It seems every week that there is something even more exciting to report about than the previous week. This Bundesliga Season has been filled with crazy matches, reports of long-known German Players making ridiculous statements and committing unheard-of mistakes. This weekend was nothing different.
Borussia Monchengladbach 5 – 3 Hannover 96
This was a game that should, I repeat should have gone the other way. Seeing the score by itself shows that this was an incredibly exciting game that saw 8 goals scored! However, three of the goals were own goals from Hannover 96. It tends to take away the excitement when a team beats themselves. The mistakes committed in this game were too many to report all of them.
Without going into too much detail, I’ll show you a quick little scoring summary that may explain things better.
Scoring Summary:
15th Minute: Karim Haggul (Own Goal)
22nd Minute: Rob Friend (Goal)
36th Minute: Didier Ya Konan (Goal)
58th Minute: Constant Djakpa (Own Goal)
68th Minute: Michael Bradley (Goal)
69th Minute Didier Ya Konan (Goal)
87th Minute: Christian Schulz (Goal)
90th Minute: Karim Haggul (Own Goal)
It took only 15 minutes for Hannover 96 to offer the game to Borussia on a silver platter. A clear mistake from Hannover Goalkeeper Florian Fromlowitz gave Borussia the lead when he rushed out to clear a ball at the edge of the area. Instead, this saw him hit it into his own Defender Karim Haggul and bounce back into his own net. Just 7 minutes later, M’gladbach made it 2-0 with a nice header from Canadian striker Rob Friend.
Hannover seemed to begin clawing their way back in the 30th Minute with a powerful shot from Arnold Jan Bruggink, but it was deflected off the post. Finally, the 36th minute saw Didier Ya Konan, the only real positive talking point of the Hannover performance, capitalize on the confusion in front of the Gladbach goal to knock it in past Logan Bailly.
Hannover seemed determined to give this game away in the 59th Minute as Constant Djakpa scored an own goal to give Borussia a 3-1 lead. Trying to make a simple pass back to his Goalkeeper, his terribly poor placement instead saw the ball hit the back of his own net. Borussia’s Michael Bradley made it 4-1 just a few moments later with a beautiful Free Kick from 18 yards out that went through the Hannover wall.
Didier Ya Konen scored his second goal of the game when he fought past two defenders to get the ball past Logan Bailly and give Hannover a fighting chance to maintain some dignity from this game. That was not to be. Just moments from time, he was shown a Red Card for receiving his second Yellow within 13 minutes. This took Hannover down to Ten Men.
Soon after they were knocked down to ten men, Hannover’s Christian Schulz scored a goal to mount what seemingly might be an incredible comeback. Again, not meant to be.
As they made the effort, Borussia again took complete control and this led to Karim Haggul committing his second Own Goal of the Game to give the final 5-3 Result.
Attendance: 43,528
Mainz 05 1 -1 VfB Stuttgart
In yet another “are you kidding me game” from the weekend, VfB looked to seal the deal early, but they literally gave away the game in the 90th Minute with a huge mistake from, who else but the Stuttgart man of the week, Jens Lehmann.
Pavel Pogrebnyak gave Stuttgart the lead in the 11th minute when Boka crossed nicely into the area and Pogrebnyak knocked it in with his thigh.
Earlier this week, Stuttgart beat Unirea Urziceni to surprise everyone and reach the knockout stages of the Champions League. Their Champions League performances this year have shown absolutely no sign of how they are doing in the Bundesliga, and that point was driven home, quite literally in this game. Their poor League performance thus far led to the dismissal of their Coach Markus Babbel last weekend, and led to some regrettable comments from Jens Lahmann. They have now made it 9 winless games in the Bundesliga.
Continuing the downward spiral, although they had a slim 1-0 lead going into the 88th Minute, Lehmann stepped on Aristide Bance’s foot with two minutes to go and was shown the red card. Polanski stepped up and struck home the equalizer for Mainz.
Attendance: 20,300
In Other News:
Oliver Kahn has told Stuttgart goalkeeper Jens Lehmann that he should retire in the wake of his recent escapades.
After Lehmann reached the news, but in a bad way this week, first for criticising his club and then for storming off at the end of their 1-1 draw with Mainz after receiving a red card and giving away a penalty, Kahn has advised him to bring the curtain down on his career now.
“Maybe it would be better for him to retire now, who knows where things might yet lead?” said Kahn in a recent newspaper statement.
“Jens is a good goalkeeper, but what should the management think? There is no point to it anymore. Stuttgart’s management have got to work out whether Lehmann is helping or damaging the team.”
It’s already a guarantee that Lehmann will miss Stuttgart’s final Bundesliga fixture of 2009 against Hoffenheim due to suspension, but he also may still be further suspended for up to three matches.
Boenisch out of action
Sebastian Boenisch is to miss the final games of 2009 after sustaining a knee injury during the clash with Schalke 04 on Sunday.
The Werder Bremen star will be out for his side’s Europa League game against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday evening and the all important north German derby against Hamburger SV next Sunday.
“Sebastian will travel to Regensburg where he will be examined by knee specialist Dr. Eichhorn. On Tuesday he will undergo an operation,” explained team doctor Götz Dimanski on Monday morning.
Werder Boss Thomas Schaaf also wished the fullback a speedy recovery. “At the moment we have to just wait and see how the operation goes and then assess the damage. I hope that it’s not too bad and that Sebastian can make a full recovery early in the new year. We wish him all the best.”
All the Scores from Week 16:
Hertha Berlin 2 – 2 Bayer Leverkusen
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 1 – 1 Eintracht Frankfurt
VfL Bochum 1 – 5 FC Bayern Munchen
Borussia M’gladbach 5 – 3 Hannover 96
SC Freiburg 0 – 0 FC Koln
FC Nurnberg 0 – 4 Hamburger SV
Werder Bremen 0 – 2 FC Schalke 04
FSV Mainz 05 1 – 1 VfB Stuttgart
VfL Wolfsburg 1 – 3 Borussia Dortmund
Updated Table:
1. Bayer 04 Leverkusen – 32 points (+21 Goal Difference)
2. FC Schalke 04 – 31 points (+12 Goal Difference)
3. FC Bayern Munchen – 30 points (+16 Goal Difference)
4. Werder Bremen – 28 points (+17 Goal Difference)
5. Hamburger SV – 28 points (+14 Goal Difference)
6. Borussia Dortmund – 27 points (+5 Goal Difference)
7. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim – 25 points (+12 Goal Difference)
8. FSV Mainz 05 – 24 points (0 Goal Difference)
9. VfL Wolfsburg – 23 points (0 Goal Difference)
10. Eintracht Frankfurt – 23 points (-2 Goal Difference)
11. Borussia M’gladbach – 21 points (-4 Goal Difference)
12. SC Freiburg – 18 points (-13 Goal Difference)
13. Hannover 96 – 17 points (-5 Goal Difference)
14. FC Koln – 15 points (-8 Goal Difference)
15. VfB Stuttgart – 13 points (-9 Goal Difference)
16. VfL Bochum 1848 – 13 points (-16 Goal Difference)
17. FC Nurnberg – 12 points (-17 Goal Difference)
18. Hertha Berlin – 6 points (-23 Goal Difference)
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