“Ihr seid Borussen, asoziale Borussen. Ihr schlaft unter Brücken oder in der Bahnhofsmission�

[mavericktango]

"You are Borussians, anti-social Borussians. You sleep under bridges or in hostels for the homeless".

Saturday 9th July 2005

Borussia Dortmund chairman Reinhard Rauball today announced at a midday press conference the appointment of Dortmund's new manager. There were gasps all round from the assembled media as unknown Scot Hamish von Wurst was introduced.

Rauball explained that Dortmund and success had not been seen together recently, since the glory of the 90's all Dortmund had to show for the new century was a Bundesliga title four seasons ago and a losing UEFA Cup final the same season. That was not good enough for a team of Dortmund's stature.

Hamish was a German teacher at the University of Dortmund; he was responsible for setting up the University's successful football program which has seen them win 10 consecutive titles. He was born in Scotland of a German banker and Scottish mother. He played for several Scottish teams before taking up teaching and moving to Germany to be near his father who had moved back to Dortmund after his divorce.

Out of 20 people we interviewed for this prestigious job Hamish gave a committed and positive response to all our questions. We are convinced von Wurst is the man to lead our Bundesliga challenge.

That is how I was appointed at underachieving Dortmund. I sat in my plush office looking at the club paperwork and a £10m transfer kitty.

The first thing that jumped out at me was we only had one quality striker at the club, Jan Koller and we looked a bit short in defensive prowess - those would have to be addressed quickly.

We only had a few friendlies fixed, including one on Tuesday at Swiss semi-pro club Biaschesi as we were about to meet Sturm Graz in the Intertoto Cup 3rd round over two legs.

[mavericktango]

"You are Borussians, anti-social Borussians. You sleep under bridges or in hostels for the homeless".

Saturday 9th July 2005

Borussia Dortmund chairman Reinhard Rauball today announced at a midday press conference the appointment of Dortmund's new manager. There were gasps all round from the assembled media as unknown Scot Hamish von Wurst was introduced.

Rauball explained that Dortmund and success had not been seen together recently, since the glory of the 90's all Dortmund had to show for the new century was a Bundesliga title four seasons ago and a losing UEFA Cup final the same season. That was not good enough for a team of Dortmund's stature.

Hamish was a German teacher at the University of Dortmund; he was responsible for setting up the University's successful football program which has seen them win 10 consecutive titles. He was born in Scotland of a German banker and Scottish mother. He played for several Scottish teams before taking up teaching and moving to Germany to be near his father who had moved back to Dortmund after his divorce.

Out of 20 people we interviewed for this prestigious job Hamish gave a committed and positive response to all our questions. We are convinced von Wurst is the man to lead our Bundesliga challenge.

That is how I was appointed at underachieving Dortmund. I sat in my plush office looking at the club paperwork and a £10m transfer kitty.

The first thing that jumped out at me was we only had one quality striker at the club, Jan Koller and we looked a bit short in defensive prowess - those would have to be addressed quickly.

We only had a few friendlies fixed, including one on Tuesday at Swiss semi-pro club Biaschesi as we were about to meet Sturm Graz in the Intertoto Cup 3rd round over two legs.

[Loeffle]

This sounds VERY promising Even if we here sing like You are Swabians, anti-social Swabians... (Stuttgart is loathed here).

A Scot in Dortmund. Well, Paul Lambert is still a hero there

Wonder how you will deal with the huge debt Borussia has. But you should have loads of young talent (for German dimensions) in your squad.

Good luck!

[mavericktango]

Thanks Loeffle, there's not much talent or players in the U19's or reserves actually, leastways not that are close to first team level. Although the club have a 52M loan outstanding they're shown as 16M in the bank at the moment so as long as I can cover the repayments (500K a month til 2024!) I should be alright.

Technical details:

FM2006 v. 6.03 with China (Jia A league), USA (MLS only), England (League 2 and above), France (Ligue 2 and above), Germany (2.Bundesliga and above), Italy (Serie B and above), Holland (Gouden Gids divisie and above), Scotland (Division 3 and above), Spain (segunda division A and above) and Australia (A league only) running

Plenty of scope if it turns out to be one of my globetrotting stories!

[mavericktango]

Tuesday 12th July 2005

Biaschesi v B. Dortmund

Pre-Season friendly

The Swiss part-timers were rolled over without Dortmund breaking sweat. An early goal for David Odonkor who impressed at left wing was only added to in the last quarter of an hour by a stunning strike by left back Dédé but we were in no danger. The home side were held to just two off target shots all game.

Biaschesi 0-2 Dortmund

(Odonkor 3, Dédé 78)

Friday 15th July 2005

I finally manage to sign a player, arriving for £2m is 24 year old Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabañas who has scored 36 goals in two seasons for his Mexican club Jaguares.

Also arriving on a seasons loan is Arsenal's French midfielder Mathieu Flamini

Saturday 16th July 2005

Dortmund v Sturm Graz

UEFA Intertoto 3rd Round 1st Leg

The first team I pick for a competitive match is in 4-4-2 diamond formation: Meier - Dédé, Wörns, Metzelde, Degen - Kehl - Odonkor, Ricken - Rosicky - Koller, Smolarek. Subs: Gentenaar, Brzenska, Buckley, Flamini, Kringe, Gambino, van de Gun

BVB (The common abbreviation for Borussia Dortmund, it means Ballspiel-Verein Borussia, the full name of Dortmund being BV Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund) had no trouble with the Austrian visitors. After sustained pressure BVB opened the scoring on 17 minutes, Kehl passed across the face of the area to Philipp Degen who fired in a powerful drive. Although the Graz keeper managed to parry that Ricken was on hand to tuck in the rebound. Graz had a few chances but for the most part the BVB defense kept them at arms length.

Minutes into the second half the Black & Yellows doubled their lead, a delicious 50-yard ball by Dédé over the top of the Austrian defense put Tomas Rosicky clean through and he ran on to slide the ball wide of the advancing keeper. The icing on the cake came with six minutes left as two substitutes combined to add the third goal. Dédé dispossessed the Graz full back, Delron Buckley picked up the ball and fizzed a cross into the six-yard box. Cedric van der Gun arrived just right to stoop to force his diving header into the net.

Dortmund 3-0 Sturm Graz

Dortmund scorers: Ricken 17, Rosicky 48, van der Gun 84

Graz scorers: none

Att: 60,039

[Loeffle]

Originally posted by mavericktango:

Thanks Loeffle, there's not much talent or players in the U19's or reserves actually, leastways not that are close to first team level. Although the club have a 52M loan outstanding they're shown as 16M in the bank at the moment so as long as I can cover the repayments (500K a month til 2024!) I should be alright.

Naja, German research Dortmund has a very young and exciting team on pitch this season. Also strange that Meier is good enough to start for you, he is in real life lousy

Love your stories, and will read it now, as my own game is dead

[mavericktango]

Loeffle, I bow to your better knowledge, I will have to research more, I don't know that much about German football because we rarely see it in the UK. Meier is starting because whoever submited the inital euro squad before I took over didn't include No.1 starter Roman Weidenfeller

Thanks for the encouragement and feel free to point out any faults

[Raptor]

\o/ story about my fav German side

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mavericktango:

Loeffle, I bow to your better knowledge, I will have to research more, I don't know that much about German football because we rarely see it in the UK. Meier is starting because whoever submited the inital euro squad before I took over didn't include No.1 starter Roman Weidenfeller

Thanks for the encouragement and feel free to point out any faults </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

No fault - you hammered the Ösis anyway

Just was smiling when I saw Meier's name. He scored a fabulous owngoal last season when playing in Div 1

Here we also see more Scottish than English football. But this weekend they showed the FA Cup ...

[mavericktango]

help! I'm beginning to feel nervous with both Rator and Loeffle knowing more than me, I think I'm going to have to spend Monday at work researching BVB!

Monday 18th July 2005

Italian / Argentinean 23 year old striker Roberto Colautti has agreed personal terms with BVB after we fixed an initial fee of £1m rising to £3m on performance with his club, Maccabi Haifa. Last season he scored 19 goals in 30 appearances.

Also signing is Utrecht's 34-year old defensive midfielder Jean-Paul de Jong for an initial £600,000. Jean-Paul has been at Utrecht for 12 seasons making 321 appearances scoring 11 times; he will provide back-up for Kehl.

Wednesday 20th July 2005

FC Bulle v Dortmund

Pre-Season friendly

We continued with a gentle set of friendlies in-between our Intertoto cup fixtures. Facing another Swiss part-time outfit we give debuts to Cabañas, Colautti and de Jong while Dennis Gentenaar gets a start in goal

BVB strolled through this, Salvador Cabañas announced himself with two goals in the first half hour and Rosicky almost added a third with an audacious 45-yard lob which just sailed over the bar with the Swiss keeper way out of his ground.

I made six substitutes at half time and BVB coasted through the second half as well, Colautti scoring the only goal of the half. The home side managed four shots to BVB's 17 and we also had seven corners to their one. Just what we wanted - a comfortable workout without any injuries before Saturday's second leg.

Bulle 0-3 Dortmund

(Cabañas 19, 29, Colautti 53)

[mavericktango]

Saturday 23rd July 2005

Sturm Graz v BVB Dortmund

UEFA Intertoto Cup 3rd Round, 2nd leg

I had to start with the same squad as the first leg as my new signings are not eligible to play yet. With the tie fairly much over as BVB hold a 3-0 lead there was never going to be much urgency and when BVB added an away goal after just 10 minutes it was hard to stop them sitting back. David Odonkor was the scorer; he came with a late run into the box as Rosicky took the corner and got across his marker to power it into the roof of the net. Graz had 57% of the possession throughout this game but only managed two shots on target all game.

BVB finally paid the price with two minutes left they were sat back watching the Austrians move the ball across the face of the area when Jürgen Säumel unleashed a 25-yard thunderbolt that scorched past two defenders and the dumbstruck Meier into the top corner of the net. I think Ricken must have been chuntering on about the overall score to his marker because as we kicked off, Ronald Gercaliu kicked Ricken off the ball and picked up a straight red.

Sturm Graz 1-1 Dortmund

Graz scorers: Säumel 88

Dortmund scorers: Odonkor 10

Att: 3,225

(Dortmund win 4-1 on aggregate)

The reward for getting past Graz is a semi-final tie against AS St Etienne, the first leg is to be played in France on Wednesday.

Monday 25th July 2005

25-year old Italian midfielder Francesco Ciullo has turned down offers from Bologna, Brescia and Vicenza to sign as a free agent with Dortmund. So far he has made 152 appearances for seven different Italian clubs scoring 40 times, last season he scored 18 times for Serie C club Pavia.

[mavericktango]

Wednesday 27th July 2005

Saint Etienne v BVB Dortmund

UEFA Intertoto Cup Semi-Final, 1st Leg

We've travelled to the Stade Geoffroy Guichard for this first leg game with the same squad as we are still constrained by my predecessors’ choice of European squad.

St Etienne had the ball in the net in the first few minutes when Meier was all at sea with a high swirling cross and Mazure forced it home but the linesman's flag was up for offside. BVB hit back and Dédé fired a long ball up there in the seventh minute, Smolarek nodded it on and Koller drilled it past the keeper. Within 10 minutes the Yellow and Blacks had doubled their lead, Rosicky played a short corner to Ricken who sent it in towards the near post. Dédé flicked it across the goal and with the French keeper Janot struggling to get across, Smolarek headed in at the far post. St Etienne were getting some good shots in but somehow there was always someone in the way and BVB caught them on the break in the last minute of the half. Degen's long ball caught the defense pushed up square and Smolarek burst through to collect; as he advanced Janot came out to narrow the angles but he made a right hash of it and Smolarek fired the ball low past him into the near bottom corner of the net.

The Frenchmen were fading now and Dortmund finished them off barely 10 minutes into the second half. Rosicky flicked it into the path of Koller who had stolen a march on his marker and he deftly lobbed it over the advancing Janot. Credit to the home side they hung in there and when Meier dropped a stinging free kick halfway through the second half Frederic Piquionne was first to react and stab the ball home. It gave the home fans something to cheer but will have little bearing on the second leg at the Westfalenstadion.

St Etienne 1-4 Dortmund

St Etienne scorers: Piquionne 67

Dortmund scorers: Koller 7, 52, Smolarek 14, 45

Att: 17,939

[mavericktango]

Saturday 30th July 2005

There's several players in their last year of contracts, most I think I'll let stew until I've seen them in Bundesliga action but I've offered new contracts to Jan Koller, Lars Ricken and David Odonkor. Koller straight away rang back and said he didn't want to discuss a new contract now but might when he's considered his options. I told him don't dally too long, there's other younger strikers arriving and there might not be a spot for you.

Youngster David Odonkor has two U21 caps and is beginning to fulfil his potential so I'm glad when he puts pen to a 4-year contract worth £3m.

SV Waldorf Mannheim v BVB Dortmund

Pre-Season friendly

We head to the Carl-Benz Stadion to give some of our Euro ineligible players a game. Weidenfeller starts in goal, Kehl plays right back with Flamini replacing him at Defensive Midfielder, Brzenska comes in for Wörns, Issa Issa replaced Ricken, Ciullo played AMC and Cabañas partnered Koller.

Mannheim were seriously overmatched here, Dortmund piled on the pressure but had to wait until the 19th minute before a powerful 15 yard drive by Dédé opened the scoring. The home side still kept BVB out and even carved out an equaliser when they caught us not marking up at a free kick and slipped the ball to Reis who slotted it past the dive of Weidenfeller.

Koller added BVB's second just after the break but again the home side levelled on the hour as Kehl was penalised for handball in the area, Donkov blasted the penalty home. Ciullo then had the travelling fans chanting his name as he fired in two scorching efforts in five minutes to seal the win

Mannheim 2-4 Dortmund

(Dédé 19, Koller 49, Ciullo 61, 66)

Lars Ricken has signed his new three year deal stating how much he loved the club and he was looking to establish himself as a permanent fixture this season.

Wednesday 3rd August 2005

FC Bayern have predictably been made 2/1 favourites to win the Bundesliga, Schalke 04 are second at 8/1 with Werder Bremen at 12/1. Stuttgart and Hertha Berlin are both at 25/1 while we trail in with Leverkusen at 40/1.

Two goals from Roque Santa Cruz and one from Ismaël give Bayern a comfortable 3-0 win over Schalke in the Liga-Pokal final.

Leeds fans would say it wouldn't be much of a miss as Leverkusen fans worry about Roque Júnior's torn hamstring which could keep him out three months.

[Sammy Stokes]

Woot, Dortmund, the German Dark Horses - good luck with this one

[Guest]

Read the updates through. Well, I'm waiting for league time!

[mavericktango]

Thanks Tanel & Sammy

<hr class="ev_code_hr" />

Wednesday 3rd August 2005

BVB Dortmund v Saint Etienne

UEFA Intertoto Cup Semi-Final, 2nd leg

Philipp Degen hasn't recovered fully from a bruised thigh so young Marc Heitmeier gets his first start while Issa Issa who impressed in the Mannheim friendly replaces Gambino on the bench.

Give the visitors their due, despite being 4-1 down they came out firing and forced a lacklustre BVB side back for long periods of the first half but Meier was having his best game this season and kept the barrage out. Issa got his chance early on as Ricken limped off after 25 minutes.

St Etienne finally breached the rearguard with 18 minutes left, Piquionne's deep cross was met by Lamine Sakho who had pulled off Heitmeier and squeezed home. Three minutes later Meier dropped the ball from a corner and Yahia poked it home. The Frenchmen suddenly could see a way through but the BVB defense locked shut and when substitute Buckley's 89th minute shot was only parried by Janot, Koller was on hand to tap it in from two yards to confirm the Yellow & Blacks appearance in the final. Not a very good effort, 4 shots against 29 but the desired end product was reached.

Dortmund 1-2 St Etienne

Dortmund scorers: Koller 89

St Etienne scorers: Sakho 72, Yahia 75

Att: 60,107

(Dortmund win 5-3 on aggregate)

Lars Ricken has damaged his foot and could miss a month.

Thursday 4th August 2005

The draw for the three UEFA Intertoto Cup finals was today and we will play fellow Bundesliga side Hamberger SV with the first leg at Westfalenstadion next Wednesday.

The other two finals will be Athletic Bilbao v Wolfsburg and Valencia v Newcastle.

[mavericktango]

Friday 5th August 2005

With just over £6m left in the transfer kitty I'm sitting in my office trying to work out where it can be used to best advantage.

Keepers

I did have 24-year old Roman Weidenfeller pencilled in as my No.1, he's played 54 games since coming over from Kaiserslautern in 02/03 but he's been ineligible for the Intertoto Cup and Bernd Meier has had to fill in. 33-year old Meier has grabbed the chance with both hands, keeping two clean sheets in five appearances, he has just joined the club on a free from Ahlen. Third choice due to his eccentric behaviour is 29 year old Dutchman Dennis Gentenaar who's just arrived on a free from NEC Breda.

Defenders

33 year old central defender Christian Wörns has 64 caps for Germany and 176 appearances for Dortmund but is he getting past it? His central partner, 24-year old Christoph Metzelder has 16 German caps and is in his sixth season at BVB. Their backup is 21 year old German U21 international Markus Brzenska who has made 28 Bundesliga appearances in his two years at Dortmund. Left back is the experienced 27-year old Brazilian playmaker Dédé who likes to link the defense to the attack, he's played 198 times for BVB scoring 10 times. Over on the right is 22-year old Swiss international Philipp Degen who has just joined on a free from FC Basel. Their replacements are 25-year old Uwe Seggewiß and 20-year old Marc Heitmeier both just up from Dortmund II and I have my doubts as to their ability. This will be one area that will require investment.

Midfielders

First choice defensive midfielder is 25-year old Sebastian Kehl who has 24 caps and three goals for Germany. He's made 98 Bundesliga appearances in four seasons for BVB scoring 6 times. Also competing for that spot is 21-year old Frenchman Mathieu Flamini here on a seasons loan from Arsenal and 34-year old Dutchman Jean-Paul de Jong who I bought for £600K from Utrecht. My wingers will be 21-year old David Odonkor on the left, he has bounced between Dortmund sides but has explosive pace and has shown in the Intertoto that he could be ready to make an impact. On the right will be 29-year old German international Lars Ricken who has 278 appearances for us and 47 goals. Competing with them is a mixed bag, 21-year old Salvatore Gambino , 26-year old Dutchman Cedric van der Gun just arrived from Ajax although he's spent the last two seasons on loan at Den Haag, 27-year old South African Delron Buckley signed for £300K for Armenia Bielefeld and 24-year old Polish international Ebi Smolarek signed from Feyenoord for £525K after a successful loan spell, most of these can also play as strikers as well. My attacking midfielder will be 24 year old Thomas Rosicky who has 48 caps and 13 goals for the Czech Republic already and is in his sixth season at BVB. Pushing him will be 22-year old Florian Kringe who is ready to break through after a good showing in two seasons on loan at Köln and new free signing, 25-year old Francesco Ciullo who can also play as a striker.

Strikers

Automatic No.1 here has been 32-year old Czech international Jan Koller . He has 63 caps scoring 39 times as well as 129 appearances for BVB scoring 55 times but he doesn't seem too keen on renewing his contract and I might have to cash in on him rather than let him go on a free. I've signed two new strikers, 25-year old Paraguayan Salvador Cabañas who cost £2m from Mexican side Jaguares and 23 year old Argentinean Roberto Colautti who came from M. Haifa for £1m.

I'm quite pleased with my first choices but would like some experienced full back cover and wouldn't moan if a young hot shot striker dropped into my lap.

[mavericktango]

Saturday 6th August 2005

BVB Dortmund v Hamburger SV

Bundesliga

By one of those strange quirks of fate we open our Bundesliga campaign against our Intertoto opponents. Despite my intentions to start Weidenfeller in goal Meier has earned his shot so he starts and Weidenfeller is on the bench. The back four is Dédé, Metzelde, Wörns and Degen. Kehl is the defensive midfielder, Odonkor and Ciullo on the wings with Rosicky in the AMC slot. Salvador Cabañas partners Koller up front. The outfield players on the bench are Brzenska, Flamini, Buckley, Kringe, Smolarek and Colautti.

HSV came right at us from the start but suffered a blow when Emile Mpenza limped off after only four minutes. The visitors kept up the pressure and were only kept at bay by a superb performance by Meier. BVB roared on by a near capacity crowd began to venture forward and some lovely one touch passing by Rosicky, Koller and Cabañas opened the defense for Cabañas to side-step the last defender and arrow a vicious shot past the keeper's despairing dive into the far corner of the net.

HSV were noticeably subdued in the second half and were on the back foot as BVB came out strongly. It was still wide open at 1-0 though until Dortmund put the Hamburgers to bed with just over 20 minutes left. Odonkor and substitute Colautti worked the ball down the flank and although the keeper kept out Cabañas firm header from Colautti's cross he could do nothing as Cabañas headed his own rebound into the opposite corner.

Dortmund 2-0 Hamburg

Dortmund scorers: Cabañas 30, 67

Hamburg scorers: none

Att: 82,153

Leverkusen led the first table after a fine win in Nürnberg, Bayern were surprisingly held goalless by Mainz and their was a thriller in Duisburg. The home side had led 2-0 with six minutes left before Stuttgart scored two in two minutes. It was to no avail as Ahanfouf pinched the Duisburg winner with two minutes left.

Results:

Biefield 0-1 Wolfsburg

Duisburg 3-2 Stuttgart

FC Bayern 0-0 Mainz

Frankfurt 0-0 W. Bremen

B. M'Gladbach 2-1 Hannover

Nürnberg 0-3 Leverkusen

[mavericktango]

Sunday 7th August 2005

Although Cabañas had a magnificent debut with two goals the talk in the newspapers and website forums was of Francesco Ciullo and how he could be a real star.

In the two TV games Hertha Berlin comfortably beat Kaiserslautern 3-1 and a goal in each half gave Köln a 2-0 win over Schalke 04.

The FA Community Shield went goal crazy with nine first half goals and none in the second. A Thierry Henry hat-trick wasn't enough to give Arsenal a win as four goals from Drogba eventually gave Chelsea a 5-4 win.

Wednesday 10th August 2005

BVB Dortmund v Hamburger SV

Intertoto Cup Final, 1st leg

We have to beat HSV for the second time in a week but this time without my new signings. Gambino comes in at right wing for the injured Ricken and Smolarek partners Koller up front.

When the BVB defense backed off Lauth early on he took full advantage by firing home the opening goal after 14 minutes. Most of the visitors shots after that were high and wide but the damage had been done; HSV had a precious away goal.

After a half time tongue lashing Dortmund did at least look a bit more committed but with just under 20 minutes left with no equaliser in sight, I threw on Buckley, Kringe and van der Gun. Within three minutes van der Gun had slipped the ball to Koller outside the area, his pass found Buckley just ahead of his marker and he lashed it home. All square but it will be hard in Hamburg.

Dortmund 1-1 Hamburg

Dortmund scorers: Buckley 77

Hamburg scorers: Lauth 14

Att: 82,655

The other two Final first legs finished 0-0 at Valencia v Newcastle while two Mike Hanke goals gave Wolfsburg a two goal advantage at Bilbao.

Saturday 13th August 2005

Bayer 04 Leverkusen v BVB Dortmund

Bundesliga

We travel the short distance south to Leverkusen to face the Reds. Ciullo, Cabañas and Colautti come back into the squad.

A fast start saw the home side carve straight through the BVB defense and Andriy Voronin scored in the first minute. Leverkusen kept pressing but gradually Dortmund subdued their attempts and kept the score to one at half time.

I pushed Ciullo up front and withdrew Koller, bringing on Smolarek as the right wing. We still couldn't get the equaliser until the hour mark when Kehl won the ball on halfway. He slid it forward to Cabañas who deked the defender, drew the keeper and rounded him to calmly slot into the open net.

Leverkusen 1-1 Dortmund

Leverkusen scorers: Voronin 1

Dortmund scorers: Cabañas 58

Att: 22,478

Wolfsburg took advantage of Leverkusen dropping points to take top spot. Schalke hit four as did Werder Bremen but HSV failed to score for the second time in two Bundesliga matches.

Results:

HSV 0-0 Köln

Hannover 0-1 Nürnberg

Schalke 4-1 Duisburg

Stuttgart 2-0 Bielefeld

W. Bremen 4-2 B. M'Gladbach

Wolfsburg 2-1 Hertha BSC

Sunday 14th August 2005

Bayern come up scoreless for the second week running as they drew 0-0 at Kaiserslautern while the other TV game sees Frankfurt win 4-1 at Mainz.

I've signed some defensive cover in the form of 26-year old Swede Emil Jensen for an initial fee of £1m from Halmstad. He can play left or right full back and has made 81 appearances over six seasons in Sweden.

[mavericktango]

i] Wednesday 17th August 2005 [/i]

David Odonkor showed his improving talent when he scored both German goals as the German U21's lost 3-2 in Holland.

Saturday 20th August 2005

FC Energie Cottbus v BVB Dortmund

DFB-Pokal 1st Round

I make several changes for the visit to struggling 2.Bundesliga side Cottbus. Weidenfeller starts in goal, Jensen makes his debut giving Dédé a rest and Flamini is the defensive midfielder. Smolarek is at right wing, Buckley at AMC and Ciullo partners Cabañas.

Dortmund were content to let Cottbus have most of the possession confident that they wouldn't do anything with it. BVB opened the scoring after 14 minutes; Degen's long throw into the area was volleyed home by Ciullo for his first competitive goal for the club. Odonkor set up the second with three minutes left before the break with a wicked cross stuffed home by Delron Buckley whose run hadn't been tracked by the Cottbus defense. On the stroke of halftime it was all over as Cabañas caught the home defense flat-footed and raced clear, the home keeper was in two minds what to do and in the end he was left stranded as Cabañas passed to Ciullo to side foot home his second.

Cottbus did actually score seven minutes into the second half when the defense were left appealing in vain for offside as Kioyo ran on unchallenged to head home. Emil Jensen was commanding on his debut and picked up the MoM as Dortmund advanced to the next round.

Cottbus 1-3 Dortmund

Cottbus scorers: Kioyo 52

Dortmund scorers: Ciullo 14, 45, Buckley 42

Att: 15,921

We will have a harder time of it in the second round as we have been drawn away at Schalke 04.

Tuesday 23rd August 2005

Liverpool come through the Champions League 3rd Qualifier with a 10-0 aggregate win over the Hungarian side Debrecen, 5-0 in each leg.

Wednesday 24th August 2005

Hamburger SV v BVB Dortmund

Intertoto Cup Final, 2nd leg

'

Lars Ricken is fit enough to start at right wing, Buckley partners Koller as the European squad goes to work.

It's a lively start to the match but the finishing on both sides’ leaves a lot to be desired. The breakthrough comes on the half-hour and it goes to BVB, Buckley swung out wide towards the corner and slipped it into the area for Odonkor who curled it into the far corner of the net from a tight angle; Dortmund lead 2-1 on aggregate! The occasion got to some of the players and with a minute of the first half left a long ball by Lauth caught everyone pushing up looking for a second, Sergej Barbarez beat Meier to the ball and chipped him from the corner of the area, 1-1 on the night and we're heading for extra time.

HSV were working up a head of steam and Meier had to be on top form to keep it level. With 24 minutes left it was Rosicky's turn to feed the long ball out of defense which the generally disappointing Koller ran onto and in a carbon copy of HSV's goal chipped the stranded home keeper. 2-1 on the night, 3-2 on aggregate and HSV need to score twice now. The AOL Arena was rocking now but they were ultimately disappointed as Degen's through ball in the 90th minute found Buckley with a step on his marker which was all he needed to fire the ball home to set the flares burning in the away end. Moments later the referee blew for full time and BVB had won the Intertoto Cup!

Hamburg 1-3 Dortmund

Hamburg scorers: Barbarez 44

Dortmund scorers: Odonkor 27, Koller 66, Buckley 90

Att: 55,490

(Dortmund win 4-2 on aggregate)

Newcastle scored late on to secure a 2-2 draw with Valencia but the Spanish side won on away goals. The third final went to Athletic Bilbao on the night as they won 3-0 at Wolfsburg and also 3-2 on aggregate to the Spaniards.

We collected £100,000 for winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup but the main prize was the place in the UEFA Cup proper.

[mavericktango]

Saturday 27th August 2005

This morning's UEFA Cup 1st round draw gave us a tie against Greek side AO Skoda Xanthi. The first leg will be at Westfalenstadion on September 15th, if we get past them we'll be guaranteed five more matches in the group stage.

BVB Dortmund v Hannover 96

Bundesliga

Hannover had to stand and watch as a large Westfalenstadion crowd saluted the parading of the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Hannover haven't had the best of starts, losing their first two league games and being knocked out of the cup by regional side St Pauli, this delay won't have helped their nerves.

Ciullo and Cabañas are the strike force selected, Koller drops to the bench which also seats Buckley, Smolarek, Flamini and Colautti.

Dortmund had their heads in the clouds a bit at the start but still managed to open the scoring after 12 minutes. Dédé threaded the ball through to Ciullo in the area and he whipped a telling ball across to Cabañas who crashed the ball home. BVB are certainly suffering a bit with having to play different squads for the European games and several players are short of match fitness. Hannover couldn't take advantage of this but were probably a bit unfortunate to still be one down at the break.

With my words of encouragement still ringing in their ears BVB came out for the second half firing, Odonkor ran rings round the full back, slipped the ball to Dédé whose cross was powered home by Ricken arriving late at the far post just 22 seconds after the restart. Hannover's heads dropped and Dortmund were in control. Ciullo was tiring and on the hour he was withdrawn along with Rosicky for Koller and Buckley. The change paid immediate dividends as Degen's ball into the box four minutes later was powered home from 12 yards by Buckley. Ten minutes on and BVB's domination was complete, Cabañas got the ball to Koller in the area and although his shot was pushed out Buckley was on hand to crash home the rebound from just outside the area. Meier lost his clean sheet in injury time when Delura slipped past Dédé as though he wasn't there and drilled it in low underneath Meier.

Dortmund 4-1 Hannover

Dortmund scorers: Cabañas 12, Ricken 46, Buckley 64, 74

Att: 70,294

Leverkusen hammered HSV to go top again but our win took us level on points with them.

Results:

Duisburg 1-1 Köln

Frankfurt 1-2 Kaiserslautern

Hertha BSC 2-2 Stuttgart

Leverkusen 3-0 Hamburg

Nürnberg 1-1 W. Bremen

Meier has suffered a sprained wrist in the Hannover game which could let Weidenfeller in to reclaim the No.1 spot.

Sunday 28th August 2005

Three games in the Bundesliga today, Schalke's Ebbe Sand scored in the 50th minute to give his side a 1-0 win at Bielefeld and lift them into third spot. Wolfsburg, looking to go top, go 1-0 up after seven minutes at Bayern Munich but the home side hit back with three goals to record their first win of the season. The final game saw Mainz grind out a 1-1 draw at Borussia Mõnchengladbach.

[mavericktango]

Tuesday 30th August 2005

With the transfer window about to close I manage to sign an experienced centre back as cover. 33-year old Dutchman Mitchell signs from Portuguese club Maritimo for £500K. He's not the fastest but he's a very good header of the ball, is a hard worker and shows a great deal of concentration and anticipation to allow him to get the jump on his opponents. Over his career which includes PSV, Motherwell and Utrecht he has 375 appearances with 47 goals.

Thursday 1st September 2005

Leverkusen's Andriy Voronin wins the Bundesliga player of the month with Carston Ramelow of Leverkusen second and our Christian Wörns in third place.

A fax from UEFA arrives asking us to register 25 players for the UEFA Cup first round. By return I fax them our list:

Keepers B. Meier, R. Weidenfeller, D. Gentenaar Defense C. Wörns, Mitchell, C. Metzelder, P. Degen, Dédé, M. Heitmeier Midfielders S. Kehl, M. Flamini, JP. De Jong, L. Ricken, S. Gambino, E. Smolarek, D. Odonkor, D. Buckley, T. Rosicky Strikers J. Koller, S. Cabañas, F. Ciullo.

Unfortunately I can't include Jensen as he's played for Halmsted in the UEFA Cup already this season.

The other good news I had today was that Dédé has completed his seven years residency and has become a German passport holder. That frees up a Non-EU spot on the squad.

Saturday 3rd September 2005

Salvatore Gambino is capped by the Italian U21's for the first time in their 1-0 defeat against Scotland U21's.

In the senior Internationals, Wörns came on as a substitute for his 66th German cap, Koller scores on his 65th appearance for the Czech Republic while Tomas Rosicky won his 50th cap in the same match. Smolarek won his 6th Polish cap and Degen got his 5th Swiss cap.

Wednesday 7th September 2005

David Odonkor turned out another sparkling performance for the German U21's in their 4-0 win over South Africa.

Jan Koller scored four goals in the Czech Republic's 6-0 win over Armenia.

Saturday 10th September 2005

Werder Bremen v BVB Dortmund

Bundesliga

We head north again to play Werder Bremen who have drawn two out of their first three league games this season but are looking forward to participating in this season's Champions League. The international break has allowed Meier to recover from his sprained wrist. Koller's international performances have lead to him partnering Cabañas up front while Buckley's fine form has given him a start at AMC while Ciullo and Rosicky drop to the bench

It wasn't a great first half but it was fairly even with unfortunately few chances on either side.

Dortmund stepped up a gear in the second half and took control, attacks from the home side were getting few and far between but BVB hadn't made much use of their dominance either as the half wore on. With 20 minutes left we finally broke through, Koller flicked the ball on to substitute Smolarek whose fizzing ball into the area allowed Ciullo to just get ahead of two defenders and poke it past the advancing keeper. Bremen were a spent force and five minutes later BVB made sure of the points, Degen's long ball into the corner of the six yard box has flicked up and over the keeper by Koller.

Bremen 0-2 Dortmund

Bremen scorers: none

Dortmund scorers: Ciullo 70, Koller 75

Att: 42,992

Leverkusen won but we still took top spot on goal difference. Bayern are starting to click as they wrapped up their second win of the season at Stuttgart with a goal just after the break. Relegation battlers Mainz equalised against Nürnburg to grab their third draw in four games.

Results:

Hannover 0-1 Leverkusen

Köln 0-1 Bielefeld

Mainz 1-1 Nürnberg

Schalke 2-0 Hertha BSC

Wolfsburg 3-0 Frankfurt

Sunday 11th September 2005

In the TV games a 72nd minute strike by Lavric gave Duisburg a 1-0 win at HSV while a goal in each half was enough to seal a 2-0 win for M'Gladbach at Kaiserslautern.

[mavericktango]

The Bundesliga Table on September 11th

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | DORTMUND | | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 10 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Leverkusen | | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 10 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Schalke | | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 9 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Wolfsburg | | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 9 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | FC Bayern | | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 8 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Gladbach | | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 7 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Duisburg | | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 7 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Köln | | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Werder Bremen | | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Nürnberg | | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 5 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th | | Stuttgart | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 4 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | Hertha BSC | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 4 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | Frankfurt | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 4 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | Kaiserslautern | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 4 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Mainz | | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 3 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th | | Bielefeld | | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 3 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | | HSV | | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | -6 | 1 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th | | Hannover | | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 8 | -6 | 0 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

[mavericktango]

The Bundesliga Table on September 11th

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | DORTMUND | | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 10 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Leverkusen | | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 10 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Schalke | | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 9 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Wolfsburg | | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 9 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | FC Bayern | | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 8 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Gladbach | | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 7 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Duisburg | | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 7 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Köln | | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Werder Bremen | | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Nürnberg | | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 5 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th | | Stuttgart | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 4 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | Hertha BSC | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 4 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | Frankfurt | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 4 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | Kaiserslautern | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 4 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Mainz | | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 3 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th | | Bielefeld | | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 3 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | | HSV | | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | -6 | 1 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th | | Hannover | | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 8 | -6 | 0 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

[mavericktango]

Thursday 15th September 2005

BVB Dortmund v AO Skoda Xanthi

UEFA Cup 1st Round, 1st keg

Now that the new signings are finally eligible to play the dressing room is buzzing. The team chosen is Meier, Dédé, Wörns, Metzelder, Degen, Kehl, Odonkor, Ricken, Buckley, Cabañas and Koller with Weidenfeller, Heitmeier, Mitchell, Rosicky, Smolarek, Gambino and Ciullo on the bench.

For half an hour the two sides shadow boxed with no real penetration until BVB got the breakthrough. Dédé's free kick sent Koller away down the wing and his curling cross was met by an unmarked Buckley who headed home. Dortmund were starting to take control and were rewarded with a second goal before half-time. Kehl's long ball over the defense reached Cabañas who as he advanced caught the keeper in two minds whether to come out or not. Cabañas made up his mind for him as his sublime chip hit the back of the net.

The Greeks suffered a terrible blow five minutes into the second half when midfielder Baykara picked up his second yellow card. Six minutes later Sikov just beat Buckley to Dédé's sharp cross, unfortunately all he could do was guide it into his own net. The Greeks were wilting under the assault now and collapsed when midfielder Luciano became the second Xanthi player to be dismissed for receiving two yellow cards on 70 minutes. I had sent Ciullo and Gambino on for Odonkor and Ricken just after the hour and both took advantage of 9-men Xanthi. On 74 minutes Dédé's corner was just beaten out from under the crossbar but only as far as Salvatore Gambino who drove it low through the crowd into the net. Five minutes later Sikov completed a miserable day when he upended Buckley in the area and Ciullo stroked the penalty into the left corner of the net. Dortmund were camped in the Greek half now and three minutes from time Ciullo's cross was coraled by Gambino who side-stepped two defenders and slotted BVB's sixth goal home.

Dortmund 6-0 Xanthi

Dortmund scorers: Buckley 28, Cabañas 44, Sikov OG 56, Gambino 74, 87, Ciullo 79 pen

Xanthi scorers: none

Att: 60,244

Saturday 17th September 2005

Wolfsburg scored early in the second half to secure the win that took them top of the Bundesliga while Schweinsteiger's 23rd minute effort lifted FC Bayern to second.

Results:

Bielefeld 4-0 Duisburg

Bayern 1-0 Schalke

M'Gladbach 0-1 Wolfsburg

Hannover 1-1 Hamburg

Nürnberg 2-1 Kaiserslautern.

Sunday 18th September 2005

In the only Bundesliga game played today Werder Bremen went to Leverkusen and hammered them 4-1.

Tuesday 20th September 2005

Schalke 04 v BVB Dortmund

DFB-Pokal 2nd Round

Mitchell would have got a start but he's picked up a strained wrist but I still manage to select a few reserves to give them match fitness. Weidenfeller replaced Meier, Jensen came in for Degen, Ciullo replaced Ricken and De Jong replaced Kehl.

After a fairly even first half hour BVB made the breakthrough, Koller blasting a 20-yard free kick into the roof of the net. Schalke came on strong trying to get the equaliser and managed to grab it just before the break, Søren Larsen's 20-yard scorcher was only parried by Weidenfeller and Kevin Kuranyi neatly slotted in the rebound.

Schalke put themselves behind the eight ball on the hour when Dario Rodriguez upended Ciullo just outside the area and picked up his second yellow card. BVB still found it difficult to make the advantage tell, Ciullo set Cabañas up with an empty net but he couldn't get the ball out from under his feet and the defense recovered and the best change was wasted. BVB looked to have settled it in the final minute when substitute Rosicky drifted a corner in to the near post and Wörns arrived to power home his first goal of the season. Schalke weren't done yet and a minute into injury time Ebbe Sand climbed above Wörns to head home but the referee ruled it out for climbing. With the Dortmund players high-fiving they lost their concentration and Kuranyi caught them on a breakaway to tie the match three minutes into injury time.

Extra time was drifting away and both teams were looking at penalties when Altintop's free kick on the half way line caught the defense looking and Kuranyi burst through to seal his hat-trick and the cup-tie.

Schalke 3-2 Dortmund (aet)

Schalke scorers: Kuranyi 45, 93, 114

Dortmund scorers: Koller 32, Wörns 89

Att: 61,498

Hertha Berlin put six past Kiel away and Bayern needed extra time to beat Aue 2-0 while three Bundesliga sides went out to lower division opposition. Kaiserslautern lost at Bochum II, Köln lost at Mainz II while Rostock II disposed of Mainz.

[mavericktango]

Saturday 24th September 2005

1.FC Kaiserslautern v BVB Dortmund

Bundesliga

Kaiserslautern have lost three out of their first five Bundesliga matches and we travel to the south hoping to extend that. Meier returns in goal, Degen to right back and Kehl to DMC. Ciullo replaced Buckley at AMC, he drops to the bench.

This was a humiliation, the whole team must have had theirminds on the upcoming European game or something. Whatever it was BVB wasn't even second best, they were third best by a long way. Just after the half-hour BVB were four down and out of it.

Three minutes after halftime BVB gave away their second penalty but Meier actually saved this one. Not that it mattered as the home side ran in another three goals during the half. Four shots to fourteen is not really acceptable especially when you've had 52% of the play, there was too many poor mistakes down to a simple lack of concentration.

Kaiserslautern 6-0 Dortmund

1FC scorers: Blank 12 pen, Altintop 20, 29, 79, Englehardt 33, Jancker 60

BVB scorers: none

Att: 37,563

Bayern fired their way to top spot with a four goal away win. Our defeat drops us all the way to 6th but we have a game in hand on most of the sides above us, it also means that Bayern are the only unbeaten side in Bundesliga now.

Results:

Duisburg 1-3 Hertha BSC

Hamburg 2-1 Bielefeld

Köln 2-4 Bayern M

Mainz 0-2 Leverkusen

Schalke 4-0 Frankfurt

W. Bremen 2-0 Hannover

Sunday 25th September 2005

In today's two TV games Wolfsburg ground out a home 0-0 draw with Nürnberg to move up to third while Mõnchengladbach at Stuttgart had a thrilling finish. After Gladbach were reduced to ten men in the 11th minute they were looking to have pinched a 0-0 draw with only 10 minutes left but their luck ran out and Stuttgart ran out 3-1 winners.

AO Skoda Xanthi v BVB Dortmund

UEFA Cup 1st Round, 2nd leg

Even we us leading 6-0 this has been chosen for live TV coverage so I tell the players I don't want any repeat of Saturday's humiliation. Buckley replaced Ciullo in the only change to the starting XI, I want them to go out there and get it out of their systems.

The Greeks weren't showing much ambition even before BVB hit a 16th minute goal, a superb turn and shot by Cabañas in the area. After that it was really just a case of packing their defense.

Kazakis became the latest Greek to walk for two yellows in the 43rd minute before BVB finally wrapped the game up in the last minute. Kehl threaded the ball through the area to Buckley who fired it wide of the keeper's dive.

Xanthi 0-2 Dortmund

Xanthi scorers: none

Dortmund scorers: Cabañas 16, Buckley 90

Att: 7,316

(Dortmund win 8-0 on aggregate)

The measly £60,000 we got for beating the Greeks was not important, what is important is that we are now guaranteed four matches in the UEFA Cup Group Stages.

The draw for the groups was made after the night's games and we have emerged with a reasonable group. We're in Group C along with Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, Polish side Wisla Krakow, Belgium boys Racing Club Genk and Czech Republic's Banik Ostrava.

The fixtures are:

20/10 Banik Ostrava (a)

03/11 RC Genk (h)

30/11 AZ Alkmaar (a)

14/12 Wisla Krakow (h)

[mavericktango]

Saturday 1st October 2005

Just two Bundesliga matches today, Roy Makaay scored in the 54th minute to give Bayern a home win over Duisburg while Ebbe Sand's 90th minute equaliser in a 1-1 tie at M'Gladbach lifted Schalke up to second.

Sunday 2nd October 2005

BVB Dortmund v Vfl Wolfsburg

Bundesliga

Wolfsburg come to the Westfalenstadion three points and two places higher than us having not conceded a goal in their last three Bundesliga outings. The only change I make to the squad is to bring Jensen and fit again Colautti onto the bench in place of Brzenska and Ciullo.

Dortmund got off to an excellent start in the 12th minute. Degen played the ball sideways to Kehl who threaded it through to Buckley; he looked up and lobbed the ball over the advancing keeper into the net. Wolfsburg tried to get back into it but their finishing was dreadful, they only managed one out of ten shots on target all game.

Cabañas showed his worth once more in the second half. Dédé found Koller in the 51st minute and he played a delightful ball to Cabañas to slide wide of the Vfl keeper. Just six minutes later another Dédé free kick into the area was powered home by the Paraguayan striker for his sixth Bundesliga goal in six appearances.

Dortmund 3-0 Wolfsburg

Dortmund scorers: Buckley 12, Cabañas 51, 57

Wolfsburg scorers: none

Att: 69,496

The win lifted us to 4th but Leverkusen had to score a second half equaliser to salvage a point. Hannover were pleased to get their first win of the season

Results: [.b]

Frankfurt 0-2 Köln

Hannover 2-1 Mainz

Hertha BSC 2-0 Bielefeld

Leverkusen 1-1 Kaiserslautern

Nürnberg 0-2 Stuttgart

W. Bremen 1-2 Hamburg

Sebastian Kehl has pulled a hamstring chasing a ball in the final minute against Wolfsburg and could now miss a month.

[mavericktango]

The Bundesliga Table at the start of October 2005

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | FC Bayern | | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 17 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Leverkusen | | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 14 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Schalke | | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 13 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | DORTMUND | | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 13 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Wolfsburg | | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 13 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Werder Bremen | | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 11 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Stuttgart | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 10 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Hertha BSC | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 10 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Nürnberg | | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 9 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Kaiserslautern | | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 9 | +2 | 8 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th | | Köln | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 8 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | Gladbach | | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 8 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | HSV | | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 8 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | Duisburg | | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 15 | -8 | 7 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Bielefeld | | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 6 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th | | Frankfurt | | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 4 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | | Hannover | | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 4 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th | | Mainz | | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | -6 | 3 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

[mavericktango]

Wednesday 5th October 2005

One Bundesliga match today, goals by Marco Streller and Jon Dahl Tomasson give Stuttgart a 2-0 win at Frankfurt.

Saturday 8th October 2005

Jan Koller scored his 46th goal for the Czech Republic in their 2-2 draw with Holland while Delron Buckley hits two for South Africa against DR Congo.

Wednesday 12th October 2005

Jan Koller hits the winner as Czech Republic win 3-2 in Finland.

Saturday 15th October 2005

VfB Stuttgart v BVB Dortmund

Bundesliga

We travel to the south to face one of the teams level with us on points but ahead on goal difference, Stuttgart are on a three match unbeaten tear at the moment. Mathieu Flamini gets his first Bundesliga start in place of the injured Kehl in the only change to the starting XI. In the pre-match interviews I tell the press what a revelation Delron Buckley has been this season and tell them his emergence is one of the reasons we're up at the top challenging.

Jan Koller followed his international scoring efforts by opening the scoring here. Koller and Cabañas totally bemused the Stuttgart defense with their interchange passing and Koller ended up with a simple tap-in on four minutes. Dortmund hardly gave the home side a whiff of the action and if it hadn't been for some wayward shooting BVB would have sealed this one earlier.

As it was they had to wait until the last ten minutes before Dédé’s corner deep into the six-yard box was met by Cabañas rising above a crowd to power the ball straight into the centre of the net. Degen gave away a sloppy penalty with four minutes left to make it a nervous last few minutes.

Stuttgart 1-2 Dortmund

Stuttgart scorers: Meißner 86 pen

Dortmund scorers: Koller 4, Cabañas 80

Att: 54,224

The win takes us third behind Bayern and Schalke who win again. Duisburg continue to confound the critics as they win again and the supposed relegation battlers are comfortablely in the top half.

Results:

Bielefeld 0-2 Bayern

Duisburg 1-0 Frankfurt

Mainz 0-0 W. Bremen

Schalke 4-2 Nürnberg

Wolfsburg 1-1 Leverkusen

Sunday 16th October 2005

Hamburg beat Hertha 2-0 with two goals early in the second half and Kaiserslautern's Ciriaco Sforza grabbed a 90th minute winner to beat Hannover 3-2. M'Gladbach had no problems going the short distance to Köln and winning 3-1.

Thursday 20th October 2005

Banik Ostrava v BVB Dortmund

UEFA Cup Group C

We opened the group stage by travelling to the Czech Republic, Flamini keeps his place as Kehl is still injured, otherwise it's a full strength squad.

Dortmund batter Ostrava during the opening half-hour but just couldn't find a way past Ludek Cerny in the home goal. Finally on 31 minutes Degen fizzed a cross to the far post and Odonkor got up above the keeper to head home. Cerny looked shaken and not long afterwards Koller, back in his homeland, rose above Cerny and headed number two.

Odonkor was replaced by Gambino at half-time with a knock and although it was a quieter start to the second half Dortmund were always in control. With 24 minutes left a goalmouth scramble led to Buckley poking in BVB's third and two minutes later it was four. Dédé's throw found Ricken just inside the area and with a brilliant sidestep and turn he drilled it into the top corner. The final word went to the hometown boy; Ciullo flicked the ball across to Koller who buried it from the edge of the area.

B. Ostrava 0-5 Dortmund

Ostrava scorers: none

Dortmund scorers: Odonkor 31, Koller 37, 74, Buckley 66, Ricken 68

Att: 11,613

In the other game in Group C, AZ Alkmaar went to Poland to play Wisla and were two up at half-time before going on to win 3-1.

[mavericktango]

Saturday 22nd October 2005

Not many goals around today, just nine in the six games played with the top score being 1-1. Leverkusen slip to sixth as they go down to an 18th minute Meißner goal at home against Stuttgart who are now third.

Results:

Frankfurt 1-0 Bielefeld

M'Gladbach 1-1 Duisburg

Leverkusen 0-1 Stuttgart

Mainz 1-1 Hamburg

Nürnberg 1-1 Köln

W. Bremen 1-0 Kaiserslautern

Sunday 23rd October

BVB Dortmund v FC Schalke 04

Bundesliga

Fourth plays second as we entertain our near neighbours from Gelsenkirchen. I have no choice really but to stick with the team that thrashed Ostrava.

Dortmund struck first after 16 minutes when Odonkor floated a cross into the area and Buckley ran across the face of the defense to head home. Schalke fought their way back into the game and grabbed an equaliser five minutes before the break. BVB seemingly hadn't learnt from their cup game against Schalke, when Kuranyi picked up the ball 25-yards they failed to close him down and he just launched a rocket into the top corner.

Dortmund regained the lead three minutes into the second half as Ricken threw a long ball towards the far post where Koller had peeled away ready to power the ball home. Schalke couldn't drag themselves back again and BVB finished them off in the last 10 minutes. Flamini's long ball was picked up by Koller who lobbed the keeper for his second of the game and three minutes on it was Dédé's turn to be provider as his ball set Ciullo away to fire home his fifth of the season.

Dortmund 4-1 Schalke

Dortmund scorers: Buckley 16, Koller 48, 79, Ciullo 82

Schalke scorers: Kuranyi 40

Att: 82, 648

The win lifted us back to second in the table while in the other TV game today Wolfsburg won at Hanover 6-0

thanks mainly to four goals from Mike Hanke.

Salvatore Gambino has fallen awkwardly and has suffered a broken collarbone that will keep him out for up to two months.

Dennis Gentenaar has tired of being third goalie and has requested a transfer. I have agreed as I can't see him getting regular football here for a while.

Wednesday 26th October 2005

1.FC Köln v BVB Dortmund

Bundesliga

We didn't have to travel far to take on underachieving Köln who sit in 25th place with only two wins from their first eight games. Kehl was fit enough to take his place on the bench while Colautti replaced the injured Gambino.

The first half was very much nip and tuck, BVB started well and pushed the home side back but just couldn't find that telling ball. As the half wore on Köln came more into it and were probably the better team by the time the break came.

The second half was disrupted constantly by the referee's whistle as the foul count rose. Referee Fandel handed out 11 yellow cards, 7 to BVB which made the play rather stunted but finally on the hour, Buckley's deft flick in a packed penalty area found Ricken in a yard of space and he lashed the ball home. The lead didn't last long because barely minutes later the defense failed to stop Peter Madsen reaching a high cross and he headed home the equaliser. A poor game in the end which didn't flow but probably the right result.

Köln 1-1 Dortmund

Köln scorers: Madsen 63

Dortmund scorers: Ricken 60

Att: 44,166

Bayern are in full steam ahead mode now, recording their seventh win in nine outings, although it took a 90th minute winner from Ballack. Wolfsburg also had to wait until six minutes from time before Hanke fired home the winner. Stuttgart in fifth surprisingly lost to a 20th minute goal against lowly Hannover.

Results:

Bielefeld 2-3 M'Gladbach

Duisburg 1-0 Nürnberg

Hamburg 1-2 FC Bayern

Hertha BSC 0-0 Frankfurt

Kaiserslautern 4-0 Mainz

Schalke 0-2 Leverkusen

Stuttgart 0-1 Hannover

Wolfsburg 2-1 W. Bremen

[mavericktango]

Saturday 29th October 2005

Wolfsburg comfortable win at Mainz saw them go top above Munich as 10-man Bayern went down to a 77th minute goal by Christoph Preuß, their first defeat of the season. Hannover continued a bit of a revival as they grab a point against Schalke.

Results:

Frankfurt 3-2 FC Bayern

M'Gladbach 0-3 Hertha BSC

Hannover 1-1 Schalke

Kaiserslautern 3-3 Hamburg

Mainz 0-2 Wolfsburg

Nürnberg 1-2 Bielefeld

W. Bremen 1-1 Stuttgart

Sunday 30th October 2005

BVB Dortmund v MSV Duisburg

Bundesliga

Duisburg come to Westfalenstadion unbeaten in the last three games and in a respectful 10th place. We fielded an unchanged squad.

Dortmund opened the scoring after 20 minutes when Voss' poor clearance was headed right back to Cabañas in acres of space; he drilled in his 10th goal of the season. Duisburg fought a magnificent rearguard effort but consequently created nothing offensively, only managing one shot on target all game.

Duisburg were dealt a blow with just over a quarter of an hour to go; Biliskov received a straight red for pulling back substitute Ciullo just outside the area. They held on until the 92nd minute when BVB finally wrapped it up, Odonkor fed the ball from the wing to unmarked substitute Kehl, making his first appearance since injury and he slammed the ball into the roof of the net for his first of the season.

Dortmund 2-0 Duisburg

Dortmund scorers: Cabañas 21, Kehl 92

Duisburg scorers: none

Att: 73,493

The second goal was important as it puts us at the top of a group of three sides all on 23 points. There's a five point gap to Leverkusen after they lost 2-0 at home to two second half goals by Köln.

[mavericktango]

The Bundesliga Table at the start of November 2005

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | DORTMUND | | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 11 | +10 | 23 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Wolfsburg | | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 9 | +10 | 23 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | FC Bayern | | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 23 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Leverkusen | | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 10 | +5 | 18 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Stuttgart | | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 11 | +5 | 17 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Schalke | | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 18 | 14 | +4 | 17 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Werder Bremen | | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 11 | +4 | 16 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Kaiserslautern | | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 21 | 15 | +6 | 15 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Gladbach | | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 18 | -2 | 15 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Hertha BSC | | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 14 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th | | Duisburg | | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 18 | -8 | 14 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | Köln | | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 13 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | HSV | | 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 15 | -3 | 13 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | Frankfurt | | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 17 | -8 | 11 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Nürnberg | | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 16 | -7 | 10 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th | | Bielefeld | | 11 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 15 | -5 | 9 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | | Hannover | | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 22 | -13 | 8 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th | | Mainz | | 10 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 17 | -12 | 5 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mavericktango:

The Bundesliga Table at the start of November 2005

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | DORTMUND | | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 11 | +10 | 23 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre> </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Lovely story! Great season, only the cup exit against archrivals Schalke hurt ... I don't play FM anymore at the moment - due to anger - but I still read your story

[mavericktango]

Thanks Loeffle , I'm struggling to come to terms with the loss of my QPR story too. It's hard to get into another story but you've got to struggle on

[mavericktango]

Wednesday 2nd November 2005

Two goals from Nando Rafel gave Hertha Berlin a 2-0 win over Köln in today's only Bundesliga match, Hertha move up to fifth. Köln's main worry though is the loss of striker Peter Madsen with a broken ankle.

Thursday 3rd November 2005

BVB Dortmund v Racing Club Genk

UEFA Cup Group C

Genk come to the Westfalenstadion for their first game in Group C. In the only change to the starting XI Sebastian Kehl replaced Flamini at DMC.

BVB had this all wrapped up in the first half hour thanks to Koller. He opened the scoring on 16 minutes when he picked up Buckley's through ball. The Belgium keeper started to come before stopping and backing up, Koller saw this indecision and drove it low past the retreating keeper. Ten minutes later Koller played a magnificent ball from left wing to right wing where Degen pinged it into the six yard area. Buckley just got in front of the defender to slide the ball wide of the keeper. Just four minutes later Genk were history, Kehl's long header put Koller behind the defense again and all the keeper could do was stand and stare as he flicked the ball over him into the far corner of the net.

Dortmund were content to coast through the second half. RC Genk had most of the possession but their finishing was woeful, three out of 17 shots on target. Degen missed with a weak penalty after Cabañas had been floored before BVB scored the final goal with seven minutes left. Odonkor's ball sent Ciullo down the wing and his swirling cross was just palmed away from under the bar but it fell to substitute Ebi Smolarek who tucked it home from two yards.

Dortmund 4-0 RC Genk

Dortmund scorers: Koller 16, 30, Buckley 26, Smolarek 83

Genk scorers: none

Att: 72,765

We comfortably lead Group C on goal difference from AZ who beat Banik Ostrava 2-1 in the day's other game. With three teams qualifying for the 1st knock-out round we're looking very good.

UEFA Cup Group C

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | DORTMUND | | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | +9 | 6 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | AZ | | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Wisla | | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Genk | | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -4 | 0 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Banik Ostrava | | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | -6 | 0 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

[mavericktango]

Saturday 5th November 205

Wolfsburg take top spot with a win over Kaiserslautern thanks to a 61st minute goal by Klimowicz although Hankealso missed a penalty. Bayern slip two points behind them with another goal-less draw but Schalke's win puts them 4th, one place and three points behind us.

Results:

FC Bayern 0-0 M'Gladbach

Hamburg 3-2 Frankfurt

Hertha BSC 2-1 Nürnberg

Köln 2-2 Hannover

Schalke 3-0 W. Bremen

Wolfsburg 1-0 Kaiserslautern

Sunday 6th November 2005

Duisburg hit the heady heights of eighth as a 23rd minute goal gives them a 1-0 win over 6th place Leverkusen.

Wednesday 9th November 2005

BVB Dortmund v 1.FSV Mainz

Bundesliga

Mainz arrived at the Westfalenstadion on the back of a 10 match winless streak leaving us full of confidence as we attempt to go top again. We took to the field with an unchanged squad.

Dortmund dominated the first half only allowing Mainz one wild off target shot but failed to take advantage of their supremacy. Buckley had the best chance of the half but blasted a poor penalty straight at the keeper.

BVB kept it up in the second half and finally found a way through midway through the half. Koller broke down the wing and cut in along the byline. Looking up he spotted Kehl arriving late into the area; his perfect ball was crashed home by Kehl from 12 yards. With the crowd expecting BVB to kick on and crush luckless Mainz they were silenced three minutes later when Dortmund were caught pushing up and Wörns made a hash of a saving tackle, allowing Mohamed Zidan to slide home the equaliser.

Dortmund 1-1 Mainz

Dortmund scorers: Kehl 67

Mainz scorers: 70

Att: 80,795

The win lifted Dortmund up to second on goal difference above Bayern but still two points behind Wolfsburg with a game in hand.

Saturday 12th November 2005

Issa Issa celebrated his first international cap for Lebanon by scoring the final goal as Lebanon beat the Philippines 4-1.

Wednesday 16th November 2005

In the World Cup Play-Off European Qualifiers Russia defeated Slovenia 3-0 on aggregate, Spain eliminated Turkey 3-2 on aggregate and Sweden comfortably past Ireland 3-1.

Cabañas scored his first goal for Paraguay in their friendly against Trinidad & Tobago; Issa got his second goal in two caps while Koller collected his 70th cap in the Czech Republic's defeat in the US.

[jayahr]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Loeffle:

Naja, German research </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey, hey, hey - I'm their researcher - any complaints, eh???

Seriously, Odonkor, Brzenska, Sahin, Tyrala are pretty decent younsters in my books. Two of them might become very good one day (no PA spoiling intended)

[Flying_Fin]

Great story, maverick - Keep up the good work and I'll be sure to keep on reading ^^

[frq]

Cool, a story about the BVB, my favourite team since my first visit in the Westfalenstadion in 1976!

Good work so far! Don't wait on Koller to sign a new contract. I tried too in my own game, but there was no chance. Maybe this is in the editor from the beginning, because Koller announced to leave Borussia a while ago?

Keep an eye on David Odonkor. A great winger in my game. And now been chosen by Jürgen Klinsmann for the german world cup team IRL!

Frank

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jayahr:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Loeffle:

Naja, German research </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey, hey, hey - I'm their researcher - any complaints, eh???

Seriously, Odonkor, Brzenska, Sahin, Tyrala are pretty decent younsters in my books. Two of them might become very good one day (no PA spoiling intended) </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

No offence I agree they are good, just was surprised Odonkor scores so often - something he NEVER does in real life He is very good and hits good crosses though ...