There are those who think the English Premiership is over-hyped, over-covered and over-rated. Okay, I guess I am part of the problem, if the general slant of my posts is anything to go by. What can I say? I grew up on a steady staple of English soccer – long before the advent of the Premiership, I must add – and with my long affair with the Liverpool football club it’s inevitable that I would have this close tie to the English game, if there’s any such thing these days.
Unfortunately that has left other leagues under-covered on these pages. Not least the German Bundesliga, which, for my money is producing some of the most entertaining soccer on view this season. And by that I don’t mean just Bayern Munich, even if the Bavarian giants are leading the pack again this season. After a disastrous 2006-07 season left them out of the Champions League, Bayern went on a shopping spree in the summer, digging deep to bring in Italian striker Luca Toni, French ace Franck Ribery, Germany striker Miroslav Klose and Turk Hamit Altintop.
They’ve been a transformed team this season as the newcomers have settled quickly. Ribery has been the outstanding player in the league this season, taunting and teasing opposing defences with his creative skills and proving the perfect foil for the Toni-Klose tandem upfront. Both strikers have scored 8 goals apiece after 10 games, but Bayern look strong all over. Oliver Kahn has been his old solid self, centre-backs Lucio and Martin Dimechelis make a formidable barrier at the back, and Ze Roberto - back from a year’s sabbatical in Brazil - has been equally impressive. For my money, Bayern are the best team outside the Champions League this season and I can’t wait to see them back next year.
But – as I’ve said – the Bundesliga isn’t all about Bayern. I caught the Schalke-Werder Bremen game on Saturday and it was probably the best game I’ve seen this season. Sure, I’ve seen some impressive soccer from Arsenal, Real Madrid and Barcelona, but those were mostly one-sided affairs, with the other team just hanging on. This was different. Exciting attacking soccer from both sides, loads of chances and solid defensive play as well – all that’s beautiful about our game.
My one criticism would be the low score line – it finished 1-1 – and missed chances, but the stalemate probably contributed to the occasion with neither side willing to settle for one point. The best player on view was Bremen midfielder Diego, the Brazilian voted player of the year last season. His ball control, vision and range of passing were simply superb. And to think he can’t get into the Brazil team.
There were others that caught the eye too: For Bremen, centre-backs Naldo (another Brazilian) and Per Mertesacker, captain Torsten Frings and strikers Boubacar Sanogo and Hugo Almeida. For Schalke: Brazilian midfielder Rafinha, strikers Kevin Kuranyi and Gerald Asamoah, and midfielders Ivan Rakitic, Carlos Grossmuller and Fabian Ernst.
I think Bayern will win the title this season, although both Schalke and especially Werder Bremen – currently 5th and 2nd respectively – should chase them all the way. Third-placed Hamburg, another exciting team admirably led by the young Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart, should also finish amongst the top four, while last season’s surprise champions Stuttgart are looking like a one-season wonder as they currently lie in 12th place.
On a more personal note, I was pleasantly surprised to see two young Nigerian strikers in fine form in the Bundesliga several weeks ago. Olympic team star Solomon Okoronkwo was on target with a beautiful 20 yard screamer into the top corner to give Hertha Berlin a 2-1 win against Wolfsburg, while Super Eagles new boy Manasseh Ishiaku went one better with two well taken goals as Duisburg beat Arminia Bielefeld 3-0. They are both havng decent seasons so far too; Ishiaku has five goals to his name after 10 rounds, while Okoronkwo has found the net four times. Little wonder Berti Vogts gave the Duisburg striker his international debut in the 2-2 draw against Mexico a fortnight ago.
It’s no surprise now that Brazil is the world’s number one exporter of soccer talent. But how often does one team produce no less than five exports that end up at the very top of the European game? That’s the remarkable story of Santos FC, class of 2002-03. Pele’s old team won the Brazilian championship in style in 2002 with a bunch of players that include some of the better known names in Europe today.
At centre back was Alex, the big stopper now plying his trade with Chelsea after several successful years with PSV; upfront was Luis Fabiano, now leading the line for Sevilla in Spain; and in midfield was the trio of Diego, Elano and Robinho. I’ve already waxed lyrical about Diego in this post, and Robinho has been making his mark, with both Real Madrid and Brazil, over the past couple of seasons. Elano is the latest of this bunch to come out of the dark, after Sven Goran Errikson paid 8 million pounds get him to Manchester City from Shakhtar Donetsk. Since then, the 27-year-old has been one of the best players in England this season – scoring 4 goals and creating many more to help City to its best season start in over 10 years.
I guess in retrospect it’s no surprise that Santos did so well with this bunch in its ranks. They would have done even better, had they succeeded in their bid for the 2003 Copa Libertadores. They did reach the final that year, before losing to Argentina’s Boca Juniors – a team led by a stocky young striker by the name of Carlos Tevez.
1 comment:
I think you are spot on about the Bundesliga. There are some great players and does not get the coverage it deserves - especially in the UK.
Solomon Okoronkwo played for us last season and although still very raw looked like he had plenty of potential. He didn't help us stay up though:(
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