Bundesliga Team Of The Week: Round 29

Bayern Munich took another step towards the title coming back from a goal down to beat Eintracht Frankfurt.  Schalke under the temporary guidance of Mike Büskens and Youri Mulder hammered Cottbus 5-0, while Werder Bremen won to maintain second place.

Cup finalists Borussia Dortmund suffered a heavy 3-1 home loss to Hannover, while Stuttgart inflicted more misery on Nürnberg with a 3-0 win at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion.

Drobny

Ismael   Fahrenhorst   Pander

Bruggink   Frings   Ernst   Schweinsteiger

Kuranyi   Toni   Cacau

Goalkeeper:

(1)  Jaroslav Drobny (Hertha Berlin)

The Hertha keeper was probably the stand-out player in a rather disappointing game at the Olympiastadion.  He secured the home side a point with three great saves from Ben-Hatira, Demel and Reinhardt.

Defenders:

(2)  Valerien Ismael (Hannover)

The former Bayern defender makes his second appearance of the season in the Bundesliga team of the week.  He was solid at the back all night for Dieter Hecking’s side and ventured forward to become involved in their second goal.

(3)  Frank Fahrenhorst (Hannover)

Centre-back Fahrenhorst was dependable, reliable and even got his name on the score sheet at the Signal Iduna Park against a poor Borussia Dortmund.  He came on in the first half to replace Vinicius, who was in danger of being red carded and scored with five minutes of his arrival.

(4)  Christian Pander (Schalke)

Before his injury earlier this season, Pander’s name was being mentioned as an outside bet for the European Championships.  That may be wishful thinking now, but his performance against Cottbus showed signs of old.  He was a danger going forward down the flanks and he will no doubt be knocking on the national team door again next season.

Midfielders:

(5)  Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen)

In the weekend win over Schalke it was Baumann and Borowski who starred in the Werder midfield, but against Rostock, it was Frings who was the driving force behind Werder’s important win.  Full of energy and self-confidence, Frings has certainly sent out a positive message to Joachim Löw as regards his readiness for Euro 2008.

(6)  Fabians Ernst (Schalke)

While the four-goal haul from Kuranyi grabbed all the headlines, the dynamic midfield performance from Ernst was the driving force behind Schalke.  He was full of running and his ball winning tackles in the middle of the pitch helped set up at least two of the goals.

(7)  Arnold Bruggink (Hannover)

Dutchman Bruggink revelled his role of midfield playmaker and became the centre point for all of Hanover’s best attacking play.  He scored the first goal and provided the assist for the third.

(8)  Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)

Schweinsteiger looks like he is returning to his best just at the right time.  Altintop’s injury has meant more game time for the blond youngster and he is taking the extra opportunity well.  His energy and superb passing were a joy to watch.  His excellent ball provided van Buyten with the first goal, while his tenacity laid the second goal on for Luca Toni.

Forwards:

(9)  Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke)

Kuranyi has come under pressure in recent weeks and there were accusations that the German international received preferential treatment from trainer Mirko Slomka (being picked when clearly out of form).  In the first game in the post-Slomka era, Kuranyi helped himself to four goals and sent out a timely reminder as to his potential value to Germany in the summer’s European Championships.

(10)  Luca Toni (Bayern Munich)

The unstoppable Italian scored two at the weekend against Dortmund and bagged another two on Wednesday against Frankfurt to turn the game around for Bayern.  Toni has now hit 20 in the league this season and with five games left, there should be a few more on the way.

(11)  Cacau (Stuttgart)

If VfB fans very worrying that the absence of Mario Gomez would damage their European ambitions, they needn’t have bothered.  Brazilian striker Cacau has stepped up to the mark and he netted one and had the presence of mind to set up da Silva in a decisive opening 13 minutes against Nürnberg.

Honourable mentions:

Vicente Sanchez and Albert Streit were handed rare starts for Schalke and impressed throughout.  Daniel Baier (Wolfsburg) had a fine game in defence and was unlucky to finish on the losing side.

Daniel van Buyten Bayern Munich played well alongside Lucio and headed Bayern back into the game against Frankfurt.

Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen) and Raphael Schäfer (Stuttgart) both had fine games in goal for their respective sides, while Tamas Hajnal (Karlsruhe) and Szabolcs Huszti (Hannover) both had impressive games.

source: goal.com