Otto Hitzfeld’s boys are feeling some real pain and there is a sense of doom and gloom choking the Reds camp. The title eating juggernauts are rocking back on their heels. Bayern has been shooting blanks in the goalscoring department with just 33 goals in 21 matches. Podolksi just limped back after 6 weeks of an ankle injury and “will he, won’t he transfer to Man U, Owen Hargreaves” is still on plyometrics to get him to match fitness.
In their absence, Roy Makaay has scored exactly a third of their goals. And Marco Van Basten did not think it fit to include Makaay in the Oranje squad for the World Cup! Hitzfeld managed to pull off a win against soccer lowlifes, Armenia Bleifeld, for a rare moment of jubilation.
Schalke is on top of the Bundesliga over Bremen and Bayern. Yeah, you heard right. They have been pouring it in with Kevin Kuranyi and Peter Lovenkrands.
However, this is Werder Bremen’s Bundesliga title to lose. They have been playing lights out soccer and have scored 53 goals, fifteen more than Schalke. These goals have come from Klose (who else!) and Diego, combined they account for 20. But Bremen has also seen scoring from other players like Naldo, Hunt, and Almeida. Lately, they have lost a bit of momentum losing their last two matches and are now being challenged by Stuttgart for the second spot. Mario Gomez has been rocking for VfB.
The Bundesliga has traditionally lost out to the Premiership, La Liga, and the Serie in getting the really big names but their strength is the stealth value of their lesser known players. These players carry a big stick for their national teams. Seeing Deigo play in the Brazil vs Portugal match showed why he has made the difference in this Bremen team.