[GERMANY] Hoffenheim rolled on with a convincing home win over Hoffenheim to retain top spot, after Leverkusen had again leapfrogged the Bundesliga newcomers for a night following Friday's 2-0 home win over Wolfsburg. Bayern Munich eventually dispatched Bielefeld, while Werder Bremen returned to high-scoring form when it steam-rollered Hertha Berlin, 5-1.
Hoffenheim's 4-1 win was by no means flattering as the newly promoted side continued to win in crowd-thrilling style on a brace apiece for Nigerian striker Cinedu Obasi, giving him five goals in the last four games, and Bosnian Vedad Ibisevic, who now has 13 for the season. Karlsruhe keeper Markus Miller had kept the score down to 1-1 by halftime with a series of full-stretch saves, but could do nothing to stop a three-goal onslaught in 11 second-half minutes that reaped three more points for the league leader.
"We didn't start well, but the players' reaction at 1-1 was remarkable," said Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick. His Karlsruhe counterpart Edmund Becker said, "If you want to compete with Hoffenheim right now, you have to run non-stop, keep your defensive shape, and make very few mistakes. Its victory was highly deserved."
Bayern Munich made hard work of its home win over lowly Arminia Bielefeld, with Miroslav Klose's opportunistic first-half goal quickly canceled out by an Artur Wichniarek penalty for the visitors. Bayern's team engine Franck Ribery restored the lead 15 minutes from time, and Lukas Podolski scored a late penalty to make the final score 3-1. Bayern moved up into third, four points off the lead.
Bayern coach Juergen Klinsmann said he was happy that his side eventually took the three points and that it kept up its winning run. "We had to be patient against a very compact Arminia team," he added, "and there were a couple of things we could have done better." Like Karlsruhe's Becker, defeated coach Michael Frontzeck admitted that Bayern's win was "thoroughly deserved," despite his side having played a good first half.
Lead by Brazilian playmaker Diego, who scored one and created two, Bremen ended its winless streak of four by whupping Hertha Berlin at home by five goals to one. Hertha was without its highly rated Czech starting goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny, who withdrew an hour before kickoff with a muscle problem, leaving youth team keeper Christopher Gaeng, the team's third choice, to make an unhappy debut. Hertha was 3-0 down by halftime, with Gaeng at fault on two of the goals, then Claudio Pizarro added two more after the break to take his season's total to seven.
Hamburg's season continued its up and down course. Last weekend it lost 3-0 at Hoffenheim, in midweek it beat Stuttgart 2-0, and on Saturday it lost 3-0 on the road again, this time to Hannover, for whom U.S. defender Steve Cherundolo played through. Bastian Schulz, Jan Schlaudraff and Jiri Stajner scored for Hannover in what kicker magazine called a "passionate" performance. "We have to play better away from home," observed Hamburg coach Martin Jol, a safe bet for stating the obvious every week, while Hannover's Dieter Hecking praised his side's commitment from the go, but added, "We can't get complacent, we have to work onwards from this result."
A major surprise in Stuttgart, where Cologne won 3-1 on two goals from Slovenian striker Milivoje Novakovic, bringing him to seven for the season, and an injury time strike from Portuguese midfielder Petit. Stuttgart coach Armin Veh lamented allowing a "fatal" early goal, and praised his team for its fight after going 2-0 down. Cologne's Christoph Daum called the harvest of his side's win "bonus points" in the fight to avoid relegation and reach mid-table security."
Schalke moved up to fourth with a 2-0 win at bottom-place Cottbus with late goals from defender Heiko Westermann and Peruvian forward Jefferson Farfan, despite being down to 10 men after Dutch midfielder Orlando Engelaar took a red card for insulting a linesman. "Even with 10 men, I wouldn't have been happy with a point here," said Schalke coach Fred Rutten, "but we reacted very well to the red card."
Leverkusen's Friday night win over Wolfsburg that left it in second place and one point off the lead after the weekend's action came courtesy of goal from Swiss midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta and forward Stefan Kiessling. Eintracht Frankfurt picked up its first away win of the season, and its third victory in four outings, with a 2-1 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach. U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley came on just before the hour after Frankfurt had taken the 2-1 lead, but succeeded only in missing a good chance to equalize. Finally, struggling Bochum picked up a valuable point at Dortmund in a 1-1 tie.
HIGHLIGHT (VIDEO): Diego's chest trap and overhead volley to put Werder Bremen 2-0 up against Hertha Berlin.