Bundesliga race
May 10, 2009
Bremen had already kicked their northern German rivals' Hamburg out of the UEFA Cup and the German Cup, and on Sunday they ended Hamburg's title hopes.
Bremen won the game 2-0 with Portuguese striker Hugo Almeida scoring both goals. Bremen were without playmaker Diego and defender Per Mertesacker. Almeida too will miss the UEFA Cup final through suspension.
Almeida struck in the 34th minute when he tapped in a low cross from Markus Rosenberg. He added another four minutes after the break when he fired in a Mesut Ozil cross.
The result keeps Hamburg in sixth place on 55 points, one notch below the slot that would see them qualify for European competition. Bremen remain in 10th place on 42 points.
In the other game played on Sunday, Borussia Moenchengladbach kept alive their hopes of avoiding relegation and retaining their Bundesliga status with a last-minute 1-0 victory at home over Schalke 04. The victory takes Moenchengladbach to 27 points -- one place above the drop zone.
Freiburg clinches promotion to Bundesliga
At least two of those teams at the bottom will being going down next year, and Freiburg will be one of the teams replacing them in the first division.
That was after Freiburg beat Koblenz 5:2 on Sunday, giving the Southern German side an unassailable lead in division two. Freiburg was in the top flight of German soccer before, but has been in the second division since 2005.
On Saturday, the Bundesliga race was thrown wide open when Wolfsburg were beaten 4-1 in Stuttgart, while their main challengers Bayern Munich won 3-1 in Cottbus.
With three games remaining, Wolfsburg and Bayern are on 60 points, while Hertha Berlin, which beat Bochum 2-0 is on 59. Stuttgart has a point less, while Dortmund and Hamburg are on 55.