Northern Giants to End Bavarian Dominance
The Bundesliga season of 2006/07 is seeing the slow change of power from Bavaria to Bremen. For the last decade Bayern Munchen have dominated the Bundesliga, claiming the title 7 times and coming runnners-up once, making them the dominant force in German football. Giovanni Trapattoni set the ball-rolling for Bayern's dominance when he took over as manager in 1996. Whilst in charge of Bayern Trapattoni captured the Bundesliga title once, finished runners-up once and also won the German Cup. Trapattoni left the German giants in 1998 as he felt he had taken the club as far as possible. On leaving in 1998 he had left the next manager (Ottmar Hitzfeld) the foundations of continued succes that would lead to Bayern dominating the Bundesliga. Under ex Borussia Dortmund manager Ottmar Hitzfeld the club became unstoppable. Hitzfeld had previously led Dortmund to two Bundesliga titles in 1995 and 1996 and also led the unfashionable club to European Cup success (over Juventus) in 1997. Hitzfeld continued his success with Bayern claiming a second European Cup in 2001 and coming ever so close in 1999 (when they lost in the dying minutes to Manchester United). Hitzfeld also won a further 4 Bundesliga titles for Bayern and claimed the German Cup on two seperate occasions. Again when Hitzfeld stepped down in 2004 (to be replaced by disciplinarian Felix Magath) the club were in a strong position. Magath was brought in due to his discipline and shrewd tactics which were a success at VFB Stuttgart. In his three seasons at the club Magath has managed to lead the Bavarian outfit to two domestic Doubles. The question is though: Could Bayern's dominance about to come to an end? For the past couple of seasons a team from the region of Bremen in northwest Germany has emerged as a serious threat to the Bavarian dominance. This team is the northern giants of SV Werder Bremen. Werder have always been a big Bundesliga club but has always lived in the shadows of its more illustrious neighbour, Hamburger SV. Fortunes are slowly changing for Werder though as they became only one of four German sides to claim the domsetic Double in 2004. Under current manager Thomas Schaaf the club look as though they are building on their success of 2004. Since that remarkable double the club have finished third (during an injury plagued season in 2004/05) and runners-up (in 2005/06). This season the northern outfit look as though they could go all the way. What makes people think that Werder could claim their second Bundesliga title this decade? The answer is quite complex but one of the reasons is due to finances. During the past decade Bayern Munchen have been able to pull the strings in the transfer market and sign the best domestic talent. This is due to their excellent financial position. This is slowly starting to change as Bayern can no longer compete with the top foreign European clubs. This fact was highlighted during the summer when they entered a bidding war with Real Madrid over Ruud van Nistelrooy. Bayern simply could not match Real's financial package to both club and player and van Nistelrooy ended up at the Bernabeu. Due to Werder's participation in the last two European Cup campaigns they are financially better off (especially as they have reached the last 16 on both occasions). This has helped them to compete with Bayern more in the domestic transfer market. This was evident in the summer of 2006 when they beat off competition from other clubs to sign German World Cup star Per Mertesacker, in a 5 million Euro deal with Hannover 96. Due to their emergence as a new German power they were also able to attact Brazilian playmaker Diego and also hold on to Golden Boot winner Miroslav Klose (despite interest from clubs like Manchester United). With Werder managing to hold on to key players (despite interest from abroad) and signing some excellent new talent, they are now in a position to realistically challenge the dominance of Bayern. Early signs are promising for the 2006/07 campaign as Werder defeated Bayern 2-0 in August to claim the first silverware of the season (in the form of the Ligapokal trophy). Werder have followed this success up with convincing displays over rivals Bayern Munchen (3-1), Leverkusen (2-1) and B.M'gladbach (3-1) and now sit top of the Bundesliga table. The early success if due to Werder having a solid central defensive pairing of Mertesacker and Naldo with holding midfielders Frings and Bauman sat in front of them. This allows the creative talents of Diego and Borowski to concentrate on providing more ammunition to the leagues most prolific strike-force of Klasnic and Klose. This attacking formula results in some very entertaining matches where you are guaranteed goals (Werder have 21 to their name so far in their opening 8 matches). This attacking mentality has taken the northern giants to the top of the Bundesliga table and you can be guaranteed they will be there ahead of Bayern at the end of the season.
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