Postcard from Germany

[DangerousSausage]

Bayern are top of the Bundesliga again, but apart from that it's all go. Jürgen Klinsmann has further harmed his future employment prospects by releasing his diaries to a tabloid newspaper, the objective being a swipe at the board at Hertha Berlin. At the bottom of the table, Werder Bremen are now in serious danger of relegation. Bremen are a big club - they have been in the Bundesliga for every season but one since its foundation, have been champions of Germany multiple times and won the double as recently as 2004. Only a very select few seem immune to the drop though...

What else? Unterhaching's Dominik Stroh-Engel did something that was possibly unique by scoring a hat trick and an own goal in the same game. And this weekend sees Waldhof Mannheim's first home derby with Kaiserslautern for many years, with all 23,000 tickets already sold and the press getting very giddy about potential trouble.

[DangerousSausage]

There are a few things going on right now. You might have read that protests have erupted at grounds throughout the country, with an unpopular billionaire acting as the lightning rod. It's a bit of a long story, so I've written a blog entry on it. Find out more about it here.

The most heart-warming story this week is Saarbrücken becoming the first ever fourth division team to reach the semi-finals of the German cup after knocking out Düsseldorf in an epic penalty shoot-out. That's even more impressive when you consider that the German cup is seeded, so they've had opposition from the Bundesliga or Bundesliga 2 in every round - no easy draws! Apart from Karlsruhe, of course, who are rubbish. Go here for the highlights!

And finally, one of Germany's hottest derbies was reactivated for the first time since 2001 when Kaiserslautern visited Mannheim. The ground was sold out, 3,500 away fans had made the 30-mile trip, but in sporting terms it was all a bit of an anticlimax with a scrappy game of few chances - it was a 1-1 draw (go to 2.15 and 2.56 for the goals). It felt like a bit of a bit of a missed opportunity - a win would have taken Waldhof top, while also sending Kaiserslautern hurtling towards the relegation zone. Luckily (and partly thanks to a massive police presence) there was little trouble outside the ground, but there were the obligatory pyrotechnics, with Kaiserslautern's fans in particular burning a whole bonfire night's worth at 1.21. The Waldhof fans for their part unfurled a giant Mortal Kombat-inspired banner before kick-off that evidently wasn't PG enough for the video below - click here if you fancy seeing that!

 

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@DangerousSausage: Sorry matey, busy week but I know you have a blog that needs sharing. I'll read it properly, only skimmed it so far but I want to give s good reply.

[DangerousSausage]

As we're talking about full match replays, here's one from Germany! Plenty of thrills and spills in this one - I was there! 

 

 

[DangerousSausage]

If you are really desperate to see football matches stripped of fans, Bundesliga 1 and 2 are starting again this weekend. This is all thanks to an extensive array of measures that sees all players tested two days before matches and then kept in quarantine in hotels, away from their families. They are to wear face masks in training (some teams have been training for weeks, while for others training has been banned up to last week). When players test positive, either they go into quarantine themselves, or the entire squad goes into quarantine themselves for two weeks, as Dynamo Dresden are doing, with the local health authority deciding.

As the TV money doesn't cover the astronomical costs of all this in the third division, a final decision there hasn't been taken yet. What is really depressing is the way each club has lobbied the German FA purely in their own self-interest, with the teams in the promotion spots in favour of ending the season and granting promotion, those behind them wanting to play on, and the teams in danger of relegation (including a couple which are basically already down) supporting voiding the season, or at least not relegating any teams. The clubs voted to continue playing on by a majority of one, with ten matches to be squeezed in between 26 May and 30 June. Good luck with that one.

[DangerousSausage]

Nearly a month on from my last post here, the third division is up and running with a crazy schedule that sees 11 rounds of matches being played in four weeks. The hygiene rules imposed by the DFB (German FA) have resulted in high costs and hotel bills running into tens of thousands of euros, yet the DFB - the world's richest football association, sitting on reserves of €130 million - has insisted that clubs foot the bill themselves. FSV Zwickau have been forced to apply for a loan of €800,000 just to keep going. Meanwhile, Bundesliga clubs' costs are being paid in full by the DFL.

The different infection protection rules in different states have resulted in a less than level playing field. On Saturday, Waldhof Mannheim, who had been in team training for just four days, played KFC Uerdingen, who had been allowed to train for four weeks. No prizes for guessing who won. Waldhof did win the next game to return to third, and pretty much the entire top half of the division is in the running for promotion. Just don't ask me to watch any more matches behind closed doors on TV.

[DangerousSausage]

Time for another update methinks!

Bayern Munich are marching to another title, but as long as their only serious competition is RB Leipzig I'll grin and bear it. The managerial merry-go-round is in full swing though - Bayern head coach Hans Flick has asked to be released from his contract and will very likely take over the German national team, where he was Jogi Löw's assistant for several years. Mönchengladbach's current manager Marco Rose caused controversy when it was announced that he would be taking over at Dortmund in the summer. In turn, Mönchengladbach seem to have derailed Eintracht Frankfurt's Champions League push by poaching their manager Adi Hütter. The response to all this from the terraces would have been most interesting...

At the other end, Schalke sit rock bottom with thirteen (13) points from 29 games and a goal difference of -57. Cologne look a decent bet to join them in Bundesliga 2 next season.

My team SV Waldhof are sitting 11th in the third division and took a big step to safety with a nervy 3-2 win over relegation-haunted VfB Lübeck. Their illustrious local rivals Kaiserslautern occupy the final spot in the relegation zone, but have managed to string a couple of results together lately.

I've just had a look at the video I posted in April, and to be honest it makes me feel a bit sad. It's still unclear when fans will be back - with about 300 deaths a day from COVID-19, it's too early to think about a mass return to stadiums just yet.

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]