Bundesbag Week 10 and DFB Pokal 3rd Round: Stuttgart and Dortmund feel the magic

It is very likely that Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel may be out of the job after the forthcoming weekend. He received the dreaded vote of confidence after their 1-0 defeat to improving Hannover 96 last Saturday but the club's Sporting Director Horst Heldt made it clear that he was looking for a response against the 2 Bundesliga side Greuther Furth in the German Cup (DFB Pokal) on Tuesday. He didn't get one. With a largely unchanged side, Stuttgart were defeated 1-0 and are out of the Cup.

The Reds didn't start last season too well either and Armin Vey last his job as a consequence. However they did win half of their first ten matches in the 2008/09 Bundesliga campaign. This season they have only won two league games in the first eleven and have lost their last five matches in all competitions. Their Champions League campign is in tatters and they are effectively joint second from bottom of the Bundesliga sharing points with 'Gladbach, Nurnberg and Bochum. Babbel is a young and inexperienced coach and people may argue that he needs more time but if recent history is any judge, he will not get it. He has received muted backing from the board this morning (Thursday) but their next game is at home to the unpredictable Bayern Munich. Lose that game and surely it's curtains for Babbel.

Bayern themselves are not exactly having a great time of things and their coach Louis van Gaal needs a convincing result on Saturday to keep on Uli Hoeness' good side. They squeezed past Frankfurt in the league last weekend only to be confronted by them once again in the cup last night. This time the going was much easier and the Bavarians ran Eintracht Frankfurt into the ground with a 4-0 win. Miro Klose scored a brace along with Tommy Muller and Luca Toni who is returning to fitness.

While Stuttgart's cup exit is bad because it is part of a broader context. Dortmund's 3-2 defeat to Third Division Osnabruck was more of an up front embarrassment. A late goal by Lucas Barrios added a veneer of respectability to the result but no-one should be fooled into believing that it was anything less than a convincing win. Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp certainly isn't and was fulsome in his praise of Osnabruck after the match. The good news for Dortmund fans is that Barrios keeps scoring. His consolation was his fourth in four matches following on from BVB's 0-0 draw with Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen last weekend.

There will be a another lower division team in the quarter final draw thanks to the all-second division clash between Duisberg and Augsberg, the latter winning the game 5-0. Apart from that the rest of the round was free of upsets. Hoffenheim hammered Koblenz 4-0 which brings their goal tally to seven games in two after beating Nurnberg at the weekend. Koln could only manage a goalless draw with 'Gladbach at the weekend but are safely through in the cup at the expense of Trier. Bremen are in no mood to take any jip from anyone right now. They thrashed Bochum 4-1 on Sunday and went slightly easier on Kaiserslautern last night, only winning 3-0.

While the news from Schalke's accountants is grim, on the pitch things are looking up for the Royal Blues. A pulsating 3-3 draw with Hamburg (including a last gasp equaliser from Kevin Kuranyi), pegged the League leaders back and keeps them in contention in the Bundesliga. They are also still in the cup thanks to a 3-0 win at 1860 Munich.

It was a quiet mid-week for Wolfsburg and Hertha. Last week I suggested that the only way the Berliners would improve is by dragging the opposition down to their level. Given that they held the Champions to a 0-0 draw last weekend, it looks like they are doing just that.

That's it. Results and tables here.

Bundesbag Extra: Hamburg and Leverkusen crash out of Cup

Cup Fever gripped Germany this week as the Second Round of the DFB Pokal took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The first round saw a few Bundesliga scalps claimed and a managerial casualty to boot. While it is unlikely that any coaches will be tugging nervously at their collars today, there are a few Bundesliga clubs who have a little more time on their hands thanks to dramatic defeats at the hands of lower division teams.

The biggest shock of the round was at the Osnatel-Arena, home to Vfl Osnabruck of the third division. There, the home team beat Bundesliga leaders Hamburg in a dramatic penalty shoot-out. The home side opened the scoring with a goal from Niels Hansen. His team-mate Benjamin Siegart doubled their lead and an upset was very much on the cards, however, Bruno Labbadia's men struck back with Mladen Petric and Piotr Trachowski drawing the northern giants level.

The game went into extra time and it looked as though the dream was over for the Lilywhites when Guy Demel put Hamburg 3-2 up. However, Henning Grieneisen equalised and forced the tie to penalties.

The shoot-out was a foregone conclusion. After all, Osnabruck had far more Germans in their team. They won 4-2. Mladen Petric missed the deciding spot kick, covered his face with shame and pandemonium ensued as the Osnabruck fans celebrated a famous Cup victory.

But Hamburg won't be the only team going to the Pub Quiz during Cup nights. Bayer Leverkusen, placed second in the Bundesliga, are also out. Their conquerors were none other than Kaiserslautern, the Bundesliga team of the 90's, now wallowing in the 2 Bundesliga. Sidney Sam and Erik Jenrisek were the goal heroes at the Fritz Walter Stadion.

The other two upsets are perhaps less surprising. 'Gladbach suffered an embarrassing 1-0 defeat at Borussia Park thanks to a last minute winner from Kristoffer Andersen. Hertha's atrocious form continued in Munich as they went 2-0 down to 1860 Munich. The Berliners pulled themselves together and bounced back with two goals. However, they too fell foul of the dreaded penalties and 1860 advanced to the Third Round.

There was an upset of sorts as Koln beat Bundesliga champions Wolsfburg 3-2. Judging by the reaction of both teams, the Cup obviously means a great deal to these players and their managers. Wolsfburg coach Armin Vey stormed off down the tunnel after the final whistle. Clearly a very unhappy man.

Kudos also to Lubeck who so very nearly beat Stuttgart only to lose out in extra time, 3-1.

It was an emotional night of Cup football. My thanks to the Bundesbag's good friend The Third Half who was providing Twitter commentary of the events in Germany. The Third Round takes place at the end of October. Click here to see all the results.

Bundesliga Preview: Dieter Hecking's Troubled Brow

The German football season actually kicked off two Saturdays ago as the Third Division (3-Liga) got underway. In fact two rounds had already been played before last weekend when the first round of the DFB Pokal (that's the German Cup to you and me) was played. In this round the minnows from the 2 Bundesliga, 3-Liga and the three Regionaliga try to catch the big boys off guard as they prepare themselves for the big kick off this weekend. It proved to be a weekend to forget for two Bundesliga teams. One would see their coach sacked before a ball is kicked in the League while the other has added an extra layer of furrow on one of Germany's finest pair of eyebrows.

Mainz coach Jorn Andersen must have known that life in the Bundesliga would be tough for his newly promoted side. The club's natural place in the League structure is in the 2 Bundesliga so they tend to struggle during their brief incursions in the top division. The club have hardly pulled up any transfer trees (unless you count Heinz Muller from Barnsley and most people wouldn't). Nevertheless, Andersen must have thought that he'd be given a bit of time work some managerial wizardry and emulate those heady days when his predecessor, Jurgen Klopp, led them to three consecutive 1 Bundesliga seasons earlier in the decade. It wasn't to be, however, as Andersen was sacked after last Saturday's extra time defeat at Regionaliga club Lubeck.

'A difference of opinion' was given as the reason for his sacking and while the Cup defeat was not named as the specific reason, there had been unrest in the dressing room regarding Andersen's training methods and concern regarding the number of injuries in pre-season. The club have promoted the Under-19 coach Thomas Tuchel as permanent replacement who says that he is "living my dream". The Bundesbag wishes him well but wonders if money and girls would make for better dreams rather than presiding over what could be an unpleasant season.

Dieter Hecking (he of the aforementioned eyebrows) has been in situ as coach at Hannover 96 for a good while longer the his counterpart at Mainz had been. If he survived the turgidity of last season without getting the boot then he could certainly survive a surprise cup defeat to a Regionaliga West team like, say, Eintracht Trier. This is just as well because that's exactly what happened.

Hecking was pretty angry with his players. He dragged them in for extra training and had a go at them to the press. "Some people are going to have to get off their backsides otherwise things are going to be difficult for us." Or more specifically, him.

The rest of the Bundesliga got through pretty comfortably in the end. Only Hamburg really struggled against Fortuna Dusseldorf of 2.Bundesliga who took the northern giants to penalties after a 3-3 draw. New boss Bruno Labbadia moved from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer to replace the Ajax-bound Martin Jol. Labbadia had already lost one of his strikers Ivica Olic to Bayern before he arrived. However, he has managed to secure the services of Ze Roberto from the Munich club. The flying Full Back-come-attacking midfielder is well into his thirties but was not lacking in dynamism last season so should be a good signing. Probably the biggest coup for Hamburg is the signature of Sweden Under-21 striker Marcus Berg who was the subject of much chin-strokage in the board rooms of more fashionable clubs in Europe. However, Hamburg have him and if he lives up to expectations it's going to be an exciting season for both himself and his club.

Labbadia had only been at Leverkusen for one season. Bayer might have hoped to keep such a promising young coach for a while longer. After he left, the club wasted little time in replacing him and opted for experience in the form of Jupp Heynckes who must be pinching himself. You will recall that it was Heynckes who returned to management after a two-year absence in unlikely fashion as the caretaker at Bayern following the dismissal of Jurgen Klinsmann. Well, his efforts were deemed sufficient evidence for Leverkusen to give him a contract at the newly redeveloped Bayarena. His job will be to instill some staying power into his young team so they don't drop off as dramatically as they did last season. They'll have to start without German international striker Patrick Helmes who tore his knee ligaments and will not be back until 2010. Bayer just scraped through to the next round with a 1-0 win at Babelsberg.

However, as one striker climbs onto the treatment table another jumps off raring to go, namely Hoffenheim's Vedad Ibisevic. The Bosnian scored 18 goals in the first half of last season before damaging his cruciate ligaments. He's now back and hopefully will have not lost that scoring touch. Hoffenheim's season went into a downward spiral after his injury. Hopefully a full season in the Bundesliga will yield more goals and a decent finish for the Hoff whose manager Ralf Rangnik continues to build his team on a steady and incremental basis. Hoffenheim are safely through to the second round of the cup after a comfortable 2-0 win over FC Oberneuland.

As are their neighbours Stuttgart who, following the relegation of Karlsruhe, will look to their games with Hoffenheim for local bragging rights. The club had been at the centre of some pretty tasty transfer tittle-tattle this summer after losing Mario Gomez. Dutchman Klaas Jan Huntelaar very nearly joined from Real Madrid but the deal fell through at the last minute. Instead they signed Zenit St Petersburg striker and Russian international Pavel Pogrebnyak. It was his goals that helped Zenit lift the UEFA Cup in Manchester two years ago and the Bundesbag is looking forward to seeing what he can do.

Joining Pogrebnyak is Aleks Hleb who is returning to his old club for one year on loan from Barcelona. If these two new signings click then Markus Babbel's team will be well worth watching when they line up against champions Wolfsburg on Friday evening for the televised opening fixture.

Speaking of the champions, how the season unfolds for them will be one of the more intriguing stories. It is said that provincial clubs that win titles fall away dramatically the following season. However, Wolfsburg are a growing club with investors who are not afraid to splash the cash to sign or in this case, keep their best players. At the end of last season the Bundesbag confidently predicted that the Wolves attacking triumvirate of Edin Dzeko, Grafite and Zvjezdan Misimovic would be gone. Well guess what? the Bundesbag was wrong again. All three players are still there and have signed new contracts. In fact they were all on the scoresheet in their 4-1 cup victory over Wehen Wiesbaden. Dzeko came the closest to leaving but his club stood firm against Milan's offer to bring the Bosnian to the San Siro and seem to have persuaded him that his immediate future is better served where he is. They have been joined by Oberfemi Martins who couldn't get away from Newcastle quick enough.

In Armin Vey the Wolves have a safe pair of hands as a manager and while they may suffer from a lack of experience on the Champions League this season, they are well set for a vigourous defence of their championship or at the very least, qualification for Europe's top competition next season.

The architect of Wolfsburg's success was of course their coach and general manager Felix Magath. You'll recall he sensationally announced his decision to quit at the end of last season to join Schalke. Magath is charged with bringing lasting success to the club. His first job is to try and make sense of the fracture dressing room at Gelsenkirchen. At present he does not have much in the way of a transfer budget. However, on paper, he has a decent squad to work with and assuming he is given time, can whip the Royal Blues into shape. His target is the Bundesliga title in four years. We'll see.

Schalke's neighbours and rivals are Borussia Dortmund. Under new coach Jurgen Klopp BVB were within a gnat's whisker of qualifying for the Europa League last season. If the Kloppmeister can get his team going early doors then the Black and Golds may go one better. They said goodbye to Alex Frei during the summer who brushed off Dortmund to join Basel. However, they have signed Argentine Lucas Barrios from Chilean club Colo Colo for nearly four and a half million euros. He began payback last Saturday by scoring against Weiden in BVB's 3-1 cup victory. Other arrivals at the Westfalon are experienced Bundesliga forward Dimitar Rangelov from Energie Cottbus plus the German youngster Sven Bender from 1860 Munich. Yes that's right Sven Bender. What's so funny?

Staying in that part of the world, BVB and Schalke's smaller cousin is Bochum. Marcel Koller's team struggled last year and not much is known about the additions to his squad. Argentine Diego Klimowicz is a bit of a legend but it will take all their guile and determination to stay up this season. They're still in the Cup though thanks to Klimovitz's single goal against Sportfreunde Lotte.

Let's head south, then, and check in on Koln. Christophe Daum managed to keep this traditional yo-yo club out of trouble last season and finished a creditable if ho-hum mid-table. Daum has since left to rejoin Fenerbache in Turkey and the club have taken a punt on the inexperienced former Croatian international Zvonimir Soldo. The big news however, is the return of the prodigal son Lucas Podolski. Poldi is thrilled to be back, promising to wreck havoc on opposition defences and have his new coach tearing up his notes in despair. This is the man who was described by Raphael Honigstein as "tactically naive" and the Bundesbag can't wait to see him running riot with no thought of the consequences or strategy. Sensibly, Soldo has brought in the veteran Portuguese midfielder Maniche to try and maintain some sort of order. Lucas scored the third of three last weekend as Koln made short work of Kickers Emden.

While Koln celebrate the arrival of a new forward, in Berlin they are pondering the departure of their talisman from the last campaign. Andrei Voronin is back at Liverpool after his extended loan spell at Hertha last season, which proved to be a master stroke by coach Lucien Favre. While the Berliners fell short of winning the title they still had a fantastic season. However, they will have to go some to repeat that success. Perhaps the re-signing of King Artur Wichniarek will prove as successfull? Hertha were taken to extra time by SC Preußen 06 Münster last weekend before finally pulling through as 3-1 winners.

Elsewhere in the capital, a once great club is re-emerging in the shape of Union Berlin who were promoted into the 2 Bundesliga. This former East German club stadium was completely redeveloped with labour and material donated by their supporters in the Iron Union are becoming the feel good story of German football. They may find the going tough, though, and won't have drawn much confidence by the 5-0 thrashing they took at the hands of Werder Bremen. Thomas Schaaf's men may have lost Diego but they have still got Mesut Ozil who will step into the Brazilians boots. Also, they have secured the services of young Marko Marin from Borussia Monchengladbach. The exciting winger was a star in a struggling team and is one of the reasons why Bremen will be a club to watch in the upcoming season.

However, the time has come to address the vexed question of 'Gladbach. Survivors last season under unlikely circumstances, their coach Hans Meyer stood aside to let a younger man in with a new plan and a strategy for creating a platform for this famous old club to grow. The club ended up hiring Michael Frontzeck who had just finished relegating Armenia Bielefeld in May. With the squad's playmakers, Marin and Alexander Baumjohann now departed (the latter to Bayern), the club will be looking to new signing Juan Arango, a Venezuelan international from Mallorca to fill the gap. Arango was among the scorers on Saturday as 'Gladbach beat ten man FSV Frankfurt 2-1.

And while we're in Frankfurt we may as well pop in on Eintracht. They have a new coach in Michael Skibbe who has a lot of work to do after their dreadful season. Skibbe has signed a couple of centre backs which seems as good a place as any to start. They made pretty short work of Kickers Offenbach in the Cup.

Of the two other promoted teams along with Mainz, Freiburg seem the most vulnerable. Apparently they have a very open style but I didn't see much evidence of that when I saw them at Aachen last year. New signing Stefan Reisinger from Greuther Furth scored against Elversburg.

Nurnburg are the final promoted club via the play-offs. There most recent spell in 2 Bundesliga was for just one season and they are expected to stay up. Marek Mintal was their top scorer last season and a good portion of their squad played the last time they were in the Bundelsiga. Arguably they were too good to go down and should therefore fancy their chances of staying up. They beat Dynamo Dresden 3-0 in the Cup.

All of which finds us in Bavaria. Home of Nurnburg and of course Bayern Munich. Despite the criticism and chaos at the Allianz last season, Bayern were still in the title race to the very end. A few saved points here and there wold have handed the Championship to Klinnsy and his players with time to spare. So with new boss Louis Van Gaal instilling some fresh discipline and organisation throughout the team, plus a dazzling array of new and existing attacking options (Ivica Olic, Mario Gomez, Luca Toni, Miro Klose and of course Franck) Bayern have been installed as favorites to be crowned champions in May. Having said that, they have lost Centre Half Lucio to Inter and looked decidedly shaky at the back last season. Ideally, Van Gaal should consider making an intervention in the transfer market before the window closes. Apart from that and assuming Ribery stays, the Bundesbag is tipping Bayern for Bundesliga glory this season. But then the Bundesbag always tips Bayern.

Oh and by the way, they beat Neckerelz in the Cup. Gomez bagged a brace.

That's it, the Bundesbag will return with weekly updates of the Bundesliga from next week. Enjoy the season. If you like your updates 140 characters long you can follow the Bundesbag on Twitter.

Bundesbag Extra: Konzentrat auf der Liga

There are few things we Englanders enjoy more than a good German stereotype. Efficiency, electronic music, good beer and appalling hair being the most prominent examples. Hard work being another. It's also nice to see some of these stereotypes challenged and the Bundesliga winter break certainly does that.

At the risk of repeating an old rant, it was early December when the Bundesbag last posted on SPAOTP. Now, as Easter approaches, the Bundesliga finally returns this weekend after a lengthy break. Lazy lazy Germans. By way of a precursor, the Third Round of the German Cup kicked off midweek with 16 teams looking to make another step along the road to Berlin.

It's been suggested that the the DFB Pokal has grown in prestige as a competition since the Final was moved to a permanent home, the Olympiastadion in the capital. Another factor could be the timing of the fixtures. A good competitive cup tie is just the ticket in the days before a return to League action after a sabbatical and a cursory glance of the line-ups for of the participating Bundesliga clubs seems to bear that out.

There certainly wasn't any evidence of a weakened team at Stuttgart as the home side welcomed Cup holders Bayern Munich. Both teams fielded strong line-ups and if the 5-1 scoreline is anything to go by, it's going to be a long half-season for Stuttgart and a successful one for Bayern. However, two goals from Schweinsteiger plus contributions from Ze Roberto, Luca Toni and Ribery were all overshadowed by the most hilarious penalty gaff from the Frenchman who spooned his shot into the arms of Jens Lehmann.

Bayern meet Hamburg in the Bundesliga this Friday. Martin Jol's team were in action themselves against Bayern's local rivals 1860 Munich who play in 2 Bundesliga. Ivica Olic was linked with a transfer window move to Liverpool. The Hamburgers will be looking forward to that closing with a resounding bang if this week's display is anything to go by. His whizz hat-trick dispatched the Bavarians with only a late consolation from the visitors by way of reply. Unfortunately, Olic is suspended for the game on Friday.

Last season's finalists Borussia Dortmund faced Werder Bremen but won't be repeating their journey to the Final. Werder won 2-1 with Claudio Pizzaro scoring the winner. Dortmund's big rivals Schalke faced a tricky tie away at a combative Carl Zeiss Jena of the Third Division. After a difficult first half, the Gelsenkirchen club ran out 4-1 winners in the end.

No decent cup competition would be complete without an upset and if Karlsruhe losing a football match can be regarded as such, then upset there most definitely was at the Wildparkstadion. SV Wehan Wiesbaden are currently sitting second bottom of the 2. Bundesliga. They now have the added burden of a place in the Cup quarter final after their fantastic 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Ronny Konig. Karlsruhe are left to 'concentrate on the league' as we say here in Blighty.

There was a guaranteed Second Division team in the final eight after Freiberg and Mainz were drawn together. It was the latter who won the day with an impressive 3-1 away win. The remaining lower division team were Rostock. They were dispatched 5-1 by Wolfsburg. Grafite was the rounds second hat trick hero. The final berth goes to Bayer Leverkusen who beat Energie Cottbus 3-1, Patrick Helmes was among the scorers.

That's it for the Cup. Bring on the League. It's great to be back isn't it? Shall we end with some predictions? OK then:

Top Five
Champions: Bayern Munich (nothing can stop them now)
Second: Hamburg
Third: Werder Bremen
Fourth: Bayer Leverkusen
Fifth: Hoffenheim

Cup winners
Wolfsburg

Bottom three
Karlsruhe
Bochum
Borussia Monchengladbach