I just finished looking at the Euro leagues and saw that TSG Hoffenheim were tops in the Bundesliga? TSG who? I mean, I admit that I don't follow the German league all that closely. Once Kaiserslautern were relegated, I have no horse, as they say, but I had to admit I hadn't heard of Hoffenheim. A little bit of Wiki informs that this is, indeed, their first ever year in the top flight, having finished 2nd in their one and only year in the second tier. As a matter of fact, the best team in the Bundesliga after 11 rounds was in the 9th level less than 20 years ago. :shock: Wow! Their fans must be dizzy. I don't get a channel that affords me a shot at the Bundesliga. Anybody seen these guys? Are they what's happening? Any chance of staying above FC Bayern?
They're coached by Tony Soprano, I mean Martin Jol, who seems to have landed on his feet quite nicely. Great move Spurs. Sadly, that's all I know about them
Saw their game last week, I like them quite a bit. Tons of pace all around, and plenty of guys who can find the back of the net. Vedad Ibisevic is a hell of a player. I'm not sure if they can stick at the very top, but I think they'll be in Europe next year.
BIG $$$$$ is what I heard. There is an interesting back-story to them, I just can't remember what it is.
It's awesome to see Vedad Ibisevic break out in Europe. He played here at St. Louis University and put together a great season, but then he took off for PSG. It's cool to see him living up to his potential. Too bad the US national team didn't snag him.
I do believe Jol is actually with the Hambugers...... Anyway, I always love stories like Hoffenheim and Hull this year. I hope they can stay up there at the top.
Here are some of the former Billikens currently playing professional soccer from their website: BILLIKENS IN MLS • Brad Davis (Houston) • John DiRaimondo (Colorado) • Brian Grazier (Colorado) • Jack Jewsbury (Kansas City) • Brian McBride (Chicago) • Tim Ward (Colorado) BILLIKENS PLAYING OVERSEAS • Vedad Ibisevic (1899 Hoffenheim) • Will John (Randers FC) • Dipsy Selolwane (Ajax Cape Town)
St Louis University has been a NCAA soccer power since I was in high school at least -- early 60s. The St. Louis area has always been a soccer hotbed, which makes me wonder about the lack of an MLS franchise there.
Ibisevic is leading the Bundesliga in goals (by a pretty fair margin; he's got 13 and the next two closest players have 8) and is tied for the lead in assists with 6. Bundesliga player of the month in October. Pretty phenomenal start to the season for him. The is that in 1990 they were bought by Dietmar Hopp, who had been a youth player at the club before embarking on a career in the software industry at IBM. After leaving IBM Hopp was one of the founders of SAP, now the largest software company in Europe, and is, per Forbes Magazine, the 698th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of over $1 billion. He's certainly sunk a fair amount of money into the club, including about 40 million Euros for a 30,000 seat stadium that's supposed to open next year. They're managed by Ralf Rangnick, who was the coach at Hannover when Clint Mathis started out there and has also managed Stuttgart and Schalke.
