Minnows punching above weight

LIVERPOOL fans may believe that this was their weekend, but even beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge doesn’t quite match the achievements of Hoffenheim and Leixoes.

Hoffenheim is a small suburb of a small town named Sinsheim in Southern Germany. Just five years ago they were an obscure team in Germany’s equivalent of Conference South.

Since then, with the aid of local billionaire Dietmar Hopp and some shrewd moves in the transfer market, they’ve gone from strength to strength. They caused another sensation at the start of the season, briefly leading the table after winning their first two games before going down to a heavy defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.

A dose of reality, declared the pundits, especially when they failed to score in their next home game, against Stuttgart. However, Hoffenheim proceeded to win their next four matches, scoring 16 goals on the way, including five against both Werder Bremen and Hannover.

On Sunday afternoon it was the turn of league leaders Hamburg, and their coach Martin Jol, to visit the Carl-Benz Stadium in Mannheim, which is Hoffenheim’s temporary home until they move into their own ground in January.

It was just Hoffenheim’s eighth game in the top flight. For Hamburg by contrast it was game number 1,534. They are the only club to have played every season in the top division since it was formed 45 years ago.

However Hoffenheim were ahead inside seven minutes with a goal from their young Nigerian striker Chinedu Obasi. Goal number two arrived a few minutes later, and just after the half-hour Obasi scored his second.

Hamburg recovered some dignity after the break, but the home side held out confidently for a 3-0 win that put them top of the Bundesliga, a point ahead of Leverkusen, with a quarter of the season gone.

It’s not unheard of for a German side to lead the table after being promoted, or even win the title – Kaiserslautern did it 10 years ago. But the remarkable aspect of Hoffenheim’s success is that the club has put in place a long-term plan, building a team round untried young players such as the Senegalese Demba Ba, and the Brazilian Carlos Eduardo as well as Obasi. At some stage perhaps inexperience will let them down. But the club management isn’t too concerned.

“We recognise that we are in first place,” said general manager Jan Schindelmeiser after the game. “But that is not what is important for us. We want to stay with our plan and continue to develop.”

Portuguese club Leixoes are a complete contrast with Hoffenheim. They have very little money, but quite a lot of history. Founded in 1907, Leixoes can lay claim to being Oporto’s oldest club, even though most of those years were spent outside the top flight.

Cup winners once, they languished for years in the second division, sustained only by their fervent local support in and around Matosinhos, the port area of Oporto. Then, to huge celebrations, they succeeded in winning promotion and set about the task of retaining their place in the top flight. However even the most fervent of those fervent supporters couldn’t have been expecting the start Leixoes have enjoyed this season.

They lost their first game, but then beat Braga and Lisbon club Belenenses before earning a point against Benfica. But it was Sunday’s match that was the big one – the derby against Porto, the minnows against the giants, the dockers against the aristocrats.

Leixoes took the lead after three minutes, and went 2-0 ahead on the half-hour. Porto rallied and drew level in the second half after goals from their two Argentinians Lucho Gonzalez and Lisandro Lopez – but then were stunned 11 minutes from time by a second goal from Bruno Braga. For Porto to lose is a rarity, for them to lose at home is almost unheard of. Their coach Jesualdo Ferreira has been told his job is safe – for the time being. As for the dockers’ team, they are top of the table, just like little Hoffenheim.