Matchday 3 Match of the Week

This week there weren’t very many competitive games to choose from.  Dortmund rebounded from their defeat in the German Super Cup to Bayern Munich by thrashing SC Freiburg 4-0.  RB Leipzig did likewise, adding to Schalke’s misery of a season by winning 4-0.  Borussia Mönchengladbach defeated FC Köln 3-1.  Werder Bremen, who escaped relegation last season, recorded their second win of the season, defeating Arminia Bielefeld 1-0.  Stuttgart and Leverkusen shared the spoils with a 1-1 draw.

Last week, Hoffenheim scored one on their best victories ever by beating Bayern Munich 4-1.  They stopped the defending Bundesliga and UCL champions 33-game undefeated run with an impressive victory.  They were trying to add to their great start to this season with a third win in as many games.  They finished last week at the top of the Bundesliga first division table.  Eintracht Frankfurt have had a solid start to their season as well, having drawn with Bielefeld on MD 1 and earning a convincing win against Hertha Berlin last week.  Both teams have had unbeaten starts to the new season.  Last season, Frankfurt swept both games against Hoffenheim.

Frankfurt nearly got on the board first.  Dutch forward Bas Dost began the attack with a quick outlet pass to defender Almany Touré running down the right side. Touré passed it back to Dost, who was centered in the Hoffenheim penalty area. Dost headed the ball to forward André Silva, but the two didn’t connect.  Touré’s pass to Dost was on the money, but Dost couldn’t seal it.  A good effort, but no score. For the next ten minutes, Frankfurt kept pressing Hoffenheim’s defense but couldn’t quite find the mark.  Despite all of Frankfurt’s pressure, it was Hoffenheim who struck first at the eighteenth minute. After a free kick, Croatian forward Andrej Kramarić found himself inside the Frankfurt penalty area to the right of the goalie, and he curled it inside the left post just out of reach of Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp.  It was Kramarić’s sixth goal of the season, his first career goal against Frankfurt. Kramarić’s goal was the only score of the first half.

Frankfurt finally even the score at the 54th minute when they finally cracked open Hoffenheim’s defense.  Ex-Hoffenheim midfielder Steven Zuber, substituting for the injured Filip Kostić, whipped a stunning ball into the Hoffenheim box, where a waiting Bas Dost flicked it to midfielder Daichi Kamada, who put the ball past Hoffenheim keeper Oliver Baumann.  Score tied, 1-1.  On the ensuing kickoff, sloppy Hoffenheim play almost resulted in a second Frankfurt score in two minutes.  Luckily for Hoffenheim Zuber and Touré couldn’t quite connect in the box.  There was miscommunication on Hoffenheim’s defense.

I don’t know what Frankfurt coach Adi Hütter said to his players at halftime, but whatever it was it worked.  Frankfurt’s attack was relentless.  After they scored the equalizer, Frankfurt didn’t let Hoffenheim settle into any kind of offensive rhythm.  Hoffenheim keeper Oliver Baumann was screaming at his defense for much of the second half.  Frankfurt often had Hoffenheim on their back foot, but Hoffenheim refused to go away.  They managed to mount a challenge to Frankfurt’s defense, but at the 71^st Frankfurt scored again on a counterattack.  Things got a bit crowded in front of Hoffenheim’s net, but Bas Dost was able to make sense of the chaos and scored, putting Frankfurt in front 2-1. It was Dost’s sixth career goal against Hoffenheim.  The score stood at 2-1 when the referee blew the final whistle.

Postscript

I wrote this on Saturday thinking “there won’t be a better game than this tomorrow.  Not for the first time, I was wrong.  I was traveling today and didn’t watch anything live today.  I kept an eye on the Augsburg-Wolfsburg match, which ended on a goalless draw.  “So far, good”. Then Bayern Munich played Hertha Berlin at the Allianz Arena in Munich.  Hertha always gives Bayern a good game.  Last year on Matchday 1, Hertha drew with Bayern, which began Niko Kovač’s slide toward unemployment.  What did I miss? Not much, just a 7-goal thriller that was decided by a Robert Lewandowski penalty kick in stoppage time.  Lewandowski scored all four of Bayern’s goals today.  What else did I miss? Bayern coach Hansi Flick smiled today. 😊

2020 German Super Cup

One week before the beginning of each Bundesliga season, the winner of the Bundesliga championship meets the winner of the DFB-Pokal [German Cup] in an exhibition match for the trophy known as the German Super Cup.  If the regular season champion and the DFL-Pokal winner is the same team, then the opponent is the championship runner-up.  And so, for what seems like the 100^th time, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund met today for this year’s edition of the German Super Cup.  As such, the game is an exhibition – it doesn’t count in the standings [but it DOES mean something (prestige)].  The 2020-21 Bundesliga began two weeks ago.  Because Bayern Munich was still in the hunt for the UEFA Champions League [which they won], the game was postponed until this week.  Last week, both Bayern and Dortmund lost their Matchday 2 games.  Bayern lost to Hoffenheim, while Dortmund lost to Augsburg.  Given the tight schedule this season, this was a game that I think neither team particularly wanted to play, but they didn’t have any choice.  Dortmund won last year’s German Super Cup against Bayern, 2-0.

Any Bayern-Dortmund clash is known in Germany as simply Der Klassiker. Today’s edition of Der Klassiker did not disappoint.  It was a close, hard-fought game from start to finish. It was a tale of two halves.  After their 4-1 loss to Hoffenheim, Bayern coach Hansi Flick altered Bayern’s usual gegenpressing game plan. Instead of pressing Dortmund’s back line, Bayern played it cautious in their positioning.  They didn’t overcommit in numbers to try and win possession in Dortmund’s half of the field.  Flick also shuffled the deck of Bayern starters.  Leroy Sané is out with a knee injury, so Kingsley Coman slotted over to take.  Serge Gnabry was given a rest, as was midfielder Leon Goretzka and defender Jerome Boateng.  Alphonso Davies started at right winger in place of Gnabry. Javi Martinez, the hero in Bayern’s UEFA Super Cup win over Seville, started in David Alaba’s spot as a center defender. Thomas Muller moved over to right wing to fill in for Gnabry.  Corentin Tolisso took Goretzka’s’s usual spot.  Dortmund had their own changes as well.  They were without Thorgan Hazard [injury], Roman Bürki and Jadon Sancho [illness – not COVID-19]. Julian Brandt and Marco Reus, who came off the bench against Augsburg, started.

Some Bundesliga games have seen fans in the stands [20% of stadium capacity].  Not so today in Bavaria where they are experiencing a COVID spike.  Bayern got the first shot on goal with a Joshua Kimmich header, but Dortmund keeper Marwin Hitz had no trouble with it.  Dortmund was able to get into Bayern’s penalty area with little difficulty early on, but it was Bayern who got on the scoreboard first at the eighteenth minute. Bayern scored on the counterattack from a Dortmund corner kick.  Davies received the block off the corner, fed Coman down the left side. Coman found Thomas Müller in the center, who found Robert Lewandowski sprinting down the right side.  Lewandowski found the trailing Tolisso in the middle, who shot on goal, hit the crossbar, and slotted home his own rebound. Bayern led 1-0.

Bayern’s second goal was a bit more methodical. having worked their way up-field from their own end, Alphonso Davies put a cross into the box from about thirty meters out. Thomas Müller caught up with it and scored on a header past Hitz in the 32^nd minute. Bayern appeared to have a comfortable 2-goal lead, but there was still an hour left to play against a team that makes its living by coming back from deficits.  Today would be no different for Dortmund.  Seven minutes later, and five minutes before halftime, Dortmund grabbed back a goal.  In the 39^th minute, Dortmund pressured Bayern in their own end and won back the ball.  It was Erling Haaland and Julian Brandt in the box against two Bayern defenders.  Haaland made a crisp pass to Brandt, who buried the goal.  New game! Dortmund refused to go away.  Dortmund’s high pressure was a sign of things to come in the second half.

Right after halftime in the 47^th minute, Dortmund found themselves with a 3-on-3 in Bayern’s penalty area, but Thomas Munier couldn’t seal the deal.  Dortmund coach Lucien Farve wasn’t pleased.  Shortly thereafter, Dortmund pressed Bayern hard and won back the ball.  Thomas Delaney found Erling Haaland sprinting toward Bayern’s penalty area.  Haaland succeeded where Munier failed and got the equalizer.  I really like Haaland’s game.  He is a beast in the middle.  He nearly got a third Dortmund goal when he found himself one-on-one against Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer.  But Haaland shot the ball almost exactly where he got the equalizer.  Neuer made himself big and blocked Haaland’s shot. That’s why they pay Neuer the big bucks [ok, Euros]. For a good part of the second half, Dortmund seemed to be beating Bayern at their own game, but they couldn’t get that third goal.

While Bayern maintained possession for two-thirds of the second half, Dortmund had more shots on goal.  At the 67^th minute, Dortmund’s Nico Schulz, Reinier and Gio Reyna subbed on for Erling Haaland, Thomas Munier and Marco Reus respectively.  Serge Gnabry subbed on for Kingsley Coman for Bayern.  And then the game slowed.  More substitutions for both sides.  It appeared both teams were starting to feel fatigued and were playing for the penalty shootout.  The German Super Cup doesn’t play extra time in case of a tie at the end of regulation – it’s straight to penalty kicks if needed.  Ethen in the 81^st minute, Joshua Kimmich picked Thomas Delaney’s pocket at midfield, sped down the field where he found Robert Lewandowski, who then passed it back to the trailing Kimmich.  Kimmich took the shot, but Marwin Hitz blocked it.  But instead of covering up the ball, Hitz let the ball rebound back to Kimmich.  As Kimmich was falling over Dortmund defender Łukasz Piszczek, he somehow got his left heel on the ball and put Bayern ahead 3-2.  This was as freakish a goal as I’ve seen in a long while.  As much as Dortmund pressured Bayern for the equalizer and a possible shootout, Bayern was able to kill the clock and win the German Super Cup.  This game could have gone either way.

In a somewhat bittersweet postscript, referee Bibiana Steinhaus announced her sudden retirement.  Before the game she released this statement:

“Like many people during the corona situation, I have reflected and reassessed some things. After a very truthful and constructive conversation with Lutz Michael Fröhlich, the sporting director of the DFB-Elite Referees, after carefully weighing many factors, I have decided to end my national and international career as referee. For this evening, I want the focus to be entirely on the game. I will discuss the reasons for my retirement in somewhat greater detail in due time.”

Steinhaus is a trailblazer in German soccer. Her father was also a football referee. In 2007, she became the first female referee in German men's professional football.  She made it to the Bundesliga’s first division for the 2017-18 season.  A police officer in her “day job” [she’s a Chief Inspector in Langenhagen], she had been the target of abuse from some players, but for the most part she’s respected throughout the league.  She’s a damn good referee.  I hate to see her go.  

 

Matchday 2 Match of the Week - Augsburg vs Dortmund

This weekend, ESPN didn’t show any Bundesliga games on television.  Every game was on ESPN+.  I woke up on Saturday and scanned the day’s final results.  One result popped out at me – Augsburg defeated Borussia Dortmund 2-0.  That one held some promise.  I’ve never seen Augsburg beat Dortmund.  Then I found out that my favorite Bundesliga announcer, Phil Bonney, called the game.  That’s my benchmark – when in doubt, watch the games called by either Phil Bonney or Derek Rae.  These guys know the Bundesliga.

One expects to see Dortmund score a lot of goals against Augsburg.  Four Dortmund players that I know of have gotten hat tricks against them – Robert Lewandowski did it, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did it, as did Paco Alcacer and most recently Erling Haaland. Last year, Dortmund won both games with an aggregate score of 10-4 – 5-1 on the first day of last season, and 5-3 on the first game of 2020.  They’ve surrendered more goals to Dortmund than any team in the Bundesliga.  But that was then, this is now.  As Phil Bonney put it, that’s the thing about a new season. There’s always the chance to something you’ve never done before.  Augsburg started the game with a 4-5-1 formation.  They clogged up the middle of the field, which is where Dortmund is strongest.  If Dortmund was to score, they’d have to put pressure on the wings and crack open Augsburg’s defense that way.  With Jadon Sancho, Axel Witsel and Thomas Meunier, they’ve got the talent to do that.  Erling Haaland is a beast in the middle.

For the first ten minutes, Dortmund had possession of the ball 75 percent of the time.  But right at ten minutes, Augsburg showed Dortmund they could get the ball behind Dortmund’s defensive line in the final third.  Lack of any deep runs hurt the Dortmund attack.  They played their typical possession-oriented game, put just couldn’t finish.  Augsburg didn’t get their first free kick until the 40^th minute, and when they did, they made it count.  Augsburg were without their free-kick specialist Phillip Max, but they had Daniel Caligiuri.  Augsburg striker Michael Gregoritsch took an elbow to the face from Dortmund defender Imre Can, resulting in a yellow card for Can.  A recent acquisition on a free transfer from Schalke, Galiguiri is no stranger to Dortmund.  Galiguiri took the free kick and found defender Felix Uduokhai, who headed the ball home and gave Augsburg the lead. Augsburg was executing their game plan perfectly – keep the defense compact in the middle, make Dortmund attack from the wings, and when Dortmund gives you an opportunity, seize it. In last year’s games, both had low-scoring first halves with much of the scoring coming in the second half.  The fixture in Augsburg saw the home team take a 3-1 lead into halftime, only to see Erling Haaland get his hat trick in the second half.  Would this year be a repeat?  Consider this – although Dortmund had significantly more possession time, Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Bürki had more to do than Augsburg keeper Rafał Gikiewicz.  That was the difference in the first half.

While most of the first half was in Augsburg’s half of the field, there was more back-and-forth to start the second half.  Augsburg striker Florian Niederlechner, who had gotten through Dortmund’s defense three times only to be called offside each time, play the ball at midfield to a streaking Daniel Caligiuri, who raced past Thomas Meunier, beat Roman Bürki and scored the game’s second goal. Dortmund almost responded immediately when Gio Reyna was brought down in the penalty area by Rani Khedira. Was it a penalty? One look at the replay showed that Khedira got “all ball” and didn’t foul Reyna.  Reyna left his feet just a little too early. The referee made the correct call.  Shortly thereafter, Dortmund brought on some fresh attacking legs in Julian Brandt and Marco Reus, while defender Raphaël Guerreiro and midfielder Jude Bellingham.  Augsburg swapped out Niederlechner for Icelandic international Alfred Finnbogason, English midfielder Reece Oxford for Khedira, and Finnish midfielder Hans Jensen for Gregoritsch.  Would Dortmund pull another rabbit out of the hat as they usually do in these situations? One got the feeling that if Dortmund got a goal back that it would be an entirely different game. Conversely, if Augsburg got a third goal, it was “game over”. Uduokhai nearly got that third goal in the 68^th minute, with a shot just barely over the crossbar. In the 69^th minute, Dortmund swapped Meunier for Brazilian midfielder Reinier.  Dortmund changed their offensive attack from the wings to beef up their attack in the middle.  Credit to Augsburg – they didn’t wilt against Dortmund’s continuous pressure.  It just didn’t click for Dortmund today. Augsburg had too many defenders in the box. Augsburg didn’t let it slip away this time.

In his 300^th Bundesliga game Caligiuri had his hand in both Augsburg goals – assisting the first, scoring the second. Augsburg keeper Rafał Gikiewicz got a clean sheet against Dortmund – no easy feat there. He came up huge when he needed to. Augsburg have won their first two Bundesliga games of the season for the first time in their history. Augsburg were resilient, they were focused, they were disciplined.  They didn’t crack under Dortmund’s pressure.  It’s only Matchday 2, but Augsburg future for this season looks bright. 

Next up for Dortmund – the German Super Cup against Bayern in Munich next week, then a match against FC Freiburg.  For Augsburg, they have Wolfsburg and RB Leipzig to look forward to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matchday 1 Match of the Week – FC Köln v TSG Hoffenheim

It’s the beginning of a new Bundesliga season.  Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this season had a later beginning than usual.  Each season usually begins in August, but because the 2019-20 season was suspended for two months, the beginning of this season was pushed back.  With the new season comes a new broadcast partner for the Bundesliga.  For the past several years, Fox Sports held the US broadcast rights.  That deal expired this year.  The new broadcast partner is ESPN.  That’s both good and bad.  The bad part is that ESPN will broadcast only one Bundesliga game every weekend on television.  Fox would broadcast five. The good part is that all Bundesliga games will be on demand via ESPN+.  Although Fox broadcast more games, sometimes they wouldn’t broadcast the best, most competitive games. I like to see games with lots of goals. This week’s Bayern Munich vs. Schalke 04 match had many goals, but they were all scored by Bayern.  Blowouts like that tend to get a bit boring.  Low-scoring draws [1-1 or 0-0] are usually equally dull.  This week there were two games that saw plenty of goals.  One such game was FC Köln v Hoffenheim 1899.  The other was SC Freiburg v Stuttgart.  Both had a final score of 3-2, but my choice for this week’s game of the week is FC Köln v Hoffenheim 1899.

SC Freiburg v Stuttgart was a good game.  SC Freiburg jumped out to a 2-0 lead and held it until halftime.  Two minutes after the half, they extended their lead to 3-0.  It had the prospect of being a blowout.  SC Freiburg is a mainstay of the Bundesliga first division, although they usually finish every year in the middle of the pack.  Stuttgart is an up-and-down team.  For the past several seasons they flirted with relegation to the second division.  Last year they played in the second division, having been relegated by Union Berlin in a two-game home-and-home playoff after the 2018-19 season.  This year they’re back in the first division with many young players, most of whom are not yet 22.  Given that Stuttgart is a young team and newly-promoted to the first division, one would expect them to be disheartened by going down 3-0 to the more-experienced Freiburg.  Not so this week.  Stuttgart finally got on the board at the 71^st, and got their second goal ten minutes later.  They had momentum on their side, and the home crowd of 8,000 fans [who sounded like 24,000 – they were that loud] rooted them on.  SC Freiburg withstood charge after charge from Stuttgart until the final whistle six minutes into stoppage time, but they hung on for the win.  Stuttgart didn’t roll over and play dead.

The FC Köln v TSG Hoffenheim game was a bit more dramatic.  Hoffenheim got on the board first when Croatian international Andrej Kramaric scored just four minutes into the contest.  Köln goalie Timo Horn made a fairly lackadaisical pass to defender Jonas Hector to begin the Köln attack.  Hector didn’t know Kramaric was behind him, and when Hector made a lazy pass back to Horn, Kramaric intercepted the pass and got an easy goal.  Luckily for Köln, Swedish international Sebastian Andersson evened the score eighteen minutes later with a header from a beautiful cross from Jan Thielmann.  Andersson was just signed only five days ago from Union Berlin.  He showed his worth to Köln almost immediately. All was tied until just before halftime.  Austrian midfielder Christoph Baumgartner was brought down in the penalty area.  After several minutes of review via the Video Assisted Referee [VAR], Hoffenheim were awarded the penalty shot, which Andrej Kramaric converted in the last play of the first half.

Almost immediately after the start of the second half, Andersson nearly equalized for Köln, but was denied from point-blank range by Hoffenheim goalie Oliver Baumann.  The score stood with Hoffenheim leading 2-1 until Köln midfielder Dominick Drexler received a header from Sebastian Andersson and buried it in the back of Hoffenheim’s net for the equalizer at the 86^th minute.  With one goal and one assist, it wasn’t a bad day’s work for new signee Andersson, and it appeared that Köln and Hoffenheim would share the spoils with a 2-2 draw.  But Hoffenheim weren’t done.  With two minutes into stoppage time, Andrej Kramaric got the hat trick after deceiving numerous Köln defenders.  The game’s outcome was decided at the very last minute.  Wins like these are thrilling for the winners, and agonizing for the losers.  Since the outcome of the game wasn’t decided until very late, FC Köln v TSG Hoffenheim is my “match of the week”.

Hans-Dieter Flick -Bayern Munich's Newest Legend

The date was November 1, 2019.  Eintracht Frankfurt completely thrashed Bayern Munich, 5-1. The score doesn’t indicate how thoroughly Frankfurt dominated Bayern.  It could have been worse.  Bayern’s play was listless and confused.  Defender Jerome Boateng got a red card in the 25^th minute, which didn’t help.  Niko Kovač could have survived as coach if this game was an anomaly, but this game followed a 2-1 loss against Hoffenheim and a 2-2 draw against Augsburg.  To put that in context, that would be like the New England Patriots earning a tie against Cleveland or Detroit. 

After the Frankfurt match, Kovač and Bayern parted ways by mutual agreement.  His successor was Hans-Dieter Flick.  When I heard the name, I had to think hard about where I heard it before, then it came to me.  When I started watching German soccer in 1985, Flick was a midfielder for Bayern Munich. He played there for five seasons, but his playing career was cut short by injuries.  Prior to taking over for Kovač, Flick had been one of Kovač’s assistant coaches.  Flick had also been Joachim Löw’s chief assistant for the German national team that won the World Cup in 2014.

When Flick took over from Niko Kovač, is first match came four days later against Greek squad Olympiacos in a UEFA Champions League qualifier. Bayern fans held their collective breath until Bayern won 2-0.  The real test was Der Klassiker against Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 11.  Bayern won that contest 4-0.  At first it was thought that Flick would only be a caretaker coach.  There were a couple of bumps in the road – a 2-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen on Matchday 13, and a 2-1 loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach the following week.  Though they lost those two games, the hierarchy at Bayern liked what they saw.  Flick would be the coach until the end of the season. 

Then something extraordinary happened – Bayern hasn’t lost a game since that loss to BMG on December 7^th.  Bayern took over first place after Matchday 20 and didn’t look back.  The only blemish on the record was a 0-0 draw against RB Leipzig.  Before the COVID-19 pandemic and the suspension of the Bundesliga season in March, Bayern removed the interim tag from Flick’s job title and signed him to coach through 2023. When play resumed after the COVID-enforced break, Bayern won their remaining nine matches [the only Bundesliga team to do so].  They won their eighth consecutive Bundesliga title by 13 points – it wasn’t close.

After securing the Bundesliga crown, Bayern defeated Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 for the DFB-Pokal [Bayern’s 20^th].  Bayern also cruised through the UEFA Champions League.  They demolished Tottenham 7-2 in the group stage, then crushed Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate in the knockout stage.  After they made believers of English Premier League fanboys [who referred to the Bundesliga as a “farmer’s league”], Bayern ruthlessly buried Barcelona 8-2.  They beat Olympique Lyonnais 3-0 in the semi-final, then squeaked by Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 to win their sixth UEFA Champions League title.  For those who deride the Bundesliga as a “farmer’s league,” winning the UCL means “best in Europe”.  As if to put an exclamation point on the victory, Bayern Munich became the first team to go through the entire UCL playoff undefeated.  Take that, EPL fanboys…

How did Hansi Flick right the ship and turn his team into ruthless killers?  A change in philosophy was the ticket.  Niko Kovač preferred a more conservative, defense-minded approach.  Under Kovač, they had often look labored, happy to probe the opposition patiently and keep things tight at the back. The problem with that approach is that it is more reactive than proactive.  Flick instituted a more attacking style.  High-octane pressing [the tried and true gegenpress], smart, short passing, coolness in playing out from the back, productive possession, and lightning quick transitions to hurt teams on the counter attack became Bayern calling cards.  The Bayern players, both the new guys and the veterans, bought into the philosophy wholeheartedly.  It looks like “the best defense is a great offense” approach.  Bayern’s killer instinct had returned. The biggest change was Thomas Müller.  For whatever reason, Müller was in Kovac’s doghouse.  By the time of Kovac’s departure, Müller [who is the face of Bayern] had contemplated moving to another team after this season.  Flick gave Müller more freedom to be creative on offense.  The ‘Raumdeuter’ [‘space interpreter’] rewarded Flick’s faith in him by setting the single-season assist record with 21.  In short [to borrow a phrase], Bayern didn’t let the bastards breathe.  Bayern football is fun to watch again.

With Sunday’s victory over Paris Saint Germain in the UEFA Champions League final, Hansi Flick did what Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti failed to do – win the European treble [the Bundesliga title, the DFB-Pokal, and the Champions League). If Bayern Munich had a Mount Rushmoe of coaches, Hansi Flick would be there with Udo Lattek, Jupp Heynckes, Ottmar Hitzfeld, and Dettmar Cramer.

Geister Spiele

The Bundesliga resumed play on Saturday.  I can hear my friend Mark Romero saying “Who cares?  It’s soccer – nobody cares”.  Since sports fans in the United States have been fed a steady diet of football, basketball, hockey and baseball since the turn of the last century, he’s right.  But none of those sports are playing right now, are they?  To fill that void, we’ve been treated to grainy replays of significant historical games.  I can finally say I’ve seen Don Larson’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series, such is the magic of video tape.  It’s fine to relive your team’s glory days, especially if your team sucks now.  Watching replays is ok for the short term, but you already know the outcomes of the games, so there’s no suspense, no drama.

In what I see as a dry-run for when baseball starts in July [hopefully], the Bundesliga are playing their games behind closed doors.  The Germans have a neat phrase for games without spectators.  They call them Geister Spiele – “ghost games”.  The teams came out of the tunnel from the locker room one at a time instead of together.  There were no team mascots, no little kids accompanying the teams onto the field, no player introductions.  Those players who weren’t on the field sat in the empty stands, wearing masks while sitting the socially-acceptable six feet apart.  Players’ shouts were audible and the sound of the referee’s whistle was almost deafening. There were what sounded like “golf claps” whenever someone made a good play.   Referees whistles broke the silence.  It was strange to hear the whistle echoing around stadiums that were built to seat 40,000 people.  Every now and then you could hear a public address announcer, but there was no public to address.

No doubt, having fans in seats is a big part of the appeal of watching a soccer game.  Unlike American sports where the spectators are kept at a distance from the playing field, in the Bundesliga the spectators and the field are quite close.  As little use that I have for fight songs in any sport, I admit I missed hearing the fans chanting and singing their clubs’ songs.  Sometimes the home fans will light off smoke bombs and a smokey haze will cover the field.  The regular fans will be waving their team flags, and beating their drums.  But there was none of that this weekend.  There were no fans to urge their teams to victory.  If players needed a source of inspiration to put forth an extra effort, they had to summon that inspiration from themselves.

Bundesliga teams, no matter how good they are, have passionate fanbases who travel well.  A custom I really like in the Bundesliga comes when the games are over.  In every stadium, there is a section set aside for the visiting team.  Regardless of the outcome, when the game is over, the visiting team goes to the visitors’ section.  If they win, the players show their appreciation of the travelling fans, and vice versa.  When they lose, the fans let them have it, and the players stand there and take it.  They let their fans vent at them.  I don’t watch the English Premier League, La Liga, or any of the other leagues, but perhaps they have the same custom.  Can you imagine such a thing in American sport?  I can’t.  I missed that feature of the German game this weekend.

It goes to show how goal celebrations are just for show.  In a game where points come less often than most baseball games, celebrations are in order when somebody finally does score a goal.  After all, it is a game where only one player on each team is allowed to use his hands. In normal times, there's yelling and jumping and dancing around.  Sometimes the goal scorer takes off his shirt and gladly takes the yellow card that goes with it.  They really play it up for the fans.  This weekend, there was none of that.  No crowd to play to.  Once a goal was scored, there would be a modest celebration, maybe a firearm bump between players.  Not even a group hug.  It was back to midfield, next kickoff.

The "acting" factor wasn't in play this weekend.  The one thing I don't like about the men's game is flopping.  Italians do it a lot, as do teams from South America. At the slightest touch, some players will fling themselves to the turf, act like they've been shot, and hope the referee buys the act.  Most times the refs see through the bullshit act, but every now and then it works.  That's why some players keep doing it.  But with no fans to play to, there was none of that nonsense. 

Watching the Bundesliga this weekend was like watching training sessions, except that the sides kept score and the results counted in the standings.  It was strange, but at least it was live.  In the grand scheme of things, sports don’t matter but they are welcome diversion.

Meet Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland is nineteen years old and is a Norwegian striker. Until recently he played for Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Football Bundesliga.  On December 29 of last year, Borussia Dortmund acquired his services during the winter break for the small sum of €20 million.  Ever since then, all he has done is score goals, just like Paco Alácer before him.  Haaland made his Bundesliga debut on Matchday 18 [two weeks ago].  He came off the bench in the second half in the match against Augsburg and scored a hat trick [three goals], becoming the seventh player in Bundesliga history to record a hat trick in his Bundesliga debut.  Coincidentally, the last player to achieve that feat also played for Borussia Dortmund – Pierre Emerick Aubameyang.  Like Aubameyang, his jersey number is 17.  Last week, he again came off the bench in the second half.  He scored two goals against FC Köln.  Today he got the start against FC Union Berlin.  He scored two more goals today.  That makes seven goals in three matches.  Did I mention he’s only 19?