Germany Soccer News

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) _ Energie Cottbus lost its last game and dropped to the bottom of the Bundesliga, then fired the coach. Now comes a trip to Bayern Munich. Maybe best to head straight for the Oktoberfest. Even in the best of times, there was not much for Cottbus to hope from a trip to the Bavarian capital. In four games against Bayern, the club has four defeats, with only two goals scored and 13 conceded. That record ...

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) _ Strikers Lukas Podolski and Patrick Helmes will start in Germany's friendly against Romania on Wednesday, while goalkeeper Jens Lehmann will rest because of an elbow injury. The Arsenal goalkeeper had pain in his elbow after Germany's 2-0 win over Wales in a European Championship qualifier Saturday in Cardiff, coach Joachim Loew said Tuesday. His place will be taken by Timo Hildebrand, who has been only a reserve after moving to Valencia in the off-season. Podolski ...

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) _ Chelsea has upset Michael Ballack and German national team officials again for delaying permission for the midfielder to take part in a publicity spot for Germany's main sponsor. Ballack and rest of the team were scheduled to take part at the filming of an advertising spot for Adidas on Monday. But Chelsea, Ballack's team, withheld its permission until late Sunday and Ballack by then had returned to London. ``That's not how you treat a ...

ROME (AP) _ Italy forward Luca Toni is at the top of Bayern Munich's acquisition list. ``He's a guarantee for goals. He has character, he always helps the squad and he's a special type of person,'' Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer was quoted as saying in an interview in Friday's Gazzetta dello Sport. ``I really hope he comes.'' The six-foot-four Toni is widely expected to leave Fiorentina at the end of ...

MUNICH, Germany (AP) _ Bayern Munich striker Lukas Podolski will miss the remaining four games of the Bundesliga season because of a knee injury, according to reports Thursday. There was no immediate confirmation from the club. Kicker magazine said Podolski had damaged cartilage in his left knee and required surgery, forcing him to sit out about three months. Bayern is fourth in the Bundesliga. Podolski could also miss Germany's next ...

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) _ Bundesliga leader Schalke gave coach Mirko Slomka a new contract Thursday that will keep him at the club until the end of the 2008-09 season. Slomka, 39, was promoted to head coach in January 2006, following Ralf Rangnick's departure. It was Slomka's first job as head coach in the Bundesliga. Schalke has a three-point lead in the Bundesliga but has not won in four games. The ...

Juergen Klinsmann withdrew Thursday from consideration as coach of the U.S. soccer team after several months of talks failed to lead to an agreement. U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati scheduled a telephone conference call with reporters Friday ``to make an important announcement on the search for the next head coach of the U.S. men's national team,'' a Federation statement said. Bob Bradley, the coach of Major League Soccer's Chivas ...

Germany winger David Odonkor had an operation Tuesday to fix dislocated cartilage in his right knee. ``David will likely have to stay in the hospital until next week,'' his agent Kon Schramm said Tuesday. Odonkor will be sidelined for about three months. He joined Real Betis from Borussia Dortmund after playing for Germany at the World Cup.

The referee at the centre of Germany's biggest match-fixing soccer scandal in 30 years could walk free. Prosecutor Hartmut Schneider asked the Federal Court of Justice on Tuesday to overturn the sentences against Robert Hoyzer and others involved, calling the fraud convictions ``remarkably superficial.'' The presiding judge of the appeals court delayed a ruling and said it would be given Dec. 15. The Berlin state court found Hoyzer guilty of ...

Schalke will be bidding to become the first team in four weeks to retain its lead in the Bundesliga when it plays VfL Bochum on Friday. Schalke has 26 points and replaced VfB Stuttgart last week to move two clear. Stuttgart had taken over from Werder Bremen, also on 24. In all, six teams have occupied the top spot through 13 rounds. The lead has changed so many times because ...

Twenty-two people were taken into custody to stop a planned brawl between German and English hooligans. Some 150 police officers from both countries moved in on 150 Chelsea supporters at the red light district of St. Pauli ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match against Werder Bremen. Police seized an ax and truncheons among other weapons from the Chelsea hooligans, who had arranged to fight about 100 Germans.

More than four months after the World Cup, the German economy is rising, but the same can hardly be said for the country's soccer. The world's biggest sports event ended July 9 in Berlin, and now Germany is grappling with contradictions as it tries to assess the tournament's lasting impact. The Bundesliga is averaging a record 38,985 fans this season, although the quality of play leaves much to be desired. ...

Germany will pay the fine imposed by UEFA for disturbances caused by its fans in Slovakia but will appeal against compensating the Slovak soccer federation. UEFA fined Germany 12,500 euros (C$18,245) for the rowdy behaviour of its fans in Bratislava during Germany's 4-1 win in a 2008 European Championship qualifying match on Oct. 11. Germany's soccer federation was also told to compensate the Slovaks for the property damage caused by ...

Stuttgart will remain ahead of Bayern Munich no matter what happens in their Bundesliga showdown Saturday (GolTV, 9:30 a.m. ET) at the Allianz Arena. With more than one-third of the season already gone, that's remarkable for the league's youngest team, which began the season by losing its first two home games. ``We didn't let ourselves get discouraged. We believed in ourselves and since then we've been playing really beautiful soccer,'' ...

Three-time champion Germany should move closer to qualifying for the 2008 European Championship by beating Cyprus on Wednesday, while ailing Portugal hopes to get back in contention with a victory over Kazakhstan. Five other qualifying games will be played before the long winter break, while most of the other big teams are involved in friendlies, including Netherlands-England, France-Greece and World Cup champion Italy at home against Turkey. The Germans should ...

Hannover 96 stunned Bayern Munich 1-0 on Wednesday to drop the defending champion six points behind leader Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. Wednesday's loss was the fourth in 11 matches for Bayern, which lost only three all of last season. Hannover, which entered the game in last place, outplayed Bayern and scored the only goal two minutes before halftime. Jiri Stajner stole the ball from Martin Demichelis on the sideline ...

Substitute Paolo Guerrero scored two goals Sunday to help Hamburger SV snap a 14-match winless streak with a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. Hamburg coach Thomas Doll and his players hugged each other after the Peruvian put in an 86th-minute cross to end the team's drought in the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup. ``Sometime that had to end, a series like that. The important thing is ...

Werder Bremen beat Bayern Munich 3-1 Saturday in a battle of the Bundesliga's top two teams. Brazilian midfielder Diego scored the first goal in the 11th minute with a shot that went in off the crossbar and Pierre Wome made it 2-0 in the 34th with a free kick. Striker Roy Makaay pulled it back to 2-1 in the 37th after connecting with Claudio Pizarro's pass. Bayern defender Lucio scored an own-goal in the 61st. Bremen, cheered on ...

Borussia Dortmund failed for a fourth time to move atop the Bundesliga this season, held to a 1-1 draw at home by last-place VfL Bochum. A 30th-minute goal by Theofanis Gekas gave Bochum the lead, while Dortmund was jeered by the crowd of 75,100 at Westfalenstadion after only 20 minutes. Polish forward Ebi Smolarek equalized in the 35th minute for Dortmund, which remained a point behind a lead trio topped by Werder Bremen. ``It's unbelievable _ I'd really like ...

Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich head into their Bundesliga showdown bolstered by important Champions League wins. Saturday's match in Bremen (GolTV, 9:30 a.m. ET) brings together the two German league-leaders. Both have 13 points after seven games, with Bremen ahead on goal difference. Both are coming off major wins _ Bremen beat Levski Sofia for its first win in Group A to be level with FC Barcelona, while 10-man Bayern ...

Hamburger SV midfielder Nigel de Jong has been ruled out for four weeks because of a knee injury. He will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, team doctor Oliver Dierk said Thursday. The Dutchman, who underwent a similar operation in April, was injured in Hamburg's 4-1 loss to FC Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday. Hamburg has several key players out injured and is winless in the Bundesliga ...

Lukas Podolski scored his first goal for Bayern Munich in a 4-2 win over Hertha Berlin that took the team to equal first in the Bundesliga. Bayern has 13 points from seven games, along with Schalke and Werder Bremen, which routed Bochum 6-0. Podolski's 78th-minute breakaway goal stopped Hertha's resistance after it had pulled back from 3-0 down to 3-2. Hertha had entered the weekend unbeaten and atop the standings. Bayern coach Felix Magath yielded to media pressure ...

Slovakia coach Dusan Galis quit Thursday, a day after his team lost to visiting Germany 4-1 in a European Championship qualifying match. Slovakian soccer federation president Frantisek Laurinec said in a statement that Galis stepped down after reaching ``a mutual agreement'' with the federation. ``I thank Dusan Galis for his service and his contribution to the Slovak national team,'' Laurinec said. The federation said it will soon decide who will ...

Kevin-Prince Boateng has genetic soccer credentials that could hardly get any better. His uncle played for Ghana, and his mother played for a Berlin women's team. She comes from the Rahn family, as in Helmut Rahn, the legendary scorer of the goal that gave West Germany its first World Cup title in 1954. Boateng's father came to Germany a quarter of a century ago and Kevin-Prince was born in Berlin. ...

Lukas Podolski scored two goals Wednesday to help Germany beat Slovakia 4-1 in a European Championship qualifying match. The Bayern Munich forward's 13th- and 72nd-minute goals were augmented by Michael Ballack in the 25th and Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 36th as Germany moved to 3-0 in Group D. ``People said it would be hard to keep up the level after the World Cup, but we showed today we can do ...

Germany coach Joachim Loew's record start won't mean much if his team loses in Slovakia on Wednesday. Germany is 4-0 with 19 goals scored and none conceded since Loew took over from Juergen Klinsmann after the team's third-place finish at the World Cup. That's the best start any Germany coach has had. But the goal difference is inflated by the 13-0 win in San Marino, a record in European qualifying. ...

Joachim Loew became the first coach in German history to win his first four matches, leading his team over Georgia 2-0 Saturday in a friendly. Bastian Schweinsteiger scored in the 24th minute and Michael Ballack in the 67th as the team ran its goal difference to 19-0 since Loew took over after the World Cup. Loew rested many of his regulars and gave four rookies their debut in the warmup for Wednesday's European Championship qualifying match against Slovakia. ``Naturally ...

Schalke will reportedly close a 100 million euro (US$125 million) sponsorship deal with Russian natural gas giant OAO Gazprom on Tuesday. Under the deal _ one of the biggest in Bundesliga history _ Schalke will receive bonuses if it qualifies for the Champions League, Bild newspaper reported Saturday. Schalke is already one of Germany's biggest clubs and the deal would help it become more competitive against its richer league rival and defending champion Bayern Munich. Gazprom hopes to gain ...

The Slovakian soccer federation has been asked not sell any tickets to German fans for a European championship qualifier next week in a bid to avoid hooliganism. ``We've sent an urgent plea to the Slovaks not to sell any tickets to German supporters,'' German soccer federation spokesman Harald Stenger said Wednesday. The German federation is selling tickets only to people registered with fan clubs. Slovakia hosts Germany in Bratislava on ...

Franz Beckenbauer apologized for the confusion surrounding his comments about South Africa's ability to host the 2010 World Cup. Beckenbauer, head of the organizing committee of this summer's World Cup in Germany, caused a stir last month when he reportedly said the tournament _ the first to be held in Africa _ was ``beset by big problems.'' His comments came amid national and international concerns over the state of stadium ...