On the 13th, Berhalter went 90 in a 2-0 win over Hansa Rostock. His team Cottbus is in third place (top three go up, top of 2.Bundesliga table below). Code: 1.(1.) A.Aachen 29 19 4 6 56:29 +27 61 2.(2.) VfL Bochum 29 17 8 4 49:21 +28 59 3.(3.) COTTBUS 30 15 8 7 45:29 +16 53 ----------- 4.(4.) Greuther Fürth 29 13 8 8 46:38 +8 47 5.(5.) Karlsruher SC 30 13 8 9 43:38 +5 47 6.(6.) SC Freiburg 29 13 6 10 35:30 +5 45 7.(7.) Hansa Rostock 30 13 4 13 41:40 +1 43 In the second half of today's games, Greuther Furth trail 1-0 while Freiburg are drawn 0-0, so Cottbus may have a six point lead with four rounds to play. A week from Monday they're away to Greuther Furth, then they finish up with three opponents in the bottom third of the table.
Looks like if they win or draw their next game they're about as good as in. That will be good to see GB up there again. He's a great success story. Never considered on one of our "golden boys" but doing as well as almost anyone abroad over the last several years on a consistent basis, barring the facial injury. A nice Bundesliga player who isn't quite good enough to make the US roster (not his fault he's at our deepest field position)--who would have thought it a few years ago? Go Gregg!
What evidence do you have that he is not good enough for the US roster? Are you basing this on his play against Germany, his age? Do you watch his club games in the B2?
Making that call based on the Germany game is perfectly appropriate for a BS poster. I am sure that Arena has more information, but I am not sure that more information is going to change the decision.
It does indeed look pretty good for Energie Cottbus to advance. I am hoping that will be the case as it will be nice to see two North Americans anchor the back line of a Bundesliga 1 team as Berhalter and Canadian Kevin McKenna are the centre backs, not to mention having an American as captain.
Energie Cottbus manage a draw yesterday with Berhalter scoring on a 2nd half PK to tie Greuther Fuerth. With 3 games to go, Cottbus are up by 6 pts on Greuther Fuerth, the 4th place team, so promotion is very likely now. They could clinch with a win next week as their goal difference is pretty solid compared to GF.
I saw this game on German tv. It was miserable soccer--at the level of low MLS. Tons of head balls, poor receiving, too many passes off target and few passing sequences of any duration. Pace was also slow. I have no expectations of good things from Berhalter. He is generally solid, but... Nevertheless, it was a PK taken by him that was nicely struck, hard, on the ground to lower right corner that tied the game and provided promotion certainty.
All season long Cottbus have played what the local media derides as 'English kick and run football'. Essentially they (often times the keeper, in fact) boots the ball as far up field as possible, they try to get a flick on, and someone shoots. It's not always pretty to watch, but sometimes it's effective. As for Gregg, from what I've seen this season he can be inconsistant at times. His last game before the winter break was simply awful, but other times he's been the steadying force in the defence. To be honest, I think the greatest attribute he brings to the team is leadership and experience (and it's a team with a fair number of odd personalities) rather than any particular skill. Is that enough to get him on the WC squad? I don't know. It will make him a great coach one day, though.
agreed, but this was the biggest game of the year for both teams and neither did so well dealing with the pressure, a pressure that is not known in the MLS. As posted above Cottbus is not the prettiest of teams to watch, but Fürth generally plays a very attractive brand of soccer. Just not last Monday on national TV in a must-win situation.
Thanks to you and others for the info ... does this suggest that Cottbus would be easy targets in the Bundesliga, or would they buy some players who can possess the ball and take some pressure off their defense? Also, what role would you expect Berhalter to have? He started for them in the Bundesliga in 2002/03, but that's when he was a younger player (and they were pretty bad).
Considering Gregg has worn the captain's armband for two seasons, I highly doubt they would dump him or relegate him to the bench. He's been too important to their success over the years to be cast away after promotion. While the Bundesliga is considerably better and faster than their counterparts in the 2nd division, Gregg the few times he's played Bundesliga clubs hasn't been out of his element. He can play and still be effective club wise, internationally, that maybe a different story. Cottbus will have some money coming to them as a result of promotion and like most they will wisely have to spend it. A holding mid, like you suggested, may be a wise choice. Cottbus is a very blue-collar town, and probably hard to draw players to, so I figure they'd go for some younger current Bundesliga players looking to make an impact.
Cottbus has a huge mountain to climb next season. Just this morning my paper had an article about how much smaller their budget will be in comparison to other clubs. I'm sure they will try to get some new players in (midfield and goalkeeper have to be top priorities, Piplica is comically awful), but they will not break the bank. One thing that helps is that the stadium renovation is complete, so they will be able to get more income at the gate than they were when they were in the Bundesliga before. The trouble is that with Hertha Berlin so close, they are never going to draw many fans. Cottbus is a small and very poor city. As for Gregg, this is pure speculation, but I would expect him to play next season and hang it up. One final season in the Bundesliga would be a nice way to end his career. Just speculation, though. I'm not sure they'd force him to the bench with more pressing issues elsewhere on the field.
this is what Gregg had to say on it last week. But negotians haven't yet started. Aarhus, if you see anything in the paper along those lines, feeel free to pass it along. Cheers, Harris
http://kicker.de/content/saison/not...&saison=2005/06&spieltag=31&mode=2&position=0 Berhalter is rated as the 47th best defender, and the 137th best player overall in the 2-Bundesliga by Kicker. Other than McKenna, the other Cottbus defenders are ranked low, which is strange because they have the second best defense in the league.
And while I'm at it, here's the rankings for Keller and Dolo. Cherundolo: 42nd best defender, 113th overall Keller: 2nd best goalkeeper, 3rd overall (all the keepers seem to be really high-rated, in both leagues)
I've never put much faith the Kicker ratings, but that's just one man's opinion. If 18 clubs have 4 starting defenders each (I know, I'm generalising), that's 72 defenders. Anyone who watches the BL regularly knows that dolo is not in the bottom half if the BL defender pool. As for McKenna, I'd be interested to know how much those high ratings have to do with the time early in the season when he was knocking goals in as a striker.
Kick off in 5 minutes for Energie Cottbus. A win today means promotion after 3 years in the Bundesliga 2. Live ticker available here (German only). http://www.fcenergie.de/