Bayern Strengthens Lead Atop Bundesliga
February 7, 2005
The Bavarians increased their lead to three points over Schalke, who tied the league's worst placed team, Hansa Rostock 2:2 after leading at the end of the first half. Stuttgart also wasn't able to convert a half-time lead to three points and drew 1:1 at home against Kaiserslautern.
Bayern expected better
Bayern's Roy Makaay converted a questionable penalty kick giving Munich a 1:0 lead going into the locker room after Jose Guerrero half fell and was half pulled to the ground in the first half's dying minutes.
Bayer Leverkusen can feel aggrieved by the spot-kick but in truth they were outclassed and must now wait another season to end their 16 year winless jinx in Munich.
Leverkusen wasn't able to pick up its play in the match' s second half as Bayern extended its lead to 2:0, and its winning streak to nine games, with a goal from Guerrero. All Leverkusen keeper Jörg Butt could do was shake his head when the ball bounced off Guerrero's thigh and back into the net.
"We played lively, but it wasn't the great game I expected," said Bayern trainer Felix Magath, summing up the views of the 47,000 fans in the stadium.
Only a handful of scoring chances and five yellow cards, for Munich's Michael Ballack and Leverkusen's Robson Ponte, Juan Silveira dos Santos, Carsten Ramelow and Jens Nowtony, broke up what was otherwise a dull affair at the top of the Bundesliga table.
Rostock shocks Schalke
Just one point behind Munich going into the game, second-placed Schalke looked like it would have an easy time against last-placed Hansa Rostock, but in the end needed to call on last season's golden boot winner Ailton to bring just one point home from northern Germany.
"There was a little luck in it for us," said Ailton. "The point was important to us."
Schalke's Ebbe Sand opened scoring in the 25th minute, but the 20,000 fans in Ostseestadio probably couldn't believe their eyes when the home team went ahead in the second half after goals from Rade Prica and Magnus Arvidsson. But Rostock made too many mistakes against Schalke and Ailton punished them in the third minute of penalty time and kept his team from falling too far behind in the championship race.
Stuttgart also had to make themselves happy with a draw against Kaiserslautern, although they enjoyed a 1:0 lead going into half time thanks to an early goal from German national team member Kevin Kuranyi. Even though they were playing a man down after Lucien Mettomo was sent off, an exceptional free kick from Marco Engelhardt in the 61st minute let the visitors take home a tie.
"We were leading 1:0 and had better numbers, it was our own fault," said Stuttgart captain Zvonimir Soldo of the tie.
Hanover's UEFA hopes dim
Hanover 96 played its fourth home game without a win Saturday in its 1:3 loss to Borussia Dortmund, which has not lost in the season's second half. Dortmund's Jan Koller gave the guests an early lead in the sixth minute. Lars Ricken scored the first of his two goals in the game. Hanover made it onto the scoreboard when Nebojsa Krupnikovic converted a penalty kick in the 72nd minute.
Hamburg, however, kept its European dream alive in a 3:1 win in Nuremberg. Japanese international Naohiro Takahara masterminded the victory with two goals and got some extra help from teammate Benjamin Lauth. It was Robert Vittek who took a little of the sting out of Nuremberg's loss by netting a goal for the home team in the 82nd minute. The win moved Hamburg up two places to 7th and Nuremberg down two to 13th.
Click below to read about Hertha's victory over Mainz and Sunday's games
Berlin trounces Mainz
Hertha Berlin had the best result of the day in its 3:0 lambasting of Mainz 05. The loss was Mainz's sixth in a row. Berlin's Yildiray Bastürk scored once in each half of the game and a goal from Andreas Neuendorf solidified Berlin's chances at international play by moving them three spots up to fourth place.
"It may sound like a paradox, but I am very satisfied with the game and my team, but not with the result," said VfL Bochum coach Peter Neururer of his team's 1:1 draw against Arminia Bielefeld.
Bochum needed the win to work its way out of the relegation zone and Bielefeld could have used a win to make sure it doesn't fall into it. Neither team is likely to be pleased with the compromise. It was ex-Bochum player Delron Buckley who scored in the 29th minute to draw his new team level after Peter Madsen gave Bielefeld the lead 10 minutes earlier.
Werder Bremen moves up
Paraguayan international Nelson Haedo Valdez enhanced his supersub reputation scoring an 87th minute winner as German champions Werder Bremen came from two goals down to defeat VfL Wolfsburg 3-2 on Sunday. Valdez, 20, had only been on the pitch 12 minutes after coming on as a substitute but his Midas touch continued as Bremen secured the spoils at the Volkswagen Arena.
Werder surge up to fourth with the victory and are now just one point behind VfB Stuttgart who occupy third and the final Champions League berth. For Wolfsburg it was another setback with the one-time leaders of the Bundesliga tasting their tenth defeat of the campaign.
Wolfsburg were left kicking themselves as they somehow surrendered a two-goal cushion to finish empty-handed against Bremen. Thomas Brdaric, excluded from Germany's squad for Wednesday's friendly against Argentina, netted after 26 minutes and when Pablo Thiam scored in the 49th minute the points looked destined for the home side.
However, Bremen showed all their resilience with two quick-fire goals through German international Miroslav Klose (50) and Finn Ludovic Magnin (59). Valdez then worked his magic scoring three minutes from time to devour Wolves in front of their home fans. Incredibly Wolfsburg have not drawn a match all season losing ten and winning ten.
Gladbach safe from relegation
In Sunday's other match Borussia Mönchengladbach edged away from the relegation zone with a 3-2 win over SC Freiburg. Gladbach are eight points clear of third from bottom VfL Bochum and Dick Advocaat's team now appear safe.
Gladbach also needed to come from behind with Mali international Soumaila Coulibaly scored a contender for goal of the season to put Freiburg ahead after 13 minutes. Coulibaly produced an unstoppable 35 meter shot that hit the underside of the crossbar to defeat American Kasey Keller in the Gladbach goal. The freak goal rallied Gladbach into action and Czech Vaclav Sverkos equalized on 25 minutes and Belgian international Wesley Sonck then grabbed a brace (30,49). Freiburg pulled one back but Gladbach held on for a deserved win.