Wolfsburg’s latest recruit, Obafemi Martins, scored on his debut as the defending champions came from behind to seal a 3-1 win at Cologne and maintain their 100 percent record on Saturday.
Cologne’s Fabrice Ehret had given his side a first-half lead after pouncing on a rare mistake in the champions’ defense, but a 73rd minute strike from Edin Dzeko and an own-goal from Cologne’s Pierre Wome just a minute later put Wolfsburg ahead before Martins struck.
The 24-year-old former Inter, Newcastle United and Nigeria star, who signed for Wolfsburg only at the end of last month, came off the bench in the 63rd minute and made an almost immediate impact.
PHOTO: AFP
His goal in the 87th minute made sure Wolfsburg took another three points after their opening day win over Stuttgart, but goal-scorer Dzeko admitted sides are raising their game against the champions.
“You can see sides are playing better against us because we are defending champions,” the striker said.
Earlier in the day, Germany striker Mario Gomez hit a second-half equalizer as Bayern Munich drew 1-1 with Werder Bremen to leave the German giants still chasing their first Bundesliga win of the season.
Having been held 1-1 by Hoffenheim on the opening weekend, Bayern coach Louis van Gaal is still waiting for his first German league win in charge.
Bayern fans have bad memories of hosting Bremen at the Allianz Arena after Thomas Schaaf’s team cruised to a stunning 5-2 win there last season.
Mesut Oezil, who terrorized Bayern in the last campaign, struck again when Bremen midfielder Richard Hunt set him up in the penalty area. Despite the attention of five defenders, Oezil slotted home on 39 minutes.
Bayern pushed forward after the break and Gomez scored his first league goal for Bayern since his summer switch from Stuttgart to secure a valuable point on 72 minutes, after being set up by Germany teammate Philipp Lahm.
Some much-needed good news for Bayern fans was that French playmaker Franck Ribery made his first appearance of the season when he came off the bench in the second half.
Hamburg have two wins from two games after sealing a 4-1 win at home to Borussia Dortmund, having raced into a 3-1 lead in just 12 minutes.
The goal rush began when Hamburg’s Ivory Coast defender Guy Demel slotted home after three minutes, only for Dortmund’s Nelson Veldez to head his team level on five minutes.
Hamburg regained the lead when midfielder Ze Roberto scored on 10 minutes, before Jose Paolo Guerrero added another two minutes later to effectively end the game as a contest. Swedish striker Marcus Berg netted the fourth on 72 minutes.
Stuttgart bounced back from their opening day defeat to Wolfsburg with a 4-2 win over Freiburg as Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak scored his first goal in the Bundesliga.
The home side went further ahead when Brazilian striker Elson converted a 65th-minute penalty, before Freiburg’s Cameroon international Mohamadou Idrissou pulled a goal back.
Elson then bagged his second goal to make it 3-1 on 76 minutes, before Idrissou also grabbed his second on 86 minutes. Stuttgart striker Julian Schieber struck with time running out to seal the 4-2 win.
In the day’s other matches, Bayer Leverkusen enjoyed a 1-0 win over Hoffenheim thanks to a Stefan Kiessling goal, Hannover drew 1-1 with Mainz, while Eintracht Frankfurt were also held 1-1 by Nuremberg.
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
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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