As winter falls upon us, the German Bundesliga has
concluded its first half of the season and has entered
into a six week break in action. This season’s
championship has been one of the most entertaining and
surprising in recent memory, with upstarts 1899
Hoffenheim at the top of the table in its first ever
season in the top flight. But with only 3 points
separating Hoffenheim with 5th-place Bayer
Leverkusen, the race for the championship is far from
over and the 2nd half promises to be full of
entertainment, drama, and tons of goals – an astonishing
462 goals were scored in the Hinrunde, giving an average
of over 3 goals per game.
With the
financial backing of SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp,
Hoffenheim has spent millions of Euros on transfers, in
fact more money on transfers since 2005 than any other
German club except defending champions Bayern Munich.
With their new, youthful squad, they have played very
attacking and entertaining football on the pitch, and
lead the league with 42 goals scored. Eighteen of those
goals have come from the Bundesliga’s leading
goal-scorer
Vedad Ibisevic. The Bosnian (who spent
2003-04 in St. Louis and Chicago) was not even
originally slated for the starting 11 at the start of
the season, due to an injury to a teammate, but after
scoring two goals in Hoffenheim’s 3:0 win over Energie
Cottbus in Round 1, he has remained the club’s
first-choice striker ever since, and has rewarded them
with goal after goal.
But in Round 16, defending champion FC Bayern
Munich
was able to beat Hoffenheim 2:1 to draw level on points
with the leaders. Bayern struggled mightily at the
beginning of the season, finding themselves even as low
as 11th place after 8 matches (which included
an embarrassing 3:3 draw at home against VfL Bochum,
where they conceded two goals in the last 10 minutes to
throw away 2 points). With many fans calling for the
head of trainer Jürgen Klinsmann, Bayern were blessed
with the return of French winger Franck Ribery, who
immediately proved how important to the club he is. His
form has been magnificent, having scored in 6 of the 11
matches he has taken part in as well as setting up
numerous others. Bayern have won 8 of their last 10,
and look like strong contenders – perhaps even favorites
– once again for the championship.
One of the biggest surprises of the season is the position of
Werder
Bremen
at the break. A consistent finisher in the top 3 in
each of the past 5 seasons, and champions in 2004,
Bremen have put together a very inconsistent run of form
this term, leaving them currently in 8th
place. They have played fantastic football at times,
including a 5:2 demolition of FC Bayern – even more
impressive since it was away at the Allianz Arena in
Munich – but they have also struggled mightily against
teams they should easily beat. Playmaking genius Diego,
the most important player at the club, will miss the
restart of the season in January, serving a four-match
ban after he choked Christian Eichner of
Karlsruhe
on Matchday 16. In the same match, leading goal-scorer
Claudio Pizarro was sent off for punching opponent
Martin Stoll in the face, and will also miss the start
of the Rückrunde after being handed a three-match ban.
Whether Bremen will be able to turn things around
remains to be seen – if they keep up their current
sporadic form, they may miss out on Europe altogether
for the first time in ages.
At the bottom of the table, the only surprise is that 1. FC
Köln is not in it – they rest in the very comfortable
position of 11th, 9 points above the
relegation zone. This is due in part to the reliable
play of new midfielder Petit (from
Portugal) and the efforts of their Slovenian captain and
leading goal-scorer (11 goals)
Milivoje Novakovic. It is, however, no shock
that the table is rounded out by perennial relegation
fighters Energie Cottbus, VfL Bochum (with only one win
on the season) and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Despite
the talents of Wunderkind Marko Marin, it seems like
there is nothing trainer Hans Meyer can do to save
Gladbach from a prompt return to the 2nd
Bundesliga.
