Relling

Marian Sarr did well in a champions league game for Dortmund as an 18 year old. In his second Bundesliga game, he made a howler that really got to him just before half time. He was subbed off at the interval, and has since struggled to get playing time even in the lower leagues. (He is 27 now) I wonder if his story could have been different, had he not caused that goal at home against Hertha. I also wonder if it is only the lack of substance that generally causes these disappointments. Getting the wrong coach at the wrong time, injuries or personal matters all can be pretty detrimental. Yesil, for instance, had a lot of injury problems at a young age, although there was excessive hype there as well. Scoring many goals in youth football does not say that much, and to me Weiser and Can seemed the better prospects of that u17 national team. Yesil was a smart striker at that level, but smartness in professional football is a different beast.

Frankfurt - Bayern 3-2 Union - Hertha BSC 2-0 Gladbach - Hoffenheim 3-1 Wolfsburg - Bremen 2-1 Bochum - Mainz 1-1 Augsburg - Freiburg 1-2 Dortmund - Leverkusen 3-2 Stuttgart - Leipzig 0-1 Köln - Schalke 2-1

Top 4 teams: ( 3 points, if you name a team and their correct position; 1 point, if you got the team right but on the wrong position) 1) FC Bayern 2) BVB 3) Leipzig 4) Leverkusen Bottom 3 teams: (3 points, if you get the team and their position right; 1 point, if you get the team right but on the wrong position) 16) Bochum 17) Augsburg 18) Schalke DFB-Pokal winner: (5 points ,if your teams is the eventual winner; 3 points, if your team will be runners-up; 1 point, if your team reaches the semifinals) Eintracht Frankfurt Top scorer: (5 points) Thomas Mueller.

Glimt beat Roma in the home game of the quarter finals as well (2-1). Lost the return leg in Roma 0-4 though.

I seem to remember that Hiddink did something similar with South Korea before the 2002 world cup where they did well. But maybe it was a bit different?

Do people feel enthusiastic about the coming season? I must admit I have lost much of my passion for the game in the last years. Covid did not help. I will try to follow Bundesliga and European football a bit more again though, and see if I can muster some interest.

I think it is quite nice that he chooses not to play when the fun is gone. These matches must take so much from the players. But still, sad for chess. I will be rooting for Ding. Refreshing with such a humble soft spoken man.

Happy birthday, captain my captain.

Gongrats to the Germans! I am surprised by how well the team performed. 3 great games in the knock outs. Especially Dorsch was immense tonight,

Thank you very much! I apologize for having as defect knowledge on your nationality as our revered and beloved captain. It warms my heart to hear such words from an Englishman, coming from a marginal football culture myself.

Thank you very much for this review of your team I used to follow of Dynamo Kyiv and your national team a bit a few years ago. You have made me want to see your games this summer. If you where to name 3 players to watch out for, who would that be? You should not underestimate Macedonia. They impressed me when they beat Germany in Duisburg in the WM-qualification.

So, the candidates tournament for the world championship match is on its way. Jan Nepomnjasjtsjij with in the lead before the last four rounds. I have been enjoying the chess24 stream. Nice to see that even the big boys truly suffer after a loss

Decent second half from Germany. I believe they will struggle against the top teams though. I am disappointed Wirtz is not in the squad. It could do him good to try to dominate on this level. I think it is unnecessary to promote him to the full national squad this early (although he is per now a better player than Brandt and Draxler who are rightfully left out).

Chess.com. I also have an account on lichess. My chess persona is Oivind_Thorshaug. Sometimes I manage to play some decent games on daily chess at chess.com. Look at me destroy an IM: :p https://lichess.org/L0DOIRfq#43

I play quite a bit online, and also a bit in a club. I am just a patzer though. Around 1400 FIDE. My biggest win was against a young woman who was 92th in the junior world championships for women. I hope I will have the time to improve in the future, and travel to some tournaments. It seems nice to go to places like the Bankok chess club open and the Gibralter chess festival and combine chess and vacation. I found this docu a great watch.