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 could significantly worsen in Wednesday's game at the
Allianz Arena.
After two straight draws, Bayern got back on the winning track
Sunday and came away with an impressive 4-1 win at Karlsruhe. It
didn't create many chances, but it struck with clinical efficiency.
It has the best attack in the league after six rounds with 16 goals,
four more than the next best, Schalke.
``We gave up four points in the previous two games and we were
under pressure,'' Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said. ``We must now
take three points again, that's clear to everyone, but it's going to
be hard work again.''
Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose, Bayern's newly signed pair of
strikers, have nine goals between them, with Klose leading the
league with five.
``Toni is phenomenal,'' Hitzfeld said of his striker, who won the
World Cup with Italy on German soil last year. ``He's got great
class.''
Toni scored only four minutes into Sunday's game, controlling the
ball with one foot, then sliding it over the goalkeeper with the
other.
``In reality, we still haven't seen much from Toni,'' Bayern's
general manager Uli Hoeness said. ``When he is fit, he can score
three or four goals in a game.''
Toni has been struggling with a hamstring injury and often gets
substituted in the second half.
Klose has settled well in Bayern after a poor season at Werder
Bremen and his not very smooth departure.
Cottbus is the only team still without a win, with only two
points.
Following an unfortunate 2-1 loss at home to Wolfsburg despite
attacking most of the game, coach Petrik Sander was fired and his
assistant Thomas Hossmann quit Monday. If no new coach is found by
Wednesday, Heiko Weber, the coach of the reserves, will guide the
team in Munich.
With the win in Karlsruhe, Bayern restored a two-point lead and
now has 14 points. But there are some new followers _ Hertha Berlin
is now second at 12, with Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt
at 11.
Hertha plays Tuesday against next-to-last Hansa Rostock,
Leverkusen travels to Nuremberg on Wednesday and Eintracht is home
to Karlsruhe, also Wednesday.
In other games Tuesday, it's Borussia Dortmund versus Hamburger
SV, Wolfsburg versus Werder Bremen and Duisburg versus Schalke.
On Wednesday, Stuttgart hosts Bochum and Arminia Bielefeld meets
Hannover 96.
Hertha was predicted by many to be heading for the battle against
relegation after a rocky start. But the team under new coach Lucien
Favre has bounced back, winning its last three.
Striker Marko Pantelic has rediscovered his touch and has four
goals.
The team is ready to take risks and play an offensive game and
the team spirit has improved.
``Every player now has the willingness to work for the team,''
general manager Dieter Hoeness said. ``In the past, there were some
who thought they knew everything and could do anything.''
Even when the team falls behind, as it did Saturday against
Borussia Dortmund, it has the strength to come back, which was not
always the case in the past. Hertha beat Dortmund 3-2.
One of the goals came from 20-year-old Nigerian Solomon
Okoronkwo, who has three goals coming off the bench.
