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BUNDES LIGA: New boys lead the field in Germany as Bayern draw

Newcomers Hoffenheim took sole possession of the lead in the Bundesliga by winning at home on Saturday while defending champions Bayern Munich rallied with 10 men to salvage a 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund.

Last season’s runners-up Werder Bremen and third place finishers Schalke also drew 1-1.

Hamburger SV won and joined Schalke, Dortmund and Hertha Berlin in a four-way tie on four points.

But the top belonged to Hoffenheim, who played before a crowd of 26,000 in Mannheim, nearly eight times the population of its home town, and beat another promoted team, Borussia Moenchengladbach, 1-0 on Vedad Ibisevic’s goal.

Hoffenheim now have a perfect 2-0 record and have six points.

“I wish we’d scored more goals because we had plenty of chances,” Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick said. “But if we play like this and allow so few chances, there’s not much to complain about.”

In Dortmund, the home team went ahead before 80,000 fans after only eight minutes, when Jakub Blaszczykowski danced around Bayern defenders and hit the top corner of the net from the edge of the box.

Bayern’s new captain Mark van Bommel was sent off with his second yellow card of the game in the 23rd minute.

Although down a man, Bayern stepped up the pressure and substitute Tim Borowski earned the draw in the 75th minute.

The draw left Bayern’s new coach Juergen Klinsmann still winless, with two draws from two games.

Werder Bremen also have two draws from two games after squandering a one-goal lead against Schalke.

Torsten Frings put the home side ahead in the 64th with defender Heiko Westerman equalized in the 85th.

Striker Claudio Pizarro, who arrived form Chelsea last week, started for Werder but could not score and missed a clear opportunity early in the game.

Hoffenheim have to play home games in Mannheim, about an hour’s train ride away, until their own arena is finished early next year.

Moenchengladbach fans appeared to outnumber the Hoffenheim supporters, but the home side displayed none of the mistakes usually associated with inexperience despite having the youngest team in the league.

Ibisevic struck in the 31st minute for Hoffenheim, who missed half a dozen opportunities.

Hamburg, who held Bayern to a 2-2 draw in the opener beat Karlsruhe 2-1.

Hertha led 1-0 against Arminia Bielefeld on a goal by Marko Pantelic before Artur Wichniarek equalized.

Stuttgart were stunned 2-0 at home by Bayer Leverkusen.
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