Bayer Leverkusen manager Heiko Herrlich has been hit with a fine approaching $14,500 after taking a comedy tumble during his side’s DFB-Pokal match against Borussia Monchengladbach on December 20. Bayer would win the game 1-0, but Herrlich apologized after the match for his hysterics following Denis Zakaria’s near-impingement on his personal space.
“That was stupid,” said Herrlich. “I’d like to apologize.”
17-year-old Missouri native Josh Sargent made his Werder Bremen debut on Tuesday while appearing for the club’s U-23 team in a friendly versus Dynamo Dresden. Sargent officially joined the club on Jan. 1 and won’t be able to sign a professional contract until turning 18 on February 20, but the eagle has landed.
Lukas Podolski, a World Cup winner with Germany and a former striker for Arsenal and Bayern Munich, has always been a fan favorite, wherever he goes. The man with a hammer for a left leg is finishing out his career in Japan with Vissel Kobe right now, but while back in Cologne rehabbing an injury he opened up a doner kebab shop over the weekend to plenty of fanfare.
Two weeks after being named the 2017 U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year, 19-year-old Borussia Dortmund attacker Christian Pulisic added another first to his individual trophy cabinet: the accolade for December’s Bundesliga Goal of the Month.
It was the eighth Bundesliga goal of Pulisic’s career, but the first to be named Goal of the Month. The composed finish against Hoffenheim from December 16 gave Dortmund all three points in the 89th minute.
Unlike the Premier League, which increases its schedule during the holidays, the Bundesliga takes a winter break. The month-long hiatus began after Sunday’s matches. It’s sad for fans who want to watch German football over the coming weeks — and doubly so for the Bundesliga mascots.
Team mascots are created for one reason: to support a team. What do you do when your entire existence is based around something that won’t happen again for nearly a month?
During Sunday's Bundesliga match between Cologne and Freiburg, the referee called a penalty for Cologne. The only problem was no one could find the penalty spot. So where is it? We think we can figure it out.
Here are some suggestions for where the referee could look:
-In the couch cushions
-Under the bed
-In the garage
-In the attic
Borussia Dortmund hadn’t won in nine Bundesliga matches, so they hired a manager who hadn’t won in 14 matches. And it worked, somehow. Dortmund beat Mainz 2-0 to win for the first time in league play since September to give new coach Peter Stöger his first victory this season.