Sickening Saturday, Stupendous Sunday
Weekend Sports Wrap
After the two local football clubs fell flat on the pitch on Saturday afternoon, the other sports teams saved the weekend with victories in their respective matches on Sunday. Catch up on all the action with TMT Sports.
Bayern draw, lose ground to Dortmund
Coming into the second half of the season, FC Bayern München had one goal in mind that they believed would get them back in the race for the Bundesliga title: no more than one loss. That would leave one to assume that they also meant they would win the other matches. However the mediocrity from the first half carried over into the new year as Bayern left points on the pitch in a disappointing draw at Wolfsburg 1-1. The match was to mark the return of Arjen Robben to give Munich their flair back with the Robben/Ribéry tandem. Ironically it was Robben who would enter the match for the injured Franck Ribéry only minutes into the match. The Frenchmen will have to sit out 5 weeks with a knee injury.
Thomas Müller did get the match off on a positive start for FCB, when an errant kick by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio richocheted off Müller and into the back of net for the lead after 7 minutes. Philipp Lahm had a chance to increase the lead with a penalty kick in the 21st minute but his try went off the right post. The Wolves had a chance to even the match during stoppage time of the first half but Grafite answered with a missed penalty kick of his own. Credit the effort by Bayern's new keeper Thomas Kraft. He dove to his right and stopped the shot that was sure to end up in the net.
Munich continued to attack with Robben, Müller, and Mario Gomez but could not convert, frustrating the defending champs. Wolfsburg kept up with their guests and in the 86th minute, their persistence paid off when Sascha Riether put a pass from Marcel Schäfer in for the score.
Bayern are now 16 points behind Dortmund, who won at Leverkusen 3-1 Friday night. Munich sit 5th in the table and, along with the rest of the top of the table, will now focus on 2nd place as Dortmund show no signs of slowing down - they lead Hannover by 13 points.
If Louis van Gaal's club are to climb the table, they will have to overcome another key injury. Ribéry was challenged by midfielder Josue and subsequently injured 10 minutes after the goal. After a few more minutes, it was clear the Frenchman could not continue and was substituted by Robben. When both players are in, the creativity they provide drives the Bayern attack. The team struggled without Robben in the first half of the season, now the next month will be a test without Ribéry.
FCB return to the Allianz Arena on Saturday when they host 1.FC Kaiserslautern, kickoff at 15:30.
EHC sweep home-and-home against Metro Stars
Bryan Adams scored in 1:24 in OT as EHC München swept the weekend series against the DEG Metro Stars in Dusseldorf Sunday afternoon. After getting blown out in Munich on Friday night, the Stars jumped out early at home, scoring after only 1:19. But Eric Schneider answered four minutes later on a power-play goal. Ryan Ready, who assisted on early goal, got a return assist from Schneider and put EHC up 2-1 at the end of the 1st period. Ready assisted on Mike Kompon's goal to extend the lead 2:24 in the 2nd period. And it seemed Munich would repeat the result from Friday.
Dusseldorf rallied back in front of 4,929 at the ISS Dome thanks to a goal and an assist by Adam Courchaine. However Adams made sure the team did not repeat their two penalty shootout losses from last week and quickly scored in OT. The win solidifies EHC spot in the table and brings them closer to the Stars on the table, only trailing by 3 points, only 7 points behind the leaders the Berlin Ice Bears.
Munich are back in action on Friday against last place Iserlohn at the Olympia Eissportzentrum, faceoff at 19:30.
Unterhaching Volleyball keep pace with rivals
Generali Haching beat CV Mitteldeutschland 3-0 Sunday afternoon at the Sport Arena and are now even on points on top of the Volleyball Bundesliga table with rivals VfB Friedrichshafen. The visiting Pirates were game at the outset, leading at the first technical timeout 8-7 thanks to 12 attacks and solid blocking.
However Haching were able to right their ship with 13 attacks and 6 blocks of their own and took the first set 25-23. CV played it close as well in the second, leading in overall attacks 15-7 but could never take the points lead, losing it 25-22.
Haching have struggled in the third set when up 2-0 and today was no different with many errors up front. But the home side scored on aces, led attacks 18-8, and thus conquered the Pirates. Captain and German national team player Max Günthör was the MVP, scoring 18 overall points
Head coach Mihai Paduretu was not worried that his team let CV stay close. "Everyone has to understand that the team can't provide a dominating match each time out. After the Champions League match during the week, there was some motivation missing playing the 9th team in the league, that's normal," explained Paduretu. "We have done everything necessary to win the match. I am satisfied that we earned the two points and didn't give up a set."
Haching return to action next Sunday as they host VCO Berlin at home, first serve at 16:00.
Simone Sperduto contributed to this report.
Bayern Basketball keep rolling
Jonathan Wallace scored 25 points to break out of a scoring slump and helped Bayern overcome a determined USC Heidelberg, 87-71 Sunday evening. Steffen Hamann added 16 points and Darius Hall's 14 points were enough for Bayern to win their second consecutive match on the road and keep their lead at the top of the ProA, Basketball Bundesliga's 2nd division.
Bayern jumped out to an early lead, up 19-9 after the 1st quarter. But USC fought back behind James Wright's 21 points to come within a point by the 4th quarter. But the Wallace-Hamann-Hall trio took over the match and disappointed the 1500 in attendance.
"That was a solid performance by our team," described Bayern's assistant coach Mario Knezevic. "USC played at a higher level, but I had a great feeling we would have the right answers for anything they had."
Munich Square Garden comes alive for the first time in the new year on Sunday as Bayern host Science City Jena. Tip-off at 17:00.
