German Bundesliga 2011, Week 16: Saturday Morning Wrap-Up, Gladbach Fall While Timmy Chandler Sees Red

Borussia Mönchengladbach have gotten it done against the teams they’re supposed to beat so far this season, but they’ve suffered a major hiccup on Saturday with a loss to FC Augsburg. That’s easily the most surprising result among the early Bundesliga matches, but there are a number of eye-popping scorelines in Week 16.

If you were unaware, Augsburg are bottom of the Bundesliga, and for good reason. They’re simply not a very good team, and there is an excellent chance that whoever comes up from the 2. Bundesliga next season will be better than they are. That didn’t stop them from pulling a massive upset on Gladbach, seriously denting their title credentials. The Gladbach attack looked anemic without the injured Marco Reus. Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker scored the winner in the 51st minute, heading in a free kick.

Freiburg are a relatively shocking team that has managed 13 points from 15 games only because Papiss Demba Cisse is absolutely brilliant. He wasn’t at his best on Saturday, and when he is not at his best, his team is hopeless. Lukas Podolski had an absolute stormer for Cologne, as did Christian Clemens. Both scored twice in the rout.

How did two defenses this terrible produce such a boring match?!? For shame.

Vedad Ibesevic turned in a great performance in this game, scoring both of his team’s goals. His first came in the 39th minute, a header on a cross by American international Fabian Johnson. Another American international, fullback Timothy Chandler, saw a very harsh red card in the 43rd minute of this match. That was all she wrote for the hosts, who had no chance to get back into the game. Ibesevic added another in the 56th, once again assisted by a Johnson cross.

Remember when Felix Magath won the title with Wolfsburg? That was fun! Oh well, they’re rubbish now and Werder Bremen are very much in the race for top four. Even without the suspended Aaron Hunt, they were absolutely brilliant, tearing Wolfsburg apart. Sokratis Papastrathopoulos scored the opener in the 18th minute, following a blocked shot by Claudio Pizarro. The game felt over right then and there, but Werder added three more for good measure. Marcel Schäfer netted a consolation goal for Die Wölfe in the 86th minute, though it didn’t come close to covering up for their abysmal performance.