The new season in the Bundesliga is about to start this evening with the top match Stuttgart - Schalke.
I dunno if many people besides me and Teenie watch the Bundesliga often, but I thought as most attended league in the world, the Bundesliga deserves an own topic.

And if it's only here for me to write down how many goals Joel Epalle scored

Go Stuttgart!

The opening match will be shown live here (in addition to three games on Saturday - including Bochum's!) and I look forward to seeing the Bundesliga starting up again.

Without Gomez and Cacau it'll be a very tough match for them. But I'm eager to see Cyprian Marica....for 8 Million he'd better be a good striker...

? I knew Gomez was out but the latest (english-language) report I read said Cacau would be available. It's too early in the morning for me to dare trying to read German.

Cacau will most probably sit on the bench as he's not fit to play 90 minutes. Maybe Veh lets him play as joker. They'll play a 4-1-4-1 most likely with Marica as only striker.

Oh dear.

Maybe one (or more) of the Schalke players will get sent off for diving. They do it so frequently...

Hsm. Half an hour til kickoff and the ESPN matchcast lists Cacau as starting. Maybe he /is/ better. One can hope!

Can't wait to see the match...one of the two live matches of the season shown on free tv. Hope Stuttgart will win it. I dunno about Cacau...seems that Armin Veh hasn't decided yet...

We don't get any Live German football here unfortunately, but I do like the highlights shows we get. It reminds me alot of the Premier League, the fans, atmosphere, etc. So I'll be taking a much bigger interest in it this year.

..I've decided to support Stuttgart, not because I'm a glory hunter! Just because I like Der Hammer. Keep me updated on the score please.

Haha. Lost a bet with myself. Boka was NOT the first player to get carded. Kuranyi was.

EDIT: oops. Hilbert own goal. Schalke leads 1-0 in the 25th.

Good first half. Great atmosphere by the fans!!

2-2, full time. A pretty good game for the first game of the season. I wish Stuttgart had been able to pull it out, but even so it was a good show.

Yes. I like Stuttgart! They play good football... the second half was very good! Great pace by both teams. Stuttgart really owned Schalke in those 15 minutes they scored the goals!!

What a goal by Rakitic...maybe he really can fill the gap left by Lincoln....young Özil was good as well.
Btw...I lost a bet as well. I said that Marica would score the first goal of the season. Good first game by him though.

So Bayern played Hansa Rostock, one of the newly-promoted teams. It wasn't necessarily the hardest challenge Bayern will face this year, but they looked scary good. Result 3-0. Toni got the first goal, Klose the other two.

Watching the Bayern game last week I was wondering why the f@ck couldn't we buy Klose?

Well....I guess all his critics were wrong about him, he's a brillant striker, but I can't stand him anymore....lost all respect for him after his transfer story to Bayern.

Gotta agree...what about Van der Vaart. I'll only quit Hamburg for Madrid, and now he's like I wanna go to Valencia.

Unsurprisingly (or not), Van der Vaart is NOT playing in Hamburg's Uefa Cup game (vs. Honved. Currently scorless in the 21st min).

ya especially cuz i've always liked bremen.... + he said is he was to move it would be outside of germany.

that would be like toni saying he wouldnt betray fiorentina and then he demands a transfer to inter

Germany squad to face England at Wembley:

Goalkeepers: Timo Hildebrand (Valencia, Spain), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal, England)

Defenders: Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid, Spain), Serdar Tasci (VfB Stuttgart)

Midfielders: Roberto Hilbert (VfB Stuttgart), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Sami Khedira (VfB Stuttgart), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg SV)

Forwards: Patrick Helmes (Cologne), Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke 04)

Looks like their squad is as injury hit as ours. As long as Lehmann plays, we've always got a chance.

At least this squad has more Germans in it, rather than Poles and Ghanians.

Khedira got a call up! He's one of my favorite Stuttgart players, came up through their youth team and played his way onto the first team last year. He's a fun one to watch.

The Germany coach Joachim Loew, anybody know anything about him? The name doesn't ring a bell for me, just wondering how good he was to land one of the biggest jobs in the sport.

I think he was Klinsmann's assistant.

he was

Max is right. Löw was assisting Klinsi from 2004 till 2006. Before that he coached some Bundesliga teams. His biggest success back then was when he won the DFB Cup with Stuttgart.
Our squad? You're right... some of our best players are injured, with Ballack and Frings two of our "old" leaders won't be there. Jansen will also miss the game which is a very big loss IMO, as he's one the best LW backs there are. Gomez injury is bad too, but we have Kuranyi and Klose...one brillant and one very good striker.
Lehmann? I don't care what he does for Arsenal. When he plays for Germany he's always there in the important games.

It's unfortunate that alot of our best players are injured. You seem to have quite a few key players out, while we only have Rooney as a loss at the moment, though Rafa Benitez is saying Gerrard will be fit for the game against Chelsea on Sunday, but will be unavailable for the game against Germany(?) I don't understand the logic in that.

LaPalma, any idea on the most likely lineup of the announced squad? Alot of the names are very unfamiliar to me, so I wouldn't like to guess!

Not quite sure...but this would be my guess....


-----------------------------------Lehmann----------------------------

-----Lahm---------Mertesacker---------Metzelder------Pander---

--------------------------------Hitzlsperger---------------------------

---Hilbert------------------------------------------Schweinsteiger---

-------------------------------Schneider------------------------------

-----------------Klose-----------------------Kuranyi-----------------



I think the back 4 are quite certain, as Lahm is the only wing back available as Jansen is out. I dunno why Löw hasn't called up Christian Pander of Schalke...really good LB. I think Friedrich will play on the right flank as he did last year at the World Cup. If he's OK, Clemens Fritz of Bremen might take Friedrichs spot...it's the more offensive option. Other options for that are Tasci (too young, first call up) or Hilbert (learned Midfielder, but played very good as RB in the Bundesliga opener against Schalke).

The midfield is a real problem as Borowski, Ballack and Frings are out. All experienced midfielders with a lot of class. My guess is that we'll play with Hitzlsperger as number 6, Khedira and Rolfes could play that as well, but I given Hitzlspergers great form he'll most probably play. Schweinsteiger on the left is certain, Hilbert on the right most likely as we need Schneider as AM. That guy is a genius. Almost 34 years old and getting better year by year...he's easily the most creative german player after the retirement of Sebastian Deisler.

The attack....Kuranyi and Klose will play there from the beginning. Both are great in the air, both in top form, both are experienced. Plus, Helmes (playing in the 2nd Bundesliga) and Kießling (not at top of his game AND very unexperienced) won't really challenge them for this spots. With Podolski and Gomez our quality options are out

Edit: Fritz is injured and Löw nominated Christian Pander of Schalke....sp I updated my line-up.

The lineup you've put does look pretty strong. Only Pander and Hilbert I'm not too familiar with. Klose vs Terry - That ought to be one to watch.

Hilbert's good, despite his little oops against Schalke last week.

Strong?Ballack and Frings are our MvPs.....especially without Frings in front of the defense it'll be very tough. On the other hand....Before the Klinsmann era and our many new young players in the NT we would have been dommed without Frings and Ballack.

Hilbert and Pander? They're both young players I'll rate very high. Especially Pander, really good LB, good in the attack, good crosses, awesome corners and free kicks.

Your lineup will be stronger than ours for sure. Neville is missing from the back, Beckham and possibly Gerrard from midfield and then Rooney and Owen won't be playing up front.

I think I'm glad Milan faced last year's Bayern in the CL semis. This year's new-look Bayern is spanking Bremen today. Score is 2-0 in the 60th (goals by Ribery and Toni) and I wouldn't be surprised if they scored more. Bayern are going to be tough to beat in the league and in the UEFA Cup.

Looks like Toni is doing well, 2 in 2 if i am not mistaken

Yup. Toni is doing very well so far. Scored in the first game, scored today, and...wow. Just set up Bayern's third goal.

EDIT: Final score was Werder Bermen 0 - 4 Bayern Munich.

Goals from Ribery, Toni, Altintop, and Ottl.

Brillant performance as well by Schalke 04. They crushed Dortmunf in Gelsenkirchen with a great 4-1! And what a performance by Christian Pander

This bayern squad is looking very threatening, at first i thought it was funny that they didnt qualify for CL, but it looks like the CL will be slightly duller without them

Toni scored for Bayern and got injured.

Gekas scored the 3rd goals for Leverkusen. I know some of you follow him here.

And a shoutout for La Palma, Bochum beat Hamburg 2-1 yesterday!

(I hope Toni's injury isn't bad. The Azzurri need him. the fact that he went straight to the dressingroom isn't encouraging).

Hehe...we were on top of the table for one day (the first time in 5 years), and what a game it was. Thrilling, with a great goal and you could even see the moon over Wanne-Eickel. Great night! Now Bayern is on top again, they'll win the Bundesliga this year...that's certain. But what a comeback by Mario Gomez. He was injured for 3 or 4 weeks, comes back and scores immediately. That guy is just fvcking awesome!

Very tough match between Hamburg -Bayern today. 1-1 draw. Lots of cards.

Side note: if any of you get a chance to watch Bayer Leverkusen play, DO IT.

The team has Theofanis Gekas in as striker, and he's really on form. But the player I think is even more exciting to watch is their keeper, Rene Adler. This kid is spectacular.

Adler and Schneider. I'm so sorry Bernd is too old to play for us, or something more then just BL. But he is in terrific form, he simply fascinates me in every single move. Passing, shooting, dribbling,...

I do like German players in all, but there are (or were) 2 guys I adore- Bernd Schneider and Mehmet Scholl. So sorry they both had much injuries.

Agreed, Schnixx is simply amazing. He was amazing in the last years as well but it seems the football world discovered his talents a bit too late for him. IMO he's a better OM than Ballack is. Schneider is just technically so gifted. More than any other german player. Like him a lot.

Just looking at some scores, nice to see Toni playing very well. Bayern seem unstoppable.

Karlsruhe [1 - 3] Bayern Munich - Currently on '70
5' [0 - 1] L. Toni
20' [0 - 2] M. Klose
49' [0 - 3] H. Altintop
52' [1 - 3] M. Porcello

Sure he is better then Ballack. And this Euro could be his competition,..

Bayern are the sure champions. There is no team that could stop them. Schalke is not serious enough, Leverkusen has a way toooo week defense, Hertha also, BVB is still unstable and very moody. Werder is inflicted with similar injury problems as Sammer's Dortmund had a couple of years ago. Defending champion Stuttgart struggles to find his form and Nürenberg is suffering from their uneffective transfer policy. So there is no possible way for Bayern to loose this season,..

I think Toni has scored in every single one of his official appearances with Bayern!!

IMO the only team that can stop Bayern this is year is Schalke. They've already played against the most dangerous sides in Germany....Stuttgart, Bremen, Dortmund, Bayern. They haven't lost till now and IMO they're better without their playmaker Lincoln. Their new OM Rakitic might not be as elegant as Lincoln but he's more effective and only 19. he can be "something" in a few years. And with Kuranyi they have a brillant striker. Can't stand them but they have a good team.

You know, that is really funny. I like the German team very much, I like clubs like Bayern, BVB, Gladbach, Werder or HSV very much. But the only big team I really can't stand is Schalke. I don't know why,...but as you said, I can't stand them. I hope Rakitic changes his team soon cause I don't like to see him there.

Wow...I don't like Schalke either. They must really have some bad karma at Gelsenkirchen. Nobody likes them!

That said, this year's Bayern are...all but unstoppable. They're a powerhouse and I wouldn't be surprised if they go unbeaten this year.