| 18.08.2008 |
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| Stuttgart, bidding to dislodge last season's Bundesliga winners Bayern Munich, got their campaign off to a solid start Sunday in winning 3-1 away at promoted Borussia Moenchengladbach. With Bayern held to a 2-2 home draw the previous day by old rivals Hamburg the stage was set for Armin Veh's side to take advantage and his side impressed in securing full points with goals from Thomas Hitzlsperger, Ciprian Marica and Mario Gomez, all before half-time. A Rob Friend consolation on the hour mark was of little cheer to Borussia fans, their club having struggled in recent years to revisit the halcyon days of the 1970s. Veh was delighted by the start to the campaign. "We saw really good football out there today, not least as Gladbach also played in an attacking vein (although) at 3-0 it was essentially all over," the Stuttgart coach concluded. In the other Sunday encounter, Eintracht Frankfurt slid to a 2-0 home loss to Hertha Berlin, who bagged the points with Brazilian Raffael and Patrick Ebert 61 on target either side of the break. On Saturday, Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund began the season with victories under new coaches. Dortmund under Juergen Klopp earned a 3-2 win at Bayer Leverkusen with Nelson Valdez (4th), Florian Kringe (36th) and Neven Subotic (49th) on his debut on target. New signing Patrick Helmes (21st) and Stefan Kiessling (83rd) scored for Leverkusen in a disappointing start for new coach Bruno Labbadia. Schalke's new Dutch coach Fred Rutten saw his team get off to a flying start with two quick goals in a 3-0 victory over Hanover in Gelsenkirchen. It puts Schalke joint level on top of the table with newly-promoted minnows Hoffenheim, who were 3-0 winners at Energie Cottbus, after the first Saturday of the league season. Schalke were without injured new signings striker Jefferson Farfan and midfielder Orlando Engelaar, but dominated from the start against Hanover. Defender Marcelo Bordon headed Schalke in front from a corner in the second minute and Kevin Kuranyi netted the second six minutes later after Bordon had again won the ball in the air from a corner. Kuranyi completed the drubbing by heading a third from a free-kick in the 64th minute to boost his chances of being picked by watching Germany coach Joachim Loew for Wednesday's friendly at home to Belgium. "I am pleased with my team that we are so good in form. We played well and got the ball forward quickly," Kuranyi said. "I hope we can continue this way. But we have just won the first game. It's a big step and an important one, but we mustn’t forget it's a long season and we can't underestimate any team." Newly-promoted Hoffenheim hit three goals to record a first Bundesliga win in the club's history. The village club, who have risen from the lower leagues with the help of multi-millionaire investor Dietmar Hopp, scored a first-ever Bundesliga goal through Vedad Ibisevic in the 17th minute at Energie Cottbus (see above). Senegalese striker Semba Ba, who had helped set up the goal, struck a second 10 minutes into the second half and the rout was completed by an Ibisevic header in the 76th. Meanwhile last season's runners up Werder Bremen had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Arminia Bielefeld. Sweden striker Markus Rosenberg twice put Bremen ahead with goals in the 60th and 80th minutes against Bielefeld but the home side hit back each time through Poland striker Artur Wichniarek in the 74th and 81st. Wolfsburg came from behind to beat newly-promoted Cologne 2-1. Milivoje Novakovic, last season's second-division top scorer, headed Cologne ahead in the 20th minute at Wolfsburg, but Felix Magath's side leveled three minutes after the break through Christian Gentner and struck a 78th-minute winner through new signing Zvjezdan Misimovic. Karlsruhe began with a 1-0 victory over Bochum, with Christian Eichner settling the affair in the 30th minute. The 2008/2009 Bundesliga season got underway Friday evening when SV Hamburg came from two goals down to hold title holders Bayern Munich to a 2-2 draw and spoil Juergen Klinsmann's league debut with the Bavarians. Klinsmann conceded Hamburg were full value for the draw against a Bayern side still missing several leading players including the injured France midfielder Franck Ribery and striker Luca Toni. "We are still in the early phase and at the moment we are not in a position to put an opponent under pressure," Klinsmann said. "Our combination play isn't together yet but this will come automatically with improved fitness in the coming weeks. We have to improve from week to week." Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer told Premiere television Saturday that the club had to be satisfied with the single point in view of the long list of injuries. "A lot has been changed at the club for the good of the players and for the staff but we know it's of no use if the results don't come," he said. "However I think it was a good start because HSV (Hamburg) were lively, moved well and caused us a lot of problems, so a draw was a fair outcome. "The only negative thing was that we gave away a 2-0 lead." Hamburg coach Martin Jol was pleased with the performance and received a further boost Saturday when it was confirmed that Borussia Dortmund's want-away striker Mladen Petric is to join the club. Hamburg have agreed to pay a reported 4.5 million euros ($6.6 million) plus the Egyptian striker Mohamed Zidan for the Croatia international who will now pair up with fellow Croatia striker Ivica Olic. |
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