One of the more exciting days of the European club football season is the day the Champions League group stage is drawn.

The 32 teams that have qualified for the group stage are drawn into eight, four-team groups.  Before that happens, all teams are broken into four pots, labeled A through D, where they are grouped according to a team’s strength (as determined by a formula called a coefficient).  Each of the eight groups can have no more than one team from each pot, no more than one team from a country.  The eight groups end up pretty even.

The draw is fun because you end up with a series of matches which, in addition to being high profile based on the quality of the teams involved, are rare.  In the days before the draw, you start considering the possibilities and potential story lines:  Chelsea and Fiorentina in a group, forcing Adrian Mutu to play the club he owes £14 million; Marseille being slotted with Arsenal months after having sold them Samir Nasri, and potentially getting Bayern Munich in the group, so they would have to face Franck Ribery; Barcelona being slotted with a Zenit St. Petersburg team whose star, Andrei Arshavin, so badly wanted to play at Camp Nou; FC Porto being grouped with Inter Milan and facing Jose Mourinho.

Here’s how the eight groups ended up being drawn, with the clubs listed in order of the group they were drawn from:  A to D.  Continue Reading »

It as another week of unspectacular picks for me in the Bundesliga, where a number of ties make it hard for me to get any traction. The highlight, for me, was hitting the Dortmund-Munich game on the nose, though that’s a bit of a disingenuous boast, as I didn’t anticipate Mark van Bommel getting red carded. I probably should have seen that coming, though. It was the easiest prediction of the week.

Continue Reading »

Bayer Leverkusen, in getting their first win of the season, was one step ahead of Stuttgart all match.

Bundesliga Standings Rank Club GP PTS DIFF 1 Hoffenheim 2 6 4 2 Schalke 04 2 4 3 3 Hertha Berlin 2 4 2 4 Borussia Dortmund 2 4 1 5 Hamburger SV 2 4 1 6 VfL Wolfsburg 2 4 1 7 Bayer Leverkusen 2 3 1 8 VfB Stuttgart 2 3 0 9 Karlsruhe 2 3 0 10 Bayern Munich 2 2 0 11 Werder Bremen 2 2 0 12 Arminia Bielefeld 2 2 0 13 VfL Bochum 2 1 -1 14 1. FC Koln 2 1 -1 15 Frankfurt 2 1 -2 16 Energie Cottbus 2 1 -3 17 Hannover 96 2 1 -3 18 Borussia M’gladbach 2 0 -3 Results August 22, 2008 Hannover 96 0 0 Energie Cottbus August 23, 2008 Hoffenheim 1 0 Borussia M’gladbach VfB Stuttgart 0 2 Bayer Leverkusen Hamburg SV 2 1 Karlsruhe Borussia Dortmund 1 1 Bayern Munich Werder Bremen 1 1 Schalke 04 Hertha Berlin 1 1 Arminia Bielefeld August 24, 2008 1. FC Koln 1 1 Frankfurt VfL Bochum 2 2 VfL Wolfsburg Next Week Home Away August 29, 2008 Karlsruhe 1. FC Koln August 30, 2008 VfL Wolfsburg Frankfurt Borussia M’gladbach Werder Bremen Energie Cottbus Borussia Dortmund Bayer Leverkusen Hoffenheim Arminia Bielefeld Hamburg SV Schalke 04 VfL Bochum August 31, 2008 Bayern Munich Hertha Berlin VfB Stuttgart Hannover 96

The schedule gave us a special weekend in the Bundesliga, but those of us who follow the league will need to savor it. The great match-ups of this weekend are absent in the upcoming, third round schedule, after which the league will be off until September 12.

Horrible.

To bide the time, we will have to sit on what we learned from the Werder-Schalke, Stuttgart-Bayer, and Dortmund-Bayern matches.  Let’s start with the last one.

What we learned from the Borussia Dortmund-Bayern Munich match on Saturday is Mark Van Bommel is an idiot.  Bayern played almost the whole match with ten men because of van Bommel’s thuggery, and although I have read some comments in the days that followed his red card saying he is being singled out, that view is hard to justify.  Van Bommel clubbed a guy in the head.  If he is being singled out, it’s justly so.

Word that Bayern has warned the Dutchman he could lose the captaincy if he doesn’t stay on the field is good news.  It’s about time somebody starts taking his dirty play seriously, particularly the injury-riddled club that needs him.  Bayern got an unfit Luca Toni back, forming a surprisingly ineffective pair with Miroslav Klöse, but they need van Bommel to hold down thei defense.

Van Bommel got kicked out of the match with his team already down 1-0 and staring a five point deficit in the table straight in the face.  Thankfully, some suspect Dortmund defending gave Tim Borowski an easy equalizer in the second half.  Given the circumstances, it was a good point won for Bayern, though Dortmund should regret the lost opportunity to get to six points.

From the Stuttgart-Bayer Leverkusen match we learned that there is still a gap between Stuttgart and the top six clubs in the league, of which Bayer is apart.  Leverkusen came back after a disappointing loss in Round 1 to Dortmund to get a relatively easy win on the road, building on some of the momentum they had at match’s end the week before.

Leverkusen will be fine.  Stuttgart, although they are getting strong play in goal from Jens Lehmann, we can’t be so sure about.

From the Werder Bremen-Schalke 04 match, we learned that Schalke has lost too many players in midfield.  Playing without Jermaine Jones, Jefferson Farfan and Orlando Engelaar was too much to overcome.  The momentum of their wins over Hannover and Atletico Madrid could not overcome losing more than half of their five man middle.  Ivan Rakitic never got going, and Fabian Ernst had too much to manage in his holding position.

If Schalke can not get healthy for Wednesday’s match in Madrid, they will not make the group phase of Champions League, a somewhat unjust result considering how they played the preceding week.

From Werder Bremen, we learned they can get a result without Diego, something I doubted last week.  They did not get the win over Schalke, but without their best player - a player on whom they depend deeply - it was a point worth taking.  Diego will be back as Werder goes on the road to M’gladbach this week, a match which should be a nice re-introduction to domestic play for the Olympian.

Bremen also debuted Claudio Pizarro, who returned to the club on loan from Cheslea.  The team had a noticeable boost in energy, even if Pizarro was not particularly effective.  Still, he and Markus Rosenburg fronted an attack that continuously threatened Schalke.  Were it not for a player of the week-worthy performance from Schalke keeper Mathias Schober, Bremen would have gotten three points.

These three matches overshadowed the rest of the fixture list, but of note are the still undefeated Hoffenheim and Hertha Berlin.  Hoffenheim got a result at home against the still pointless M’gladbach while Berlin could only get one at home against Bielefeld.  Neither result is that impressive, and these two clubs have been beneficiaries of easy early schedules.  This weekend that starts to change when Hoffenheim goes to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday and Berlin goes to Munich on Sunday.  My picks column isn’t until later in the week, but here’s a preview:  Berlin and Hoffenheim combine for no points this weekend.

With none of the league’s top clubs facing off against each other, expect this to be the week where the table starts to take shape.  We could see all of Bremen, Dortmund, Bayern, Schalke, Hamburg, and Bayer get three points.  If you’re put out by me not putting Stuttgart in the group, don’t worry.  They’re likely to win, too.

WFP Bundesliga Rankings

	Rank	Last Week	Club
	1	1	Schalke 04 You hate to see either Schalke or Atletico Madrid go out before the group stage, but the Champions League would be better for having Schalke. As is, I expect Schalke to be early favorites to win the UEFA Cup.
	2	2	Bayern Munich They get a little credit for clawing back against Dortmund with only ten men and with two key players still injured. Franck Ribery’s absence has been well reported, but the player they are really missing is Martin Demichelis.
	3	3	Hamburger SV A business-like win over Karlsruhe, who the book is still out on. Although teams below them played better, their resume is solid: a home win and a point at Munich.
	4	4	Borussia Dortmund Ultimately, they should have gotten more from their match with Bayern, being gifted the advantage by van Bommel. Their win over Leverkusen looks better, though, after Bayer showed so well at Stuttgart.
	5	5	Werder Bremen Even with Schalke’s injuries, it was an impressive result, and they showed a confidence without Diego that was absent the week before. They played much better at the back, limiting Schalke’s opportunities and controlling Kevin Kuranyi.
	6	6	Bayer Leverkusen Their ranking is unchanged, but there is a chasm between this spot an Stuttgart at seven how they controlled. They played this weekend as they did in the second half against Dortmund and got the corresponding result.
	7	7	Stuttgart Have the horses to beat up on the weaker clubs of the league, but against Leverkusen were frustrated and overmatched. It will be interesting to see if the return of Khalid Boulahrouz helps them compete for a European spot. They’re close.
	8	10	Hoffenheim The only perfect them in the league, but they have yet to produce a convincing result. They’ll have their chance this week against Leverkusen. They could lose that match and not fall in these rankings.
	9	8	Hertha Berlin Like Hoffenheim, good early results are built on schedule, not performance. Like Hoffenheim, will have a chance to prove otherwise this week. They face Munch.
	10	9	Arminia Bielefeld With Berlin without a loss and Bremen bouncing back, Bielefeld’s first two results look pretty good. It’s only two points out of six, but for a team that looked to battle relegation, points against good clubs are nothing to scoff at.
	11	12	Karlsruhe Lost to Hamburg but played decent enough to move up a little in these rankings. Unlike some of the clubs around them on the list, they have at least been tested, and although they came up short, they produced a decent result.
	12	13	Wolfsburg Were unimpressive against Bochum but still got a point. With their other result a win over Koln, it’s unclear what we have with this Wolfsburg team.
	13	15	VfL Bochum Showed signs of life against Wolfsburg, enough to were I almost dropped Wolfsburg behind them. Ultimately, they weren’t able to get three points despite playing on their home pitch. Looking decent can only count for so much.
	14	11	Hannover 96 Played in the most boring match of the weekend in a goalless drawn at home against Cottbus. I’m sure that’s what the Bundesliga wants from their Friday night matches.
	15	18	Energie Cottbus The other part of that Friday night disappointment. At least they were the road team. They have that excuse.
	16	14	Borussia M’gladbach Their 3-1 opening weekend loss to Stuttgart at home looks a lot worse now, and with their result this week, M’gladbach has little to recommend them thus far.
	17	17	Frankfurt Their only point has come from Koln. Ouch.
	18	16	1. FC Koln Their only point has come from Frankfurt. Ouch!

Everton FC has finally started adding depth. They have completed the acquisition of Lars Christian Jacobsen, a Denmark international. If you don’t know who he is, don’t worry. There are only so many footballers we can be expected to know off the top of our heads.

Here are a few things you should know: Continue Reading »

Jürgen Klinsmann should have anticipated a tough showing on Saturday at Borussia Dortmund.  Dortmund bounced on Bayer Leverkusen last week and left with a 3-2 road victory to open the season.  Their energy level left Bayer looking under-prepared for the opening match.  It was only towards the end of that match that Leverkusen were truly playing with Dortmund.

Against Bayern Munich, Dortmund again showed that energy.  Continue Reading »

With the prerequisite Round 1 surprises, the Bundesliga started last weekend. Those few surprises help keep my pick results modest. Still a decent start (not as bad as Ligue 1), with most of the losses coming in matches that featured two teams I did not get to see in the preseason. Continue Reading »

Hamburger SV have accepted a bid from Manchester City for 22-year-old right back Vincent Kompany.  No personal terms have been agreed to yet, but a move seems likely as Hamburger wants to rid themselves of their formerly prized prospect after a rift has formed over the Olympics.

Hamburg had negotiated a deal with the Belgian football federation that would have their player return from Beijing for last Friday’s Bundesliga start at Bayern Munich.  When Kompany complained about having to leave the Olympics, Hamburg became defensive, publicly noting an agreement had been in place for some time.

Continue Reading »

Schalke 04 exhibited a new, powerful approach during their 3-0 victory over Hannover on Saturday.

Bundesliga Standings Rank Club GP PTS DIFF 1 Hoffenheim 1 3 3 2 Schalke 1 3 3 3 Stuttgart 1 3 2 4 Hertha Berlin 1 3 2 5 Borussia Dortmund 1 3 1 6 Wolfsburg 1 3 1 7 Karlsruhe 1 3 1 8 Arminia Bielefeld 1 1 0 9 Bayern Munich 1 1 0 10 Hamburger SV 1 1 0 11 Werder Bremen 1 1 0 12 Bayer Leverkusen 1 0 -1 13 1. FC Koln 1 0 -1 14 VfL Bochum 1 0 -1 15 Borussia M’gladbach 1 0 -2 16 Frankfurt 1 0 -2 17 Energie Cottbus 1 0 -3 18 Hannover 1 0 -3 Results August 15, 2008 Bayern Munich 2 2 Hamburg SV August 16, 2008 Bayer Leverkusen 2 3 Borussia Dortmund Arminia Bielefeld 2 2 Werder Bremen Karlsruhe 1 0 VfL Bochum Schalke 3 0 Hannover Energie Cottbus 0 3 Hoffenheim Wolfsburg 2 1 Koln August 17, 2008 Borussia M’gladbach 1 3 Stuttgart Frankfurt 0 2 Hertha Berlin Next Week Home Away August 22, 2008 Hannover Energie Cottbus August 23, 2008 Hoffenheim Borussia M’gladbach Stuttgart Bayer Leverkusen Hamburger SV Karlsruhe Borussia Dortmund Bayern Munich Werder Bremen Schalke 04 Hertha Berlin Arminia Bielefeld August 24, 2008 1. FC Koln Frankfurt VfL Bochum Wolfsburg

When you stack their lineups against each other, Bayern Munich’s seems better, but it is surprising how much talent Schalke has. Announcing it to Europe in their Champions League challenge to Barcelona last season, Schalke is on the verge of transcending the perception of plucky, over-achieving club to league title contender. In round one of the Bundesliga campaign, they were the league’s best team.

Their 3-0 victory over Hannover did not do them justice.  Playing without high-profile summer acquisitions Jefferson Farfán (winger/forward from PSV Eindhoven) and Orlando Engelaar (holding midfielder from FC Twente) - both of whom were hurt in the middle of the week during the club’s impressive Champions League victory over Atlético Madrid - Schalke still exhibited the firepower that should make Bayern, who could have trouble with Farfán and Kevin Kurayni working together, scared.

Bayern limped to a tie against visiting Hamburg without Luca Toni, Franck Ribery and Martin Demichelis.  In round two, they play at a Borussia Dortmund team that confidently put three goals on Bayer Leverkusen in opening their season with a win.  If Bayern does not get healthy for their second match, they could find themselves four or five points behind a rolling Schalke 04 team that plays at a Diego-less Werder Bremen.

Four or five points may not sound like much, but in a Bundesliga that looks a little top heavy, the elite teams may face fewer teams capable of stealing points.  With four fewer matches in the Bundesliga season (compared to the big three leagues), a four or five point gifted Schalke now could be the type of thing Jurgen Klinsmann rues at season’s send.  And if there’s any club that knows about elite teams piling up points in the Bundesliga, it’s Bayern.

Werder Bremen was a near-elite last season (there was only one true elite last season), but without Diego they are a completely different team.  There may be no single player more important to his club than Diego, who is in Beijing for the Olympics.  Seeing them struggle to tie Arminia Beilefeld this weekend, Bremen’s desire to keep the Brazilian playmaker out of the Olympics suddenly made sense.  They weren’t involved in Champions League qualifying like Schalke or Barcelona, but even one match without Diego is a huge loss for this club, whose whole style of play is predicated on the young star’s ability to distribute.

Markus Rosenburg’s two surgical strikes helped Bremen get a point from a Bielefeld side that used the visitor’s wide-open style of play to their advantage.  Bremen is unlikely to alter their style for their match against Schalke, so expect Ivan Ratikic and company to have a big day.

In addition to Round 2’s Dortmund-Bayern, Bremen-Schalke headliners, Stuttgart hosts Leverkusen in another potentially defining match.  Stuttgart efficiently dealt with a Moenchengladbach team that, while having chances, lacked the firepower to play with Thomas Hitzlsperger and Mario Gomez.  Now Stuttgart hosts Bayer with a chance for a six point start.  If they get their win, Bayer will have gone without a point in their first two matches, an early hole for a team that has European aspirations.

There was bad news on the injury front from Round 1’s action.  Dortmund’s Dede, who gave Leverkusen so much trouble on Saturday, suffered a major knee injury and should be lost until spring.  And although Schalke has looked the league’s best team, their depth will take a major hit of midfielder Jermaine Jones, who missed almost all of last season with injuries, is out for more than just Wednesday’s Germany friendly.  Jones is doubtful for Joachim Low’s team.   The German-American midfielder is proving to be a vital cog in Schalke’s attack, running off of Kurayni and onto Farfán’s crosses, but any injury scare is twice as frightening for Jones, given his recent injury history.

World Football Postulant Bundesliga Rankings

As their result was injury related, there’s only so much I’m willing to drop Bayern, though they have looked poor all preseason. Likewise, I can only drop Werder so far, seeing as Diego is in Beijing.

With so many clubs who should finish in the top half of the table playing each other this weekend, a lot of teams have three points without being very high in my first rankings set. Those clubs have thirty-three more rounds to show me their value.

And just as was the case with the Ligue 1 rankings, this early in the season, the whole endeavor becomes worthless pretty quickly. We just need to have fun with it.

1. Schalke 04
2. Bayern Munich
3. Hamburger SV
4. Borussia Dortmund
5. Werder Bremen
6. Bayer Leverkusen
7. Stuttgart
8. Hertha Berlin
9. Arminia Bielefeld
10. Hoffenheim
11. Hannover
12. Karlsruhe
13. VfL Wolfsburg
14. Borussia M’gladbach
15. VfL Bochum
16. Koln
17. Frankfurt
18. Energie Cottbus

Schalke 04 used the first week of its season to show the club is not only in line to challenge for the Bundesliga’s other automatic Champions League group stage birth (won by finishing second in the league) but also that they are ready to push Bayern Munich for the league title. Whereas a week ago Bayern looked like prohibitive favors to repeat atop the league, an injury-riddled roster could only draw in their home opener against Hamburger SV. That resumé pales in comparison to Schalke’s Champions League victory 1-0 over Atletico Madrid and their 3-1 domination of Hannover on Saturday.

Their victory in their league opener came despite missing two of their better players. Eredivisie import Jefferson Farfán was beaten down against Atlético and was out with a shoulder injury. Likewise, towering midfielder Orlando Engelaar would miss the season opener. If there is one quality that will define Schalke this year, however, it is their depth, particularly in the middle of the field. They were able to give Turk Halil Altintop the start in Farfán’s spot while a second straight eye-opening performance from 20-year-old Croatian Ivan Rakitic (pictured) helped compensate for Engelaar’s loss.

Rakitic has been their best player over the last week, quite an endorsement considering how Farfán, Kevin Kurányi, Jermaine Jones, Fabian Ernst, Christian Pander, Marcelo Bordon and Benedikt Höwedes have played.  The length of that list speaks to how impressive Schalke have been.  Bordon and Höwedes have been unspectacular but solid at the back, adroitly dealing with the few changes they were given. The midfield has made their job easy, with Ernst stifling any attacks attempting to build through the middle. Hannover was unable to transition the ball out of their own end in large part due to Ernst’s efforts. Up top, Kurányi had two goals, and although he could have had many more against Hannover, he also was great in pushing the back line. That has given a healthy Jones and Rakitic room in front of the line to attack.

Rakitic, who is in his second season with Schalke since joining the club from Switzerland’s FC Basel, gave both Atlético and Hannover troubles with his pace and ambition. Against Madrid he made his mark in using his speed to get on the end of frequent Farfán crosses.  But whereas Atlético had a number of talents in midfielder that could at least keep Rakitic occupied, Hannover could not keep up, and the Croat was able to bolt in from the left at will to disrupt the opponent’s back.  He brought an element of excitement (and for Hannover, worry) to ever attack, attacks that were frequent against the visitors.

The end result was the most impressive result of the weekend.  Schalke showed a result that is keeping with the idea that they are a title contender.  Fred Rutten has opened up their attack this season, and thanks to the acqusition of Farfán and Ratikic have the talent to stay with it.  If players like Rakitic and Farfán continue at the levels they have shown over the last week, Schalke could avoid the expected fight for second and set their sights on nipping at Bayern’s heals.

Beyond the Bundelsliga, only Chelsea in England have shown themselves the stronger side, thus far.  Only three of the seven big leagues have started play, but Schalke is not likely to drop far from the top of a Europe’s best teams list until their play falls.

Links
Opening win delights Rutten
Schalke ease to victory over Hannover
Bordon and Kuranyi sink Hannover
Schalke Suffer Engelaar Injury Blow
Three-star Schalke off to perfect start
New stars missing for Schalke
Engelaar missing against Hannover
Engelaar out for Bundesliga opener
Advantage Schalke

When I saw the score yesterday, I thought it a great result for Martin Jol.  For him to go to München and get a point from Bayern in his league debut with Hamburger SV was a great start, I thought.  It is an even better result considering the defending league championship were up two half way through the first, with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski having taken control of the match.

Bayern can be forgiven a bit if they let Hamburg back into the match.  The ended up playing without Franck Ribery, German Footballer of the Year, who is still recovering from an ankle injury suffered during the European Championships.  München were also without Luca Toni, the league’s leading scorer last term, who has been recovering from a hamstring injury for the last month.  Their starting lineup was also absent center back Martin Demichelis, a loss which have would have been big enough without his partner Lúcio picking up a knock in the fourth minute.  With Breno at the Olympics and Willy Sangol out, Bayern coach Jürgen Klinsmann was without any back-ups at center half.  München adjusted by having Daniel van Buyten do all the roaming while the Brazilian stayed at home.

In that context, Bayern’s 2-2 draw with Hamburger look less a capitulation and more survival.  It speaks to how deep and talented Bayern is compared to the rest of the league that they were still able to compete with the team that finished fourth in last year’s Bundesliga.

This is not to say Bayern had a completely incapable side.  They still had Podolski and Miroslav Klöse up top, with Schweinsteiger, Zé Roberto, Mark van Brommel in the midfield and Philip Lahm at the back.  Zé Roberto helped set-up Schweinsteiger’s opener, while Podolski scored his goal from a penalty kick.

Hamburg fought back and ended with a well deserved draw.  Peruvian José Guerrero pulled them within one with a great first-half goal that came amidst a very impressive performance.  A symmetry-building penalty kick got them even in the second.  The call that led to the penalty kick was not the kind of clear-cut, no-doubt circumstance that you hope for in a tying goal, but given how the visitors had played throughout the match, Piotr Trochowski’s goal did not yield an unjust result.

Hamburg continued the strong play they had exhibited throughout the preseason despite not playing Mohammad Zidan (presumably knowing he was to be dealt to Dortmund) and not getting the kind of dynamic play from newcomer Jonathan Pitroipa that led me to believe they would not be as hurt by Rafael van der Vaart’s sale as many believed.  With Mladen Petric coming in, some of van der Vaart’s goal scoring will be replaced, but this team will be fine regardless if they play with the creativity they showed on Friday.  Martin Jol has Hamburger playing with much more ambition than last season.  That may just be an appearance gathered from Ivica Olic running around Bayern’s back line for ninety minutes, but Jol seems to want Hamburg to open up an attack that finished tenth in goals in last season’s Bundesliga.

We will have to wait for Bayern to get healthy to know where they stand, though there is little doubt that they are the class of the league.  At least, they should be considered as such until they show otherwise.  Hamburg, however, may not be in for the downturn many are expecting.  Some see the sky falling without van der Vaart.  Jol seems to have his players believing otherwise.

Links
Jol happy with comeback draw against Bayern
Bayern held to 2-2 draw by Hamburg
Bayern held on Klinsmann’s debut
Bayern 2-2 Hamburg: Trochowski hits equaliser
Bayern held in opener
Klinsmann: Still Work to Do
Champions Bayern held in opener
Bayern Held By HSV In Bundesliga Opener
Bayern held by Hamburg in Klinsmann’s first game
Bayern held on Klinsmann’s debut