Relegation-threatened Energie Cottbus threw the Bundesliga title race wide open on Sunday when the strugglers inflicted a shock 2-0 defeat on league leaders Wolfsburg.
Wolfsburg were cruising toward a point before Bulgaria striker Dimitar Rangelov headed Cottbus ahead in the 72nd minute and the hosts proved the goal was no fluke when Albania midfielder Ervin Skela added a second on 86 minutes.
The valuable three points takes Cottbus out of the bottom three while Wolfsburg missed the chance to go five points clear and suffered their first league defeat since they lost 2-1 at Werder Bremen in December.
PHOTO: EPA
“We wasted some big chances and therefore we lost the game,” Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath said.
“Our forwards did not have their best day and when you don’t take your chances, you won’t win. We were not as strong and compact as we would have liked to be. For us it is about taking fifth place and getting into Europe next season, so things look good,” he said.
The result is even more extraordinary, as Cottbus were hammered 4-0 at Schalke in their last league game — a defeat so bad they offered their traveling fans a refund on their match tickets.
Despite the shock upset, Wolfsburg stay two points clear at the top of the table with Hertha Berlin second after midfielder Patrick Ebert hit a first-half goal to seal a 1-0 win at early-season pacesetters Hoffenheim on Friday.
The leaders’ defeat means three of the top five sides — Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg and Hamburg — all lost this weekend, while Hertha and Stuttgart seized their chance to capitalize, three points now separating the top five.
Bayern’s 1-0 loss at home to Schalke on Saturday leaves the defending champions in third place, while Hamburg’s 2-0 defeat at Borussia Dortmund puts Martin Jol’s side back in fifth.
With five matches remaining, Hamburg are on 54 points with both Stuttgart and Bayern, with Hertha Berlin on 55 and Wolfsburg leading with 57.
Bottom side Karlsruhe gave themselves a chance of staying up after beating Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 on Saturday with one of the luckiest goals of the season.
Karlsruhe defender Sebastian Langkamp lunged at the ball on the halfway line to try to win possession, but got more than he could have dreamed of when the ball curled over the Leverkusen defense and goalkeeper Rene Adler and into the net.
His 72nd-minute strike leaves Karlsruhe two points behind relegation rivals Borussia Moenchengladbach, who drew 1-1 with Bielefeld on Sunday, while mid-table Hanover enjoyed a 2-0 win over Cologne on Saturday.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting