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Whether it’s the long term revival of Borussia Dortmund or the shorter term resurgence of Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Bundesliga is becoming accustomed to comebacks. Looking on a smaller scale, Freiburg and Augsburg can be proud of their resurgence in 2012. Neither club has the history or the tradition of Dortmund or Gladbach but nevertheless, their recent runs of form have been impressive.
Let’s not be too cliché – all was not lost after the first half of the season. However, both occupied the two automatic relegation spots and hadn’t illustrated much to think this would change radically in the second half.
This is slightly harsh on Augsburg who flickered into life before Christmas after a solitary win in their first fifteen Bundesliga games. Mainz was the scene of that victory. After visiting Bavaria on Saturday, they became the only side so far this season to be beaten home and away by Augsburg.
The 2-1 victory over Mainz meant Jos Luhukay’s side had only lost one of their last eight games. Having gone behind to a Sami Allagui strike, Augsburg struck back through Ja-Cheol Koo with the winner then coming from Sebastian Langkamp. He has also been superb for the Bavarians at the back recently contributing to a defence which has conceded three goals in their last four.
Strong defence isn’t something Freiburg have been synonymous with this season – they have the Bundesliga’s worst in fact. However, since the turn of the year, there have been marked improvements under new coach Christian Streich. This looked improbable too when their main attacking outlet, Papiss Demba Cissé, left for Newcastle having been an integral part of the team since his arrival in 2009.
In 2012 though, Freiburg have nearly doubled the amount of points they gained in the first half of the season. This was helped by picking up another three at Hamburg on the weekend. Goals from Johannes Flum, Daniel Caliguri and Cedric Makiadi ensured the third win of the Streich era.
Now as much as Freiburg and Augsburg deserve credit for their recent upturn in form, it needs to be put into perspective – the teams around them have been abysmal. Below, Hertha Berlin and Kaiserslautern are having scoring difficulties. That’s being very kind. Between them in 2012, Hertha and ‘Lautern have managed a pitiful six goals in eighteen games. Together they shipped ten at the weekend against Bayern Munich and Schalke respectively.
More confidence can be taken by the two teams above the resurgent pair also. Cologne and Hamburg are panicking. Hannover thumped the Billy Goats 4-1 on Sunday afternoon whilst Freiburg saw HSV’s problems up close on Saturday in their 3-1 victory.
It doesn’t matter then whether Freiburg or Augsburg glance up or down – the signs are good in both directions. They can take encouragement from being the most in-form sides in the bottom six of the Bundesliga. Better organisation has unsurprisingly led to both sides playing with greater confidence. Having been favourites to go down just over three months ago, they’re certainly best set to escape from the relegation battle.
For more on the Bundesliga, follow @arhindtutt
Matchday 26 Results:
Hoffenheim 1-2 Stuttgart
Augsburg 2-1 Mainz
Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Gladbach
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Werder Bremen
Hamburg 1-3 Freiburg
Hertha Berlin 0-6 Bayern Munich
Kaiserslautern 1-4 Schalke
Hannover 4-1 Cologne
Bundesliga Table
1
Borussia Dortmund
26
18
5
3
53:16
+37
59
CL*
2
FC Bayern Munich
26
17
3
6
64:17
+47
54
CL*
3
Borussia Mönchengladbach
26
15
6
5
39:16
+23
51
CL*
4
FC Schalke 04
26
16
2
8
58:34
+24
50
CL* Qual.
5
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
26
11
7
8
39:34
+5
40
EL* Qual.
6
SV Werder Bremen
26
11
6
9
40:39
+1
39
EL* Qual.
7
Hannover 96
26
9
11
6
34:36
-2
38
8
VfB Stuttgart
26
10
6
10
43:34
+9
36
9
VfL Wolfsburg
26
10
4
12
34:47
-13
34
10
1. FC Nuremberg
26
9
4
13
25:37
-12
31
11
1. FSV Mainz 05
26
7
9
10
38:41
-3
30
12
1899 Hoffenheim
26
7
9
10
29:37
-8
30
13
1. FC Köln
26
8
4
14
33:50
-17
28
14
Hamburger SV
26
6
9
11
30:48
-18
27
15
FC Augsburg
26
5
11
10
27:40
-13
26
16
SC Freiburg
26
6
7
13
33:53
-20
25
Play-offs
17
Hertha BSC Berlin
26
5
8
13
26:47
-21
23
Relegation
18
1. FC Kaiserslautern
26
3
11
12
17:36
-19
20
Relegation
Table from Official Bundesliga Website