footie ramblings...
If you haven't heard yet - Germany won the World Cup! Can't say that often enough. Read more here.
Other than that, there was Bundesliga.
Bayern and Leverkusen played very well and provided with an interesting and exciting match, and I'm glad that in the end, Bayern took the points home, not only because Michael Rensing was in the goal. Apparently, Kahn injured his elbow during the warming-up. It really isn't easy for a goalie to have no practice at all, only training, and fill in when Olli Kahn doesn't feel like playing - or can't. But OMG, Rense. His performance amazed me. Awesome saves. My uncle and I both had to pick our jaws up from the floor on several occasions. Seriously, if Rense keeps playing like this, if he continues to take his chances, and if he manages to keep up his excellent performance when he becomes #1 at the end of this season, there's a good chance Löw might take Rense to the Euro08, and nobody else.
***
But back to the match. I wonder how it would have turned out if the referee hadn't made the grave mistake of disallowing Klose's goal. A decisive mistake, I daresay, because if Leverkusen had fallen behind at this point, they would have had to open their midfield much earlier and perhaps allowed Bayern a couple more chances. After Hilbert's disallowed goal against Werder and Asamoah's disallowed goal against Bielefeld (6th matchday), this bad decision was the third one in only three matchdays. Too much, if you ask me. And now, everyone's discussing about goal cameras. I don't think a goal camera is a good solution. Not only would they require a head referee to stop the match and watch the video and then decide, which takes time, it would also catalyse the discussion about cameras all over the place and a fourth referee watching them from the sidelines, which at this point, comes too early. Such a matter must not be decided in haste. In my opinion, it would help to have two extra referees standing behind the goals and watching the goal lines, like they have them in ice hockey and other sports. When the ball approaches, they can signal the referee if it was a goal or not, which saves time. It also leaves an opportunity for human mistakes, of course, but apparently, those are wanted by the referee board because otherwise, we'd have the fourth man with monitors at the sideline already. *coughs* And to be completely honest, from where the line referee was standing when Klose scored against Leverkusen, he should have seen that the ball had passed the line because there was nobody in his way and the penalty area was completely clear. >.<
***
Moving on. Werder thrashed Bielefeld 8-1, and I'm still wondering how that could have happened. Bielefeld didn't start badly into this season, beat Wolfsburg, Hertha and Rostock and drew against Frankfurt. Granted, they lost their last two games (Schalke and Hannover), but during those, their performance was nothing like the one in Bremen. Either they weren't in the mood to play, or they forgot the entire idea of football within a second before the match. Or Werder's teamsluts bribed them with sex. And Werder? Granted, the 4-0 defeat against Bayern might not say much, but they lost 3-0 to Dortmund of all teams! DORTMUND! I haven't seen the match, just the summary, so if anyone can explain how Werder managed to score eight goals against Bielefeld, they should please do so. I'm listening attentively.
***
Speaking of Dortmund, I read an article in the kicker magazine this week in which Weidenfeller voiced his annoyance about the goalie discussion "that shouldn't be one". Just to clarify: Of this season's 8 matches, Dortmund lost five and won three. After the fourth matchday, Weidenfeller had to serve a three-match-ban for calling Asamoah a "gay pig" when Dortmund played Schalke. (Which still annoys me to no end. Apparently, a homophobic insult is less wrong than a racist insult. Can someone explain the reason for this non-equal treatment to me? Because I'm at a loss.) Anyway. Marc Ziegler, Dortmund's second goalie, kept his goal clean during his three matches (Cottbus, Rostock and Werder), and Doll said immediately that this won't change anything, that after having served his ban, Weidenfeller would return without question. And Weidenfeller returned, and Dortmund lost against Hertha, HSV and KSC. Granted, Cottbus and Rostock might not have been such difficult opponents, but Duisburg wasn't either, and yet Dortmund lost against them. Now, the media and the fans question Weidenfeller, wondering if Marc Ziegler shouldn't be given a permanent spot in Dortmund's goal. Weidenfeller might not be a bad goalkeeper, and it's true that most of the goals he got weren't his fault, but a keeper's job is also to direct the defense, to organize them, to prevent them from acting like headless chickens, and apparently, Ziegler is better at this. A goalie discussion that shouldn't be one? My ass.
***
And - KSC. What a surprise! I can't say I followed them actively last season, but I kept a sharp eye on the second league because of FCA and I watched the League Cup match they played against Schalke. Considering this, I never would have expected them to manage such an awesome start into the Bundesliga! Victories against Nürnberg, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, Frankfurt and Dortmund, a close loss against Hannover, and only two obvious losses against Leverkusen and Bayern speak for themselves! I don't think anyone would have guessed them to land on rank three at the end of the eighth matchday, ahead of strong teams like Leverkusen and Hamburg! Funny how at the end of last season, everyone seemed to scream about Federico transferring to Dortmund. Now this transfer doesn't look too bad anymore, and gets improved further by the excellent transfers of Timm, Iashvili, and Hajnal - and Görlitz, the loan from Bayern! I'm very curious how this will continue! Not that I want KSC to reach a position that opens the doors to a European tournament for them, as they're not ready for that yet, but if they keep up this performance, they won't have to worry about staying promoted. :)
***
Sebastian Deisler broke the silence about his person. In an interview, he explained the reasons for his retreat last season and voiced his realization of "not having been made for this business. It took hold of me so quickly, didn't give me time to grow, to become an adult. I didn't even have the time to make mistakes." The check of 20 million Mark (about 10 million Euros) that Bayern paid Hertha for the transfer seemed to ignite it all. The check was revealed to the public in the morning, and in the afternoon, during the match against HSV, Deisler suffered his first major injury. "I got insulted when I sat in the audience with my crutches and couldn't play. I should have quit then, but I couldn't let go." It's now quite impossible for him to return to the football business. His contract with Bayern is officially laid to rest until 2009, but it seems unlikely he'll pick it up again and take a job at the club. It made me very sad to read this. Deisler was an amazing player and deserved so much. Instead, he was destroyed by an unkind career. It's just unfair.
***
In other news: Werder want Poldi again. I'm curious how that will turn out.
Nürnberg's Javier Pinola injured his shin in a challenge with Castro and will be out for the rest of the first season half.
Hertha's Didier Drogba Lucio got stuck in the grass in the match against Schalke and injured himself so severely that he'll have to pause for six to nine months.
Miro Klose might not play in the second leg against Belenenses. In a duel yesterday, Kießling hit the same part of Klose's right knee that Naldo injured with his foul two months ago.
And I think I have babbled enough.
Other than that, there was Bundesliga.
Bayern and Leverkusen played very well and provided with an interesting and exciting match, and I'm glad that in the end, Bayern took the points home, not only because Michael Rensing was in the goal. Apparently, Kahn injured his elbow during the warming-up. It really isn't easy for a goalie to have no practice at all, only training, and fill in when Olli Kahn doesn't feel like playing - or can't. But OMG, Rense. His performance amazed me. Awesome saves. My uncle and I both had to pick our jaws up from the floor on several occasions. Seriously, if Rense keeps playing like this, if he continues to take his chances, and if he manages to keep up his excellent performance when he becomes #1 at the end of this season, there's a good chance Löw might take Rense to the Euro08, and nobody else.
***
But back to the match. I wonder how it would have turned out if the referee hadn't made the grave mistake of disallowing Klose's goal. A decisive mistake, I daresay, because if Leverkusen had fallen behind at this point, they would have had to open their midfield much earlier and perhaps allowed Bayern a couple more chances. After Hilbert's disallowed goal against Werder and Asamoah's disallowed goal against Bielefeld (6th matchday), this bad decision was the third one in only three matchdays. Too much, if you ask me. And now, everyone's discussing about goal cameras. I don't think a goal camera is a good solution. Not only would they require a head referee to stop the match and watch the video and then decide, which takes time, it would also catalyse the discussion about cameras all over the place and a fourth referee watching them from the sidelines, which at this point, comes too early. Such a matter must not be decided in haste. In my opinion, it would help to have two extra referees standing behind the goals and watching the goal lines, like they have them in ice hockey and other sports. When the ball approaches, they can signal the referee if it was a goal or not, which saves time. It also leaves an opportunity for human mistakes, of course, but apparently, those are wanted by the referee board because otherwise, we'd have the fourth man with monitors at the sideline already. *coughs* And to be completely honest, from where the line referee was standing when Klose scored against Leverkusen, he should have seen that the ball had passed the line because there was nobody in his way and the penalty area was completely clear. >.<
***
Moving on. Werder thrashed Bielefeld 8-1, and I'm still wondering how that could have happened. Bielefeld didn't start badly into this season, beat Wolfsburg, Hertha and Rostock and drew against Frankfurt. Granted, they lost their last two games (Schalke and Hannover), but during those, their performance was nothing like the one in Bremen. Either they weren't in the mood to play, or they forgot the entire idea of football within a second before the match. Or Werder's teamsluts bribed them with sex. And Werder? Granted, the 4-0 defeat against Bayern might not say much, but they lost 3-0 to Dortmund of all teams! DORTMUND! I haven't seen the match, just the summary, so if anyone can explain how Werder managed to score eight goals against Bielefeld, they should please do so. I'm listening attentively.
***
Speaking of Dortmund, I read an article in the kicker magazine this week in which Weidenfeller voiced his annoyance about the goalie discussion "that shouldn't be one". Just to clarify: Of this season's 8 matches, Dortmund lost five and won three. After the fourth matchday, Weidenfeller had to serve a three-match-ban for calling Asamoah a "gay pig" when Dortmund played Schalke. (Which still annoys me to no end. Apparently, a homophobic insult is less wrong than a racist insult. Can someone explain the reason for this non-equal treatment to me? Because I'm at a loss.) Anyway. Marc Ziegler, Dortmund's second goalie, kept his goal clean during his three matches (Cottbus, Rostock and Werder), and Doll said immediately that this won't change anything, that after having served his ban, Weidenfeller would return without question. And Weidenfeller returned, and Dortmund lost against Hertha, HSV and KSC. Granted, Cottbus and Rostock might not have been such difficult opponents, but Duisburg wasn't either, and yet Dortmund lost against them. Now, the media and the fans question Weidenfeller, wondering if Marc Ziegler shouldn't be given a permanent spot in Dortmund's goal. Weidenfeller might not be a bad goalkeeper, and it's true that most of the goals he got weren't his fault, but a keeper's job is also to direct the defense, to organize them, to prevent them from acting like headless chickens, and apparently, Ziegler is better at this. A goalie discussion that shouldn't be one? My ass.
***
And - KSC. What a surprise! I can't say I followed them actively last season, but I kept a sharp eye on the second league because of FCA and I watched the League Cup match they played against Schalke. Considering this, I never would have expected them to manage such an awesome start into the Bundesliga! Victories against Nürnberg, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, Frankfurt and Dortmund, a close loss against Hannover, and only two obvious losses against Leverkusen and Bayern speak for themselves! I don't think anyone would have guessed them to land on rank three at the end of the eighth matchday, ahead of strong teams like Leverkusen and Hamburg! Funny how at the end of last season, everyone seemed to scream about Federico transferring to Dortmund. Now this transfer doesn't look too bad anymore, and gets improved further by the excellent transfers of Timm, Iashvili, and Hajnal - and Görlitz, the loan from Bayern! I'm very curious how this will continue! Not that I want KSC to reach a position that opens the doors to a European tournament for them, as they're not ready for that yet, but if they keep up this performance, they won't have to worry about staying promoted. :)
***
Sebastian Deisler broke the silence about his person. In an interview, he explained the reasons for his retreat last season and voiced his realization of "not having been made for this business. It took hold of me so quickly, didn't give me time to grow, to become an adult. I didn't even have the time to make mistakes." The check of 20 million Mark (about 10 million Euros) that Bayern paid Hertha for the transfer seemed to ignite it all. The check was revealed to the public in the morning, and in the afternoon, during the match against HSV, Deisler suffered his first major injury. "I got insulted when I sat in the audience with my crutches and couldn't play. I should have quit then, but I couldn't let go." It's now quite impossible for him to return to the football business. His contract with Bayern is officially laid to rest until 2009, but it seems unlikely he'll pick it up again and take a job at the club. It made me very sad to read this. Deisler was an amazing player and deserved so much. Instead, he was destroyed by an unkind career. It's just unfair.
***
In other news: Werder want Poldi again. I'm curious how that will turn out.
Nürnberg's Javier Pinola injured his shin in a challenge with Castro and will be out for the rest of the first season half.
Hertha's Didier Drogba Lucio got stuck in the grass in the match against Schalke and injured himself so severely that he'll have to pause for six to nine months.
Miro Klose might not play in the second leg against Belenenses. In a duel yesterday, Kießling hit the same part of Klose's right knee that Naldo injured with his foul two months ago.
And I think I have babbled enough.