€30m for Gómez
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Bayern’s new coach Louis Van Gaal started his days off right as Mario Gómez has left VfB for München. With a fee of rumoured to be €30m Bayern apparently met VfB’s heavy demands and there was no other choice the club could make
VfB sport director Horst Heldt said of the deal “We managed to hold onto Mario twice. Now he has decided to make a move. That is a real shame! Mario has served VfB fantastically and once again this season had a massive part to play in the success of the team.”
The loss is quite obviously a difficult one to replace but with €30m the club can do very well bringing in some top talent in what is going to be a buyers market this year.
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Category: Uncategorized
Champions League!
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Fortune smiled on VfB in the final day of the season as despite a 2-1 loss to Bayern München they advance to the qualifying round the Champions League thanks to a KSC’s 4-0 upset of the Hertha Berlin.
With the day being played out at top speed, the hosts took that lead sixteen minutes in as Franck Ribéry’s cross was turned in as a own-goal by Khalid Boulahrouz. Die Schwaben turned up the heat but each chance came up empty and the match went to the break with Bayern maintaining its one goal lead. Just before the hour Ribéry was the architect of the second goal as he fed Mark van Bommel a perfect through ball which he sent past Jens. VfB quickly launched forward and only four minutes later Mario Gómez gave his side hope with a brilliant one man effort, maneuvering between the statuesque Bayern defenders to score from inside the area. Markus Babbel’s side continued to pour forward but the day would end on the wrong side of the score.
It has been a remarkable year or better-said, two seasons. The pre-Babbel era and then under the leadership of the thirty-six year old coach. As VfB is now securely in the Champions League it can plan its road to the height of Football with one of the sports most promising young coaches.
Category: UncategorizedVfB needing help from Bremen for title
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With VfB’s 2-0 victory over Cottbus at the Neckarstadion on Saturday, the Bundesliga championship race will come down to the final weekend. Trailing first place by two points, Markus Babbel’s side look ahead to their match against Bayern München knowing a victory along with Bremen’s upset of Wolfsburg will cap a stunning comeback with the Bundesliga title.
Without Mario Gómez and Sami Khedira in the starting eleven the capacity ground urged VfB on against a tough Cottbus side. Those expecting a slow start to the match were surprised as both sides were advancing early with a series of close chances. At the nineteenth minute VfB took the lead as Thomas Hitzlsperger’s free-kick from the right managed to go untouched before bouncing in off the far post and in. Cottbus continued to fight back and were for the most part created the sole chances after the break. In the final quarter-hour Shao Jiayi, formerly of CSL’s Beijing Guoan, came close but his effort rang off the crossbar and with twelve minutes left VfB scored a much needed insurance goal. With Cottbus exposed at the back, Markus Babbel’s side countered with a long pass to the left flank finding Mario Gómez, who had come on ten minutes early, with the striker crossing back to the centre for Cacau to finish from ten metres.
Markus Babbel said after the match:
“I’m unbelievably proud of my team and anyone who supports VfB can be proud today too! The team performed extraordinarily and have now put themselves in a fantastic position for going into the game next Saturday. Now we need to gather our strength if we are to do the undoable in Munich next week.”
Category: UncategorizedJens wills Kurányi’s header off post to make Schalke royally blue
By: 21 | 1 Comment
VfB remained two points behind first-place Wolfsburg with a 2-1 victory over Schalke. As the Bundesliga reaches the final two weeks, the final match showdown against Bayern could be the ultimate decider in the table, particularly if Bremen can come up big against Wolfsburg.
Without the services of Mario Gómez due to injury, Markus Babbel inserted Ciprian Marica into his lineup. VfB stole the lead at the quarter hour as Cacau picked up a loose ball and worked to the right edge of the box before firing a trailing shot into the top near corner. Ivan Rakitić brought the match even with six minutes left in the half as after a surprising free-kick just on the edge of the area was awarded, he drove the ball into the left corner. Schalke was more aggressive after the break but at the fifty-seventh minute a rebound from Thomas Hitzlsperger fell to Ciprian Marica and the Romanian sent the ball in. Schalke came closs to evening the match up but Jens willed Kevin Kurányi’s header off the post to save the victory.
Category: UncategorizedAn easy day at the office
By: 21 | 1 Comment
The much talked about “showdown” between VfB and Wolfsburg turned into a easy day at the office as Markus Babbel’s team cut down the visitors to size, winning 4-1 with Mario Gómez hitting for all four goals.
In many ways the match started days ago or at least the result was due in-part to the Wolfsburg’s coach Felix Magath, apparently forgetting his present club has a chance to win the championship and instead actually being a leader he announced he was scampering off the Schalke next year, while grabbing as much press-time as he could. Against Markus Babbel’s team unity policy and tough as nails approach Wolfsburg’s attack was hollow as their managers inability to properly lead.
Stuttgart gave the visitors a hint of the shape of to come less than a minute in a Super Mario headed in Christian Träsch’s cross to make in 1-0. Twenty minutes later Cacau got on the end of Thomas Hitzlsperger’s through ball before crossing for Gómez’s second of the day. Sixteen minutes later Edin Džeko brought Wolfsburg to within one but that was a close as it would get as Gómez made it 3-1 just after the hour as he accepted Sami Khedira’s pass before powering the ball in from thirteen metres. Finally with thirteen minutes left Gómez added his fourth heading in Martin Lanig’s cross as the “showdown” turned into a 4-1 romp.
Category: UncategorizedDie Schwaben drop important points
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Die Schwaben hopes for the Bundesliga championship were possibly felled as relegation candidates Arminia Bielefeld held them to a 2-2 draw at the Schüco-Arena. After the match Markus Babbel said of the result:
“It was a very emotional game and the fans really got their money’s worth, at times at the expense of the nerves of both trainers. Both teams went looking for the win but we didn’t achieve that because we left too many chances untaken. Arminia played very passionately, and with that in mind, we have to be satisfied with the point. Our goal remains to finish in the top five.”
Only three minutes into the match Thomas Hitzlsperger’s corner was headed against the post by Khalid Boulahrouz but Matthieu Delpierre headed the rebound past Dennis Eilhoff to give VfB the 1-0 lead. At thirty minutes the schwarz-weiß-blauen equalized it as poor defending allowed Oliver Kirch free before crossing to Christopher Katongo for finish. Thomas Hitzlsperger gave VfB the lead five minutes later as he drive took a fortunate deflection over Bielefeld goalkeeper Dennis Eilhoff. The second half was ripe with chances for VfB but finishing was off and twenty-two minutes left the host side brought the match level from the spot. Thomas Hitzlsperger was adjudged to dropping Thorben Marx in the area and with the spot pointed-to, Vlad Munteanu sent the ball. VfB had ample opportunity to score but couldn’t and the match ended in a 2-2 draw.
Category: UncategorizedVfB continue winning streak
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Markus Babbel’s VfB won their fifth successive match, continuing their stunning run of play in the Rückrunde, defeating Frankfurt 2-0 at the Neckarstadion. The victory squares VfB with Bayern on points and leaves the upcoming match against Wolfsburg as a possible decider of the championship.
Inspired to limit VfB’s attack, Frankfurt showed an impressive stubborn side defending and until Martin Lanig’s effort at the half hour there were no significant attacking threats. However with twelve minutes remaining in the half Ludovic Magnin cross was flicked on by Cacau, who had slipped under Marco Russ, to the near post giving VfB the 1-0 lead. Die Schwaben doubled the margin three minutes into the new half as Lanig’s free-kick from the left landed a Mario Gómez feet with striker sending it in to make it 2-0. Any chance of Frankfurt coming back ended with that goal and the match waned on without further scoring.
Category: UncategorizedVfB continue to win
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VfB continued their incredible run in the Rückrunde with a 3-0 victory over Köln with all three strikes coming from Mario Gómez. The victory brings die Schwaben six points behind first-place Wolfsburg and focused on a Champions League spot.
Gómez’s first of the day came sixteen minutes in from as he headed-in Roberto Hilbert cross in from the six-yard box. However Köln continued to fight back and after a number of chances were denied but the number 1, Jens Lehmann, Gómez got his second of the day ten minutes after the break when Cacau stole the ball midfield before providing him a close range finish. Sixteen minutes later, VfB was definitely anxious to get Gómez his third of the day and as Thomas Hitzlsperger through ball found Sami Khedira, who neatly shifted to the striker to once again close out.
Despite the win Markus Babbel was not overly pleased with the performance saying:
“I’m very satisfied with the result - but not at all with the first half! We played terribly and got really lucky, Köln had a couple of great chances. The second half was quite alright. We were more solid at the back and took the chances we created. We still want to defend fifth spot - the team have worked very hard to get this far. The win today was very important for us. Our goal is to keep the teams behind us at a distance.”
Category: Uncategorizedlate goal gives VfB win
By: 21 | 1 Comment
After ninety minutes of scoreless action Mario Gómez scored to give VfB a 1-0 victory over Hamburg. With the result die Schwaben extend their winning streak the three matches and are now only three points out of a Champions League spot.
Although the score-line doesn’t show it both sides were highly aggressive and attacked at will. For the most part Hamburg were closer in breaking the deadlock early with Croatian international Ivica Olić causing a wealth of problems. As the match entered the final ten minutes the message was clearly “attack” in both directions. Following Roberto Hilbert pounding the ball off the HSV post with nine minutes left with Dennis Aogo doing the same for his side as regulation time ticked away. However the day belonged to Mario Gómez in added-time he volleyed in the winning strike from twelve metres after Frank Rost saved Thomas Hitzlsperger’s drive.
Following the match Markus Babbel said of the performance:
“I saw a good game from my team, they battled unyieldingly and were rewarded for that with the late goal. HSV were a very strong opponent, they were well organised and it wasn’t at all noticeable that they had just been involved in a UEFA Cup match on Thursday night. Towards the end I didn’t feel as if we would get the goal - which made the winner all the nicer! It was tough work out there today.”
Category: UncategorizedVfB’s clash against HSV
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With only a single blemish in the Bundesliga under coach Markus Babbel, VfB are zeroing in European competition. The bracing days of the autumn doldrums when the club was stumbling are memory long since cast aside as Stuttgart has fought its way to the fifth in the table and look ahead to this Sunday’s crucial battle against Martin Jol’s HSV.
The second-half of the Bundesliga season (”Rückrunde”) has seen VfB continue on its steam-roller pace with only the uncharacteristic stumble against Bremen to forget. For “Babbel & Co.” the match couldn’t be better timed as it is the match a champion lustily waits for. Coming straight to the centre of the ring, VfB has a chance to “win” its way to the top of the table against the Hamburg side which presently co-holds the top of the table. A victory for Markus Babel will jettison their hopes for a Champions League berth, unimaginable in the dark days of November.
For Hamburg, the lofty spot seems to have them dizzy of late. A strong victory over Bayern started their year off right but they have stumbled with losses to relegation candidates Karlsruhe and Borussia Mönchengladbach. While the second-half of the Bundesliga season has marked an odd habit of the table virtually tipped on its end, for VfB the opportunity to “win” a berth in the Champions League starts with the first step on Sunday.
Category: Uncategorized
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