Why the German media shouldn't hassle the Hoff

Terry Duffelen — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:48:00 GMT

"I made billions in software and then blew it all on the track" - Groundskeeper Willy

The A-Liga has a certain ring to it, doesn't it? Like A-Number One – the Big Cheese, the top dog! Australia's own top flight is called the A-League.

In Germany, however, the A-Liga is, or was, the eighth tier of competitive football – a sort of Ryman Division One South of Deutschland. And, in 1990 when West Germany were lifting the World Cup in Italy, the A-Liga was the resting place of TSG Hoffenheim, a small village club on the outskirts of Sinsheim, north of Stuttgart.

The year proved to be significant for the club that had spent most of its history providing nothing more than a pleasant sporting diversion for the village's inhabitants. Because in 1990, a prodigal son returned in the shape of ex-Hoffenheim youth-player-turned-software-billionaire Dietmar Hopp.

Slowly and steadily, Hopp began to lend his financial support to the club, and equally slowly and equally steadily they pulled themselves out of the doldrums and up the leagues.

Significant investment began in 2006 with the appointment of Ralf Rangnik as coach. The former Stuttgart and Schalke coach's image in Germany is one of an academic, a thinker, a strategist and a club builder. This was just as well, as that was exactly what he was called upon to do. By this time, Hopp was splashing cash at the club like it was going out of fashion, or as though some hideous banking crisis was in the offing and he may as well spend it while he still had it.

But Hopp's investment was not in the style of Jack Walker at Blackburn or Roman Abramovich at Chelsea. The SAP founder focused his money on the club's infrastructure. Yes, there were players coming in but they were players suitable for the task of climbing the football ladder. A new stadium was developed. The 30,000 capacity Rhein-Necker Arena is probably big enough to fit four or five Hoffenheims, which is probably why it was finally built in Sinsheim.

When TSG finally arrived in the top flight it was amidst controversy. Germany, like England and Scotland, has a strong cultural attachment to the game and a tradition that drives it. Hoffenheim were (and still are) seen as a plastic club, manufactured in a lab by a computer boffin with a weak supporter base. Some supporters went too far and Hopp received a number of death threats but despite their pariah status, there is much to admire about the way they go about their business.

Hopp - neither the German Walker or Abramovic

Despite all the controversy, Hoffenheim exploded onto the Bundesliga scene in 2008. With impressive wins over Borussia Dortmund, Hamburg and eventual champions Wolfsburg, Rangnik's team quickly earned praise for their crisp passing and buccaneering football. In one memorable encounter, the Hoff travelled to Werder Bremen and scored four goals at the Weserstadion only for the home side to score five.

Pretty soon, players like Demba Ba, Luiz Gustavo, Andreas Beck, Chinedu Obasi, Sejad Salihovic and Tobias Weis (who earned a call-up to the German national squad for the game against England) were earning reluctant plaudits from a cynical media.

However, the main man was Bosnian Vedad Ibisevic, who scored eighteen goals in seventeen appearances before the winter break.

In fact it was Ibisevic who scored the opening goal against the mighty Bayern Munich in the penultimate game before the Bundesliga broke up for the winter. The game proved pivotal as Hoffenheim looked to have earned a more than creditable point at the Allianz Arena that would have given them a psychological boost going into the hiatus.

That was until Luca Toni popped up for the then Champions in the dying second to steal the win. Hoffenheim had won the Winter Championship but that cruel blow set off a chain of events that led to a slide down the table. In the end, even European competition was denied them.

Unfortunately for Ibisevic, he sustained a knee ligament injury during the break and never returned for the rest of the season. Then the club finally moved to their new stadium in time for the season restart. Despite winning their first game, the team went on a twelve match winless streak that totally wrecked their chances of playing in Europe the following season.

The 2009/10 season was pretty anticlimactic, given the previous years of upward mobility for German football's yuppie club. Hoffenheim finished eleventh which, given their ambitions, seems disappointing; however, given how far the club have travelled in such a short space of time, it is pretty impressive. Despite that there were rumblings in the German media that Dietmar Hopp was losing patience with coach Rangnik and that Hopp was considering a staffing change.

Rangnik survives, however, and it's just as well too. His experience has guided the club's youth academy and scouting network to bring some cracking young players to the club, the benefits of which are becoming increasingly apparent.

Sebastian Rudy, Boris Vukcevic and the powerhouse striker Peniel Mlapa were starters for the Germany under-21 side and are all Hoffenheim players. Even when Rangnik spends big he does so on youth. Gylfi Sigurdsson may have raise a few eyebrows after his £6m move from Reading but he has raised a lot of voices with his impressive performances and four goals. Currently the club sits eighth in the table after an encouraging start which included a 4-0 thrashing of Werder Bremen.

Whether the traditionalists like them or not, Hoffenheim appear to be for real and are set to shape the future of the Bundesliga for years to come.

And if Fussball fans don't like Hoffenheim, wait until they get a load of the Red Bull-backed RB Leipzig that are scything their way through the lower leagues at this very moment.

But that is another story.

Ze Roberto: A man for all seasons (and virtually all positions)

Terry Duffelen — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:01:00 GMT

Mistakenly written off as past it, the Brazilian is still a key man in the Bundesliga, reports Terry Duffelen

It is the 86th minute of the first game of the 2010/11 season at the Imtech Arena, home of HSV Hamburg. The home side are locked at 1-1 with last season's Bundesliga runners-up, Schalke.

With the ball at his feet, Hamburg's Ze Roberto charges from the left flank into the opposition penalty area. Head back, chest puffed out, in full flow, you can see the whites of his eye flicker as he looks up to spot the run of Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The Brazilian midfielder-slash-wingback's cross is inch-perfect and Van Nisterooy's run is perfectly timed. He cannot miss, Hamburg retake the lead and wrestle three points away from a dogged ten-man Schalke side.

Ze Roberto's assist (the first of seven so far this season) is typical of the man. He is the archetypal selfless runner who seems to derive as much pleasure creating a goal as scoring one. He plays like he knows that when a great goal is scored it is merely an end of a flowing movement – the final chord of a beautiful composition.

Wherever he plays on the pitch (and that could be pretty much anywhere) he is easily distinguishable by his explosive pace, intelligent running and reliable crosses. To watch him could be to mistake him for a player in his twenties. Only his face reveals a man who has charged headlong into northern European winters for over a decade.

Jose Roberto da Silva Jr began his Bundesliga career in 1998 at Bayer Leverkusen. He was part of the 2002 squad that progressed to the Champions League final (which he missed through suspension) against his old club Real Madrid under coach Klaus Toppmoller.

That same season, Leverkusen also came within a whisker of winning the Bundesliga but lost out by one point to Borussia Dortmund, hence the well-earned unofficial nickname Neverkusen.

However, the club Ze Roberto is best associated with is probably Bayern Munich, where he was a double winner thrice in his first spell and again upon his return in 2007, after a sabbatical back in Brazil with Santos.

At 35, in the summer of 2009 he was deemed surplus to requirements at Bayern Munich by incoming coach Louis van Gaal – a decision the Dutchman later regretted. Hamburg wasted no time in signing the former Brazil international and he took his place in coach Bruno Labaddia's team, either on the flank or through the middle.

For a while it looked like HSV were the real deal and would become genuine title challengers. They notched up impressive wins against Bayern and their bitter local rivals Werder Bremen.

However, as the pressure mounted, the wheels fell off. Hamburg missed out on a place in the Europa League final (held at their very own stadium) and failed to qualify for Europe competition via the league. Labaddia didn't even make it to the end of the campaign, sacked as he was in between the two legs of the Europa League semi-final against Fulham.

This season, former Stuttgart and Wolfsburg coach Armin Veh has been given the task of delivering the Bundesliga title to the ambitious but underachieving northern club. While results so far have been have been patchy, at least one man's form has been consistent.

Ze Roberto set up Paulo Guerrero's strike that condemned early pacesetters Mainz to their first defeat of the season, and his pinpoint centre to Mladen Petric last Saturday sealed an excellent win against Hoffenheim, their first three points since mid-October.

Inevitably, questions will arise at the end of the season as to whether the two-time Copa America winner will return to Brazil or stay in the Bundesliga for another campaign. Part of the joy of watching him is that he plays each game like it is his last.

At present, however, Hamburg will be grateful to have his energy, enthusiasm and skill ahead of their visit to Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund on Friday.

The Fundesliga : Hoffenheim

Why the German media shouldn't hassle the Hoff

Ze Roberto: A man for all seasons (and virtually all positions)