Timo Ochs. Mini-Kahn forgotten in Austria.

FC Red Bull Salzburg's goalkeeper Timo Ochs was once one of the biggest goalkeeping talents in Germany. Since joining Salzburg to play in the tipp3-Bundesliga powered by T-Mobil league in Austria, he has virtually disappeared. The days in which Ochs was considered a legitamite prospect for the German national team are long gone. Young German goalkeepers like Manuel Neuer, Michael Rensing, and René Adler have taken the spot light away from Timo Ochs.

Timo Ochs' career started promising, he played an outstanding season for VfL Osnabrück in 2003-04 where he managed to take over from Sven Scheuer. Timo Ochs was regarded the best goalie of the season even though Osnabrück got relegated to the Regionalliga that year. After the relegation Ochs left the club, to join TSV 1860 Munich. 1860 was very ambitious that year and planned to return to the Bundesliga. The club, however, started badly into the 2004-05 season. Then Michael Hofmann, 1860 number 1 goalie, got hurt and Ochs took over. The club made a run for promotion that season but narrowly missed the target on the last day of the season. Despite the disappointment, Ochs was named the 1860 player of the year by the 1860 fans.

What followed was another disappointing season, in which the club again failed to reach promotion to the Bundesliga. In 2006 Ochs moved on to Salzburg. Austria Salzburg where just bought by Red Bull, and the club brought in Lothar Matthäus and Giovanni Trapattoni as coaches. Red Bull spent enormous amount of money on players and infrastructure. The goal was to establish the club permanently in the Champions League. Ochs was tempted into believing that such a plan could be made succesful in the Mozart City. The club, however, has failed to reach the group stage of the Champions League. What is even worse Salzburg has not even managed to be a regular in the Uefa-Cup. The club has merely become a semi-retirement spot for overaged "stars." So Ochs has been forgotten, playing in the forgotten Austrian Bundesliga. There is hope though, the career of Ochs is similar to one of a so called Robert Enke.

Enke traveled the football globe, playing in Spain, Portugal, and Turkey before becoming a star in Hannover. Perhaps the career of Ochs will take off once again, but the player needs to leave Austria in order to do so. Perhaps a return to the Bundesliga can bring back the Mini-Kahn and restore the good name of Timo Ochs.

Andrei Voronin. Hertha's Championship maker?

Andrey Voronin is the new mister effective in the German Bundesliga. The 30 year old Ukrainian has been the symbol of Hertha's rise to the top of the Bundesliga table. This season he has scored 10 goals in 19 games, which are not spectacular numbers for a striker, but 7 of his 10 goals have come after the winter break. He scored 3 goals in his last match against Energie Cottbus, which to this point has always been the team that Hertha seemed not able to beat. His effectiveness is even more spectacular, against Cottbus he scored on every single shot. The same was true on match day 20 when his two goals were enough to defeat Bayern Munich.

Hertha is now on top of the table four points ahead of the rest of the pack, which includes Bayern, Hoffenheim, Hamburg and Wolfsburg. But unlike any of the other clubs Hertha is up there, because they play the most efficient football. Lucien Favre has been able to transform a Berlin squad that had been known for its unstable play to a team, which has been playing consistently every week. Since the winter break the team has performed wonderfully only loosing to Wolfsburg, and Voronin has been the main reason for that.

Now the question is will Hertha be able to hang on to Voronin. The player is only on loan from FC Liverpool. Voronin, however, has been quoted as saying that he would like to remain in Berlin. Berlin as well is interested in keeping the services of Voronin, but will most likely have to give up Marko Pantelic to do so. Pantelic has been the cornerstone of the Hertha defence over the last few years, but Favre has been very public about his dislike of the Serbian forward, and it seems likely that Pantelic will leave the club. Voronin, will not be a cheap acquisition and can only be sure about Voronin remaining with the club, if Hertha qualifies for the Champions League. So Hertha, and especially Voronin will be well advised to keep up the good form and win the Championship. The next three games will important and show the direction of the club, by defeating Leverkusen, Dortmund, and Stuttgart, Hertha will be a title competitor for sure.

Talent Watch: Sergio Peter, a German in Prague

Sergio Peter is a left-winger, who plays for Sparta Prague in the Czech Gambrinus Liga. Peters was one of the most promising German talents, he played for Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League. Peter made his debut against the Queen's Park Rangers on January 7th 2006. He set up all three goals and was named the man of the match. He managed 25 appearances for Blackburn and a further 5 for Cercle Bruge, where he was on loan for half a year in 2005.

He was considered a top prospect at Blackburn under ex-Bayern player Mark Hughes. Injuries have, however slowed his progress and he has failed to make the first team since the start of this season, and is now looking for more playing time at the Czech side. Still the move comes as a suprise for many, the Czech Republic is not exactly the first choice for German football players. But at a closer look the move makes sense. Unlike Austria, the Czech League is a developing league for the Bundesliga. Sparta Prague is the home for many great players that moved to the Bundesliga and elsewhere, most notably Tomas Rosicky, who played for Dortmund and is now with Arsenal. Lately the young Michal Kadlec of Leverkusen has made a name for himself. Peter is hopeing to follow the path of those two players to the Bundesliga.

Sparta Prague is fourth in the current standing, and ten points behind city rival Slavia, which is currently on first place. Furthermore, the club has already exited all international competitions.

The Bundesliga Report: No clear favorite for the title.

The Bundesliga is perhaps the most exciting league in Europe right now. No other league has as many goals a game, no other league has as many clubs fighting for the title, and no other league has as much depth then the Bundesliga. It all began with Hoffenheim, the club from the province that got promoted last spring. Since then the Bundesliga has never been the same. With fast paced football, and a desire for goal, the club has transformed the league like no other team before them. Many expected Bayern to be the trendsetter. Many million euros were spend on Klinsmann's training centre. Klinsmann promised to make every player better every day better.

But the club had trouble playing its best at times this season, and Klinsmann's Bayern revolution happened elsewhere. Ralf Ragnick's Hoffenheim have played the best football this season, yes their 4-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen put a damper on their title hope, yet the team also lost their first game against Bayer on match day 3. The Bundesliga is very forgiving this season, Bayern has not been consistent, and other clubs have also failed to show week to week consistency.

2 points seperate the top 4, and Bayer Leverkusen who is fifth is only five points behind first place. This week the Bundesliga had a new table topper with Hertha Berlin. Hertha for many is a suprise team just as Hoffenheim, however their coach Lucien Favre is known for producing top results. He build a very successful side in Zürich, and is now doing the same in Berlin. He is also known for taking his time before achieving absolute success. Putting all the different pieces together in Berlin the club now seems ready to challenge for glory.

Hamburg as well seems like an honest title contender, and is perhaps the only club other then Bayern that is openly talking about the title. Hamburg has not won the title since 1983. Many in Hamburg believe that this year is going to be their year, and indeed Martin Jol's squad has a realistic chance. However, the club needs to improve their record against smaller clubs, a win against Bayern was followed with a loss to minions Karlsruhe SC.

Indeed the title race is wide open and in the end the club that plays the most consistent will walk away with the 46th Bundesliga Championship.

Scolari gone! Back to the Future with Avram Grant?

Luiz Filipe Scolari was fired after another terrible result for his club Chelsea FC. While Chelsea started promising in the season, the eventual demise of the club comes to no surprise. Throughout the season one could notice Scolari was not really up to the task. Cliques and favoritism became a problem. Frank Lampard and John Terry were particularly upset when Scolari substituted Deco besides being out of form for Michael Ballack earlier this season. Lampard and Terry also frequently attacked Scolari's training methods. The team and the players seemed not to be on the same page anymore, this was evident when viewing the teams performance against Liverpool a week ago, and also this week against Hull.

The question is what will happen next. The names Grant and Hiddink have been mentioned by the media, and return of Grant seems to be the right solution. He was the man behind Chelsea's comeback last year, and was only a couple of points shy from wining the Premier League. He also took the team within one penalty shot of the Champions League title. Many already believed that his firing was unfair and perhaps he will be redeemed by being reinstated. The other candidate is Guus Hiddink, he is the mastermind behind Russia's Euro 2008 run that was not stopped until the semi-final. Hiddink is a possiblility, because of Roman Abramovich's influence with the Russian FA. It seems unlikely though that Russia would give up a coach in the middle of a World Cup Qualification campaign.

The next few days will be interesting to watch and we will probably know soon who is going to be next Chelsea coach.

Mesut Özil a Turk for Germany.

Now it is for sure Mesut Özil is going to play for Germany. Özil who was born in Germany but his parents are from Turkey. Last week he decided that he wants to play for his birth nation Germany, after national team coach Joachim Löw nominated him for the friendly against Norway on 11. February. In an interview he said that this was a difficult decision, but that he feels German, that Germany was were he learned how to play and that Germany is his home. Özil has played for Germany at the youth level, but Turkish national team coach Fatih Terim has been trying to talk Özil into playing for the country of his parents.

Özil's decision is significant, it marks the first time that a young turkish top player has chosen to play for Germany over Turkey. Germany has been succesfull in integrating players of other national minorities into the national team. Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, or Piotr Trochowski who are all of polish origin, but were raised or born in Germany and have chosen to play for Germany. Turkish Germans have always prefered to play for Turkey instead, many do so because of family pressure, others just feel that there chances are higher when they play for Turkey.

Part of it is also the lack of integration into the German community. Özil's nomination is therefore much more significant then that of any other player. If he does well at the German national team he could set an example for other young turkish players. Such as Baris Özbek who is currently playing for Galatasaray Istanbul but has chosen to represent Germany at the youth level. Özbek (22) has won a place in Galatasaray's first squad and has won the Turkish Championship with the club last year. Özbek is a typical number 6 and could one day replace Thorsten Frings.

Özil himself, will be an important member for Löw's squad. His creativity and scoring ability have been the only bright spot in Werder Bremen's shaky season so far. Many have compared him to Diego, a comparison that is not that far off. Germany have been lacking a player of his dimensions ever since Sebastian Deisler decided to quit the game 2 years ago.

Stadium's of the World: The Olimpiysky Stadium in Kiev

Today's stadium of the world is the Olimpiysky Stadium in Kiev, which is to host the Uefa European Championships final in 2012. The stadium was originally build in 1923 as the Red Stadium to host the second All-Ukrainian Olympic games. During World War II the stadium was destroyed by the Nazis, after the war the stadium was rebuild as the Stalin Respublikanskiy Stadium. After Stalin's death the Stadium became first known as the Khrushchev Respublikanskiy Stadium and then as the Respublikanskiy Stadium.

In 1980 the Stadium hosted the soccer games of the Moscow Summer Olympics, and from then on the Stadium became known as the Kiev Olympic Stadium, which title it officially careers since 1996 when the stadium was named the Olimpiysky Stadium. During 1997-99 reconstructions the stadium was made fit to guarantee FIFA standards, and its capacity was limited to 83,000. The local club Dinamo Kiev plays some of its home games in the Olimpiysky, but due to its size Dinamo only plays games against main rivals or Champions League matches in the Olimpiysky. Most of Dinamo's games are played at the Lobanovsky Dinamo Stadium, which with 16,900 seats is significantly smaller and a much better venue for the Ukrainian Premier League.

The Stadium is also home to the Ukrainian national team, which is hoping to benefit from hosting the 2012 European Championships. The Olimpiysky will undergo a major renovation for the games. It has been in doubt if the stadium could be used for the event, because a construction of a mall close to the stadium was a major security concern. Uefa was concerned that due of a lack of space at the stadium exits, no games could be held at the stadium. But the Ukrainian FA together with the Ukrainian government have since stepped in to solve the problem by ordering the destruction of the construction side. There are plans to refurbish the stadium for the tournament, a roof is expected to be built and the capacity decreased to 83,300.