddo)?

So 14.09.08 17:00 Hannover 96 - Borussia M'gladbach -:-

Blech, barely worth getting out of bed for.

VfL Bochum - Arminia Bielefeld -:-
See above.

Sept 10 World cup qualifiers preview and predictions

Day 2 of the UEFA world cup qualifiers

10/09/08 17:30Torshavn Faroe Islands v Romania

Not sure if the Sheep Islanders can pull of an upset like Lithuania did on the weekend? Actually the Faroes sometimes pull off upsets like getting a draw or only losing by a goal and Rumania might be ripe for the picking? Regardless Rumania should win by a couple of goals at least.

10/09/08 18:30Reykjavik Iceland v Scotland

If Scotland was playing away to Holland this would be a "no brainer" and sure victory for Scotland but since this is Iceland I think a 1-0 victory for the hosts would be a fair result. Not sure if the Scots will get a group like this again to qualify for a World cup so they better make something happen today.

10/09/08 19:00Moscow Russia v Wales

Russia is a good team except when they fall asleep and then they are crap. Arshavan is world class and would be a great addition to a team like Werder Bremen but he is already playing on the best club team in Europe so why move? Wales have lost a lot of good players ( well at least one?) If Russia sleeps Wales can get a draw or maybe even a win, if Russia play at their potential they should win.

10/09/08 19:00Andorra La Vella Andorra v Belarus

The White Russians were robbed by Ukrania on the weekend and should of at least got a draw from that match. Andorra pushed England to the brink of their potential, and may be tired? Since it is Wednesday night the waiter who normally plays rightback for Andorra is unavailable so Belarus can exploit that and score a dozen goals or so down the left side with Hleb.

10/09/08 19:00Podgorica Montenegro v Ireland Republic

Ireland is the best team in the UK even if they are not considered part of the UK and would knee cap if you dared say that they are, none the less they are to me and should get a draw out of this game.

10/09/08 19:45Belfast Northern Ireland v Czech Republic

What? there is a Northern Ireland? Is it colder there? Northern Ireland can surprise and I think the Czechs are in a rebuilding period for the next few years so let me make a rash prediction and say the Northern Irsh will win.

10/09/08 20:15Solna Sweden v Hungary

If this game is as bad as the Hungary v Denmark group I hope no one qualifies from this group! This may not be the 1950's Hungaria but they still have some skilled players, the size factor may hurt them as the Swedes will physically punish them. I am no fan of Scandinavian football since the demise of the Danish team of the 80's, they just play too British for my tastes so upset of the round prediction is Magyars to win!
10/09/08 20:15Zenica Bosnia-Herzegovina v Estonia

Bosnia to win

10/09/08 20:30Zürich Switzerland v Luxembourg

Two of the best places to live if salary is your most important criteria. Have Luxembourg ever beat Switzerland? Switzerland should win this fairly easily?

10/09/08 20:30Chisinau Moldova v Israel

I do not like the idea of having Israel in UEFA, but since no one else will take them what can you do? Reminds me of the ship full of Jews that would not be granted harbour in Cuba and had to return back to Germany. Having said that Israel do well in qualifying and have a solid defense and a boring attack Moldova are a team with potential and a draw would be a fair result.

10/09/08 20:30Serravalle San Marino v Poland

If Poland do not score at lest 5 goals against San marino they will cry for hours.

10/09/08 20:30Marijampole Lithuania v Austria

I think the Austrians are developing into a good team like they had back in the late seventies and early 80's ( back when I played in Wien). A fast, strong, tall team that scores goals in an unorthodox way and then concedes them when they fall asleep. Maybe the new coach will change that? Lithuania has a skilled team that surprised everyone with a 3-0 win over Rumania. Should be interesting game, I hope they show it on television? I would accept a 1-1 draw

10/09/08 20:30Skopje Macedonia FYR v Netherlands

Nobody has a better midfield then the Dutch, even with the injuries they are still strong and their attack is not bad either, Van der Saar is still a world class goalie but the defence is not that good. The Yugo's always have skilled players so this should be interesting as well? Got to bet safe and take the draw.

10/09/08 20:35Helsinki Finland v Germany

The finns are another one of those teams that play well against Germany and are hard to beat, but this is the new high flying attack German team that is revolutionizing the game like they did back in the 70's with total football ( yes the Germans started it not the Dutch) but then again the Hungarian played total football in the 50's as did the Austrians in the 30's so what exactly does this catch phrase mean? Nothing really, but the Germans are good now after that 10 year period of crap between 1996 and 2006 and should win this game.

10/09/08 20:45Lisbon Portugal v Denmark

Can Portugal beat a good team without Ronaldo? Luckily they will not have to find out today since Denmark is not a good team and will play for a draw and possibly even get it?

10/09/08 20:45Tirana Albania v Malta

Who cares.

10/09/08 20:45Maribor Slovenia v Slovakia

Tough game to call but I will call an away win for the Slovacks!

10/09/08 20:50Udine Italy v Georgia

Italy are bad know, just like the Germans were in the late 1990's or the Brazilians were in the late 80's but it is the kind of bad team that still qualifies with a sound defense and a brilliant keeper. Georgia are another skilled team that could surprise but they will be lucky to get a draw.

10/09/08 21:00Baku Azerbaijan v Liechtenstein
another who cares.

10/09/08 21:00Istanbul Turkey v Belgium
Why is turkey in UEFA? about 1 percent of it is is in Europe! I think Belguim is improving but they will not get a point in turkey.

10/09/08 21:00Zagreb Croatia v England

Croatia seems to have England's number and probably should win this game, but the English as bad as they are, are due for a bit of luck and are coming in as underdogs which may suit this brutish, bulldog team of clumsy oafs? The Croats run just as hard as the English and are more skilled but they are Croats and can self destruct at any given moment. My other upset of the day will be picking England to win this!

10/09/08 21:00Saint-Denis France v Serbia

France need to win

10/09/08 21:15Riga Latvia v Greece

A good bet would be to pick a 1-1 or 0-0 draw .

10/09/08 22:00Albacete Spain v Armenia

Spain to win

10/09/08 22:00Almaty Kazakhstan v Ukraine

Is Kazakhstan part of Europe? Or is it just that they have a bunch of oil and gas? Ukraine is not as strong as they were a couple of years ago but I do not think that the Stans even have football teams?

The British are coming!

Well to be honest they are not really British, though they are disguised in blue ( though not Royal blue), a light blue, the colour of Manchester City, the other team in Manchester and just in case you did not know the "other " team is Manchester United, the team that has brought Football (soccer) forward 50 years in marketing and economics, on par with Major league baseball and American football and basketball, but brought football back 50 years in terms of style and tactics.
Anyhow, Manchester City apparently is supported by more fans in the city of Manchester than Manchester united and now they want to get some of that world wide support that Man U has had all these years. So what is the best way to do that? Play a radical formation with 6 strikers that score goals at will? Go out on foreign goodwill missions and export the game to underdeveloped countries? Play a free flowing attractive style that has never been seen in England? No, just get the Abu Dhabi United group to purchase the team and buy any player you want, the list of players they bought in the last few days is impressive and include Brazilian Robinho and English international Shaun Wright Philips. They will probably sign German striker Lukas Podolski in the new year and if they can get Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon they might just have a team to pressure the big four in the EPL. The list of players rumoured by the English press to join Manchester City grows every day and reads like a world all star team. No team is safe from this British Invasion! If you have a striker who scored a goal last week in your pub league, odds are someone working for the Abu Dahbi royal family will be coming around next week to check him out ( though I am not sure if they are allowed to enter the pub?).
So why are these oil rich Arabs buying football teams? Why not buy software companies, why not help the less fortunate? Why not support Palestinians trying to break free from Israel? Why not buy American sports teams? Well the Americans still view the Emirates with suspicion, a recent attempt by Dubai Ports World to operate a port terminal in New York that handles just cruise ships, not cargo was nixed by public opposition. English football teams are owned by American Jews, Russian mafia and Chinamen.
The emirates have a soccer tradition that dates back to the 1970's and maybe before and includes a 1990 world cup appearance, they even have a beach soccer team! Some of the national team coaches include Roy Hodgson, Don Revie and Dick Advocat. So they must all be football mad supporters who just love the sport? These guys are all about making money and expanding their investments, I doubt they really care about football? They have a lot of money but it is not enough and to be fair they are not alone, did Bill gates stop after making his first billion? Have wal mart stopped expanding? No they need to keep going. Is buying a British soccer team going to make them more money? Probably not but I assume it is a good tax right off and it gets them into Europe or at least the UK? Look at McDonald's in Burger kings, they are all over England why not a Halal fast food chain? I would eat there! With this new visibility in England they have opened the doors in such a way as to befriend the English citizen ( oddly enough the nickname of Manchester City is... the Citizens) and not alienate them like the American population that views every Arab as a terrorist.

Sept 6, 2008 WCQ

Even though I stated UEFA in the title I will none the less start with the CONCACAF qualifiers ( A half full can of Bitburger to anyone who knows what CONCACAF stands for).

OH Canada! two home games against the weakest two teams in the group and you manage one point! This means you are the weakest team in the group. To be fair the country is an iceberg and we have maybe a week or two of summer to play soccer, but we are really good at curling and ice hockey! We get to go to Mexico on Wednesday which is nice since winter has finally started after that week of Summer we had here in Ottawa which melted so much of the ice. What can I say about the football match? We had a 1-0 lead on Honduras and by the time I woke up from drinking all afternoon and watching EURO qualifiers we were behind 2-1!

Group B W D L GD Pts

Mexico 2 0 0 +04 06
Honduras 1 0 1 -00 03
Canada 0 1 1 -01 01
Jamaica 0 1 1 -03 01

Wed 20 Aug 2008

Canada 1-1 Jamaica
Mexico 2-1 Honduras

Sat 06 Sep 2008

Mexico 3-0 Jamaica
Canada 1-2 Honduras

Wed 10 Sep 2008

Honduras v Jamaica
Mexico v Canada

It was not that long ago when Kanada was as good -or even better- than the US at football, oh how that has changed, the US have caught and passed the Mexicans and are now the powerhouse of CONCACAFian football. Two away games for the Yankee doodles and two away wins.

Group A W D L GD Pts

USA 2 0 0 +02 06
Trinidad 1 1 0 +02 04
Guatemala 0 1 1 -01 01
Cuba 0 0 2 -03 00

Wed 20 Aug 2008

Cuba 1-3 Trinidad and Tobago
Guatemala 0-1 USA

Sat 06 Sep 2008

Trinidad and Tobago 1-1 Guatemala
Cuba 0-1 USA

Wed 10 Sep 2008

USA v Trinidad and Tobago
Guatemala v Cuba

In the "other group" they are scoring goals like crazy and Costa Rica are looking like a good bet to qualify.

Group C W D L GD Pts

Costa Rica 2 0 0 +08 06
El Salvador 1 0 1 +04 03
Haiti 0 1 1 -05 01
Suriname 0 1 1 -07 01

Wed 20 Aug 2008

Costa Rica 1-0 El Salvador
Haiti 2-2 Suriname

Sat 06 Sep 2008

El Salvador 5-0 Haiti
Costa Rica 7-0 Suriname

Wed 10 Sep 2008

Suriname v El Salvador
Haiti v Costa Rica


UEFA
Group 1

Sa	06.09.2008 18:45	Albanien	-	Schweden	0:0 (0:0)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 19:45	Ungarn	-	Dänemark	0:0 (0:0)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 20:00	Malta	-	Portugal	0:4 (0:1)	Torschützen
Mi	10.09.2008 20:15	Schweden	-	Ungarn	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 20:45	Albanien	-	Malta	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 21:45	Portugal	-	Dänemark	-:- (-:-)

No real surprises here.


Group 2

Sa	06.09.2008 18:00	Moldawien	-	Lettland	1:2 (0:2)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 19:55	Israel	-	Schweiz	2:2 (0:1)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 20:15	Luxemburg	-	Griechenland	0:3 (0:2)	Torschützen
Mi	10.09.2008 19:30	Moldawien	-	Israel	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 20:15	Lettland	-	Griechenland	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 20:30	Schweiz	-	Luxemburg	-:- (-:-)

The Swiss were 2-0 ahead and managed only a draw. A good result for Latvia. Greece do not score a lot of goals even against weaker teams like Luxembourg.

Group 3

Sa	06.09.2008 17:00	Polen	-	Slowenien	1:1 (1:1)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 17:30	Slowakei	-	Nordirland	2:1 (0:0)	Torschützen
Mi	10.09.2008 20:30	San Marino	-	Polen	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 20:45	Nordirland	-	Tschechien	-:- (-:-)
		Slowenien	-	Slowakei	-:- (-:-)

No real surprises here either, though Poland would of liked a home victory I am sure.

Group 4

Sa	06.09.2008 16:00	Wales	-	Aserbaidschan	1:0 (0:0)	Schema
Sa	06.09.2008 20:45	Liechtenstein	-	Deutschland	0:6 (0:1)	Analyse
Mi	10.09.2008 17:00	Russland	-	Wales	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 18:00	Aserbaidschan	-	Liechtenstein	-:- (-:-)

The only surprise from these results is that it took Germany so long to score. Klose did not score again and the oaf Ballack is not missed at all, I assume Borowski is injured? Tasci played "sweeper" for Germany in his second or third game and the young, smal,l non German sounding named player looked good on the ball and seemed to like to move up the field a la Sammer or Beckenbauer, something that Metzelder tried to do during the Euro Cup and looked clumsy while doing so. It is odd now to see such a "small" back line for the Germans where everyone is only about 1.8 (6 feet) metres tall? Mertesaker, Metzelder and Friedrich are all about 2 metres tall! Podolski played well and even though the Finns have given us trouble in the past I really can not see anything but a win against them on Wednesday. Russia vs Wales should be interesting, but how can you take a country seriously when they have an imaginary creature on their flag???? The Welsh are an odd bunch and are still seen as a nuisance in England where it is legal to shoot them (Welsh) with a crossbow should you see them loitering around your property or a city street because if you do not they will steal your chickens or pigs or beer or daughters or whatever they can get their hands on!

Group 5

Sa	06.09.2008 18:00	Armenien	-	Türkei	0:2 (0:0)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 20:45	Belgien	-	Estland	3:2 (1:0)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 22:00	Spanien	-	Bosnien-Herzegowina	1:0 (0:0)	Torschützen
Mi	10.09.2008 20:00	Türkei	-	Belgien	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 20:15	Bosnien-Herzegowina	-	Estland	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 22:00	Spanien	-	Armenien	-:- (-:-)

I kind of though the Armenia v Turkey game would be a lot more passionate and dirty but to be fair it was played in good spirits. Spain have a good team and deserved to win the EC this summer but I still excpect them to choke for the next 40 years.

Group 6

Mi	20.08.2008 18:00	Kasachstan	-	Andorra	3:0 (3:0)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 19:00	Ukraine	-	Weißrussland	1:0 (0:0)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 20:00	Andorra	-	England	0:2 (0:0)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 20:15	Kroatien	-	Kasachstan	3:0 (2:0)	Torschützen
Mi	10.09.2008 18:00	Kasachstan	-	Ukraine	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 19:00	Andorra	-	Weißrussland	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 21:00	Kroatien	-	England	-:- (-:-)

If there was ever a reason to look into match fixing or crooked refereeing this one ranks even higher than the Italians bribing the refs in the World cup in 2006. 93 minutes played 0-0 and the ref gives a penalty kick to a player down on the gorund for a hand ball!!!! I assume he was an English ref becasue only the idiot EPL TV commentators think anytime the ball touches the hand it is a hand ball!!! If this was the case I would run into the penalty box everytime and just kick the ball at the defenders hand and not even try to score???!?!?!? On the topic of the English, another piss poor performance which now has England as the 4th ot 5th best team in the group. I watched the first half and they were terrible, clumsy oafs like Lampard or Gerrard or Rooney mange to score dozens of goals in the EPL but can barely walk upright when playing for England. If England do not mange at least a draw against Croatia I would call for Capello to resign. A lot of EPL coaches are available now and Keegan should get another chance for England! Look at what he did when he came back to Newcastle! Oh the English, have not evolved in a century so, so backwards still....

Group 7

Sa	06.09.2008 20:00	Rumänien	-	Litauen	0:3 (0:1)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 20:15	Serbien	-	Färöer	2:0 (1:0)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 20:45	Österreich	-	Frankreich	3:1 (2:0)	Torschützen
Mi	10.09.2008 18:30	Färöer	-	Rumänien	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 19:30	Litauen	-	Österreich	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 21:00	Frankreich	-	Serbien	-:- (-:-)

I was telling anyone who would listen after the EUro cup that the Austrians will become a good "B" team and will start to qualify for World cups and such, so the result against France is not a surprise to me. On the other hand the Rumania v Lithiania result is. Austria will either win the group or finish second.

Group 8

Sa	06.09.2008 18:00	Georgien	-	Irland	1:2 (0:1)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 20:00	Montenegro	-	Bulgarien	2:2 (0:1)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 20:45	Zypern	-	Italien	1:2 (1:1)	Torschützen
Mi	10.09.2008 19:00	Montenegro	-	Irland	-:- (-:-)
Mi	10.09.2008 20:50	Italien	-	Georgien	-:- (-:-)

One again Buffon saves the Italians from a loss or draw. The Italians will manage to squeak through this group but like the French and English they are an old backwards team that rely on tactics that have not evolved in 50 years. To be fair to them it works sometimes, but the style of play is boring and needs a certain amount of match fixing to really do well, but hey that is what Italians do, lie cheat and steal and live with their parents until they are 45 years old. So much like the English in that they are backwards and are so insular they never venture out of their birth town and have no ability to speak any language outside their own local dialect.

Group 9

Sa	06.09.2008 15:00	Mazedonien	-	Schottland	1:0 (1:0)	Torschützen
Sa	06.09.2008 19:00	Norwegen	-	Island	2:2 (1:1)	Torschützen
Mi	10.09.2008 20:30	Mazedonien	-	Niederlande	-:- (-:-)
		Island	-	Schottland	-:- (-:-)

Scotland will beat Holland home and away but mange to lose to Iceland and Macedonia and thus not qualify for 2010. They should qualify but they wont.