Hamburg in good Kompany to take on Bayern
BERLIN: Hamburg cut Bayern Munich's lead at the top of the Bundesliga back to four points on Sunday after its Belgian defender Vincent Kompany struck to give it a 1-0 win over Duisburg.
Bayern was held to a 0-0 draw at Borussia Dortmund, so Hamburg's win at Duisburg shaves two points off Munich's lead at the top of the Bundesliga table.
But Hamburg coach Huub Stevens warned against any ideas of Bayern's domination being broken.
"I am still quite sure Bayern will be champions at the end of the season," said Stevens.
"We are on the right path, but there is still a long way before Bayern are really threatened."
For Dortmund coach Thomas Doll the 0-0 draw was a disappointing result depite Borussia going close to beating Bayern, who is chasing its 21st crown as German champion.
"I am a bit annoyed we wasted our chances to win the game," said Doll.
"It is not usual to get so many chances against Bayern, but we can build on that.
"We certainly created our chances in the second half."
Bayern Munich boss Ottmar Hitzfeld said his side was below par after its 3-2 UEFA Cup win at Red Star Belgrade on Thursday night.
"A point at Dortmund is never bad," said Hitzfeld.
"Particularly since we were very tired, the game in Belgrade took some of our strength out of us and we were only 70 percent of what we should have been."
While Bayern controlled the first-half, Dortmund dominated the second and missed a string of chances to win the game.
Bayern's best opportunity came when it hit the cross bar twice on 37 minutes: after Argentinian defender Martin Demichelis lobbed in a shot from 30 meters, Klose clipped the bar seconds later.
It was 0-0 at halftime and Klose had a good chance just after the break. But Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller blocked his shot.
The home side raised its game as Dortmund's Croatian midfielder Mladen Petric was left with his head in his hands on the hour mark as his shot flew just over the crossbar.
And moments later, Polish midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski went close on 61 minutes as his shot just missed the target and midfielder Florian Kringe also hit the post as Dortmund poured forward.
It may be the only unbeaten side in the league, but Bayern was lucky to leave Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park with a point.
Hamburg went second with a win over second-from-bottom Duisburg after Kompany gave it the lead on 37 minutes.
Its domination finally paid off when Piotr Trochowski floated in a free-kick and Kompany slammed his shot home.
The guest was never really tested by a Duisburg side that has just three wins to its name after 11 games this season.
Werder Bremen is third in the table after its 1-1 draw with Schalke 04 on Saturday.
An early free kick by Carlos Grossmueller at Schalke's Veltins-Arena was canceled out by Bremen's defender Naldo heading a first-half goal in an electric game with both sides squandering numerous chances.
Hertha Berlin enjoyed a 2-0 win over VfL Bochum when defender Marcel Maltritz turned the ball into his own net in the first half before striker Marko Pantelic added the second on 35 minutes.
Wolfsburg is up to seventh in the table after its 3-1 home win over German Cup-holder Nuremberg.
AFP
(China Daily 10/30/2007 page23)
