FCB - Pre-season schedule 2008/09

[RunX]

The Match Against Urawa Reds Will Be In Japan Or In Munchen !?

[BlackNess]

Originally Posted by RunX

The Match Against Urawa Reds Will Be In Japan Or In Munchen !?

Don't you read ??

Thursday 31 July, 12.30h: Friendly v Urawa Red Diamonds (A)

A means away, so it's not gonna be in the A.A

[Trim]

Back to Cologne
Poldi fired up for return to hometown club

For Bayern as a club, Saturday's warm-up away to 1. FC Köln is simply the next pulse-check in pre-season, but when Lukas Podolski steps out in front of a capacity crowd at the RheinEnergie stadium, the Germany international will be returning to his former hometown stamping ground for the first time since switching to Munich in summer 2006.

"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's game," declared Poldi on Friday. The 23-year-old was still recuperating from knee surgery and was forced to sit out the match billed as his official farewell almost exactly a year ago, so he has reason to be doubly pleased at the weekend. "We'll give him the chance to play from the start and do his stuff," coach Jürgen Klinsmann informed fcbayern.de.

A day to enjoy

It was "a very special match" for Podolski, Klinsmann continued, underlining the significance of the encounter for his left-footed striker. "Lukas is going home, he has strong affinity with the club. It's the club where he grew up, where the fans took him to their hearts, where he was practically a god. He should enjoy the day there, because in the evening he'll be sitting with us on the plane to Munich.“

The coach voiced hopes that Podolski's return would be "a match worthy of the occasion," but Bayern's priorities in the meeting with the promoted outfit lay elsewhere. With nearly four weeks of pre-season training under their belts, it would be "interesting to observe how the players have reacted to the heavy schedule," Klinsmann continued. That would especially be the case with the Euro 2008 stars, who in the main only resumed training last week.

Serious approach

Following Wednesday's 2-1 defeat in the T-Home Supercup against Borussia Dortmund, victory over the Rhineland side would be "nice, but if it doesn't work out, not a disaster either," Klinsmann explained. "Our training schedule is geared towards reaping the first fruits in mid-August.“ The head coach duly ordered his men through two gruelling training sessions in the blazing heat on Friday.

Podolski similarly played down the significance of Saturday's encounter. "It's just another test for us. Obviously we'll want to win, it's not a joke match," he reasoned, "but what matters is running into form. We're slowly but surely rediscovering our rhythm, and matches are good for that."

Mad about Poldi

Another FCB man looking forward to the match is Christian Lell, loaned to Köln by Bayern from 2004 to 2006. "I experienced a lot in my time with Köln: promotion, relegation, three coaches in two seasons," the Munich-born player recalled. The right-back is hoping he and his team-mates improve on their performance in Dortmund. "I hope we keep it tighter and send out a first signal.“ Even if Bayern win, it will do little to dampen the Podolski fever which has gripped Cologne, as Lell admitted: "They're all mad about Poldi."

Poldi fired up for return to hometown club

I'm looking forward to this. Poldi playing from first minute to the last minute most likely. I hope he has a good day and grabs a goal or two. I hope to see some good and entertaining football from the whole team, it would make my day.

The match will be televised live from those TV channels:

DigitAlb SuperSport 1
SAT. 1 Germany (free access!)
SportKlub+ (Serbia)

I will be watching it.

[RunX]

First Half - 0:0
Altintop Was bright in bayern ...
Podolski Missed a good chance ..
umit uzat is a ****** he kills our player kroos with his ***** tackles !

[YaFCBoy]

Sub in Toni for Ngwenga and we win that game easily. I'm sick of seeing him on the field. He brings nothing to our team.

Nothing else to say right now.

[vampyrian]

I think the commentator said Toni had a small injury, that's why he didn't come on the field. I could be wrong tho. All together the match was boring as hell.:/ Not exactly filled with optimism atm.

[Munchen Minded]

Look -- Bayern are in the middle of their pre-season training, and training heavily at that on fitness. Plus our Euro stars just got back. We all can't expect Bayern to slaughter teams in the Bundesliga yet. In fact with the loss to Dortmund and the draw with Köln it should take the edge off of everyone expecting Bayern to win all the games right now. Plus Dortmund and Köln were fresh without a bunch of Euro stars just returning, and I think they probably trained solely for the purpose of playing Bayern in their friendlies -- every damn team focuses all their efforts on Bayern. So at the moment, it might be easy to take advantage of Bayern not being fresh and altogether as a squad. So don't read anything into these games except where our bright spots are and where we are looking to improve. I am sure when the season begins we will be strong. plus we had Toni and Borowski missing to injury. I wouldn't even place too much emphasis on Urawa or Inter games.

[Trim]

Originally Posted by vampyrian

I think the commentator said Toni had a small injury, that's why he didn't come on the field. I could be wrong tho. All together the match was boring as hell.:/ Not exactly filled with optimism atm.

Toni (and Borowski) picked up injuries, and that's why they didn't play.
I wrote about it before the match. FCB - General Talk/News

Anyway.. We played so fuckin' poor. I saw nothing positive. Now, I'm starting to doubt what's not going so well? The player still lacking full fitness and whatever, or Klinsmann's tactics? It was a boring match to watch. I can't mention any of the players who actually tried to do something. They didn't do anything, really.

Oh man, I'm telling you all, we miss The Franck. We are gonna suffer a lot until he comes back. We are 100% missing his creativity.

That Ngwenya fucker... why on earth do they still keep him? Send him to the airport for fucks sake. He can't even control a ball.

Lukas Podolski.. played 90 minutes and I couldn't even see him more than two or three times. I always support him where it's due, but I criticise him when it's due. He moans about lack of chances given, which is true. But, why doesn't he fuckin' impress in those chances given? No doubt people will criticise him.

Klose? Same old Klose.. the altruist. Is he afraid to score? Is that the reason he doesn't shoot on goal, but passes the ball to the others? I'm tired of that man.

Willy Sagnol.. what is Klinsmann thinking? Doesn't he see that Willy's out of breath when he's not even passed half of the field?

I'm full of criticism today. I saw nothing. And, I'm a little pissed off.

I know.. I know it counts for nothing. And I remember very well that we used to loose a couple of friendlies last season aswell.. but, we ended up with three trophies in the bag.

If it's going to be the same story this season aswell, I won't really complain.

[RunX]

Was A Boring Match Today .... Hope Next match We Score and finaly win

[Vargas_4]

Originally Posted by Munchen Minded

Look -- Bayern are in the middle of their pre-season training, and training heavily at that on fitness. Plus our Euro stars just got back. We all can't expect Bayern to slaughter teams in the Bundesliga yet. In fact with the loss to Dortmund and the draw with Köln it should take the edge off of everyone expecting Bayern to win all the games right now. Plus Dortmund and Köln were fresh without a bunch of Euro stars just returning, and I think they probably trained solely for the purpose of playing Bayern in their friendlies -- every damn team focuses all their efforts on Bayern. So at the moment, it might be easy to take advantage of Bayern not being fresh and altogether as a squad. So don't read anything into these games except where our bright spots are and where we are looking to improve. I am sure when the season begins we will be strong. plus we had Toni and Borowski missing to injury. I wouldn't even place too much emphasis on Urawa or Inter games.

Great post man. You said it all.

I have nothing to add.

[Vargas_4]

Lukas Podolski's return to his home town club ended with honours even as Bayern and Köln played out a scoreless stalemate in Saturday's friendly.

The 42,000 crowd at the RheinEnergie stadium saw Miroslav Klose come closest to breaking the deadlock when Köln defender Pedro Geromel deflected the Germany's striker's cross past keeper Faryd Mondragon, but the ball rebounded back into play off the post and Mondragon was able to gather at the second attempt.

The match, which featured a thunderous cloudburst at the start of the second half, produced chances at either end but also evidence of heavy legs on both sides, as the intensity of pre-season training schedules took its toll.

However, given most of the crowd had showed up at least in part to hail arguably the city's best-loved footballing son, even the home fans might have cheered a Podolski goal on this particular afternoon, although it was simply not to be for the 23-year-old as Bayern recorded their first draw in five pre-season friendlies.

Five absent

FCB coach Jürgen Klinsmann was without five senior squad members in the ancient city on the Rhine. Franck Ribéry is out until the autumn after ankle ligament surgery, José Sosa and Breno are away on Olympic duty, and Tim Borowski and Luca Toni were rested with minor knocks picked up in training the previous day.

Bayern dominated the early exchanges against the defensive home side, but just as in Wednesday's T-Home Supercup encounter in Dortmund, the men from Munich initially struggled to create clear-cut openings.

Podolski out of luck

Klose's 18th-minute effort off the upright was the exception rather than the rule in the home penalty box, but Michael Rensing's goal also rarely came under pressure as the FCB defence easily repelled the Cologne side's sparse attacking efforts. Rensing was finally called into action after 37 minutes, brilliantly blocking the unmarked Miso Brecko's shot from the inside right channel.

Podolski might have handed his side the lead on the stroke of half-time as Willy Sagnol and Hamit Altintop manufactured Munich's best move of the half, only for the Germany striker to miss the target from six yards out. Cologne icon Podolski was also involved in the first notable incident of the second period, diverting a Toni Kroos pass towards Zimbabwe international Joseph Ngwenya, one of six second-half substitutes for the visitors, but the trialist hesitated for an instant and lost possession.

Action-packed conclusion

With the rain now bucketing down, Bayern upped the tempo and began passing convincingly, but Marcell Jansen and Kroos were both denied by Mondragon with the hour mark approaching.

Köln boss Chritoph Daum made six changes of his own on 63 minutes and the home side created a good chance for Adil Chihi some eight minutes later, but the striker headed an inviting opportunity over the bar. At the other end, Schweinsteiger fizzed a drive from the edge of the box just wide of the left-hand upright with a quarter of an hour to play.

Back again in seven weeks

With the conditions continuing to deteriorate in the closing stages, the crowd witnessed an end-to-end finale, but neither side was able to force the ball over the line. Podolski then accepted standing ovations from both sets of fans as he completed a lap of honour after the final whistle.

The Cologne faithful's next chance to observe Poldi and Bayern in the flesh comes just seven weeks from now when the sides meet in the Bundesliga on 13 September.


1. FC Köln - Bayern Munich 0-0 (H-T: 0-0)

1. FC Köln: Mondragon - Özat, Geromel (McKenna 63), Mohammed (Mitreski 63), Wome (Sanou 63) - Brecko, Matip (Vuciecevic 63), Pezzoni, Antar (Broich 63), Ehret (Yalcin 63) - Novakovic (Chihi 63)

Bayern Munich: Rensing - Sagnol (Lell 46), Lucio (Demichelis 46), Van Buyten, Lahm (Jansen 46) - Altintop (Schweinsteiger 46), Van Bommel (Zé Roberto 46), Ottl, Kroos - Klose (Ngwenya 46), Podolski

Substitutes: Kraft

Spectators: 42,000

Yellow Cards: Özat / Kroos

Match report: Köln v Bayern

[Eric]

I also watched the game and was rather disapointed.

no wait. I didn't have any high expectations so if those are fullfilled you can't really call it disapointment. The game that counts is first matchday of the season. then we have to be prepared.
Fuck all those pre-season games. BVB beat roma 4-0 last year and they had a shit season.

[Dragoen]

Well at least you did better than last season where you lost against Köln.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Dragoen

Well at least you did better than last season where you lost against Köln.

we did ? hmmm somehow i can just remember us beating bremen 4-1 in pre season last year. anything else got erased out of my memory

EDIT: Wasn't that vs Gladbach ?

It's about time you guys buy a decent striker btw. or it will be tough vs schalke and stuttgart and wolfsburg for 2nd place

[Trim]

On Thursday, FC Bayern plays against Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan, 12.30h European Time (i.e. German time).

Injured players Luca Toni, Tim Borowski, Martin Demichelis, Hans-Jörg Butt and Franck Ribéry remain in Munich. Bayern will also be without José Ernesto Sosa and Breno, who are away on international duty.

Reserve players Thomas Müller and Mehmet Ekici fly with the senior squad instead.

The match will be televised by those TV channels:

DigitAlb SuperSport 1
N24 Germany (free!)
SportKlub+ (Serbia)