Champions League: Schalke 04… of all Teams
By: Jan | December 11th, 2007Schalke were the least likely of all Bundesliga teams to advance. All credit for this achievement goes to Rosenborg Trondheim. Without their heroics against Valencia, Schalke wouldn’t be celebrating their first ever round of sixteen in the Champions League. A success that is worth an extra €12 million for Schalke - minimum. The cynical bit is, that Schalke benefits from Bremen’s and Stuttgart’s failure, because they’ll now get a share of what those two teams would have earned, had they made it to the next round.
All in all, the Bundesliga’s performance this year mirrors last year’s performance, and that’s the sad bit.
Stuttgart sort of took over Hamburg’s role. Injuries robbed the team of their quality, balance and self-confidence. Their recent return to form came too late for Europe. All that is left for them is a meaningless exhibition match against Barcelona tomorrow (Mario Gomez and Cacau are unfortunately both out injured for this one). You can’t take too many positives from Stuttgart’s campaign, except for the insight that Mario Gomez scores goals wherever he goes. Stuttgart will now be looking to make a statement towards the UEFA Cup spots in their last match this year, and then see where it takes them in the second half of the season.
Werder Bremen took over the role of Werder Bremen. Just that they won’t get a lot of love for their third place finish this year. They were gifted an easier group, and in this group they were simply outperformed and outsmarted by Olympiakos both at home and away. Werder Bremen has been the most entertaining side in the Bundesliga so far. They’ve done a great job coping with their injuries most of the time, but they also coupled unexpected positive performances with unexplainable bad ones. Here’s hoping for a more complete Werder squad after the winter break.
Category: 1. Bundesliga, Champions League, FC Schalke 04, International, VfB Stuttgart, Werder Bremen
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Comments
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Hey, but I have Schalke going to the final against Sevilla. So I get to keep alive the crazy dream of making way more money than I deserve
Posted from
United States
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At least Germany will have one team represented. France might not have any.
Posted from
United States -
I must say, I’m as surprised as you are.
I do like Manuel Neuer, though, so I can’t say I’m not pleased.
Posted from
United States -
I wonder what would need to happen to get Schalke to the final? They’ll probably need another Rosenborg doing all the work for them.
Inara: Big game - pessimism - Inara. There seems to be a connection between those three.
Abby: Adler - Neuer, Young - Goalkeeper. I see patterns emerging here as well.
Posted from
Germany -
Perhaps…
Posted from
United States
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