Title Race Heating Up
February 17, 2007
Stuttgart, inspired by recently capped German international Mario Gomez' 13th goal of the campaign, moved to within four points of leader Schalke 04, who play away at Wolfsburg on Saturday, and two points ahead of Werder Bremen, who have lost two on the trot including one against Stuttgart but play against bottom club Hamburg this weekend.
Bundesliga leaders Schalke 04 have offered their coach Mirko Slomka a new contract in the hope that is just the boost required to extend their unbeaten run to 13 when they travel to middle of the league VfL Wolfsburg this weekend.
The 39-year-old's contract was due to expire in June but the new deal would link the coach to the Gelsenkirchen outfit -- who are on a run of six successive victories -- till the end of the 2008/09 season.
Club general manager Andeas Müller met Slomka -- who took over from Ralf Rangnick in January 2006 -- late on Wednesday to talk about his future and said he was confident that there would be no hitches.
"We have agreed a deal at every level and will terminate these discussions in the next two or three weeks, but I do not see anything which would prevent him signing a new contract," said Müller.
This continues the seemingly unending good news for the 1997 UEFA Cup winners, as they sit six points clear of second-placed Werder Bremen and, more significantly, 11 points in front of Bayern Munich in fourth.
It's not over till it's over
Slomka, who was formerly in charge of the club's youth system, is taking nothing for granted as Schalke seek their eighth title but first since 1958.
"We're happy to be six points clear," he told the club Web site. "But while we have the quality to win the league, there are another 13 games left, not two."
"We're hoping to have lots of support in Wolfsburg on Saturday. It's going to be another very difficult game because Wolfsburg are having a good spell. But we'll be looking to maintain our lead there and if possible even extend it. We want to carry on winning," Slomka said.
Schalke won't have it easy, however, with Wolfsburg losing just once in the last nine visits of Schalke to their Volkswagen Arena.
A morale boost
Werder Bremen meanwhile host Hamburg SV on Saturday after their rousing 3-0 UEFA Cup win over Ajax on Wednesday to boost morale following consecutive Bundesliga defeats including a 2-0 home loss to Schalke.
While Hamburg lie at the bottom of the table, their hopes were revived last weekend when they beat Borussia Dortmund 3-0 for their second season win.
But they badly need to follow up on this win in order to avoid a first relegation from the Bundesliga since the league was founded in 1963.
"Bremen versus Hamburg is always an exciting game," said Hamburg coach Huub Stevens. "We want to build on our good game against Dortmund and I am convinced that we will play a good match in Bremen as well.'
Stevens has restored order in the team, suspending forward Danijel Luboja for the game for disciplinary reasons. Hamburg have won just one of the last 11 games in Bremen, but will likely be happy enough if they get a 1-1 draw like in the last two games in the Weserstadion.
A draw will not be enough for Bremen, though, as they quickly need to overcome their domestic slide if they want to stay in the title race.
"We didn't show our true potential in the last games," insisted sports director Klaus Allofs.
Solid defense
Bayern travel to lowly Alemannia Aachen on Saturday having last weekend earned their first victory in four attempts since the winter break in beating Arminia Bielefeld 1-0.
It was Ottmar Hitzfeld's first victory in his second spell as Munich coach, having led them to the 2001 Champions League title, following the departure of Felix Magath at the beginning of the month.
"In my opinion, the fact we've made progress was as important as the three points," the 58-year-old said at the time saying that clean sheets were what mattered in football.
"You only succeed as a team with a solid defense. That's the fundamental element in winning matches."
On Bayern's selection front, Brazilian defender Lucio and Italian midfielder Martin Demichelis are unavailable but French defender Willy Sagnol is expected to return after sitting out the Bielefeld game with a knee problem.