The rollercoaster ride at the top of the Bundesliga table continued this weekend and looks to be the trend for the rest of the season. Only the leader (at the moment) didn’t change, but Hertha Berlin was not too impressive in their win at Cottbus. Andriy Voronin scored a hat trick in the 3-1 win, but a few bounces for the hosts, and the pack behind Berlin would be closer. And what a horse race it’s shaping up to be! Hamburg was the loser of the week after falling at last-place Borussia Monchengladbach 4-1. With 42 points, they are only 4 points off the pace, but they now sit in FIFTH place!! Hoffenheim (+18), Bayern (+18), and Wolfsburg (+18) also have 42 points, but because of Hamburg’s goal differential (0), they fall to back of the pack. Wolfsburg, the league’s hottest team in the second half so far with 5 consecutive wins and 16 points, still only sit in fourth because they ‘only’ have scored 46 goals. But they are the team to watch along with Berlin in the coming weeks.

That leaves us with the two teams that started this wild ride at the top – Hoffenheim and Bayern. Hoffenheim are showing the signs of a mature team after losing their top scorer Ibisevic for the season (his 18 goals still lead the league!) and free-kick specialist Salihovic for four weeks – both suffered torn knee ligaments. And then were mired in the middle of a doping controversy when two players showed up 10 minutes late for a post-match test. The players have been cleared but the club may face a fine. Now they have to find a way now to start winning. They are winless in their past five, the last three draws. The most inconsistent team is FC Bayern. It’s been up and down with a 5-0 win at Lisbon in the Champions League, losing three matches in the past five league matches, getting kicked out of the German Cup tournament, and now finally winning a big one at home 5-1 vs. Hannover on Saturday to put them back in the title race. But for how long will they remain in the race? If the trend continues, they should come out listless on Tuesday vs. Lisbon (they need to lose 6-0 to get knocked out of the Champions League) and lose at Bochum on Saturday. My opinion – if not for their biggest CL win ever, Juergen Klinsmann would have been fired after loses to Berlin and Cologne, the loss to Leverkusen in the Cup to ruin a domestic double chance and then not beating a 10-man Bremen side last Sunday. For now, Klinsmann can smile again and hope the wins continue. They did win the last 11 in the league in the first half. One down, 11 more to go till the end of the season.

Donovan Update: FCB will have to win the Bundesliga and CL without Landon Donovan, as the club made it official with statements from Bayern management. The transfer fee would have been too much for the club to take on at this time. After scoring four goals in training and winning the fan’s vote in January for player of the month, LD only played at the end of matches in all competitions. The clearest sign came when Luca Toni was injured last week, Klinsmann opted to only go with Miroslav Klose upfront and kept both LD and Lukas Podolski on the bench till the second half in the goalless draw last Sunday at Bremen.

So here are some impressions from the Dynamo /Austin Aztex pre-season match.
Now the Aztex are heading into their USL 1 season in the midst of three matches against MLS teams.
The defending MLS Cup Champion Columbus Crew will be in Austin next weekend who just happen to be the Dynamo opponent to start off the 2009 season! Get a preview of them next week in Austin or just get your tickets to help get Robertson Stadium filled to welcome former Dynamo Alejandro Moreno and Argentine MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto. Not to mention central defender Chad Marshall.

The match in Austin ended 2-2 for the Dynamo who rested goalkeeper Pat Onstad on the artificial surface in favor of Tally Hall.
Now to be fair, it is very hard to make judgement on this game on an artificial surface and a very tight field. It was difficult for teams to get possession and work ethic and moments of good soccer was the measure for the day. Former Dynamo striker Kyle Brown played for the Aztex.

Austin coached by long time English player Adrian Heath struck first through Sullivan Silva who got behind the Dynamo defense off a pass from Gifton Noel Williams. Williams who played at Stoke and showed some subtle English League experience at times was red carded after receiving a second yellow. At this moment Dynamo manager Dominic Kinnear went over to Heath and suggested that Austin play with 11 as opposed to down a man.

In the 34th minute Geoff Cameron put in Brian Mullan who was one on one with an on-rushing goalkeeper and Mullan lobbed him beautifully to tie the score. The Aztex would get a late first half goal to go up 2-1. Defender Wade Barrett turning a clear into his own goal. The Dynamo and Aztex would make changes in the second half . Eric Quill a former MLS player and UH womens assistant coach would get the Dynamo equalizer.

A crowd of what seemed to be around 4000 fans filled the Nelson Field and provided a nice atmosphere but I will re-iterate it was tough to make any judgement on this game. The best news is to the best of my knowledge the Dynamo came out injury free with most regulars getting 45 minutes. Andrew Hainault looks to be a good bet to sign with the Dynamo and his prescence was noted.

Dynamo fans looked to number around 150 with El Batallon and the Texian Army making their prescence in the capital city.
Nice orange flares by the way…….

I interviewed Austin Aztex owner Phil Rawlins. The interview will run on this Monday’s Dynamo All Access with Glenn Davis from 7-9pm on 790TheSportsAnimal. The show will also include Dynamo manager Dominic Kinnear and CEO Chris Canetti who will lay out the details of the attempt at signing Omar Bravo plus manager Dominic Kinnear. More guests to come so re-visit this page.

It was nice running into friends from the Austin soccer community that I have known for many years including Wolfgang Sunholz and Bobby Murphy (former STYSA Coaching Director). Now the Aztex seem to have the right mentality about their purpose and role in the future.
Rawlins wants the club to be vested in the fabric of Austin, Texas. He also makes it clear the club will be a stepping stone for players to move to other clubs. The hope is to move some players to Stoke City and other clubs in the future and that in itself will entice some players to forgo MLS and sign in the USL.

GOSH HE IS SO SPECIAL
Jose Mourinho is at it again prior to this coming weeks 2nd leg against Manchester United in the Champions League.
Here is a beauty from the “special one” who is claiming he should be Man U’s new manager when Alex Ferguson retires.
“Special clubs need special managers so in theory it could work but nobody knows what the future is in football.”
He also goes on to say that the EPL title is smooth sailing for Man U because he is not coaching in the league.
Whatever Jose, easy to say that now………Jose playing the psychological games because he like everyone knows that Inter will get knocked out this week………..

MLS NUMBERS……

Cuahutemoc Blanco (Chicago) guaranteed salary for 2009- $ 2,943,702
Freddy Ljungberg (Seattle) guaranteed salary for 2009- $ 1,314,000