We welcome Chris Meyer for this guest-post on Bayer Leverkusen’s next Champions League Opponents, KRC Genk. Chris Meyer started with his blog at the 6 pointer which made in to Guardian’s Top 100 list. Chris appeared on famous podcast Gib Football Show, as well. Now, he runs The Belgian Waffle — a magnificent site for all your Belgian football knowledge — which can be followed on Twitter @TheBelgWaffle.
Over to you, Chirs.
Back in 2002, Bayer Leverkusen disposed of 3 of the premier league’s regular top 4 clubs in their amazing run to the final – Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. It is now 2011 and this time around, Bayer face the Blues for the first time in their history. This is also a special occasion to mark, as Michael Ballack makes his way back to the Bridge in their first match-up.
Today, we introduce one of the most brilliant writers around — Jason LeBlanc, famously known as OutsideMid. When Bundesliga season is in swing, he writes Bundesliga weekly updates and editorials around Unprofessional Foul. Later, he also teamed up at Spur-red Yankee Yiddos, where he is seen offering some insightful views on all things Tottenham Hotspur, and also contributes at magnificent Two Hundred Percent providing some intelligent and flawless write-ups which will always leave great impression on your mind for the days to come. When it comes to Bundesliga, this great man bleeds Leverkusen like all of us. It’s fitting that it’s him who has written the tribute for Bernd Schneider, a match that was made in heaven, would I say! You can and you must follow Jason on Twitter @OutsideMid. So, here we go…
One of the more brilliant aspects of sport remains the application of nicknames to our favorite players. Although most often found in team sports—perhaps utilized as a means to distinguish that one player out of all the others wearing the same uniform on a playing field—they can affectionately land on athletes of individual sports too. Do an online search of “The Flying Tomato” and see what you might find. But, why is this circumstance necessarily brilliant? Think about it: do you feel confident calling your mate “Babe”? Would you sit on the train next to someone known as “Der Bomber”? Might you share your lunch with a strapping lad that answers to “The Fridge”? Or, should you come across a gentleman answering to “Der Kaiser”, would you admire him or think he was the most narcissistic bloke around?
“It ended before it could even have started.”
Dynamo Dresden welcomed Bayer Leverkusen at Glücksgas Stadion, in Dresden, for the first round of the DFB-Pokal where they fought-off a thrilling match (well, thrilling at least for neutrals and Dynamo Dresden fans) which ended in the list of “mother and father of comebacks”. When the first round of DFB-Pokal was being drawn out and this mach sprang out, everyone knew that this “special-draw” had something in store. It had certain Ulf Kirsten-esque ring to it. But no one knew that it would end this way until it was all-over. Some skirmishes and circus-howlers played out their part in the manner of this defeat to Bayer Leverkusen — and some determination, fight-back spirit, two-goals-two-minutes-scare, and a breath-taking atmosphere and “traditional support” from Dresden fans played its part in the manner of victory for Dynamo Dresden.
In the fundamental sciences, physics comes off as the unsung, doughty tag-along. Not as immediately capable of altering the human condition as biology, never used, like chemistry, in the character-development of a mad scientist, often shied away from by high school students. But physics keeps mankind high on the food chain by providing answers to the questions of motion, velocity, energy and the way one object interacts with another. It is at the center of all things. If mankind’s navigation of the world around him were a game (and maybe it is,) the laws of physics play midfield.
For Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Simon Rolfes stands at the center of all things. Born January 21st, 1982, the 29-year-old defensive mid-fielder is not put off by the laws of physics. He understands them quite well, actually. He embraced the science in school, excelling in physics and mathematics, and could just as easily have followed that path to a career, rather than take the more difficult one of playing pro-football. For some, sports may be the natural choice, but not for Simon.
Everyone should walk over “broken glasses”. — Carsten Ramelow
Obstructionist: Someone who systematically obstructs some action that others want to take.
… And that’s what Carsten Ramelow has done, all his life, whenever he entered football pitch; to obstruct the attacking flow of the opposition — no matter how beautiful may it seem to the viewers — because that’s what “the destroyers” do.
Ramelow was born on 20th of March, 1974, in Berlin. All his life, he played (his senior professional career) for two clubs only; Hertha Berlin and Bayer Leverkusen. He started his career in 2. Bundesliga with Hertha Berlin and spent 4 seasons in second league. In January 1996, Ramelow moved to Bayer Leverkusen where he would spend the rest of his playing career.
“I didn’t come to Leverkusen to turn a second-placed team into a fourth or fifth-placed team.” — Robin Dutt
With that statement, Robin Dutt took his reins as the new trainer — succeeding Jupp Heynckes who left for Bayern Munich — at BayArena on 19th of June, 2011.
The decision of taking Robin Dutt to Leverkusen was already made in March but you wouldn’t care unless something docks at your door.
Since then, the fans — who keep an eye and give an ear to what’s been done and what’s been said — have been on some sort of “red alert” as they know any wrong step could lead to a shambolic disaster to the great work that Wolfgang Holzhäuser and Rudi Völler have done together for awhile now.
The season hasn’t started yet and anything to conclude on Robin Dutt at this stage would be shockingly mental but we will walk down this street and have a look at how Werkself Stryder perceives the arrival of Robin Dutt and — by looking at his initial dealings, reactions, and course of actions — we will scan that famous maxim: “First Impression is the last impression.” (true or false; depends.)
