There’s one thing my coach never tired of saying to me: “Hau den Ball ins Tor hinein!” – best translated with: “Just slam it into the back of the net!” What did yours used to say to you? What about this one: “Oh, look at that lovely green pitch!” Well, if he was a gardener, I suppose he might have.

Now, a dictionary definition of a pitch goes roughly as follows: “An area covered in grass vegetation, kept regular and short and maintained in its state by human activity. A pitch is generally intended solely for sporting activity and is not used for agricultural purposes. Pitches may be found in gardens, parks or sporting facilities.” Now, this is relatively uninteresting, as I’m sure you’ll agree, but the managers of Bayern München probably read the equivalent definition in the German Duden dictionary several times before meeting Schalke 04. Why was the definition of the word Rasen (trans: pitch) of such great interest to the guys from Munich? Because they weren’t sure that the pitch at Schalke fell under that definition. In other words, they thought it was unfit to play on.

Perhaps the Schalke football field used to be just that – a field, with crops and farmers and all sorts. It wouldn’t be that surprising if the Schalke pitch had picked up a few others things besides grass: after all, the entire turf can be driven out of the stadium to get a supply of fresh air and uninterrupted sunlight. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop Bayern putting in a complaint to the German Football Association, who promptly explained that this was out of their remit. Maybe the German FA doesn’t dirty its hands with gardening, or just doesn’t have green fingers – not that that mattered, of course. All of this was just typical pre-match jockeying, with the real conflict coming on the pitch – no matter what condition it was in.

And to anyone who was hoping to see the somewhat unpopular people from Munich get taught a lesson from the current table-toppers Schalke, the pitch was unfortunately quite kind to Bayern, showing that Schalke coach Magath can’t always pull a rabbit out of the hat like at Wolfsburg. No, it was the record-holders Bayern that dominated this game, still riding high on their victory against Manchester in the Champions’ League – and the fact that they had already beaten Schalke in the cup game just ten days back. The lads from Gelsenkirchen were, in any case, not really at their best as they were against Leverkusen just one short week ago. Not even Bayern’s being forced to play the entire second half one man down gave Schalke the chance to win. Bayern went into the second half leading 2:1 thanks to Ribéry and Müller (with Kuranyi scoring for Schalke), and that’s how it stayed. As Bayern’s president Uli Hoeneß phrased it: “Anyone who can’t score against 10 men for 45 minutes does not deserve the championship.”

This clash at the top of the game somewhat obscured the other interesting duel on this day of play, with third-placed Leverkusen playing against the original masters of surprise at Frankfurt. Like pretty much everyone else, even the Frankfurters themselves are surprised at how high they are in the table – and are equally taken aback by the fact that they are almost on the starting blocks for international tournaments. The question is why? The team has not been noticeably strengthened since last season, and it simply seems to be a matter of the coach Michael Skibbe allowing his team to play more attack than his predecessor Funkel was willing to permit. The real reason, however, is simple: as so very often happens in football, when a team is on a roll, everything goes fine. When you’re on a roll, you can turn around a looming 1:2 defeat and a rather clumsy defender going by the name of Maik Franz can close the match at 3:2. And when you’re not on a roll, then you lose that can kind of game and, just like in the current case with Leverkusen, have to worry about being thrown out of the Champions’ League – after all, Borussia Dortmund are hot on their heels.

That’s right: the boys from Dortmund won the duel between the runners up for the third place by beating Werder Bremen 2:1; Bremen slept through the first half and then it was too late to equalise, even with help from Großkreutz and Subotic. Schalke and Dortmund in the Champions League? That would make the Ruhr area more than just the German capital of culture this year.

A few hundred miles eastwards, Hertha BSC Berlin just down want to go down. No sooner had everybody decided that the Berlin team was going to be relegated, and Hertha started winning, pocketing a 3:0 victory in Cologne. What with Freiburg and Hannover not winning, however, the relegation spot is still within reach and could be claimed on the next day of play at home in the Olympiastadion – with its lovely green pitch, circled by the deep blue track.

Two last comments: Paolo Guerrero is back. The HSV striker who was suddenly struck by fear of flying in Peru and was probably, much in the manner of the A-Team’s B. A. Baracus, only to be got on a plane in an unconscious state, is now back on form and scoring. The problem is that he’s not scoring goals, but scoring hits against spectators with bottles in their hands – but he’s doing that on purpose and with great skill. The smart money is on him being thrown out right now, and the coach Labbadia following at the end of the season in the wake of HSV’s awful performance against Hannover.

To close, it is worth mentioning that Dettmar Cramer celebrated his 85th birthday last Sunday. This coach, one of the first big names in the game, worked for several Bundesliga teams, but earned real respect for his development work in the third world: read up about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dettmar_Cramer

(Stefan Reichart/Brian Melican)

For a German Bundesliga blog click http://blog.magazine-deutschland.de

Results Matchday 29
FC Schalke 04 – Bayern München 1:2
Eintracht Frankfurt – Bayer Leverkusen 3:2
Borussia Dortmund – Werder Bremen 2:1
SC Freiburg – VfL Bochum 1:1
VfB Stuttgart – Borussia Mönchengladbach 2:1
1. FC Nürnberg – 1. FSV Mainz 05 2:0
1. FC Köln – Hertha BSC Berlin0:3
VfL Wolfsburg – 1899 Hoffenheim 4:0
Hamburger SV – Hannover 96 0:0

Table
1 Bayern München 59
2 FC Schalke 04 58
3 Bayer Leverkusen 53
4 Borussia Dortmund 52
5 Werder Bremen 48
6 Hamburger SV 45
7 VfB Stuttgart 44
8 Eintracht Frankfurt 44
9 VfL Wolfsburg 43
10 1. FSV Mainz 05 38
11 1899 Hoffenheim 34
12 Borussia Mönchengladbach 34
13 1. FC Köln 31
14 1. FC Nürnberg 28
15 VfL Bochum 28
16 SC Freiburg 25
17 Hannover 96 24
18 Hertha BSC 22