96-head coach Ewald Lienen started with a 4-3-3 formation and replaced the Canadian midfielder Julian de Guzman with German Christoph Dabrowski . Sören Halfar was playing left back again after sitting out last week against Bremen. New in the starting lineup were Chzech Jiri Kaufman supporting his teammates Jiri Stajner and Daniel Stendel upfront.

Former 96-coach Ralf Rangnick changed his team after the loss in the UEFA-Cup against Schachtjor Donezk in four positions, Oude Kamphuis, Rodriguez, Poulsen and Sand were missing were replaced by Hoogland, Bordon, Vermant and Hanke who moved into the starting-11.

Schalke were threatening from the start against a defensive minded Hannover 96 but were unable to create any real danger. Schalke's chances in the first half came through the defenders Marcelo Bordon and Mladen Krstajic, but 96 goalkeeper Robert Enke was never truly tested and was able to stifle the defenders forays.

Hannover tried some counter attacks against the "Royal Blues", but their offense played without any precision or skill leaving the two teams locked at zero at the end of the first half.

Schalke got off to a promising start as levan Kobiashvili shot from 22 meters just over the bar in the 47th and just two minutes later when Ailton, evidently surprised to be alone so close, missed the ball just one meter infront of the goal.

A few minutes later, the game would revert back first half form with Hannover playing defensive minded with an occassional attempts counterattacks without any results and Schalke holding the bulk of possession, but unable to create much room for a creative game.

In events that would be representative of the game as a whole, the lead for Schalke came out through a standard situation. Schalke defender Christian Pander sent the ball with a free-kick from the right the left where Krstajic headed directly into the box. The completly unmarked German striker Mike Hanke fullfilled his duty from three meters and headed home himself while the three 96 players Darek Zuraw, Vinicius Bergantin and Dabrowski were out of postion allowing the easy score.

After Schalke's lead Hannover changed their defensive game and 96-coach Ewald Lienen put in three offensive players: Sylvio Schröter, Veljko Paunovic and Leandro. But Schalke's defence was hard to crack open. They stood very compact trying to hold the lead for the rest of the time.

A dicey situation came about in the 85th minute when Schalke's Krstajic attacked Hannover's newly signed forward Paunovic in the penalty area. But referee Gräfe didn't reward a deserved penalty and actually cautioned Paunovic for diving.

In the last minute of regular time Hannover almost tied the game off of a header from the Polish international Zuraw but the central defender's ball from inside the box only found the wood work. During injury time the Brazilian Leandro had the last chance of the game when he headed an incoming free-kick near the right post, but that situation was called offside. The game ended with the final result 1:0 for Schalke.

Hannover showed a solid defensive performance but as long the season goes without any offensive effectiveness. Serbien Paunovic seemed to be a quite good alternative upfront, when he is in top form. Steve Cherundolo picked up an early caution which will now see the American suspended for next weekend's match against Hansa Rostock. On Tuesday the teams meet again in the DFB quaterfinals where there will be time for revenge and German international Per Mertesacker will probably be back in the starting 11. 96 drops down to the 10th in the standings while Schalke 04 catches up with Bayern Munich in the table and stays on the second place.

Statistics

FC Schalke 04: F. Rost - Hoogland, Bordon, Krstajic, Pander - Vermant (73. Poulsen), Kobiashvili - Lincoln (88. Rodriguez) - Asamoah, Ailton (80. Oude Kamphuis), Hanke

Hannover 96: Enke - Cherundolo, Vinicius, Zuraw, Halfar - Lala (79. Leandro), Dabrowski - Krupnikovic - Stajner (64. Schröter), Stendel (79. Paunovic), Kaufman

Goals: 1:0 Hanke (65.)
Cautions: Vermant / Cherundolo, Dabrowski, Lala, Paunovic
Attendance: 61.524 (sold out)
Picture: Stefan Zwing

Dortmund - Mainz 3:0
Freiburg - FC Bayern 0:1
Bremen - Bochum 4:0
Rostock - M'gladbach 0:0
Lautern - Wolfsburg 0:0
Hertha - Hamburg 4:1
Bielefeld - Nürnberg 3:1

Steve has updated his website: "Bremen and Schalke" (Scroll down for the english version).

www.Cherundolo.de

The young Hannover 96 talent Sören Halfar has agreed a contract extension with Hannover 96 which will see him remain until the summer of 2009.

The 18-year-old defender (left back) joined the Bundesliga team from the 96-youth-division (A Jugend) in January this year and has played 3 Bundesliga games until now.

Stuttgart - Hertha BSC 1:0
M'gladbach - Schalke 1:3

Hannover 96 vs. Werder Bremen
15 : 13 shots at the goal
6 : 5 corner kicks
13 : 13 crosses
10: 22 fouls
  4 : 3 offsides
54% : 46% contacts with the ball
53% : 47% +challenges

Most shots at the goal:
96: Vinicius, Dabrowski (3 each)
Bremen: Magnin, Micoud, Valdez (2 each)

Most setups:
96: Krupnicovic (6)
Bremen: Borowski, Valdez (3 each)

Most contacts with the ball:
96: Julian de Guzman (99)
Bremen: Ismael, Stalteri (68)

Most won challenges:
96: Zuraw (61%)
Bremen: Ismael (71%)

Source: IMP-Fussballdaten

Hannover 96 saw their home struggles continue, their makeshift 3-5-2 formation trounced by rampant Werder Bremen at the AWD Arena 4:1.

With German international Per Mertesacker out with a slight injury picked up in last week's friendly against Argentina in addition to the flu, head man Ewald Lienen switched from the customary 4-4-2, pairing central defenders Dariusz Zuraw and Vinicius with American right back Steve Cherundolo - leaving the 96 left flank semi-exposed.

And before 8 minutes had elapsed, the home side found themselves in a hole from which they'd never recover.

After Canadian Julian De Guzman was whistled for an infraction on Tim Borowski deep and to the left of goal, Swiss international Ludovic Magnin stood over the ball.

Though the box was crowded, Magnin's sharply struck wormburner somehow made it through the forest of legs untouched, nestling inside Robert Enke's far post, staking the champs to the shocking lead in just the 5th minute.

Less than two minutes later, the over 41,000 in attendance would be stunned again.

From the restart, Hannover nearly replied immediately, Christoph Dabrowski forcing a smart save from Bremen keeper Andreas Reinke with a sharp drive from inside the box.

Reinke's outlet was quicker than the 96 defense though, and midfielder Fabian Ernst found himself flying up this left flank; Cherundolo and Silvio Schröter playing catch-up.

Ernst, with time at his disposal, delivered a slow, floating cross - a cross that seemingly hung for an eternity - headed for the far corner of the 6-yard box.

It was more than enough time for Borowski, who in a moment eerily reminiscient of Clint Mathis' ill-fated goal, volleyed home across the face of goal with ease.

With the scorer pointing to the supporters behind the goal in recognition - instead of his watch - the visitors had stuck twice.

Moments later Bremen nearly added a third, but luckily for Cherundolo, who had been nutmegged by Johann Micoud in the play's build-up, Dabrowski was whistled for offside before his 14th minute volley was struck.

Hannover began to settle down, a 23rd minute header from Vinicius going just wide before the Brazilian's second attempt was cleared off the line by Paul Stalteri two minutes later.

The clearance from Stalteri fell to Bremen forward Aaron Hunt, who took off downfield on a 60-yard run into the Hannover area, only to have his attempted cross for Nelson Valdez snared by a diving Enke at the last instant.

The end-to-end action continued, captain Altin Lala with some silky dribbling to free himself some space.

Lala's smooth through-ball was wasted though, when new signing Veljko Paunovic and Daniel Stendel waited for the other to shoot, allowing Stalteri to clear and avert the danger.

In the 35th minute, following a cleared Micoud corner, Hunt picked up the loose ball fronted by Cherundolo.

After three attempts to shake the American, Hunt dribbled toward the endline where he sent in an innocent looking cross.

Enke misjudged the attempt though, allowing the ball to clang off his near post; his indecisiveness nearly costly.

Three minutes later, Hannover put themselves - and their supporters - right back in the game.

From a Nebosja Krupnikovic corner to the far post, Vinicius rose highest and headed across the box.

Though the attempt was meant for the goal, his mis-aimed header resulted in a de facto assist as Zuraw powered his own header off of the underside of the crossbar and past Reinke, bringing Hannover to within one going into the break.

Cherundolo earned an early second-half yellow following a foul near the top of the box in the 50th.

Five minutes later, referee Herbert Fandel waved play on dubiously after Ernst had seemingly gotten all leg with a so-called tackle on Stendel, who had broken into the box.

Seven minutes afterwards, Bremen closed the book on the home side.

The impressive Hunt worked himself free on the right, spotting Ernst making a run in the channel.

Hunt's simple layoff to Ernst became magical though, when the ex-96er stopped on a dime, clowning Zuraw before blasting past Enke to restore the two goal advantage.

Zuraw's defensive nightmare continued, with Valdez nearly assisting himself in the 68th.

The Paraguayan's defense-splitting chip led to his own volley which Enke saved well around the post leading to a corner.

The last true chance for the Reds was refused easily, after more brilliance from Lala, summing up the afternoon.

The Albanian's excellent through-ball for Stendel was wasted though, when the German's weak attempt at a crossover was claimed all too simply by a bemused Frank Baumann.

Adding salt to the already too-deep wound, Egyptian substitute Mohamed Zidan made it two in two career Bundesliga matches 12 minutes later.

Again, Zuraw was caught ball-watching as the 23 year-old Zidan took a simple ball on the left and sauntered towards the top of the box.

A cheeky toe-poked shot near-post followed, embarassing Enke and clearing the stadium when it somehow made its way through.

"When you're playing a team like [Werder Bremen] you have to take advantage off all your opportunities," Lienen said meekly post-match. "We simply didn't do that."

"They had 6 or 7 good chances and scored on 4 of them, while we couldn't do the same. A team like theirs won't beat themselves and we just didn't do enough today."

With their fourth straight home defeat, a streak that has seen the side outscored 11-2, Hannover drops to 9th in the table, five points off of a European place.

The task won't get any easier next weekend though, as a vist to second placed Schalke 04 awaits the strugglers on Sunday.


STATISTICS

Hannover 96: Enke - Cherundolo, Vinicius, Zuraw - Lala (79. Kaufman), Dabrowski, de Guzman - Krupnikovic - Schröter (79. Christiansen), Paunovic (62, Stajner), Stendel

SV Werder Bremen: Reinke - Stalteri, Ismaël, Pasanen, Magnin - Baumann - Borowski (74. D. Jensen), F. Ernst (87. Schulz) - Micoud - Valdez, Hunt (83. Zidan)

Goals: 0:1 Magnin (5.), 0:2 Borowski (7.), 1:2 Zuraw (38.), 1:3 Ernst (62.), 1:4 Zidan (85.)
Cautions: Cherundolo / Magnin, Baumann
Referee: Herbert Fandel (Kyllburg)
Attendance: 41.862

96-head coach Ewald Lienen announces 18 man roster for the game against Werder Bremen:

Robert Enke, Frank Juric, Steven Cherundolo, Dariusz Zuraw, Vinicius, Thomas Schneider, Sören Halfar, Danijel Stefulj, Julian de Guzman, Christoph Dabrowski, Altin Lala, Nebojsa Krupnikovic, Silvio Schröter, Daniel Stendel, Jiri Stajner, Jiri Kaufman, Veljko Paunovic and Thomas Christiansen.

SC Freiburg vs. Hannover 96
14 : 2 shots at the goal
2 : 3 corner kicks
16 : 8 crosses
13: 18 fouls
  5 : 4 offsides
54% : 46% contacts with the ball
53% : 47% +challenges

Most shots at the goal:
96: Stendel, Paunovic (1 each)
Freiburg: Coulibaly (4)

Most setups:
96: Krupnikovic, Stendel (1)
Freiburg: Tskitishvili, Cairo (3 each)

Most contacts with the ball:
96: Steven Cherundolo (78)
Freiburg: Ibertsberger (86)

Most won challenges:
96: Vinicius (67%)
Freiburg: Schumann (71%)

Source: IMP-Fussballdaten

Robert Enke saved one point in Freiburg for The Reds. The 96-goalkeeper saved a wrongly called penalty kick by Freiburg's Tskitishvili in the 50th minute. Finally Ewald Lienen's squad could be lucky earning that hard working point on the road resulting in Freiburg's domination of the game that ended 0:0. 96 stays on the 8th in the standings while Freiburg could used more than one point to climb out the cellar (16th in the table).

Robert Enke saved one point in Freiburg for The Reds. The 96-goalkeeper saved a wrongly called penalty kick by Freiburg's Tskitishvili in the 50th minute, whos was tackled by the Brazilian defender Vinicius inside the box. Finally Ewald Lienen's squad could be lucky earning that hard working point on the road resulting in Freiburg's domination of the game that ended 0:0. 96 stays on the 8th in the standings while Freiburg could used more than one point to climb out the cellar (16th in the table).

Both teams had to make changes in the central defence. Vinicius replaced injured German International Per Mertesacker and Christoph Dabrowski moved in to play in defensive midfielder at 96, while the home supporters saw Schumann instead of Khizaneishvili.

The game started with Freiburg pulling off the better start against a defensive minded Hannover without having any clear-cut chances. It took 19 minutes when Bajramovic failed at Robert Enke. A few minutes later The Reds saw their first and last chance of the game. The new 96-striker Paunovic missed the near right post from 10 meters with a dangerous header (setup by Daniel Stendel).

With twelve minutes left of the half, Freiburg's Ibertsberger failed at Enke from the left outside the box. Just a few moments later a Koejoe shot from15 meters troubled the 96-keeper who saved with his left arm. Freiburg had two more chances but the teams went without scoring into the break.

Both teams remained unchanged after the break, Freiburg showed signs of unhappiness with a goalless draw and started pressing harder, but Hannover stood very compact in the defence.

The key scene of the game happened in the 50th minute. Freiburg's Iashvili fought his way through Hannover's defence on the left side and went down inside the box during a duel with Vinicius. Referee Peter Sippel wrongly called this penalty. But Levan Tskitishvili showed nerves and failed at Enke who saved the penalty-kick in the left corner.

After that Freiburg had several chances through Coulibaly (54th), Koejoe (61st and 78th) but the game ended goalless 0:0.

The spectators saw a weak game where the home team missed to score. Man of the match was Robert Enke who showed again a brilliant performance for The Reds.

Statistics

SC Freiburg: Golz - Riether, Schumann (79.Antar), Mohamad, Ibertsberger - Bajramovic - Cairo (90. Sanou), Tskitishvili, Coulibaly - Iashvili (90. Kruppke), Koejoe
Hannover 96: Enke - Cherundolo, Vinicius, Zuraw, Halfar - Lala, Dabrowski, de Guzman - Krupnikovic - Stendel (70. Schröter), Paunovic (70. Stajner)

Goals: -
Cautions: Koejoe / Dabrowski
Referee: Peter Sippel (Munich)
Attendance: 21.000

Picture :S. Zwing

96-head coach Ewald Lienen announces 18 man roster for the game against SC Freiburg:

Robert Enke, Frank Juric, Steven Cherundolo, Per Mertesacker, Dariusz Zuraw, Vinicius, Sören Halfar, Danijel Stefulj, Julian de Guzman, Christoph Dabrowski, Altin Lala, Nebojsa Krupnikovic, Silvio Schröter, Daniel Stendel, Jiri Stajner, Jiri Kaufman, Veljko Paunovic and Leandro.

The Canadian midfileder Julian de Guzman has signed a contract with Deportivo La Coruña from the Primera División (10th in the Spanish league).

Julian, who played 68 Bundesliga games (and scored two times) for The Reds, will stay in Hannover until the end of the season. Good luck to "Juli"...!

Germany - Argentine 2:2 (Per Mertesacker)
USA - Trinidad/Tobago 2:1 (Steven Cherundolo)
Albania - Ucrania 0:2 (Altin Lala)
Poland - Belarus 1:3 (Dariusz Zuraw)

AC Milan’s on-loan striker Hernan Crespo scored goals in each half to give Argentina a 2-2 draw in Germany. Torsten Frings opened the scoring with a 28th-minute penalty for the Germans, but Crespo equalised – also from the penalty-spot – five minutes before half-time. There was still time in the first period for Germany to regain the lead, through Kevin Kuranyi. But Crespo levelled for the second time with 10 minutes remaining.

Trinidad, Ed Johnson scored in the 30th minute on a bending cross from Steve Cherundolo, and Eddie Lewis scored on a 23-yard blast in the 54th minute as the U.S. topped Trinidad & Tobago 2-1 in the opening match of the final round of qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Trinidad scored a late goal in the 89th minute, but the U.S. battled the heat and large field and controlled play for a majority of the match.

Alexander Hleb struck twice for Belarus as they won 3-1 in Poland. Hleb scored after eight minutes, but Maciej Zurawski equalised on 51. Then Hleb struck again with six minutes left and Andrey Lavrik added a third with a minute from time.

Today 4 players of Hannover 96 will be on international duty.

Germany coach Jürgen Klinsmann announced his squad for the prestigious friendly against Argentina (Today 20:45 CET) and included Per Mertesacker in his side. A couple of 96ers foreign players will also be in action.

Altin Lala has been called up by Albania for the match against Ucrania. Steven Cherundolowill play for the USA in a 2006 World Cup qualifier against Trinidad/Tobago, and Dariusz Zuraw has been included in the Poland squad for a friendly game against Belarus.

You can listen to Steven Cherundolo's word's about the game against Borussia Dortmund (in german):

MP3-file: right-click for download here.

You can read the english words from that MP3 on Steve's website (right below the german text): http://www.cherundolo.de/

Listen to Canadian Julian de Guzman about the game against Borussia Dortmund (in english): MP3-file right-click for download here.

Listen to new 96-player Veljko Paunovic about the game against Borussia Dortmund (in english): MP3-file right-click for download here.

Hannover 96 - Borussia Dortmund
13 : 11 shots at the goal
6 : 2 corner kicks
19 : 13 crosses
10: 27 fouls
  4 : 4 offsides
56% : 44% contacts with the ball
48% : 52% +challenges

Most shots at the goal:
96: Stendel, Krupnikovic, De Guzman (each 3)
Dortmund: Kringe, Ricken (3)

Most setups:
96: Paunovic (4)
Dortmund: Kringe, Dede, Koller (each 2)

Most contacts with the ball:
96: Steven Cherundolo (108)
Dortmund: Dede (78)

Most won challenges:
96: Krupnikovic (61%)
Dortmundld: Dede (77%)

Source: IMP-Fussballdaten

M'gladbach - Freiburg 3:2
Wolfsburg - Bremen 2:3

There was no reward for coach Lienen's offensive strategy in today's fixture, with Dortmund's brick-wall defense and the away team's deadly efficiency proving the better recipe.

This week started well with a present for Hannover coach Ewald Lienen, as before the transfer window closed 96 signed on striker Veljko Paunovic from Atletico Madrid to joing 96 until 2006. Lienen put in a strong word for Paunovic, being his favorite player of happy times at Lienen's last assignment at CD Tenerife, a move which was contrary to club-manager Kaentzig's recommendation.

In Paunovic's debut today Lienen changed last week's winning team only on one position, moving Christoph Dabrowski to the bench, while for the visitors, Dortmund coach Marwijk replaced injured Evanilson with youngster Brzenska, but left last week's formation otherwise intact.

Dortmund got off to a better start. Only five minutes into the game Kringe's sharp cross from the left flank found Koller's head in goalmouth. The Czech striker mercilessly put the ball into the right low corner of the net and Dortmund in the lead. Young defender Halfar and keeper Enke didn't stand a chance to save this brutal header.

After this early shock it proved difficult for the Reds to crack open Dortmund's solid brick wall defense.

It was full 15 minutes after Dortmund's humbling lead that the Reds had their first good chance as Krupnikovic's free kick from the far left lowered itself dangerously into the box. But Stajner misaimed his header, snatching away the ball from tall and better-positioned Mertesacker.

Dortmund then used the home team's apparent weakness to their own advantage.

Dortmund's second goal in the 30th seemed like a repeat of the first one. Kringe's pass set up Dede on the left, who ran straight down the line and sent a sharp cross aiming for the goalmouth. Defender Mertesacker left Ricken unmarked, lurking behind his back, but Ricken quickly sprinted from outside the box into the goalmouth just to head home Dede's cross with deadly precision. Neither Zuraw with a half-hearted jump for the ball nor a gob-smacked keeper Enke could stop the Dortmund striker.

This humiliating goal worked like a wake-up call for the Reds. Now attack after attack was launched on the opponent's goal, but Stajner's and Paunovic's efforts were harmless.

Just short of the interval though de Guzman missed Weidenfeller's goal only by inches, after Paunovic sent in a precise cross from the right edge of the box to de Guzman, who heel-kicked the ball with artistic flourish from 9 yards, watching the ball bumble along outside the left post.

After the break Hannover returned to the pitch with Thomas Christiansen in offensive midfield position, and Soeren Halfar remaining sidelined - the Reds continuing their aggressive power play, and Dortmund continued defending flawlessly.

The game got faster and Hannover seemed the superior team, only to be humiliated once again only ten minutes into the second half.

Koller grabbed Kringe's quick throw-in from the right, shrugging off his markers Zuraw and de Guzman, tunneling Lala and sending his sharp cross from the right corner of the box to a completely unmarked Ricken at the penalty spot, who scored his second goal today.

The Reds were obviously shocked by this third goal and lost their self-assurance altogether. From then on Hannover's play suffered from slack midfield action and inaccurate passing, failing to create any on-goal action.

It was Dortmund's turn to bring Hannover back into play, when the Reds were awarded a penalty for Bergdoelmo's foul on Christiansen. Krupnikovic put away the resulting penalty with cool precision to pull a goal back.

Hannover desperately tried to gain the upper hand, but all efforts were denied by a solid and flawless Dortmund defense. The game's last ten minutes were sheer agony for disappointed supporters.

It was the second consecutive home defeat in the new stadium. The Reds were acting too little not soon enough in trying to beat a strong, but not invincible Dortmund side. [AS]

STATISTICS

Hannover 96: Enke - Cherundolo, Mertesacker, Zuraw, Halfar (46. Christiansen) - de Guzman, Lala - Krupnikovic - Stajner (66. Kaufman), Paunovic, Stendel

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller - Bergdölmo, Brzenska, Wörns, Dede - Kehl - Kruska, Kringe - Smolarek (78. Demel), Koller, Ricken (93.Senesie)

Goals 0:1 Koller (6.), 0:2 Ricken (31.), 0:3 Ricken (56.), 1:3 Krupnikovic (72., Penalty)
Cautions: - / Bergdölmo, Brzenska, Demel
Referee: Knut Kircher (Rottenburg)
Attendance: 36.523

Picture: Stefan Zwing

96 head coach Ewald Lienen announces 18 man roster for the game against Borussia Dortmund:

Robert Enke, Frank Juric, Steven Cherundolo, Per Mertesacker, Dariusz Zuraw, Sören Halfar, Thomas Schneider, Vinicius, Julian de Guzman, Christoph Dabrowski, Altin Lala, Nebojsa Krupnikovic, Daniel Stendel, Thomas Christiansen, Jiri Stajner, Roman Wallner, Jiri Kaufman and Veljko Paunovic.

The 27-year old Serbien striker Veljko Paunovic has signed a contract with Hannover 96. Paunovic is coming from Atletico Madrid to The Reds.

Mohamadou Idrissou will be playing from now on on a loan at the french club SM Caen, and Portuguese Ricardo Sousa at the holland club VBv de Graafschap until the end of the season.