2. Bundesliga

Now that I joined there is finally someone who regularly follows the 2 Bundesliga so I decided to dedicade a thread of its own to the Unterhaus where you can follow the remaining season and discuss the teams.

Below is the table with 8 games to go. Karlsruhe are well on course and Rostock have good chances for promotion as well.
3rd place is highly contested by no less than 5 teams after Duisburg wasted their point cushion.
On the bottom site of the table 4 clubs are fighting for 1 spot to avoid relegation.

g w d l goals pt

1 Karlsruher SC 26 16 6 4 56 : 30 54
2 FC Hansa Rostock 26 12 12 2 38 : 21 48
3 MSV Duisburg 26 11 10 5 47 : 33 43
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4 1. FC Kaiserslautern 26 11 10 5 35 : 24 43
5 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 26 12 6 8 42 : 29 42
6 SC Freiburg 26 11 9 6 39 : 33 42
7 Erzgebirge Aue 26 13 3 10 40 : 35 42
8 FC Augsburg 26 10 9 7 31 : 23 39
9 1. FC Köln 26 9 8 9 37 : 36 35
10 1860 München 26 10 5 11 35 : 39 35
11 SC Paderborn 26 8 9 9 25 : 26 33
12 TuS Koblenz 26 8 8 10 27 : 33 32
13 Kickers Offenbach 26 8 6 12 33 : 41 30
14 Carl Zeiss Jena 26 6 8 12 27 : 44 26
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15 Rot-Weiss Essen 26 6 7 13 29 : 33 25
16 SpVgg Unterhaching 26 6 7 13 24 : 36 25
17 Wacker Burghausen 26 5 8 13 29 : 52 23
18 Eintracht Braunschweig 26 3 7 16 12 : 38 16


SC Paderborn - Karlsruher SC 30.03.
Carl Zeiss Jena - FC Hansa Rostock 30.03.
Wacker Burghausen - SpVgg Unterhaching 30.03.
Eintracht Braunschweig - SC Freiburg 01.04.
Kickers Offenbach - SpVgg Greuther Fürth 01.04.
FC Augsburg - Erzgebirge Aue 01.04.
Rot-Weiss Essen - 1860 München 01.04.
1. FC Köln - TuS Koblenz 01.04.
1. FC Kaiserslautern - MSV Duisburg 02.04.

The most interesting games will be the battle for promotion between K'lautern and Duisburg and the relegation battle Burghausen - Haching,
where the newly appointed former 1860 coach Werner Lorant will try to avoid relegation.

1860 will also see a new coach. Marco Kurz, former U23 coach of 1860, replaced Walter Schachner, who was originally set to leave in summer,
but a series of poor performances meant his early demission. Kurz will be helped by the fact that six players may return from injury, but captian
Gregg Berhalter and topscorer Nemanja Vucicevic are suspended.

It should be of interest that Patrick Helmes already scored 10 goals in 11 games so far after his season was overshadowed by a long-term injury.
Leading topscorer ist KSC-player Giovanni Frederico with 15 goals.

what league do Dynamo Dresden play in? I used to love them when I was younger, purely because of their name

also, whah league are Leipzig in?

some news on 1860

Agostino and Adler will leave us at the end of the season, and Vucicevic is strongly linked to Duisburg, which leaves us short on strikers. 21 year old Croatian striker Aljosa Vojnovic is on a trial. He would be available for free as he is not under contract at the moment.
Patrick Milchraum will leave for Aachen, and Philipp Pentke for Augsburg. Marcel Schäfer is linked to Stuttgart.
So there are a lot of players to be replaced, however we have only little money to spend, so I fear we will fight an uphill struggle, especially since I fear we will lose even more players. What we eed most is a good striker who can score 10+ goals a season. Besides, it would be good to have some experienced players as we have a very young team.

@ Tweedle

Dresden plays in the Regionalliga Nord, the 3rd devision. I don't know which league Leipzig plays in, though, I guess 4th or 5th.

What about Baier isnt he leaving?
And Tyce , Cerny & Agostino?

Leipzig and Dresden both used to be in the bundesliga back when I was about 8/9 years old - what a fall from grace for Leipzig

@lionman:
How's Silvio Meissner been doing for Lautern? I can only rely on what the KICKER writes--and their marking is at best biased.

Now c'mon, Freiburg and beat ev0l Brunswick this weekend. Such a shame Finke's leaving. OTOH, might be time for a change.

@ dark savant
On the official site Baier is not mentioned as leaving, but I remember some rumors about him, though I don't know which club was interested. If he leaves as well, we can just sign up to the Regionalliga, I guess. We really have a problem in attack and we won't be able to afford any decent players, maybe we shall play 5-5-0 and hope for God, I really don't know.
On the financial plans: I hadn't heard this yet, but it sure is no surprise. We need every cent we can get. Also there is the uncertainty about our main sponsor bet and win and the legal situation, which doesn't help of course. We will have to see.

@LaborMaus
To be honest, I don't follow other teams so closely, which in part is due to the lack of live coverage besides the Monday evening matches. I usually listen to the radio on Sunday afternoon, and if 1860 play poorly (which they have a nasty habit to do so), I'm often too depressed and out of time to spent another 2 hours for the highlights. (it's really no fun, when you're regularly two goals down after 15 minutes.)
When Lautern played us recently, Meissner did a good job though, definitely above average.

Tweedle wrote:Leipzig and Dresden both used to be in the bundesliga back when I was about 8/9 years old - what a fall from grace for Leipzig

I remember always being Dynamo Dresden on FIFA games, again, simply because of the name.

Great idea to start a thread about the 2. Bundesliga lionman, kudos!

The 2. Bundesliga is very exciting this year actually, a close race at the top similar to the 1. Bundesliga, and some good football by teams like Karlsruhe, 1860 München etc.

Really looking forward to see KSC back in the 1. Bundesliga again, it's about time. I want every bigger German city to have one club in the 1. Bundesliga at least, we really miss Köln, Kaiserslautern and 1860 München also.

Karlsruhe vs. Stuttgart, 1860 vs. Bayern, Köln vs. Leverkusen etc., these derbies used to be highlights of the season in the past, it's about time that we get them back.

Today's games finished. KSC and Rostock make another step towards the Bundesliga while Burghausen earns 3 points against a direct competitor.

Paderborn - Karlsruhe 1:2
Krupnikovic 82, pen / Mutzel 23, Männer 80

Burghausen - Unterhaching 4:1
Bogavac 19, Aigner 68, Toleski 77, Burkhardt 84 / Kolomaznik 32

Jena - Rostock 1:2
Ashvetia 85 / Gledson 36, Cetkovic 86

@blutgraetsche
it's indeed very exciting after Duisburg bottled it. Personally, I fancy Lautern or Freiburg to go through.
I'd like to see a derby against Bayern, but I'm afraid we will have to wait a long time. 1860 is a mediocre team nowadays, we really lack consistency, which is no surprise given our young team.

games finished today:

Eintracht Braunschweig - SC Freiburg 0:2
-/ Olajengbesi 63, Iashvili 75,pen

Kickers Offenbach - SpVgg Greuther Fürth 1:2
Bungert 35 / Kleine 8, Lanig 87

FC Augsburg - Erzgebirge Aue 3:0
Haas 2, 52, Luz 55 / -

Rot-Weiss Essen - 1860 München 0:2
-/ Wolff 46, Göktan 51

1. FC Köln - TuS Koblenz 3:1
Cabanas 65, Helmes 71, Novakovic 88 / Maierhofer 10


g w d l goals pt

1 Karlsruher SC 27 17 6 4 58 : 31 57
2 FC Hansa Rostock 27 13 12 2 40 : 22 51
3 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 27 13 6 8 44 : 30 45
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4 SC Freiburg 27 12 9 6 41 : 33 45
5 MSV Duisburg 26 11 10 5 47 : 33 43
6 1. FC Kaiserslautern 26 11 10 5 35 : 24 43
7 FC Augsburg 27 11 9 7 34 : 23 42
8 Erzgebirge Aue 27 13 3 11 40 : 38 42
9 1. FC Köln 27 10 8 9 40 : 37 38
10 1860 München 27 11 5 11 37 : 39 38
11 SC Paderborn 27 8 9 10 26 : 28 33
12 TuS Koblenz 27 8 8 11 28 : 36 32
13 Kickers Offenbach 27 8 6 13 34 : 43 30
14 Carl Zeiss Jena 27 6 8 13 28 : 46 26
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15 Wacker Burghausen 27 6 8 13 33 : 53 26
16 Rot-Weiss Essen 27 6 7 14 29 : 35 25
15 SpVgg Unterhaching 27 6 7 14 25 : 40 25
18 Eintracht Braunschweig 27 3 7 17 12 : 40 16

Big wins for Fürth and Freiburg, now even Augsburg may have a chance for promotion.

1. FC Kaiserslautern - MSV Duisburg 0:3
-/ Tararache 15,pen, Mokhtari 78, Lavric 90
sent off: Simpson (FCK) 14 handball

very ill-tempered match in the first half after the red card, which is said to be correct though. But I couldn't see the match myself.
Duisburg is now on 3rd place with 46 points.

Today will see the first part of the 28th match day.
The standig is the following:

1 Karlsruher SC 27 17 6 4 58 : 31 57
2 FC Hansa Rostock 27 13 12 2 40 : 22 51
3 MSV Duisburg 27 12 10 5 50 : 33 46
4 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 27 13 6 8 44 : 30 45
5 SC Freiburg 27 12 9 6 41 : 33 45
6 1. FC Kaiserslautern 27 11 10 6 35 : 27 43
7 FC Augsburg 27 11 9 7 34 : 23 42
8 Erzgebirge Aue 27 13 3 11 40 : 38 42
9 1. FC Köln 27 10 8 9 40 : 37 38
10 1860 München 27 11 5 11 37 : 39 38
11 SC Paderborn 27 8 9 10 26 : 28 33
12 TuS Koblenz 27 8 8 11 28 : 36 32
13 Kickers Offenbach 27 8 6 13 34 : 43 30
14 Carl Zeiss Jena 27 6 8 13 28 : 46 26
15 Wacker Burghausen 27 6 8 13 33 : 53 26
16 Rot-Weiss Essen 27 6 7 14 29 : 35 25
17 SpVgg Unterhaching 27 6 7 14 25 : 40 25
18 Eintracht Braunschweig 27 3 7 17 12 : 40 16

The games are

05.04.2007
Erzgebirge Aue - 1. FC Köln
FC Hansa Rostock - SC Paderborn
TuS Koblenz - Rot-Weiss Essen

08.04.2007
Wacker Burghausen - 1. FC Kaiserslautern
MSV Duisburg - Kickers Offenbach
SpVgg Unterhaching - Eintracht Braunschweig
SpVgg Greuther Fürth - Carl Zeiss Jena
SC Freiburg - FC Augsburg

09.04.2007
1860 München - Karlsruher SC

Very difficult match for 1860, but finally Berhalter and Vucicevic are no longer suspended. While a win would basicaly gurantee KSC promotion, 1860 will also have something to fight for as there are already more than 40.000 (sic!) tickets sold.

finished

Erzgebirge Aue - 1. FC Köln 0:1
-/ Chihi 74

FC Hansa Rostock - SC Paderborn 2:0
Cetkovic 3. Dorn 66

TuS Koblenz - Rot-Weiss Essen
-/ Boskovic 54

The second loss in a row means a big set back for Aue, who are at least 4 points behind 3rd place. Essen on the other hand leave the relegation zone at least temporarily

Sorry for posting this so late, but I wasn't at home since friday.
Here are sunday's results:

Wacker Burghausen - 1. FC Kaiserslautern 0:0

MSV Duisburg - Kickers Offenbach 4:0 (2:0)
Kurth 18, 40, 60, Grlic 90 / -

SpVgg Unterhaching - Eintracht Braunschweig 3:2 (3:2)
Feldhahn 14, Spizak 34, Lechleiter 35 / Brinkmann 6, Atem 40

SpVgg Greuther Fürth - Carl Zeiss Jena 2:0 (0:0)
Cidimar 52, Timm 55 / -

SC Freiburg - FC Augsburg 2:0 (2:0)
Mohamad 30, Hdiouad 34, og / -

Klautern dropped two vital points and are now 5 points behind 3rd place. It looks like Duisburg, Fürth and Freiburg battle it out for promotion.

Some news on 1860:
Agostino, who was just returning from a long injury, has broken his leg and will be out for 6 weeks. So he will probably never play again for 1860 as he will return to Oz after this season. . He was very popular with the fans.

The u19 is in the DFB-Pokal final after winning 2:0 against Hansa Rostock. They will meet the winner of Chemnitzer FC vs VfL Wolfsburg.

„Ein starker Kader… mit Eurer HILFE!"
http://www.tsv1860.de/?id=150&news_id=7633&back_id=122&offset=&limit=
The club asks fans to donate 50€ (or more) to the club. The club hopes to gain at least 1mio €, which will be used to equal parts for new transfers and consolidation of the finances. The action will end at 30.6. In return, fans will recieve a scarf. It is being disussed, whether the name will be woven into the scarf.

It really doesn't look good for Kaiserslautern if they can't even beat a 9 men Burghausen side.

Good idea by the 1860 board to ask the fans for help. 1860 really need to get their finances right in future though, it would be a pity to lose them in the long run.

blutgraetsche wrote:It really doesn't look good for Kaiserslautern if they can't even beat a 9 men Burghausen side.

So it does, indeed. As I wrote earlier in this thread, I fancied LAutern and Freiburg for 3rd place. But I now doubt, they will achieve this.

blutgraetsche wrote:Good idea by the 1860 board to ask the fans for help. 1860 really need to get their finances right in future though, it would be a pity to lose them in the long run.

I also like this idea very much. Even though the finances are 2mio better than planned, according to the article, we still need some (read a lot) money. 60 has some very passionate fans, so I really think they can make some money with this. As the saying goes: 1860 hat Fans, Bayern hat Publikum.
I'm seriously considering to take part in this.

1860 München - Karlsruher SC 2:0
Göktan 56, Berhalter 70 / -

very convincing win and well deserved. 1860 completely owned KSC - 25: 4 shots for 60, KSC had not a single chance. That asshole Fandel tried his best to deny us a win though:
missed a clear penalty in th 4th minute and should have sent off Aduobe and especially Franz for two bookable offences.
Spectators: 51.000 (sic!)

KSC is still well ahead of 4th place, while 60 is still in nowhere-land.

1 Karlsruher SC 28 17 6 5 58 : 33 57
2 FC Hansa Rostock 28 14 12 2 42 : 22 54
3 MSV Duisburg 28 13 10 5 54 : 33 49
4 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 28 14 6 8 46 : 30 48
5 SC Freiburg 28 13 9 6 43 : 33 48
6 1. FC Kaiserslautern 28 11 11 6 35 : 27 44
7 FC Augsburg 28 11 9 8 34 : 25 42
8 Erzgebirge Aue 28 13 3 12 40 : 39 42
9 1. FC Köln 28 11 8 9 41 : 37 41
10 1860 München 28 12 5 11 39 : 39 41
11 SC Paderborn 28 8 9 11 26 : 30 33
12 TuS Koblenz 28 8 8 12 28 : 37 32
13 Kickers Offenbach 28 8 6 14 34 : 47 30
14 Rot-Weiss Essen 28 7 7 14 30 : 35 28
15 SpVgg Unterhaching 28 7 7 14 28 : 42 28
16 Wacker Burghausen 28 6 9 13 33 : 53 27
17 Carl Zeiss Jena 28 6 8 14 28 : 48 26
18 Eintracht Braunschweig 28 3 7 18 14 : 43 16

That's an excellent result against the league leaders indeed, congrats lionman!

KSC will qualify for the 1. Bundesliga anyway though.

P.S.:

lionman wrote:
Spectators: 51.000 (sic!)

Wow, that's just amazing for a second division match! I seriously think that die 2. Bundesliga can easily challenge the English 2nd division (championship) in this respect, especially with all the big teams playing this season.

Would like to know the official stats to debunk some myths our English friends love to repeat ad nauseam here.

blutgraetsche wrote:That's an excellent result against the league leaders indeed, congrats lionman!

KSC will qualify for the 1. Bundesliga anyway though.

that sure was one of our strongest performance in the whole season while KSC was extremely weak today.
It was the second win under Kurz in his second game. Maybe we can bulid up some momentum to finish the season in style. It's also important for the moral in the team regaring next season.
The most important change under kurz is the tactical chang from 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1; the two DM, Schwarz and Lars Bender, give us finally some stability in defence.
It is amazing that the Bender twins have already 8 resp. 9 games this season, being regular first eleven starters at age 17. They have currently a contract until 2009, but when they become 18 this month they will get a 5-year contract.

Btw: apparently KSC and 1860 are both interested in signing MArkus Schroth from Nürnberg.

Those Bender twins are hot prospects, I rate them highly!

Your financial problems in the last few years might have been a blessing in disguise, because you were forced to rely on your own youth, and it looks like it is finally paying off.

blutgraetsche wrote:P.S.:

lionman wrote:
Spectators: 51.000 (sic!)

Wow, that's just amazing for a second division match! I seriously think that die 2. Bundesliga can easily challenge the English 2nd division (championship) in this respect, especially with all the big teams playing this season.

Would like to know the official stats to debunk some myths our English friends love to repeat ad nauseam here.

yeah, this is really amazing. 60 and Köln have the highest average on spectators - the two teams in nowhere-land.
When the AllianzArena was newly bulit, it was regularly sold out.
Maybe Dortmund can help even rise the figures next season.

edit:
the reliance on our youth will bring results in the long-term, but of course in the short-term we will always have some bad games, nevertheless it is a good experience for these youngsters. You just have to know, where you limits lie. Promotion will only be possible with an exceptionally good season.

PS: you post too fast for me, I'm watching tv.

I do hope that Dortmund don't get relegated though. We need clubs like Dortmund in the Bundesliga, and I hope to see Köln and 1860 back soon also. Like I said, it would help the Bundesliga tremendously if all bigger German cities had one club in the first division at least, not just from the financial aspect / attendances. It would bring back some spice.

I was only kidding in regard with Dortmund. They definitely have the quality for the Bundesliga - just like HSV. It really would be a pity if the got relegated.
Just imagine next season 2 Bundesliga with AOL-Arena, Signal Iduna PArk, Müngersdorfer Stadium and Allianz Arena.

The fixtures this weekend:

13.04.2007 FC Augsburg - MSV Duisburg
13.04.2007 Eintracht Braunschweig - Hansa Rostock
13.04.2007 SC Paderborn - TSV 1860 München
15.04.2007 Rot-Weiss Essen - SpVgg Unterhaching
15.04.2007 1.FC Köln - SC Freiburg
15.04.2007 Karlsruher SC - TuS Koblenz
15.04.2007 Kickers Offenbach SV - Wacker Burghausen
15.04.2007 1.FC Kaiserslautern - SpVgg Greuther Fürth
16.04.2007 FC Carl Zeiss Jena - Erzgebirge Aue

Augsburg must win against Duisburg to uphold their small chance for promotion. Freiburg faces a though game in Köln, but the match of the day is Lautern - Fürth. Essen and Haching, separated only on goals, both hope for a crucial win against the direct competitor for relegation.

Meanwhile, there are some news:
Jena has sacked coach Heiko Weber and replaced him with former Schalke coach Frank Neubarth. Neubarth will stay only for the remaining 6 games for the time being. Should Jena avoid relegation, his contract will extend automatically.

Lautern sacked coach Wolfgang Wolf for lack of success after a series of poor result meant they have only slim chances for promotion. New coach wil be Wolfgang Funkel, who was assistant to Wolf.

Daniel Baier has announced to fulfill his contract with 1860 München.
He was linked with Eintracht Frankfurt and later with Alemannia Aachen. His contract runs for another season, but he could have gone for a fixed sum of 500000€.

FC Augsburg - MSV Duisburg 1:2
Benschneider 21 / Mokhtari 58, Daun 74

Eintracht Braunschweig - Hansa Rostock 1:1
Otacilio 56 / Cetkovic 35

SC Paderborn - TSV 1860 München 3:0
Müller 7, Brouwers 73, Röttger 83 / -
sent off Thorandt (1860) 49, 2Y

Göktan does a Frank Mill and can only hit the post of an empty goal.