German soccer
August 29, 2010
Nine goals fell in Sunday's first Bundesliga match between Borussia Moenchengladbach and hosts Bayer Leverkusen. Unfortunately for Leverkusen, the majority of those goals went to the visiting team as Moenchengladbach handed Michael Ballack's new team an embarrassing 6-3 loss.
Nineteen-year-old Patrick Herrmann led the way for Moenchengladbach, netting two goals to give his side a 3-1 lead at half. By the end of the match, with additional goals for Moenchengladbach from Roel Brouwers, Juan Arango, Mohamadou Idrissou and Marco Reus, Leverkusen had given up the highest number of goals at home in the team's history.
Stuttgart didn't concede a record number of goals in their 3-1 loss to Dortmund, but the team is now in last place of the Bundesliga after losing their first match of the season last week.
Late win for Hoffenheim
1899 Hoffenheim, however, have shot to the top of the league following their 1-0 win over FC St. Pauli on Saturday.
The late Saturday clash between Hoffenheim and St. Pauli at the Millerntor-Stadion in Hamburg look likely to end 0-0, but for a late Isaac Vorsah header in the 87th minute that earned his team all three points.
"We had a few problems in the first half, but we changed a few things around and played better," said Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick, whose side are level with Kaiserslautern, 2-0 shock victors over Bayern Munich on Friday. St. Pauli now sit in seventh place.
Green machine goes down
In Wolfsburg, meanwhile, the home team was playing with new recruit Diego but was still unable to salvage any points after going down 3-4 to a travelling Mainz.
Wolfsburg looked to be cruising after rushing to a 3-0 lead, but Mainz clawed their way back into the game thanks to a late first-half goal to Morten Rasmussen, followed by two more goals in 10 minutes after the break to Elkin Soto and Andre Schuerrle.
The winner came late in the 86th minute as Adam Szalai hit a right-footed shot from the center of the box past keeper Diego Benaglio into the bottom left corner.
Steve McClaren's Wolfsburg now find themselves in 13th place, while Mainz shoot up to third.
Consecutive losses
Perennial runners-up Schalke slumped to their second loss of the season, going down 2-1 at home to Hanover 96, capping another disappointing day in front of goal for Spanish maestro Raul.
Hanover's first goal came in the 32nd minute after Konstantin Rausch left footed a shot from the middle of the box into the bottom left corner after an assist by Mohammed Abdellaoue.
Following the break, Hanover didn't have to wait long for a follow-up goal, with Abdellaoue turning from provider to scorer in the 49th minute.
Schalke's Jermaine Jones managed to strike back with a consolation goal in the 82nd minute with a header. Schalke are now placed 14th, while Hanover are in fifth.
Cologne outgunned
In Bremen, Thomas Schaaf's team brought their form in Europe into the Bundesliga, running out 4-2 victors over 1. FC Cologne.
Veteran Torsten Frings opened the scoring for the home team in the 33rd minute from a penalty kick after Marko Marin had managed to draw a foul in the box. Bremen followed this up minutes later with a second goal after a header from close range by Marko Arnautovic.
Cologne were able to pull one back before the break, however, when German international Lukas Podolski latched onto a header from the center of the box and sent it into the bottom right corner in the 37th minute.
The game had to wait nearly 40 minutes for another goal when Portuguese striker Hugo Almeida tapped in from close range to put the score at 3-1. Arnautovic then brought his tally to two goals early in injury time with a left-footed shot after an assist by Clemens Fritz.
The visitors then pulled one back two minutes later when Kevin McKenna fired home from close range after he was fed a cross by Mato Jajalo following a corner. Bremen are currently eighth, while Cologne sink towards the foot of the table after two losses.
In the day's other two matches, Nuremberg went down 1-2 at home to Freiburg, while Frankfurt also lost at home, falling 1-3 to Hamburg. The results put Freiburg in ninth, Nuremberg in 12th, Frankfurt in 17th and Hamburg up to fourth.
Author: Darren Mara, Matt Zuvela
Editor: Sean Sinico