Reuters Soccer Blog
World Soccer views and news
What now for wondrous Wolfsburg?
Wolfsburg are only 90 minutes away from winning their first German championship and they have equalled or broken several records in achieving that.
No other team have ever had two strikers score 20 goals or more in a Bundesliga season. Grafite has 26, Edin Dzeko 25.
Wolfsburg equalled the longest winning streak in one season in the Bundesliga with 10 consecutive victories after the winter break. They have a near perfect home record, dropping only two points in 16 matches this term.
What can they improve on after such a season?
Coach Felix Magath will not be there next term, having signed with Schalke 04. Grafite has said he will stay on but Dzeko looks unlikely to partner him up front next season with big European clubs including Arsenal rumoured to be eyeing the Bosnian and team mates.
But don’t expect Volkswagen-backed Wolfsburg to be a one-off thing.
Grafite’s stunning goal hailed throughout Germany
German media have already decided that Grafite’s brilliant 77th-minute solo goal in Wolfsburg’s 5-1 win over Bayern Munich on Saturday is the goal of the year.
He somehow managed to elude five Bayern players before scoring with a cheeky backheel.
It may seem a bit early to be choosing the “Tor des Jahres” with nine months left in 2009 but even the normally reserved public TV broadcast “Das Aktuelle Sportstudio” proclaimed it “the most spectacular goal in Bundesliga history”.
The electrifying goal has featured in German newscasts all weekend.
Grafite’s goal, coming two days after his 30th birthday, also served as a fitting metaphor for the season as it helped Wolfsburg jump to the top of the Bundesliga in front of Hamburg SV, Hertha Berlin and Bayern.
The small club from the northern town made famous by the Volkswagen factories have now won eight of their nine matches since the winter break (the only blemish a draw at Cologne) after ending the first half of the season back in ninth place and nine points behind Bayern.
Wow, getting spanked 5-1 AND the whole world gets to be reminded all year.
have fun in the champions league now.
I think anyone outside Bavaria would agree with the last post.