Michael Bradley saw a difficult half of action in Mönchengladbach's third straight league loss while Steve Cherundolo and Hannover were on the wrong side of a lopsided score in Wolfsburg.
VfL Wolfsburg 4 - 2 Hannover 96
Steve Cherundolo went the distance for Hannover on Saturday while filling in as captain for an ailing Robert Enke, however it was an afternoon to forget as they were handily defeated by neighboring rivals Wolfsburg.
Having already shown signs they were emerging from their their recent troubles in the league, the Wolves jumped to the lead in the eighth minute after a Cherundolo foul on Brazilian wizard Grafite set up Zvjezdan Misimovic for a beauty of a 20-yard free kick which sailed past Hannover keeper Florian Fromlowitz to the upper right corner.
The Reds brought the game even 20 minutes later with Hanno Balitsch heading in a corner from Jacek Krzynowek, but the hosts regained the lead on the stroke of halftime when Wolfsburg midfielder Christian Gentner outclassed defender Christian Schulz in the penalty area and nailed his low shot from the left of goal to the far corner.
They continued their momentum into the second half as Misimovic corner found Edin Dzeko waiting in left flank, who neatly chipped the ball into the box for Makoto Hasebe to head home for the 3-1 lead in the 48th minute.
Hannover were gifted a lifeline by their hosts as defender Alexander Madlung put the ball into his own net two minutes later, however the Wolves quickly atoned for their mistake in the 62nd minute with Gentner hitting a long pass to Dzeko from near the center stripe, who made his tight-angled shot from the left side count, giving the final 4-2 score.
Sal Zizzo was selected by coach Andreas Bergmann for the bench but was was not called upon to take the field.
The loss drops Hannover to 14th place only a single point ahead of the relegation zone. Their next chance to distance themselves from the drop zone will come on Saturday when they host Foal-fellers Freiburg.
SC Freiburg 3 - 0 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Michael Bradley saw his first league action for the Foals since August as a halftime substitute, but a surging Freiburg proved too much to handle as they were sunk by a trio of second-half goals on Sunday.
After first getting back on the field earlier the week in Gladbach's cup loss to Duisburg, Bradley was once again resigned to the bench for the start of Sunday's game with Thorben Marx once again healthy.
Following a frustrating yet luckily scoreless first half which saw the Foals continually on their heel and lacking any creativity in their own attack, coach Michael Frontzeck brought Bradley in at halftime, which seemed to momentarily inject some life into the previously-beleaguered team.
They quickly lost their momentum, however when a short corner from Yacine Abdessadki in the 54th minute set up Ivica Banovic to send a cross into the box which Mohammadou Idrissou had no problems to head in from eight yards for the 1-0 lead.
The Foals continued to fight with hopes of salvaging point, but their prospects for any positive result took a hit after 72 minutes when Congolese midfielder Cedric Makiadi set up Abdessadki for a beautiful 24-yard strike to the upper left of Logan Bailly's goal for the 2-0 lead.
Makiadi then was the catalyst for the closing goal for the Freiburgers in the 80th minute, laying off a centering pass to Julian Schuster, who evaded Roel Brouwers and fired home for the final 3-0 score.
Frontzeck's men fall to 12th place with the loss, but will be looking to reverse their downward trend on Saturday when they host surprisingly struggling Borussia Dortmund.
Energie Cottbus 3 - 0 FSV Frankfurt
Matt Taylor saw action as a second-half substitute for FSV Frankfurt on their trip to Cottbus, but he was able to do little to help their cause as they lost heavily to continue their abysmal winless start to the season.
With only one point from their first six games, the Frankfurters were under pressure to take a result from their trip to Cottbus or risk falling off pace in their already-bleak battle for 2. Bundesliga survival.
The afternoon took a familiar turn for the worse when Ukrainian defender Valeriy Sokolenko gave Cottbus the lead after only 21 minutes with a low 25-yard free kick to the bottom left corner.
Cottbus added the knockout blow already moments before halftime on another dead ball situation, with a free kick Marco Kurth from the left of the 18-yard box finding a wide-open Emil Jula just inside the top of the penalty area, who coolly hit his shot to the center of goal for 2-0.
They added a third after 65 minutes with Danish international Dennis Sørensen left free to pick out Sergiu Radu for an easy short-range blast to bring the game to its final score of 3-0.
Taylor was brought on in the 73rd minute with the game already out of hand but was unable to change the tide as the referee's final whistle blew yet another loss to the the Frankfurters, their sixth in seven games.
Frankfurt remain in dead-last, and face a huge challenge to help their cause when league leaders Kaiserslautern pay them a visit on Sunday.
FC Augsburg 1 - 1 TuS Koblenz
David Yelldell and the Koblenz defense limited their hosts Augsburg to a single goal on Sunday afternoon as they earned an important point on the road.
Having previously lost in all three attempts away from their home stadium, Yelldell and his teammates were needing a positive sign on their trip to Augsburg, and got it thanks to their most important summer acquisition in the opening minutes of the game.
With only 11 minutes gone by, former Cystal Palace striker Shefki Kuqi intercepted a pass from Augsburg keeper Simon Jentzsch and quickly sent the ball into the center of his goal for the early lead to the visitors, and his fifth tally of the season.
Despite the surprise deficit, the hosts took better control of the game from that point onwards, controlling most of possession but still unable to break down a tenacious Koblenz defense.
They finally equalized in the 68th minute when forward Michael Thurk was given too much space in front of goal following a free kick from Marcel Ndjeng, and easily put the ball away to the dead center of Yelldell's goal for the equalizer.
The Koblenz defense kept a lid on matters after that point to preserve the draw, with Yelldell producing a total of four saves on the afternoon.
While they can be encouraged by their first road point of the season, it does little to help Koblenz's standing as they still remain in 16th place, three points below the safety line.
They return home to take on Rot-Weiß Oberhausen on Friday, hoping that the home-field advantage will help them to a win.
1860 Munich 0 - 0 SC Paderborn 07
Kenny Cooper went the distance for 1860 Munich on Sunday, but was unable to add to his season goal total as the Lions were forced to settle for a scoreless draw with visitors Paderborn.
The game looked to be off to a bad start for Paderborn when midfielder Sören Brandy was forced off after 11 minutes due to injury, then got worse when Enis Alushi had to be pulled from the game after going down just 20 minutes later.
The Lions were still unable to take advantage of their shaken-up visitors, with Paderborn seeming to have a slight edge on the attacking end before the half.
With neither team able to make any real headway toward goal and the Lions desperate to help their cause with the three points as time wound down, a momentary loss of composure by 1860 substitute Stefan Aigner with 16 minutes remaining nearly threw the game into the visitors' hands.
Frustrated by Paderborn keeper Daniel Masuch's seeming time-wasting tactics in taking his time to grab the ball in front of him, Aigner purposely barged into the keeper knocking him to ground, and picked up a red card for his troubles.
Even with the man-disadvantage for the final minutes, he Lions held on, finally resigned to the the disappointing tie.
The point settles 1860 in a 13th place tie with Alemannia Aachen hovering three points above the relegation line, meaning they will be under pressure to pull out a better performance when heading north to take on fourth-place St. Pauli on Sunday.
Notes
Jermaine Jones is still recovering from his broken leg and did not suit up for Schalke's tight 1-0 road win over struggling Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
Bryan Arguez is in Egypt for the U-20 World Cup and can be thankful that he missed Hertha Berlin's shocking 5-1 thrashing at the hands of their hosts Hoffenheim on Sunday.
Backup keeper Luis Robles was an unused substitute for Kaiserslautern as they secured their grip on first place of the 2. Bundesliga on Saturday with a 2-0 home win over Karlsruher SC.
Ian Joy did not suit up for his new team Ingolstadt on Saturday as they tightened the gap to the top three to a single point with their 2-0 win over leaders Jahn Regensburg. |
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