Thursday, January 29, 2009

The return of the Bundesliga


Tomorrow the wait is over. The Bundesliga is finally returning, and the opening match could not be more potent. The Bundesliga "Dino", Hamburg has never been relegated and is the only team in the Bundesliga that has played every season in the league since its founding, Hamburg against the record champion Bayern. But there is more the two teams are also only two points apart. In fact a Hamburg win tomorrow could place them first in the league. Hamburg has not won the league since 1983 and this might be their year. Bayern on the other hand could make a step towards the title by defeating a direct competitor to the title. The league this year is tight competition and it will be interesting to see who will pick up the title in the end. The other two favorites are 1899 Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen. Hoffenheim is the big suprise this year, the team was promoted last year and has played the most exciting football in all of Europe. Leverkusen as well has a fantastic team, and their style of play is very similar to Hoffenheim. Both teams have very young squads and the worry is that neither of them will be consistent enough to stay on the top. It will also be interesting to see how the injury of Vedad Ibisevic will affect the play of Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim has brought in Sanogo from Bremen to replace Ibisevic, but Sanogo has a reputation for inconsistency and it remains to be seen if he can replace Ibisevic. The title race should be a close one and if we are lucky the Bundesliga will not be decided until the last day.

1 comment: