Clash of the Hoeness

Normally, the talking points of a Bayern Munich-Hertha Berlin game is about the Hoeness brothers, or more likely, the difference in fortunes between them, with Uli lording over the perennially successful Bavarians and Dieter with the less-successful Berliners. (Not that there still isn’t some of that.) If there was talk of the table, it would be only about Bayern’s position in it and how the Hertha game would affect it. (Considering our record against them, an assumed three points towards another lederhosen-clad title.)

But this time, it’s different. This time, Bayern and Berlin are separated by a mere point (!) at the top of the table, with the Bavarians in second and us in third. It’s a real title-deciding match here, and with Hoffenheim being roundly beaten by Bayer Leverkusen, the winner, if there is one, will take up the number 1 spot.

The last meeting of the two teams ended up in a sound beating, which is an annual occurrence. (The last time Hertha beat the Bavarians was back in 2001, with Pal Dardai- who’s fit again and might be back in the lineup- scoring the winning goal.) Luca Toni, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Miroslav Klose were all on the scorsheet, with Pante getting a consolation goal in the 84th minute after they’d all had their fun. Back then the defending champions were struggling, with questions raised over Jurgen Klinsmann’s tenure even at that early date, but they certainly managed a convincing victory over us.

However, they didn’t manage to win when they last visited the Olympiastadion. Last season, in the last game before the winter break, the two sides played out to a 0-0 draw. It was not, perhaps, the most inspiring game, with Bayern seemingly already on their winter break and us a little too unadventurous to make use of it. Still, a non-loss is a non-loss, and I’d take a non-loss at this point.

Good news is that not only is Arne Friedrich back from the back problems that caused him to miss both the Bielefeld game and the Germany game at midweek. Gojko Kacar is still out, which is worrying, but it’s good to have our full defense back. Especially since I don’t believe that Bayern have anyone out for this. Marko Pantelic is likely to be back, though, after shaking off his most recent injury, although this season’s real revelation, Cicero, is suspended after picking up a stupid yellow in last weekend’s draw.

I don’t have to tell you much about Bayern Munich’s lineup. Suffice to say, it’s pretty good, although Luca Toni’s been misfiring of late. They at least don’t have any ex-Berliners to punish us like Bielefeld does.

I am, admittedly, expecting a beating- our record against Bayern is pretty dire. We may be doing well and riding high but they outclass us, and our injury/suspension list isn’t going to help. We don’t have a deep squad like some people who I may or may not have spent a whole post writing about. On the other hand, strange things keep happening to us this season. Can we hope for stranger?

Category: match preview

Tags: match preview

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