Americans Abroad

Berhalter scores for Cottbus in 4-2 win over Fürth.

Gregg Berhalter (right), here heading away a shot, had a strong day in Cottbus' central defense. -- Energie Cottbus web site photo --

By Harris King (in Bamberg, Germany)
Special to SoccerTimes

(Wednesday, April 28, 2004) -- American Gregg Berhalter scored a goal and organized the defense from his central position to help Energie Cottbus record a 4-2 home victory Sunday over Greuther Fürth in Germany's 2Bundesliga.

Cottbus took a big step toward promotion, raising its third-place record to 14-8-8 with 50 points, four points clear of Rot-Weiss Oberhausen (13-10-7) and Alemannia Aachen (13-10-7) with four matches remaining. The top three teams graduate to the 1Bundesliga. 1. FC Nürnberg (16-7-7) leads the second division with 55 points, three ahead of Bielefeld (15-8-7)

Berhalter's goal in the 52nd minute, four minutes after teammate Moussa Latoundji tied the score, put Cottbus ahead for good and sparked an improbable offensive explosion. Berhalter, who received the team's highest rating from Kicker, scored his fourth goal of the season four minutes later after he outjumped the Fürth defense and headed home a Laurentiu-Aurelian Reghecampf corner.

Goals by Zsolt Löw and Marco Gebhardt put Cottbus ahead 4-1 before Fürth added a goal with a free kick in the 88th minute.

The Cottbus players started off the game with a lot of emotion, but were unable to focus their determination into positive results during the first 25 minutes. To make matters worse, Cottbus was reduced to 10 men in the 26th minute after defender Faruk Hujdurovic was ejected for receiving two questionable yellow cards within two minutes.

Gregg Berhalter (5) takes a shot. Later he scored. -- Energie Cottbus web site photo --

After the ejection, Cottbus lost what little momentum it had and Fürth went ahead 1-0 12 minutes later with a well-executed combination that ended with Christian Eigler sending home a close-range volley.

Cottbus was able to make it to the half without any further damage and appeared from the tunnel a changed squad. "Basically what we said is, 'Guys, we have worked hard all year, so don't give it away now.' " Berhalter said. " 'We have 45 minutes, so we can either fight or give up,' and we decided to fight to the end. And that's what we did."

Fürth started the second half in defensive mode and was caught unaware by Cottbus' aggressive play. In the 52nd minute, this effort was rewarded when Reghecampf was able to split the defense in the box with a precision pass that found a wide-open Latoundji on the far post for the 1-1 equalizer.

Cottbus travels to MSV Duisburg Saturday and will be with out the services of not only Hujdorovic, but also Adrian Iordache, who received a needless red card for a reckless tackle in stoppage time. He was suspended by the German Football Association for three games.

Cottbus was helped Nürnberg which, with its American Tony Sanneh starting in the central defense and playing 90 solid minutes, soundly defeated Aachen 3-0 Monday night on national television. The game was the third between the teams this season, the first meeting being nullified after Nürnberg coach Wolfgang Wolf was struck in the head by a projectile thrown from an Aachen fan section.

Aachen won the subsequent make-up game in front of an empty stadium.

Nürnberg is not only on its way to a return to the 1Bundesliga, but to the second-division title, something it won in 2000-01. Nürnberg not only is ahead of Bielefeld by three points, but its plus-24 goal differential is eight better than Bielefeld and 15 better than Cottbus, five points behind.

A victory on the road at Bielefeld Saturday would clinch promotion back to the top flight after a one-year absence.

Seven of Karlsruher SC's 13 goals since the winter break have been scored by U.S. striker Conor Casey. With Casey unable to find the net Sunday against SpVgg Unterhaching, Karlsruhe went down to defeat 1-0 on the road and wasted an opportunity to put some distance on the relegation zone at the tightly-packed bottom of the standings.

Karlsruhe (10-12-8, 38) is tied with Eintracht Trier (10-12-8) and Fürth (9-10-11) for 10th in the league, but is only one point clear of LR Ahlen (10-13-7) in 15th place, the highest of four spots in the drop zone. On the other hand, Karlsruhe trails eight-place Duisburg (11-11-8) by only three points.

Karlsruhe will be at home Saturday against Jahn Regensburg (9-11-10, 37) which is tied for 13th place with Lübeck (9-11-10).

American midfielder Joe Enochs of VfL Osnabrück returned to the starting lineup Friday night against Union Berlin and could do little to prevent his side from going down 2-0 in front of 9,000 still vastly supportive home fans.

With four games left, last-place Osnabrück (7-17-6, 27) is 10 points from escaping the relegation zone, so it is time to start preparing for life in the third-division Regionalliga. Last week, management announced the hiring of trainer Claus-Dieter Wollitz from KFC Uerdingen. He is expected to bring three players with him next season, including the Regionalliga Nord's leading scorer Markus Feldhofff.

Stuttgart went ahead in the 10th minute when Silvio Meissner scored and had little trouble securing the victory the rest of the way.

Kicker reported Monday that Vladimir But might find his way into the starting lineup over Mathis due to his recent spell of ineffectiveness. Hannover (8-13-9, 33) remains 12th in the table, but is only three points clear of the relegation zone. Hannover travels to Freiburg Saturday.

American defender Eric Lukin did not see action in the game, but did play a half for the Siegen reserves at the weekend. Siegen (8-16-4, 28) are five points away from the non-relegation zone with six games to play.

SV Elversberg, with Americans Grover Gibson and Tim Lawson and former U.S. international Michael Mason in the starting lineup, earned a 1-1 draw to the first-place Bayern Munich Amateurs.

Elversberg scored first in the in the 23rd minute when Joseph Tuma was able to free himself in the penalty area for a shot. Bayern evened the score at 1-1 seven minutes later on Erdal Kilicaslan's goal. The rest of the game marked by a strong Elversberg defensive effort.

Lawson was named to the Regionalliga Süd "Top 11" for the weekend. Elversberg (8-10-10, 34) moved up one spot to 13th place, but is only one point clear of the relegation zone. Mason was replaced in the 44th minute.

American striker Jonathan Cummings of Aalen did not play in his team's 2-1 victory at home against FC Augsburg.

American defender Ian Joy started and went the distance for the "young talents" of Hamburger SV against Chemnitzer FC Saturday. Hamburg (7-12-9, 30), one spot ahead of Münster, had to settle for a scoreless draw on the road and was unable to move out of the relegation zone. Joy, who received a yellow card in the game, nearly scored the game-winner in the second half when his header struck the post and bounced into the keeper's arms.

American striker Jacob Thomas of Eintracht Braunschweig was used as a second-half substitute in his 1-1 draw to host 1. FC Köln Amatuers Saturday. Thomas entered the game in the 72nd minute and was unable to create any scoring opportunities for his side.

Braunschweig (11-11-6, 39) is firmly rooted in mid-table and, barring catastrophe, has more than likely assured a berth in the Regionalliga for next season.

Harris King, an American from South Carolina, has lived in Germany for five years. He is a Business English lecturer at the University of Bamberg. E-mail Harris King.