It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, but by how much...

At the end of Matchday 25, Bayern Munich found themselves at the top of the Bundesliga standings for the first time since Matchday 7. They were tied on points with Borussia Dortmund, each of whom had 57 points. The difference between first and second was a mere two goals. Bayern had a +35-goal differential [goals scored vs. goals surrendered], while Dortmund’s goal differential was +33. If the standings remain like this through the end of the Bundesliga, Bayern will win on goal differential. However, if both teams are tied on points and also on goal differential, the next tie-breaker is the total number of goals scored during the season. As much as I dislike running up the score in sports, the way the Bundesliga standings are decided actually encourage the strong teams to run it up on weaker opponents as much as possible. If either Bayern or Dortmund are given the opportunity to stand on an opponent’s neck, they’ll do it and won’t feel bad about it in the least. At this point, it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, but by how much.

Yesterday I watched Dortmund play Hertha Berlin. It was one of the best games I’ve seen this season. It was a back-and-forth affair that wasn’t decided until the final minute of stoppage time. Berlin scored first at 4 minutes. Hertha midfielder Salomon Kalou tapped home a blocked shot from defender Maximilian Mittelstädt that Dortmund keeper Roman Bürki couldn’t clear. Ten minutes later Dortmund midfielder Thomas Delaney tied the score with a deflection off Hertha defender Karim Rekik that went past keeper Rune Jarstein. Kalou regained the lead for Hertha at 35 minutes with a penalty shot [handball in the box on Christian Pulisic]. The score remained 2-1 at halftime. Two minutes after play resumed Dortmund evened the score as Dortmund defender Dan-Axel Zagadou made a Jadon Sancho corner. The score remained 2-2 for most of the remainder of the game. Things took a turn against Hertha when defender Jordan Torunarigha received his second yellow card of the match [and the red card to go with it] and was sent off with only five minutes remaining in regulation. Could Hertha hang on for a draw while playing a man down against Dortmund? Dortmund captain Marco Reus provided the answer three minutes into stoppage time by scoring the winning goal. It was a thrilling finish and a heartbreaking loss for Hertha. Since the Matchday 24 loss to Augsburg, Dortmund have now won two in a row to keep pace with Bayern.

There’s not much to write about today’s match between Bayern Munich and FSV Mainz. I always feel sorry for the team that has to play Bayern the match after a Bayern loss. Today’s match was no different. Bayern demolished Mainz 6-0. Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski padded his Bundesliga goal lead [18] at just three minutes into the game, and Bayern didn’t look back. Midfielder James Rodriguez scored his first hat trick since coming to Bayern on a two-year loan from Real Madrid [I hope Bayern makes the loan permanent]. Kingsley Coman scored once, and rookie Alphonso Davies scored his first Bundesliga goal. He is the youngest Bayern player to score his first goal in twenty years, and is the first Bayern player born in the 2000s to score in the Bundesliga.

This year there is little room for error. Dortmund led the Bundesliga by as much as nine points, but they have seen their lead disappear with a slump after the winter break. Meanwhile, Bayern have scored 17 goals in their last three games while surrendering only one in the same period [defeating Borussia Monchengladbach 5-1, Wolfsburg 6-0, and Mainz 6-0]. Dortmund are out of the DFB-Pokal tournament [courtesy of Werder Bremen], and they are out of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) [courtesy of Tottenham]. Bayern are still in the DFB-Pokal, but Liverpool knocked them out of the UCL a few days ago – it wasn’t even close.

Dortmund and Bayern are still even on points with 60 each, but Bayern have increased their goal differential lead to seven. The two teams meet on April 6th. Dortmund won the first match in Dortmund 3-2. The return match is in Munich’s Allianz Arena. I have the date circled on my calendar. Dortmund captain Marco Reus put it best:

"The title race will stay tight until the end".

Bayern Munich Pummel Borussia Mönchengladbach

Leave it to Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach [BMG] to make a liar out of me. I thought today’s Matchday 24 meeting at Borussia Park would be a hard-fought, very close game. Yesterday I said BMG was a tough opponent, maybe because they beat Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena 3-0 on Matchday 7. Maybe it was because they sat behind Bayern in third place. And maybe because traditionally BMG play Bayern very tough. I also said Bayern would have to win 7-0 to take over first place, and I opined that I didn’t see that happening. It’s a good thing I’m good at what I do in my day job because I suck as a prognosticator. Bayern Munich pummeled BMG today 5-1. They trail Borussia Dortmund by the slimmest of margins for first place in the Bundesliga. Both have 54 points, but Dortmund has a better goal differential [31 vs 29 for Bayern]. We have ourselves a title fight for once.

BMG’s defense came unglued today because Bayern were relentless on the attack from the opening whistle. With only one minute gone, Thomas Müller made a pass to Robert Lewandowski right in front of BMG’s goal. BMG keeper Yann Sommer deflected the shot wide, resulting in a Bayern corner kick. James Rodriguez took the kick, which Javi Martinez headed it in at the near corner. Bayern had the lead at two minutes. Nine minutes later Bayern struck again. Thomas Müller took a pass from Serge Gnabry. Both Müller and Lewandowski were running toward the goal. Müller connected, Sommer blocked it, but Müller followed through on the rebound and put it away. Bayern were up 2-0. BMG were a bit shell-shocked.

BMG halved Bayern’s lead at 38 minutes. After some fine passing on their left flank, BMG scored on a break when Thorgan Hazard beat Niklas Süle, passed the ball right between Süle’s legs to assist Lars Stindl. Bayern led 2-1, but it could have been much worse. Yann Sommer put in an outstanding performance before his defenders utterly collapsed around him. BMG’s defense didn’t have a clue today because Bayern were ruthless on the counterattack. BMG’s defenders were back on their heels the entire first half. They seemed totally unprepared for Bayern’s pace and aggressiveness.

Two minutes after halftime, Bayern struck again. BMG made yet another poor pass on defense, which Thiago intercepted. He delivered a nice, short forward pass to Lewandowski. He collected the ball, split two BMG defenders and put the ball past Sommer. Sommer had no chance of stopping this one, which was Lewandowski’s fourth shot on goal. Bayern led 3-1. The game was still in doubt as BMG gathered themselves and began to maintain possession equal with Bayern for the next 28 minutes. But at the 75th minute, disaster struck BMG. Bayern caught BMG unprepared yet again. Joshua Kimmich found Lewandowski with a perfect cross, but Lewandowski’s header flew straight into Sommer’s chest. Lewandowski couldn’t come up with the rebound cleanly, but neither could Sommer. BMG defender Nico Elvedi tried to clear the ball, but instead he sent the ball straight to a waiting Serge Gnabry. Gnabry buried it – Bayern lead 4-1. The game was effectively over at this point. Bayern coach Niko Kovacs started to substitute on younger players to give them some playing time.

As they say in the infomercials, “but wait, there’s more”. The game reached the 90-minute mark when Thorgan Hazard brought down Joshua Kimmich in the penalty area. On replay it looked like Kimmich slipped, but the referee awarded the penalty. Robert Lewandowski took the penalty and he didn’t miss. His second goal of the game ties him with Claudio Pizarro as the highest-scoring non-German in Bundesliga history. Game over – Bayern win 5-1.

Augsburg Stun Dortmund

On paper, this would be a blowout. Borussia Dortmund ended their five-game winless streak last week against a very good Bayer Leverkusen team, 3-2. On the other side, FC Augsburg got hammered by SC Frieberg, 5-1. At kickoff, Borussia Dortmund stood at the top of the Bundesliga standings with 54 points, 3 points clear of second-place Bayern Munich. FC Augsburg stood fourth from the bottom at 18 points. They were only two points clear of Stuttgart, who currently are locked into the relegation playoff spot. Dortmund captain Marco Reus returned from his injury. One would think this would be an easy game for Dortmund. That turned out not to be the case.

In the first minute, it looked like this game would go as expected when an early defensive lapse almost resulted in a Dortmund goal. Luckily for Augsburg Dortmund couldn’t capitalize. Dortmund continued to press Augsburg’s defense. At 16:28 Augsburg had to make a defensive change due to defender Kostas Stafylidis getting injured [Austrian defender Georg Teigl came on in his place]. Augsburg’s defense settled down after the first 20 minutes and began to play fairly well.

South Korean striker Dong-won Ji [subbing for the injured Alfreð Finnbogason (calf)] opened the scoring for Augsburg at 23:45. Dortmund defender Dan-Axel Zagadou made a critical error, allowing Augsburg midfielder André Hahn to get around him to make a cross to Ji, who was positioned in front of Dortmund’s goal. The score remained 1-0 in favor of Augsburg at the half. Dortmund controlled possession of the ball 65 percent of the time, but could not score. Augsburg keeper Gregor Kobel was very busy in the first half, but he and Augsburg’s defense held Dortmund scoreless. Dortmund kept pressing but couldn’t break through.

Playing conditions were not ideal. It was 46F at kickoff. It started to rain, and the rain got steadily worse in the second half. At 65 minutes, Dortmund substituted defender Raphael Guerreiro for Marco Reus, and they also brought on striker Paco Alcácer for midfielder Thomas Delaney. Shortly thereafter, Dong-won Ji scored his second goal against Dan-Axel Zagadou at 68 after another Dortmund defensive miscue [Achraf Hakimi]. Zagadou was not having a good game. Augsburg were up 2-0. It was Ji’s first brace in six years. The field was wet and slippery, which made Dortmund’s task of catching Augsburg that much harder.

At 75 minutes Paco Alcácer [all he does is score goals] made a shot on goal that was denied by a brilliant save from Gregor Kobel. Alcácer had begun to celebrate when he realized he was denied by Kobel. It was the second brilliant save Kobel would make today. Alcácer’s celebration would have to wait. Alcácer didn’t have to wait long as he did score at the 81st minute. His goal cut Augsburg’s lead in half, making the game 2-1. Things got a bit chippy between André Hahn and Raphael Guerreiro, both of whom received yellow cards for their trouble. Dortmund made a ferocious charge to try to rescue a point in the standings, but Augsburg were too tough and too inspired for them today. After four minutes of stoppage time, Augsburg upset Dortmund, 2-1. Augsburg earned their first win at home against Dortmund ever.

Dortmund’s grip on first place is tenuous at best. At one time they were nine points clear of their nearest competitor. But now defending champion Bayern Munich are breathing down their necks, and Dortmund is starting to feel it. Bayern Munich will have to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 7-0 to take over first place. I don’t see that happening since BMG beat Bayern in the fall at the Allianz Arena. BMG are tough this year.

Dortmund in Trouble

Scoreless draws are usually boring as hell to watch. When they’re on, I usually “speed watch” them. Today’s Matchday 22 game between Borussia Dortmund and FC Nürnberg was not one of those games. At kickoff, Dortmund were sitting at the top of the Bundesliga standings [51 points], two points clear of Bayern Munich. FC Nürnberg are bringing up the rear, sitting in last place with a measly 12 points. At this stage of any Bundesliga season, no team with as few points as FC Nürnberg have avoided relegation to the second division. Today was a “first vs. last” clash. I expected Dortmund to win in a blowout like they did the first time the two teams met this season [Dortmund won at home, 7-0]. That didn’t happen today.

FC Nürnberg goalie Christian Mathenia more than earned his pay today. For the first half, he was Nürnberg’s only defense [or so it seemed to me]. Mathenia made two brilliant saves against Dortmund’s lone striker Mario Götze. Götze had fired off five of his side’s six efforts on goal by the hour mark, In the second half, Nürnberg’s defenders woke up. It looked as if Nürnberg were happy to settle for a draw, so they packed their defenders in their own penalty area. This made it difficult for Dortmund to break through with a goal. Paco Alcácer substituted for Maximillian Phillip at the 63-minute mark. He narrowly missed scoring when he pushed a shot just wide of Nürnberg’s net. Jacob Bruun Larsen substituted for Dortmund’s Thomas Delaney at the 80th minute. At the 86th minute Bruun Larsen took a pass from Alcácer and put it in the back of Nürnberg’s net, but the goal was disallowed – Alcácer was clearly offside when he received the ball before he passed to Bruun Larsen. Four minutes of extra time were added, but Nürnberg fended off every Dortmund challenge. Nürnberg earned that one point with the draw. Christian Mathenia earned his first “clean sheet” against Dortmund.

Borussia Dortmund are in trouble. At one point in the season, they were nine points ahead of Bayern Munich in the standings. Now they are only three points ahead. Dortmund have racked up numerous injuries. Team captain Marco Reus has missed several games with a thigh injury. Christian Pulisic injured his hamstring in last week’s UEFA Champions League loss to Tottenham. Key defenders Lukasz Piszczek and Manuel Akanji have missed games, and Dortmund’s defense [lack thereof] shows. Last week, they snatched a draw from the jaws of victory against Hoffenheim. Days before the Hoffenheim game, Werder Bremen eliminated them from DFB-Pokal competition. Tottenham hammered them last week 3-0, and now the scoreless draw against a last-place team. They need to right the ship quickly. By the way, their next Bundesliga game is against Bayer Leverkusen, the hottest team since the end of the winter break. Since losing the first game after the winter break 1-0 to Borussia Mönchegladbach, Bayer Leverkusen have won four straight, including a 3-1 Matchday 21 victory over Bayern Munich.

Meet Claudio Pizarro

Meet Claudio Pizarro. He is the fifth-highest goal scorer in Bundesliga history with 195 goals, the latest of which he scored today. He’s been around a long time. By soccer standards, Pizarro is ancient [40 years, four months and 13 days old], and he is well-traveled. After spending the first four seasons of his professional career playing club football in the Peruvian First Division [Primera División Peruana – 1996-1999], the Peruvian striker came to the Bundesliga. Since coming to the Bundesliga, Pizarro has played for Bayern Munich [twice], Werder Bremen [four times], and one season at 1. FC Köln. While bouncing around these teams, he managed to squeeze in one season at Chelsea in the English Premier League.

Today I was watching the Matchday 22 game between Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen. At the 25-minute mark, former Bremen striker Davie Selke put Hertha ahead 1-0. As the game progressed, it looked as if Hertha’s defense would make this slimmest of leads stick. Whatever Werder tried to break through Hertha’s defense didn’t work. Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt brought Pizarro off the bench just past the hour mark [Pizarro rarely starts anymore]. Werder began to dominate possession in the second half but couldn’t score. As the game got to 90 minutes, one of the officials flashed the amount of stoppage time added – four minutes. Hertha was still leading 1-0 when Hertha’s Fabian Lustenberger fouled American Josh Sargeant just outside the penalty area five minutes into stoppage time. The referee awarded Werder a free kick. Claudio Pizarro took the free kick. Two deflections off Hertha players later, the ball found the back of the net. Werder Bremen snatched a point on the road. Hertha Berlin let one get away.

Claudio Pizarro is now the oldest goal scorer in Bundesliga history.

Hoffenheim win 3-3

Those who say there are no “moral victories” in sports didn’t watch the Bundesliga Matchday 21 game between Borussia Dortmund and Hoffenheim. Dortmund were in complete control of the game at halftime, leading 2-0. Captain Marco Reus was out for today’s game with a thigh injury, but Dortmund has an embarrassment of riches with the young players acquired during the last off-season [Jadon Sancho, Paco Alcácer]. Hoffenheim were lucky the score wasn’t twice that, because they didn’t have it together at all in the first half. Things didn’t look much better for Hoffenheim when Dortmund went up 3-0 at the 66:58 mark. Dortmund were playing at home at Signal Iduna Park, where they rarely lose. Hoffenheim were as good as dead. Today’s match commentators implied as much. Dortmund were toying with Hoffenheim like a cat does a squirrel before going for the kill. At 69:17 Paco Alcácer came off the bench for Dortmund, replacing Maximillian Philipp. Since coming to Dortmund on a loan from Barcelona, all he does is score goals. This season he’s scored ten, and is in the hunt of the Torjägerkanone, awarded to the league’s top goal scorer.

Sancho nearly made it 4-0 when his shot hit the post at 74:04. But at 74:39, Hoffenheim striker Ishak Belfodil, a second-half substitute, made the score 3-1. The ball barely got past Dortmund keeper Roman Bürki, but it was enough. Finally, the game was interesting. Commentator Phil Bonney said it was a shame Hoffenheim didn’t get their first goal when the game was 2-0, but there were still fifteen minutes to play. A lot can happen in the Bundesliga in fifteen minutes – just ask anyone who plays Bayern Munich. At 82 minutes, Dortmund substituted defender Ömer Toprak for midfielder Mario Götze, who had one goal and one brilliant assist before coming off. It seemed as if Dortmund were slowly locking down Hoffenheim and would take the three points with a victory. However, almost immediately after Toprak came on for Götze, Hoffenheim defender Pavel Kaderábek put a fantastic header past Bürki to make the score 3-2. In an instant the game seemed to be slipping away from Dortmund. They were still leading, but there was a sense of impending doom in front of the home fans. Suddenly, it was “game on” again.

Paco Alcácer nearly made it 4-2 with a shot that went just wide. Dortmund were awarded a corner kick off the play but couldn’t capitalize. They had two more corner kicks in rapid succession and still could not score. This would come back to bite Dortmund. After a foul in Hoffenheim’s end, Hoffenheim brought the ball into Dortmund’s end. A Dortmund foul resulted in a free kick for Hoffenheim. Unlike Dortmund just minutes before, Hoffenheim capitalized on the foul. Midfielder Dennis Geiger, another second-half substitute for Hoffenheim, delivered the free kick into the Dortmund penalty area. Ishak Belfodil made a diving header at 86:49, tying the score 3-3. To give you an idea how significant this is, Hoffenheim have been horrible at scoring from set-piece plays. This time they did, against the league-leaders in their own yard. There the score remained until the referee blew the whistle at the end of two minutes of stoppage time. This game was reminiscent of last year’s Revierderby against Schalke, when Dortmund blew a 4-0 halftime lead and drew with Schalke 4-4. This was a massive comeback by Hoffenheim. Dortmund had the three points in the bag, and they let them slip away. It was a very hard-fought point for Hoffenheim.

Roman Bürki did not have a bad game. He made some brilliant saves in the first half to keep Hoffenheim scoreless. His defense let him down in the second half – again. Defense has always been Dortmund’s Achilles’ Hell, and so it was today. This hasn’t been a good week for Borussia Dortmund. Earlier this week, Werder Bremen eliminated them from the DFB-Pokal. With today’s draw, and Bayern Munich’s 3-1 win over Schalke, Dortmund are only five points clear of Bayern. There are thirteen games left to play this season, and the title is still Dortmund’s to lose. Dortmund has to put this result out of their minds of they are to keep ahead of Bayern. Mario Götze said this on his FB page:

“Happy about the ⚽️ and the 🅰️ but the result feels like a defeat...”

FC Köln Wakes Up

It hasn’t been easy for FC Köln this year. By finishing in fifth place in the Bundesliga for the 2016-17 season, they qualified for the UEFA Europa league for this this year. A big part of their success came from Anthony Modeste, the French international who scored 25 goals last season [third-best in the Bundesliga]. But after last season, Modeste took his talents [and most of FC Köln’s offense with him] to Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian F.C. The first half of the current Bundesliga season was horrendous for FC Köln. They managed only three draws [against Hannover, Schalke, and Werder Bremen] in the first 14 weeks. This was FC Köln’s worst start ever in their history. On December 3, the team fired coach Peter Stöger [who was unemployed for one week – he replaced Borussia Dortmund’s coach Peter Bosz on December 10]. Since Stefan Ruthenbeck replaced Stöger, FC Köln has gotten off the deck by winning three straight matches. They are still mired in last place in the Bundesliga and may still face relegation to 2.Bundesliga at season’s end. All FC Köln needs to do is finish in 15th place to avoid the season’s end relegation playoff [they are currently four points behind 16th place Werder Bremen]. There is a glimmer of hope. That hope is Simon Ferodde.

During the just-completed winter break, Ferodde transferred from VfB Stuttgart to FC Köln. The transfer has paid immediate dividends. Last week, Köln pulled off the upset by defeating Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1. Ferodde got the winning goal with a header at the end of stoppage time [it was the last play of the game]. To put this in perspective, Borussia Mönchengladbach defeated Bayern Munich 3-1 in Week 13, giving Jupp Heynckes his first taste of defeat since taking over from Carlo Ancelloti. Borussia Mönchengladbach are currently in fifth place in the Bundesliga standings. Köln beat a good quality team. This week, Terodde scored the game’s only goals as Köln defeated 17th place Hamburg 2-0. That’s three goals in two matches for Terodde – not too bad for one week’s work. Things are looking up for Köln.