| 17.09.2009 |
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| It ain't easy going from the Bundesliga to the Champions League. Just ask Hamburg and Stuttgart, both of whom humiliated themselves in recent years after returning to club football's premier competition. So Wolfsburg's Tuesday win over CSKA Moscow was all the more impressive. It was the Wolves' first-ever CL match, and the Russians -- who won the UEFA Cup 2005 -- are no pushovers. Despite Wolfsburg's faltering start in the league, things are looking up. Grafite, who scored all three of the Wolves' goals, showed last year was no fluke, and if Edin Dzeko gets back on track, they could reel off a bunch of wins. Bayern struggled at the start but dispatched of Maccabi Haifa, 3-nil. They'll be cheered by the emergence of Thomas Mueller, a 21-one-year old player who comes from Munich's youth program. That's a refreshing change to Bayern's usual collection of international divas. And Bremen took up where they last off -- not bothering to play defense but scoring enough to compensate. Their 3-2 Europa League win in Portugal was tighter than it should have been, but on the other hand, if it hadn't been, we probably wouldn't have gotten to see Pizarro's game winner -- a marvelous curling shot from just outside the area. On the down side, Stuttgart's home draw against Rangers suggests that they've not gotten over the departure of striker Mario Gomez. It's going to be a fight for them to stay near the top of the league -- and progress out of the CL group stage. Back in the EL, or whatever the acronym is, Vienna gave Hamburg some serious comeuppance. The Northern Germans' defense was a shambles, but assuming that performance was a one-off, and perhaps the result of believing the hype (see my last blog), Hamburg should be able to recover. The side that's really in trouble is, alas, my beloved Hertha. I'm not sure what's worse: losing away to Mainz or only getting a draw at home against a side with the word "pils" in ist name. (The match certainly made me want to drink pils -- and lots of it.) What's more, Berlin have lost goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny to injury. If there was one player Hertha could not afford to do without, it was the giant Czech. Now, Hertha are probably better off forgetting about Europe and concentrate on not digging themselves an impossible hole in the first half of Bundesliga season. In any case, I'm going to Olympic Stadium on Sunday to check out live how bad things are. I'll report back with the news. |
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