Bundesliga, Bayern, and Germany Talk: Schalke's Progress Halted By Bayern

Bayern and Schalke played an extraordinarily dull first half; but it all changed in the second.

DFL Super Cup

This preseason trophy has been revived after fourteen years and Bayern, to Louis Van Gaal's disbelief, have won it. Van Gaal was quite pessimistic when questioned about whether his side could win this trophy, and they have done him proud. Most importantly, the Bayern side showed that they have an identity. They played with a sole front man in a similar fashion to last season and won by playing their usual so-called possession football. Van Gaal started with Thomas Kraft in goal.

Martin Demichelis and Holger Badstuber started in the centre of defence, with Philipp Lahm and Diego Contento as the wing backs. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Daniel Pranjic started in defensive midfield positions, while Ivica Olic and Hamit Altintop were on the wings. Thomas Mueller played slightly ahead of the wingers in a more central playmaker position, and Miro Klose played just ahead of him as the sole front man.

Schalke started with Farfan and Edu up front, with Raul just behind them. Joel Matip, Peer Kluge and Ivan Rakitic started in midfield, while Lukas Schmitz, Benedikt Howedes, Christoph Metzelder, and Atsuto Uchida started in defence. Manuel Neuer was Schalke's keeper.

Bayern seemed to be missing something in the first half. In the second half, Bayern started off well, with Klose missing two chances in a flash. Schalke then improved and gave Bayern a few scares. With about less than twenty minutes to go, Daniel Pranjic played a brilliant through-ball to Miro Klose, who squared for Mueller to open the scoring. Ivica Olic then beat a handful of Schalke players on the right to square for Klose. The Schalke defence felt apart and Klose duly hit the back of the net. Had it not been for Manuel Neuer, the score-line could have been worse for Schalke.

Bundesliga

The rumours surrounding Mesut Oezil are becoming more and more strange. Chelsea, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and every other big club seem to be after him. At the moment, though, his club Werder is battling with another problem: Marko Arnautovic. The player has been criticized widely for his behaviour and may have to leave the club only a month after arriving in Germany. Werder have been drawn against Sampdoria in their Champions League qualifier. The battle between the Bundesliga and Serie A for UEFA coefficients is ongoing, and each side would do a big favour to their respective leagues by qualifying.

Speaking of Werder, Peter Niemeyer, who started plenty of games for his club last season, has been loaned out to Hertha Berlin for a year. he will join former Bayern man, Christian Lell there.

Stuttgart missed out on Ghanaian Andre Ayew from Marseille. They have gotten Philipp Degen on a one-year loan deal from Liverpool. They have signed Martin Harnik from Werder and Johan Audel from French side Valenciennes. They have also secured a permanent deal for Cristian Molinaro from Juventus. They apparently have their sights set on a deal for Man City player, Vladimir Weiss. Stuttgart drew 2-2 with Molde FK and thus qualified for the next stage of qualification for the Europa League. Awaiting them is Slovan Bratislava. Stuttgart also have a new sporting director in Fredi Bobic.

Bayer Levekusen open their qualifying campaign in the Europa League against Tavriya Simferopol of Ukraine while Borussia Dortmund open against FK Qarabag of Azerbaijan. With due respect to the sides, Stuttgart have a much tougher draw than either Leverkusen or Dortmund.

Schalke, after their humbling by Bayern, have decided that they need more star names to take on the Bavarians and have set their sights on Robinho apparently. If a deal for Robinho does not go through, media reports suggest that they might try to land Klass Jan Huntelaar. Wolfsburg have set their sights on Hamburg winger Elijero Elia and on Juventus' Diego. Elia competes for his spot with Marcell Jansen at Hamburg; Wolfsburg have offered 18 million apparently and might get their man.

Fifteen of 18 Bundesliga coaches have backed Bayern to take the title this season. Only Werder boss Thomas Schaaf and Kaiserslautern's Marco Kurz have different opinions. Schaaf has said that the title might go elsewhere, while Kurz has voted for Werder. According to Jurgen Klopp of Dortmund, no other Bundesliga side is close to being as "strongly manned" as Bayern. Jupp Heynckes of Leverkusen gave credit to Schalke for their good buys.

Just in case you were wondering, Felix Magath voted for Bayern and feels they have the best squad. Van Gaal was the other exception, as he did not name any team. He feels his side can take another step up in the right direction.

Bayern

Bayern will not allow Franck Ribery to leave for France for a hearing considering their abysmal Wold Cup performance. This is as the hearing is on the 17th of August. Bayern have a German Cup tie against Windeck the day before, while they play their first match in the Bundesliga three days later.

Daniel van Buyten has returned to training. Napoli have apparently almost completed a deal for Jose Sosa, who was set to leave the club for awhile.

Germany

Joachim Loew has left most of the German World Cup stars at home for his side's friendly against Denmark. He has once again chosen to ignore both Benedikt Howedes and Mats Hummels. He has named none other than Thomas Hitzlsperger the captain of the side...hmm...He has confirmed that, despite Manuel Neuer's presence, he will start Tim Wiese in goal. He has also chosen to ignore Rene Adler of Bayern Leverkusen. Loew also mentioned that he will name the captain of the national side prior to next month's Euro 2012 qualifier against Belgium.

This is the squad for the upcoming friendly:

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Schalke 04), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)

Defenders: Andreas Beck (1899 Hoffenheim), Jerome Boateng (Manchester City), Sascha Riether (VfL Wolfsburg), Marcel Schafer (VfL Wolfsburg), Christian Schulz (Hannover 96), Serdar Tasci (VfB Stuttgart)

Midfielders: Christian Gentner (VfB Stuttgart), Thomas Hitzlsperger (West Ham United), Aaron Hunt (Werder Bremen), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Marko Marin (Werder Bremen), Marco Reus (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Christian Träsch (VfB Stuttgart ), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV)

Forwards: Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Patrick Helmes (Bayer Leverkusen)