© EuroFootball.com
After the winter break, the German football championships are picking up pace again. On Saturday, as usual, seven matchdays were played, all three leading teams scored tough victories and increased their lead over lower-ranked opponents in the tournament standings.
The league champions "Bayern" continued their winning streak, defending their title with a narrow victory over "Bayer" at home. The victory for "Bayern" was guaranteed by the solid defense of O. Kahn and a goal by M. Ballack at the end of the first half. After another win, Bavarians remained the only team not dropping any points at home and maintained their lead over the closest pursuers.
The match in Bremen was eventful and entertaining, where the hosts "Werder" had to work hard to defeat mid-table team "Mainz." The game started poorly for "Werder" as the young "Mainz" talent M. Zidane took advantage of a defensive mistake in the 14th second to put his club ahead and send Bremen players and fans into shock. The situation worsened for the hosts in the 13th minute when N. Weiland doubled the lead for his club.
However, "Werder" managed to come back and scored three goals in the last six minutes of the first half, once again confirming themselves as the most productive team in the Bundesliga. After the break, the Bremen club added another goal and finally broke "Mainz" resistance - in the 69th minute, N.H. Valdez scored his second goal after a precise pass from I. Klasnic, putting himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Meanwhile, in the previous round, the "Hamburger" players experienced an unexpected defeat but managed to overcome the guests from Bielefeld in this match. The game started poorly for "Hamburger," and "Arminia" players took advantage of it by scoring in the 26th minute after an I. Boakye goal.
After the break, the coach of the port city club, T. Dollas, revitalized his team by sending forward B. Lauth on the field. Soon after, the hosts managed to equalize after a pass from the club's newcomer N. de Jong, with the young German star P. Trochowski. In the second half, "Hamburger" played more actively and, with about twenty minutes left in the match, scored a winning goal - after a brilliant individual breakthrough through the "Arminia" defenders, M. Mahdavikia passed the ball to S. Barbarez, who scored from around 13 meters. The victory allowed "Hamburger" to keep their hopes of fighting for the league champions title.
In the match between two outsiders of the league, "Duisburg" and "Kaiserslautern," the clubs ended in a 2-2 draw. "Duisburg" was leading until about ten minutes before the end of the match, but "Kaiserslautern" fought until the end and managed to equalize the result, with both goals for the visitors scored in the 79th and 82nd minutes by the recently celebrated 18-year-old German D. Halfar.
The remaining three matchdays ended in draws - "Eintracht" drew 1-1 with "Hertha" at home, while the "Schalke" and "Borussia" match in Gelzenkirchen ended goalless. "Koln" managed to end their losing streak with a 0-0 draw against "Stuttgart" at home. However, the earned point did not improve Koln's position, and they remained at the bottom of the standings.
Statistics of Saturday matches:
1 – 1
20` [0 – 1] Kevin Boateng
58` [1 – 1] Jermaine Jones
2 – 2
40` [1 – 0] Markus Kurth
62` [2 – 0] Mihai Tararache
79` [2 – 1] Daniel Halfar
82` [2 – 2] Daniel Halfar
2 – 1
26` [0 – 1] Isaac Boakye
51` [1 – 1] Piotr Trochowski
73` [2 – 1] Sergej Barbarez
1 – 0
36` [1 – 0] Michael Ballack
0 – 0
0 – 0
4 – 2
1` [0 – 1] Mohamed Zidan
13` [0 – 2] Niclas Weiland
39` [1 – 2] Nelson Valdez
45` [2 – 2] Johan Micoud
45` [3 – 2] Ivan Klasnic
69` [4 – 2] Nelson Valdez
Tournament standings
