Nonsense

Why do all these clever newspaper reporters point out that only a victory counts in Tuesday's game - when it is a direct elmination competition? You always have to win in the DFB Pokal. Which is what we will do.

Greulich Fuerth Means Nothing

What's all this Schmarn about the game against Fuerth deciding Babbel's future?

Let's say we win. Whoop-dee-doo. We beat a team from the second Bundesliga. That would make me keep a coach. Are we going to win against Sevilla and Bayern afterwards? I'd love it, but I don't see it happening. You can lose games like that. Any of our best coaches has at times. Now, keeping on losing afterwards wouldn't be pretty, and that needs to stop.

Let's say we lose. You really want to fire your coach and waste whatever stimulus you're hoping for from a new coach on very possible losses to Sevilla and Munich? Nice move. Either way, let's just give Babbel time at least until after the Moenchengladbach game.

And yes, Markus Babbel needs to remain our coach. We need to become a team like Manchester United or Arsenal who stick with a great coach for years.

P.S. Send that Mappus fellow across the border to Bavaria. Or better yet, France. Traitor.

Nothing Has Happened

Alright, let's assume that we're going to lose in Sevilla, too. What does that mean?

Nothing.

Of course, I'm assuming Sevilla keeps on winning. As long as they do,

• if Glasgow beats Unirea in Romania, we need to tie Glasgow and beat Unirea
• if they tie, we need to tie Glasgow and beat Unirea
• if Unirea wins, we need to beat Glasgow and Unirea

If we managed to tie Sevilla, we could even afford a loss to Glasgow if they beat Unirea. All this would leave us second in the end. While all that doesn't look pretty, our chances are anything but terrible.

And yes, Markus Babbel needs to remain our coach.

Doing My Best

If the 18 teams of the Bundesliga (top German soccer league) have an average of 25 players on roll, that's 450 pro's. Compared to the 6.3 million members of the Deutscher Fussball-Bund, that's 0.007%. Am I in the top 0.007% in my calling? Am I on my way there? Or do I want to spend my life playing Kreisklasse?

Why VfB Stuttgart Should Buy Klaas Jan Huntelaar

Daydreaming

Horst Heldt is putting on a big press conference today. Demba Ba is not going to be the replacement for Mario Gomez. However, since he can't possibly stay at Hoffenheim after what's he pulled off, we did snap him up for the $3 million he's worth, and he won't get a cent more than in Hoffenheim, so he learns his lesson.

The real replacement for Mario Gomez is Klaas Jan Huntelaar. After Real Madrid bought Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, there's no room for him there to play Champions League, so Stuttgart was just the right fit. Together with Cacau or Ba, he'll make a great offense.

Just as the presentation is about to wind down, Heldt announces he's got another player hired, and they might just as well show him now. He scoots an extra chair in, somewhere in the middle, and ought walks Rafael van der Vaart. With Kaka in Madrid now, he wasn't going to play any more than last year, and he wants to go to the world cup, too.

Coach Babbel turns to Horst Heldt, saying "How are we going to pay for all of this?" The manager replies, "I suppose you can say a team is expected to do well when a potential sponsor will buy out an existing one." He proceeds to reveal, "there's a guy from the Mannheim area that has been able to start a pretty successful company..."

Ba: "You have got to be kidding me!"
Heldt: "...together with someone from Bad Cannstatt, and so I'm proud to reveal our new lead sponsor: Mercedes-Benz."

Huntelaar and van der Vaart take off their blazers revealing the new jersey. No, there's no more ugly brown version of it available.

The presentation ends with "Ein Stern, der ueber Stuttgart steht..."

See Them Live

I really wasn't going to blog about soccer. Anyhow, I just found out that ESPN360 appears to make the games available live (for free!) across the Internet. While I'm at it, here's my forecast (wish list) for tomorrow's squad:

Jens Lehmann (VfB Stuttgart)

Philip Lahm (formerly VfB Stuttgart)
Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid)
Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen)
Marcell Jansen (Bayern Muenchen)

Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen)
Michael Ballack (F. C. Chelsea)
Thorsten Frings (Werder Bremen)
Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart)

Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart)
Miroslav Klose (Bayern Muenchen)

A Chance at Redemption

We made it into the UI Cup, a chance to qualify for the UEFA Cup. That gives us the opportunity to redeem the season, and play internationally next year, though I'm sure Armin Veh and all the others would have much preferred any of the five spots ahead of us.

Manuel Fischer came in about the 70th minute, when we were down 0-1. His first touch of the ball resulted in a penalty kick in our favor, and later he marked the 2-1 (they still tied us afterwards). Not a bad game, there, his third for our team after a few minutes against FC Barcelona in Camp Nou, and 10 minutes against Nuremberg. If Gomez ever leaves, he'll take his spot. Better yet, though, may be a combination of the two. I wouldn't be surprised if they were our starting strikers by the end of next season. Time will tell.

A Long Week

I promise, I'll stop blogging about the VfB for a while soon (that's not much of a promise, as you will see in a moment). One week is terribly long to be under such tension. There's two UEFA cup spots available, and four teams are vying for it - all have 51 points. Unfortunately, we have the worst goal difference. The third of the four spots still qualifies for a play-off of sorts that may get you in by the backdoor, the fourth (our current ranking) means you're doomed. I'm cautiously optimistic that if we can win our home game - the last game of the season - that we can at least get this "UI Cup" spot. That's because second-placed Bremen is playing Leverkusen, one of the four. They should at least manage a draw against them. My preference would be a VfB win over Bielefeld, a HSV draw, and losses for Leverkusen and that dreadful Wolfsburg team that slaughtered us last weekend (0-4). If you're quick at math, you'll notice that would put us on top (actually, in fourth place on the whole grid, there are three champions league spots ahead of us). I'm not sure we can lay any claim to deserving to get in after some of the mistakes we've made all season. Anyways, Saturday morning will be torture until it's all over.

Until then, hope dies last.

BTW, the European championship starts in early June ;-)

Three Times is a Charm

Bless Bayer Leverkusen, their kindness lasts forever... . Every time we fall behind them, they are nice enough to lose their next game to put us back on top. You can't complain about that.

O Yeah, Baby!

Gotta love those Bayer-guys. They lost again, letting us reclaim 5th place. Hamburg only tied, too, putting us on one level with them, too. I want that champions league ranking!

Thank You, Leverkusen!

Well, they did us the favor of losing to Dortmund, giving us our first UEFA Cup spot ranking of the season. Keep up the good work, Bayer!

Oh, Wie Ist Das Schoen!

Wir haben gewonnen!!! La and I celebrated our glorious victory with a duet of "Ein Stern, der ueber Stuttgart steht..."Oh, yeah, baby!

Home Game against the HSV

We're playing Hamburg tomorrow. A win should put us into contention for a Champions League rank. My tip: 2-1. Gomez and Khedira are out, which hurts, but the midfield will take us there. Look for Stuttgart to finish the season 2nd.