The date is Monday the 25th of April 2011, I'm facing the most important few months of my life, with university finals looming only weeks away. Despite this stress, I feel there has been no better time to begin my life's mission as an Englishman. That mission being the proselytizing of all things German football. This mission came to me many moons ago, when I found out the dirty secret of my own domestic football culture. While most of today's football fans have a relatively complete knowledge of todays game, I'm sure if I asked many of my mates to name Freiburg's leading goalscorer in the Bundesliga this season I would meet a room of silence. This blog is an attempt to feel this cultural vacuum, the empty dialogical space that should be filled with debate on Europe's most competitive football league. Despite this, I know for certain that what I'm about to undertake is not purely an illumination for todays common football fan, but also for myself. While many find it weird that I often refer to Werder Bremen Captain Torsten Frings as if he were a religious deity, I too accept that the Bundesliga remains an enigma for me also, shrouded in a murkey haze. My ambition then is not purely to use this blog to attack Mikel Silvestre as a footballer, or heap praise upon Hoffenheim, but to curtail the myth that the Bundesliga lacks the attraction of Europes top leagues in la liga and the Premiership and hopefully convey what this glorious division has to offer. With Season tickets limited and prices lowered, allowing average day fans to get match day tickets, its clear that we are witnessing a resurgence in the German game. Combined with this tickets come with in bulit train tickets, and on match day your allowed to drink beer and sing! Is this the future template for football, are we going to see children in Africa walking around with FC Kaiserslauten jerseys? I doubt it. But as a match day framework and with its clear success, will the German game soon challenge La liga and the Premiership for status, especially with Germany's increased status in international football of late (a new generation an all that shit)
Here are my top three Bundes classics.(match day songs)
1.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAxJgtsliUo&playnext=1&list=PLEF2C2CA45F7EA708
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK_bRU_FrHI
3.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVKjwfFUHrI&feature=related
This weekends results.
Bayern Leverkusen {2-1} 1899 Hoffenheim
Frankfurt {1-1} Munich
Schalke {0-1} FC Kaiserslauten
FC St. Pauli {1-3} Werder Bremen
Stuttgart {3-0} Hamburg
Borussia Monchengladbach {1-0} Borussia Dortmund
Woflsburg {4-1} Koln
FC Nuremberg {0-0} FC Mainz.
Wolfsburg triumph in a rare victory that salvages survival hope.
As you are aware, to cover every match in detail is unachievable given my current if failing academic calender. Given this, I will focus each week on what I believe to be perhaps the most important game of the week. This week we travel to former club manager and international umbrella stand, Steve McClaren's club Wolfsburg, and ask the question; how can a team that only won the title in 2009, be staring relegation in the face. Is this purely testament to Steve McClaren's managerial ability, the anarchic nature of the league, or like Gazza with a fishing rod and a chicken sandwich, are we witnessing a more internal (club) breakdown. In sum, from what I understand, McClaren never held the dressing room, or the board room, but despite this and his decision to sell Dzeko most argue that like all failing clubs this is a mixture of on and off field instability. Off the field is always a difficult point to analyse so we must look on the field. Arguably, Wolfsburg haven't invested wisely, or at least their signings haven't delivered. The two key culprits being Diego (15 million euro's), who formerly bossed the Bundesliga in his stint at Werder bremen <3, and simon Kjaer (I think it was about 9 million euro's), who, though has clear quality has failed to offer the security in defense that was expected. As well as this, key arrivals were brought in at January in former Leverkusen ace Patrick Helmes and Stoke magician Tuncay, with both arrivals seemingly still adjusting to the rough currents of Wolfsburg. With the convincing victory over Cologne however, Wolfsburg now need to push on in their next crunch game against my struggling team Werder Bremen who remarkably impressed in their match on saturday against St Pauli. With only three games left of the season, Wolfsburg will need to secure at least 6 points in order to keep their first division status. In next weeks post I will be analyzing the spirited Werder Bremen winger, Marko Marin.
