RECAP: WEEKEND GERMAN ACTION David Smith - Sunday, August 16, 2009
Two yanks missed time due to swine flu precautions while Sal Zizzo made his first appearance of the season for Hannover.
Hannover 96 1 - 1 FSV Mainz 05
Steve Cherundolo was forced to sit out Hannover's draw with visiting Mainz due to his midweek exposure to swine flu, however Sal Zizzo saw time as a second-half substitute for his season debut.
After starting out their season with a heartbreaking loss in Berlin, the Reds were hoping to use their homefield advantage to take the full three points from newly-promoted Mainz, however will be ruing the missed chances which ultimately forced them to settle for a disappointing tie.
The team was hit with the unexpected loss of right back Cherundolo, who has been forced to spend several days in isolation as a precautionary measure, handing the inexperienced Manuel Schmiedebach his first-ever start with the first team.
They started out on the offensive with midweek newcomer Didier Ya Konan giving the home crowd a glimpse of the attacking quality to be expected from the Ivorian forward throughout the season, however a combination of timely defending from the Mainzers and poor execution on the part of the Reds kept them off the scoreboard throughout the half.
Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel brought in Daniel Gunkel and forward Aristide "Guinness" Bance in a halftime double-substitution in an attempt to kick-start the team's faltering attack, and got exactly the result he was looking for eight minutes after the restart.
Andreas Ivanschitz sprang Bance past Hannover's Christian Schulz with a clever through ball on a counterattack, with the Burkina Faso international hitting his shot from the edge of the penalty area to the lower left of Robert Enke's goal for the 1-0 Mainz lead.
The hosts returned the favor quickly, with Ya Konan working his way into the area only to be felled by Mainz keeper Heinz Müller, resulting in a penalty call by the referee and a timely conversion by Hannover's Jiri Stajner to bring things even in the 56th minute.
Zizzo entered the game for Hannover in the 77th minute with the team trying to make one final push to earn the three points, however the Mainz defense withheld the attacking onslaught, sending each team to the locker rooms with only a share of the points.
The tie gives Hannover a single point from their first two games and in a tie for 14th place. They will hope to sneak a positive result on the road next Saturday when they face promotees Nürnberg who are only one spot ahead in the standings.
Hansa Rostock 2 - 1 1860 Munich
Kenny Cooper played the first 72 minutes for the Lions was unable to find his way onto the scoreboard on Saturday as 1860 fell on the road to Rostock on a late goal by Fin Bartels.
New Munich hero Cooper and his 1860 teammates were flying high after last weekend's dream start against Koblenz, however faced a tougher test on the trip to the northern edge of Germany against an always unpredictable Rostock team.
Their afternoon got off to a bad start when Tobias Jänicke connected with a cross from Kevin Schlitte following a fast break, burying his shot between aging keeper Gabor Kiraly's legs to the left side for the eighth minute Rostock lead.
The Lions quickly recovered and tied things up 11 minutes later with Cooper's strike partner Benjamin Lauth receiving a cross from Antonio Rukavina and sending it into the netting.
Cooper had the chance to put Munich in front in the 27th minute when he was left free for an attempted header on a cross from Lauth from the center of the box, however Rostock keeper Alexander Walke was up to the task to keep the game tied.
The teams were able to scrape together a few chances after the half with Cooper again forcing Walke into a save in the 47th minute with an attempt just outside the top of the area, however it was to no avail with the big American ultimately substituted out in the 72nd minute.
The hopes of the Lions of taking any points from the game were dashed seven minutes later when a nice combination by the Rostock attack led to the winning goal from Bartels from nearly the exact same spot as their first goal.
The loss leaves Munich currently in eighth place after two games, however they will hope for a better result when they return to the Allianz on Monday to host struggling Karlsruher SC.
TuS Koblenz 3 - 2 Arminia Bielefeld
David Yelldell and Koblenz's defense once again gave up a pair of goals, however the team was fortunately able to make a stunning comeback in the final ten minutes to rally past Bielefeld on Sunday.
The first half saw a handful of chances from both teams, but neither was able to capitalize with the game knotted at halftime.
Arminia were first on the scoreboard at the hour mark with Giovanni Federico heading in a cross from Michael Delura, then seemed set for their second straight victory when Zlatko Janjic also rose above the defense to meet a cross from Christopher Katongo to make it 2-0 13 minutes later.
Koblenz put themselves back into the game with ten minutes remaining when former Crystal Palace striker Shefki Kuqi got a header of his own on a cross from Johannes Rahn to bring the hosts to back within one.
Much to the delight of the home crowd, Benjamin Lense evened the score four minutes later with a shot from the left side to the near post following a corner, then Kuqi finally sealed the victory two minutes later, again beating the Bielefeld defense with a header, this time from a Tom Geißler cross, to give the final 3-2 victory to Koblenz.
Yelldell saw plenty of action in his 90 minutes in goal, saving six of the eight on-target shots in his direction including a clutch grab of a header from Christopher Katongo with one minute left in regulation.
The win puts Koblenz in a tie for tenth place with Rostock, with a trip on Friday afternoon to Fortuna Düsseldorf looming on the horizon.
Notes
Mike Bradley was rested by Gladbach coach Michael Frontzeck as a precautionary measure and Bryan Arguez did not suit up for Hertha as Borussia overcame the visiting Berliners by a 2-1 scoreline on Sunday.
Jermaine Jones is still recovering from his broken leg and missed Schalke's 3-0 dismantling of woeful Bochum on Sunday.
Matt Taylor was an unused substitute for FSV Frankfurt as they were demolished by their hosts SpVgg Greuther Fürth on Friday.
Luis Robles spent the game on the bench as Kaiserslautern remained perfect on the season with their 1-0 road victory over Rot-Weiss Ahlen.
I've been hearing a heck of a lot about Donovan's contracting the flu, but next to nothing about the rest of the team... obviously it's something that no coach would want running havoc through his squad. While Cherundolo is described as being held in isolation, Bradley is just being "Rested" as a precautonary measure... is this just semantics, was he being isolated as well and has there been any other US player actually diagnosed with flu?
While none of this is the fault of the players involved, I'd hate to see one of our guys benched and then not able to get back into their respective teams starting line ups... or worse having their coach see playing for the National team as bad for his team and developing a less co-operative relationship with US soccer. Maybe I'm overreacting, but it only takes a few poor results and then, rightly or not coaches tend to start blaiming players... glad to see Charlie Davies scored on his return to France, hope the others can produce good results soon as well.
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