10 Things we learned from Matchday 34

By: Jan | May 20th, 2008

1. Nuremberg complete relegation double.
Schalke scored two goals. Schalke almost scored two own goals. In between Nuremberg squandered their chances, like they squandered their chances all season. Eventually those were Nuremberg’s final 90 minutes in the Bundesliga.

Nuremberg are now in sole possession of two less than flattering relegation records. They won the relegation double, by being relegated as both champions (1969) and cup winners (2008), and they were relegated a record seventh time from the Bundesliga.

Given the quality of their squad, what will follow is a silly season where Nuremberg’s dead body is served as main course. Robert Vittek has already been linked with promoted billionarios SAP Hoffenheim. Hamburg’s preference for defenders sees them linked with Javier Pinola. Zvjezdan Misimovic could seek the grey environments of Wolfsburg to play in the UEFA Cup. Just to name three.

2. Stuttgart should just give up buying players.
Stuttgart did what Hamburg did last season and clinched a last minute Intertoto Cup spot, to savour an otherwise disappointing season. Responsible for this result were Mario Gomez senior (22 years old) and Mario Gomez junior (18 years old and also known as Manuel Fischer). Mario Gomez senior converted a penalty, after a foul on Mario Gomez junior. Then Mario Gomez junior scored a goal of his own to make it 2-1 for Stuttgart. The match ended 2-2 thanks to Stuttgart’s shaky defence.

Gomez senior and junior are both home grown players. Both didn’t cost Stuttgart millions in transfer fees. And if amateur scouts (i.e. Stuttgart fans hanging around the training ground) are to be believed, Manuel Fischer will be the next Mario Gomez. Armin Veh has asked the press not to hype the young boy too much, but since I’m not part of the press I would have done so, if it wasn’t for the lack of YouTube highlight videos, which makes blogging about him impossible of course.

3. Huub Stevens receives the perfect parting gift.
Huub Stevens has a fetish for clean sheets and his team gifted him one final clean sheet when they played Karlsruhe at home. With a total of just 26 conceded goals, Hamburg’s defence became the best ever in Hamburg’s Bundesliga history, despite the teams downward spiral in the second half of the season.

HSV fans got something for their money as well: seven goals. Hamburg’s second highest ever Bundesliga win. They managed an 8-0 win over forty years ago, and incidentally they achieved that result against Karlsruhe as well.

4. Generals cry. Titans don’t.
Much to Ray Hudson’s delight, there were lots of “meaningful wonderful heartfelt emotions” on display in the Allianz Arena, when Ottmar Hitzfeld said good-bye to the day-to-day business of league football in exchange for the cosier life as Swiss national team coach. The bar was set and Oliver Kahn was expected to follow suit, when he got substituted in the 87th minute. But Oliver Kahn doesn’t cry. There were rumours that he cried after the Getafe match, but I think they were just that – rumours.

5. Something about Swiss penalty psychology.
As a reference point, German penalty psychology is straight forward: pick your spot, don’t change your mind, score. Alexander Frei revealed that more intricate mechanisms are at work between Swiss players. Frei was awarded a penalty in Dortmund’s match against Wolfsburg and saw his spot kick saved by fellow Swiss #1 goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. Frei had picked his preferred corner, because he knew that Benaglio knew his preferred corner and thus expected that Benaglio would go the other way, because he assumed Benaglio would assume that Frei would choose the other corner, because Benaglio knows Frei’s preferred corner.

6. Luca Toni is a gunner.
Not the Arsenal type of gunner, but the type of gunner who scores 24 goals in his debut Bundesliga season, to clinch the mini-canon-turned-trophy as the league’s best goalscorer. Stuttgart fans will console themselves with the fact that Mario Gomez scores a goal every 104 minutes, while Luca Toni needs a whopping 110 minutes.

7. Leverkusen miss out on Europe.
Leverkusen were Champions League regulars, then UEFA Cup regulars and now dropped out of Europe all together thanks to a collapse in the final stretch of the season – not that this surprises people who followed Neverkusen’s failed title runs. They were still sitting pretty in fourth place ahead of matchday 34, but a 0-1 defeat to Werder Bremen saw them dropping down to seventh place.

8. Wolfsburg are in Europe.
So, one corporate toy crashed out of Europe and another corporate toy made it to Europe – and well ahead of Felix Magath’s schedule. Wolfsburg played a great second half of the season and a 4-2 victory over Dortmund sealed only their second UEFA Cup qualification and their best ever Bundesliga finish. And the Wolves have every intention to stay in the upper reaches of the table in the future. Magath’s shopping list is filled with prominent names and current World Cup winners, so they could be a team to worry about next season.

9. Martin Fenin starts his season with a hat trick and ends it with a brace.
And there was a lot of nothing in between. Too bad about all the early hype. Frankfurt consider him an investment into the future anyway. Though, the young Czech striker has now been called up to the Czech national team for the Euros. When he starts his tournament with a hat trick and ends it with a brace, a lot of Czech fans will probably be very happy.

10. Fin Bartels scores a finomenal goal.
In fact he at least scored two and I just didn’t pay enough attention to newly relegated Hansa Rostock. So, when I wrote last week, that I would miss Duisburg for the great goals they scored, I actually meant to say Rostock and Duisburg.