Matt Taylor will hope to have the chance to create some deja vu against first-place Kaiserslautern while Michael Bradley simply needs to get some minutes before international duty.
Hannover 96 - SC Freiburg
Steve Cherundolo will take up his usual spot on the right side of Hannover's defense on Saturday as they attempt to snap their four-game winless run against an inconsistent Freiburg team on Saturday.
The frailties of The Reds have shown through in recent weeks, with a spate of injuries and tough schedule seeing them slump to a four-game streak during which they have only managed to take two points.
Their precarious 14th place spot in the standings gives them only a one-point cushion to the relegation spots of the bottom three, meaning they desperately need to start picking up the easy points at home, where they remarkably remain winless through their first three attempts.
This may be more difficult than expected against promoted Freiburg, who have been tough on the road in winning two of their three, including a shocking upset over contenders Schalke several weeks prior.
The Freiburgers have the advantage on injuries, with only striker Jonathan Jäger to miss the game with an Achilles problem.
Hannover coach Andreas Bergmann continues to face a sizable injury list, most notably starting keeper Robert Enke who is battling a bacterial infection.
Strikers Mikael Forssel and Jan Schlaudraff continue to be out with respective foot and back injuries while fellow frontman Mike Hanke must also miss the game in recovery from a tonsil operation.
Defender Mario Eggimann continues his absence from a back injury along with fellow defender Vinicius as well as midfielders Leon Andreasen and Altin Lala.
In the midst of the series of injuries, midfielder Sal Zizzo could feature once again on the bench for the Reds.
Borussia Mönchengladbach - Borussia Dortmund
Michael Bradley hopes to be called upon to take the field as Borussia Mönchengladbach looks for ideas to break their four-game losing streak when a disappointing Borussia Dortmund comes for a visit on Saturday.
Bradley made a return to league competition for coach Michael Frontzeck last weekend as a halftime substitute in Freiburg showing promise in his first few minutes, however a team collapse ultimately saw them allow a trio of goals in the heavy defeat.
Their three straight league losses have dropped the Foals to 12th place after what was an encouraging start to the season, so the former Bielefeld coach may choose to shuffle the lineup in hopes of igniting a spark before the team has an extra week off for the international break.
While the prospect of facing regional rivals Dortmund would usually present a tough challenge for the team to get back on their feet, the uninspiring play of the Black-Yellows through the first seven games, where they have won only once, could give the Foals the opportunity they need to turn their season around.
Frontzeck does have most of his most important players back from a rash of injuries, with defender Filip Daems the only key absence as he recovers from knee surgery. He will also be without defender Steve Gohouri and midfielder Sebastian Svärd.
Embattled Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp has nearly all of his first teamers present and accounted for, with the one exception of team captain Sebatian Kehl, who will miss six weeks due to an injury to his adductor tendon.
TuS Koblenz - Rot-Weiß Oberhausen
David Yelldell will start in goal for Koblenz as they look for their first league win since mid-August against visitors Rot-Weiß Oberhausen on Friday afternoon.
A poor start to the season has left Koblenz in a similar position as last season, looking at the rest of the league from the relegation spots and looking for any chance to turn things around.
They will need to be on top of their game against fifth-place Oberhausen, who rebounded from their 5-0 German Cup thrashing by Bayern to shut out Duisburg last weekend.
Koblenz coach Uwe Rapolder heads into the last game before what will surely be an uncertain international break for his employment situation with a weakened squad; defenders Martin Hudec and Frank Wiblishauser continue to be out with respective foot and tendon injuries, while midfielders Lars Bender and Emmanual Krontiris will once again miss with thigh and groin injuries.
Adding to the hobbled masses are defenders Philipp Langen and Dominique Ndjeng who are out with respective thigh and shoulder injuries, while striker Njazi Kuqi will miss the game with a stomach muscle strain.
Oberhausen miss a trio of players, with defender Timo Uster out with a knee problem, midfielder Tim Kruse to an Achilles injury and striker Gay Jamal with the Trinidad and Tobago U-20 team in Egypt.
FC St. Pauli - 1860 Munich
Kenny Cooper and the Lions will be looking for a bit of magic against St. Pauli on Sunday when they travel to Hamburg desperately needing points to stop their drop towards the bottom of the league standings.
The Hamburg-based Pirates started out the season on a tear before finally falling off in recent weeks, losing their last two in the league to fall to fourth.
While they have actually proven stronger on the road than in their usual home fortress of the Millerntor-Stadion, they will nevertheless present a difficult task for Cooper and his teammates, who have been positively awful on the road with only a single point and one goal scored to show for their three attempts.
The disappointing Lions will be without midfielder Daniel Bierofka who is still absent after undergoing an operation on his adductor, while midfielder Florin Lovin is also forced to miss the weekend with a knee injury and Stefan Aigner must watch due to a red card suspension.
In addition, Manuel Schäffler and Florian Jungwirth are both absentas they are Germany's squad for the U-20 World Cup in Egypt, with the latter having already proven a thorn in the Americans' side.
St. Pauli find themselves in good health, missing only defender Markus Thorandt to an Achilles injury.
FSV Frankfurt - FC Kaiserslautern
Matt Taylor will hope to see some minutes for last-place FSV Frankfurt on Sunday, as they host league leaders FC Kaiserslautern, victims of his best league performance last fall.
Frankfurt have had an utterly abysmal season so far, losing six of their first seven games and already facing the almost certain prospect of relegation to the 3. Liga.
With the team seemingly out of both ideas and luck, Frankfurt coach Tomas Oral could be well-served to hand Taylor his first league start of the season and cross his fingers to hope that the versatile striker will repeat his performance of exactly one year ago, where he put a trio of goals past Kaiserslautern keeper Tobias Sippel on the way to leading his previous team Koblenz to victory.
With the long international break coming, Frankfurt coach Tomas Oral faces perhaps his last game with the team with a quartet of injuries; defender Gledson must sit with an adductor injury, while midfielder Soumaila Coulibaly is out with a thigh problem and both Nikolas Ledgerwood and Christian Müller are sidelined with knee injuries.
The league-leading Red Devils head to nearby Frankfurt with only long-term injuries still remaining. Forward Srdjan Lakic is still recovering from a groin surgery, midfielder Sascha Kotysch is out with a hematoma in his shinbone, and both Anel Dzaka and Moussa Ouattara are also both off the roster for Sunday.
Kaiserslautern's Luis Robles is expected to sit the game on the bench as Sippel's backup.
Notes
Jermaine Jones is still in the final stages of recovery for his broken leg and will not suit up for Schalke as they try to push into the top three when they host Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday evening.
Bryan Arguez is in Egypt for the U-20 World Cup and will take no part when last-place Hertha try to avoid embarrassment against their first-place visitors Hamburger SV.
Ian Joy will hope to make his debut for Ingolstadt when the 3. Liga fourth-place team host Bavarians SpVgg Unterhaching on Saturday afternoon. |
Friday October 2, 2009
9:56 am |
no regular minutes?BAAH!!!daddy bradley will never sit his son
— dave
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