Bayern Munich manager Ottmar Hitzfeld says he has been impressed with the team's recent displays.
Bayern are top of the domestic tree and started the Uefa Cup group stages with a superb victory at Red Star Belgrade last week.
The Bundesliga giants obtained a goalless draw away at Borussia Dortmund at the weekend and the German coach thinks the result is a positive one on account of the strain his players were under.
'A draw in Dortmund is never a bad result, especially as we were so tired. Compliments to my players,' Hitzfeld told the club's official website.
'The game in Belgrade cost us an incredible amount of energy, so we were only operating at about 70 percent of our potential. You'll always come under pressure in that situation, so we're very happy with the point. Compliments to my players, I'm very impressed by the way they ran themselves into the ground in Belgrade and then matched Dortmund. We should have taken the lead in the first half, or at least right at the start of the second half, but by the end we have to be grateful that Dortmund failed to put away two or three excellent chances.'
15 October 2007
Borussia Dortmund midfielder Diego has been voted player of the 2006/07 season in a ballot of players from Germany's top three divisions.
The Brazilian got 31.4 percent of the vote, ahead of VfB Stuttgart's Mario Gomez (12.1 percent) and Bayer Leverkusen's Bernd Schneider (10.2 percent), the professional soccer players' association announced.
Striker Miroslav Klose won the honour the previous season with 64 percent of the votes.
06 October 2007
Feyenoord coach Bert van Marwijk has credited the elder statesmen in his team for the Rotterdammers' flying start to the season.
Van Marwijk takes his second-placed side to Vitesse Arnhem on Sunday confident they will have enough nous to overcome the fifth-placed hosts.
The former Borussia Dortmund boss invested heavily over the summer in experienced players such as Roy Makaay, Tim de Cler, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Kevin Hofland.
And he believes their know-how has been behind the team's fine recent results.
"We have progressed more than I would have expected beforehand," he said.
"The team is getting better every week. Players like Van Bronckhorst, Makaay, Hofland and De Cler have a very good influence on the youngsters. They know how to make other players function better."
Van Marwijk will make a late decision on Chun-Soo Lee but is definitely without Tim Vincken, Andwele Slory, Dwight Tiendalli, Sherif Ekramy and Ron Vlaar.
Vitesse returned to winning ways after two defeats last weekend with an impressive 4-2 success at FC Utrecht.
Aad de Mos' men based their victory around a strong defensive display, a tactic he claims should be applauded.
"It is not a shame to defend. And of course we try to attack if we have the ball," he said. "We scored four times in Utrecht, that is not bad."
Mads Junker is likely to start in attack alongside Juan Lorca after a fine display in Utrecht with Harrie Gommans on the bench.
The visitors will be without the injured Santi Kolk and Cees Keizer.
De Mos insists his men go into the game as underdogs, adding: "Feyenoord are the big favourites, but we feel okay. Nothing is impossible in this competition. We will fight for it. It is a game between two teams which play the same kind of system."
06 October 2007
Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino has named the following 24-man squad for the World Cup qualifiers away to Peru on Oct. 13 and at home to Uruguay on Oct. 17:
Goalkeepers: Justo Villar (Newell's Old Boys), Aldo Bobadilla (Independiente Medellin), Henry Lapczyk (Olimpia)
Defenders: Carlos Bonet (Cruz Azul), Denis Caniza (Cruz Azul), Julio Cesar Caceres (Tigres UANL), Dario Veron (Pumas UNAM), Julio Manzur (Pachuca), Paulo Da Silva (Toluca), Jorge Nunez (Cerro Porteno), Claudio Morel Rodriguez (Boca Juniors), Enrique Vera (LDU)
Midfielders: Edgar Barreto (Reggina), Diego Gavilan (Gremio), Victor Caceres (Libertad), Jonathan Santana (VfL Wolfsburg), Jorge Britez (Cerro Porteno), Cristian Riveros (Cruz Azul), Domingo Salcedo (Racing Club)
Forwards: Nelson Haedo (Borussia Dortmund), Nestor Ayala (Tigre), Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn Rovers), Salvador Cabanas (America-Mexico), Oscar Cardozo (Benfica)
