German Bundesliga: Full Time Report – Kaiserslautern vs Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich were scheduled to travel to Kaiserslautern for the first time since the teams last met in 2006. This was the second week in a row, where the German League was playing its games on Firday.
Munichs captain, Mark van Bommel, was still injured. However the player said that he was willing to play through the pain for this game. The player missed tuesday's training session, but has said that, he was determined to make the side. If he fails to prove his fitness then, Danijel Pranjic was sure to replace the player in the starting eleven for the side. However that was not the case as Van Bommel proved that he was fit enough to start the game and made it into the starting eleven.
Bayern have not lost a match at the Betzenberg, since 1999. Experts believe that they were not going to be starting that loosing trend tonight and were saying that a Munich win is what was most likely to happen tonight.
The line ups for the game were as follows:
Bayern Munich: Hans Butt, Daniel Van Buyten, Philipp Lahm, Diego Contento, Holger Badstuber, Franck Ribery, Mark van Bommel. Thomas Muller, Bastin Schweinsteiger, Ivica Olic, Miroslav Klose.
Kaiserslautern:Tobias Sippel, Leon Jessen, Martin Jessen, Martin Amedick, Rodnei, Florian d**k, Oliver Kirch, Christian Tiffert, Jiri Bilek, Ivo Ilicevic, Srdan Lakic, Adam Nemec.
The match was being played in Kaiserslautern's home stadium the, Fritz-Walter-Stadion. The referee selected to adjudicate the match was German born referee, Florian Meyer.
The match got underway after the referee blew for the kick off. To no surprise it was Munich who took the early advantage. They were dominating possession and were creating far more chances than their opponents. However the thing to note here was the fact that, Munich had chances but they did not seem to bury them.
This failure to take their chances is what got to Munich. On the thirty sixth minute Kaiserslautern, struck against the run of play and scored the opening goal. The goal scorer was Ivo Ilicevic who gudied his right footed shot into the back of the Munich net.
One minute later the goal scorer turned provider as he passed the ball beautifully to, Srdan Lakic who took a first time shot with his right foot and saw the ball nest in the back of the net.
In the span of two minutes, lightning had struck twice and Munich were two nil down to Kaiserslautern.
As the match progressed the teams applied pressure but no one seemed to get the vital finishing touch in front of the goal.
The first half ended with the score being two nil in the home team, Kaiserslautern's favour.
As the team's took the field for the second half, Munich seemed far more determined than their opponents. They were looking to go all out however when nothing seemed to work both teams started making all their substitutions.
Neither one of the substitutes had an impact on the game that the managers would have expected. The German World Cup stars such as, Schweinsteiger and Muller just were not finding the right touches on the ball. Muller's night ended with the player receiving a yellow card for a mistimed tackle.
On the other hand Kaiserslautern seemed more than capable of holding onto the draw. They were pressing forward and winning the ball back at every opportunity that was shown to them. Ilicevic was given his marching orders for his second yellow card in the ninetieth minute. However the player knew that his work was done as he left the pitch.
The match ended with the score line being the same as it was at the half time break. Kaiserslautern were sky rocketed to the top of the German Bundesliga table, for the time being, while Munich were sitting in the number eight spot.
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