Bayern give coach Magath winning start

BERLIN – Bayern Munich began their bid to claim back the Bundesliga title with a 2-0 victory at Hamburg SV on Saturday to give new coach Felix Magath a winning start.

Germany’s Michael Ballack opened the scoring and fellow midfielder Sebastian Deisler added the second with a free kick 19 minutes from time. Magath, who took over from the most successful German coach at club level, Ottmar Hitzfeld, was pleased with his team’s performance against tough opponents.”I expected Hamburg to be this strong,” he told reporters.”They put us under a lot of pressure and dominated the match.But you could see we have classy individual players and that gave us the 1-0 lead.”We had to defend a lot but in the end we deserved to win because we had the better individual players.”The quality of Bayern’s players was evident in the 22nd minute when Ballack, capitalising on a neat backheel from Brazilian Ze Roberto, opened the scoring with a low drive from 25 metres.Deisler, now fully recovered from depression, added the second when his free kick was deflected into the net off a post and the head of the Hamburg goalkeeper.Despite the victory, Magath, clad in a smart suit despite the baking heat, looked unhappy during the second half as Bayern’s midfield, including new signing Torsten Frings, failed to gel.The new season, which kicked off on Friday with a 1-0 home victory for champions Werder Bremen over Schalke 04, began in earnest on Saturday with six matches in soaring summer temperatures.The big surprise of the day was Borussia Dortmund’s 2-1 home defeat by VfL Wolfsburg, and Hertha Berlin gave away what had looked like certain victory against VfL Bochum following early goals by Brazilian midfielders Gilberto and Marcelinho to draw 2-2.Hertha, driven on by a jubilant crowd in Berlin’s newly refurbished Olympic stadium, continued to attack and Bochum defender Raymond Kalla headed a free kick from Dariusz Wosz into the net in the 65th minute.The Ruhr valley team then equalised with a penalty after a handball by Hertha’s Arne Friedrich.Promoted Nuremberg secured a resounding 3-1 win at a disappointing Kaiserslautern, Bayer Leverkusen beat Hanover 96 2-1 and SC Freiburg and Hansa Rostock drew 0-0.- Nampa-ReutersMagath, who took over from the most successful German coach at club level, Ottmar Hitzfeld, was pleased with his team’s performance against tough opponents.”I expected Hamburg to be this strong,” he told reporters.”They put us under a lot of pressure and dominated the match.But you could see we have classy individual players and that gave us the 1-0 lead.”We had to defend a lot but in the end we deserved to win because we had the better individual players.”The quality of Bayern’s players was evident in the 22nd minute when Ballack, capitalising on a neat backheel from Brazilian Ze Roberto, opened the scoring with a low drive from 25 metres.Deisler, now fully recovered from depression, added the second when his free kick was deflected into the net off a post and the head of the Hamburg goalkeeper.Despite the victory, Magath, clad in a smart suit despite the baking heat, looked unhappy during the second half as Bayern’s midfield, including new signing Torsten Frings, failed to gel.The new season, which kicked off on Friday with a 1-0 home victory for champions Werder Bremen over Schalke 04, began in earnest on Saturday with six matches in soaring summer temperatures.The big surprise of the day was Borussia Dortmund’s 2-1 home defeat by VfL Wolfsburg, and Hertha Berlin gave away what had looked like certain victory against VfL Bochum following early goals by Brazilian midfielders Gilberto and Marcelinho to draw 2-2.Hertha, driven on by a jubilant crowd in Berlin’s newly refurbished Olympic stadium, continued to attack and Bochum defender Raymond Kalla headed a free kick from Dariusz Wosz into the net in the 65th minute.The Ruhr valley team then equalised with a penalty after a handball by Hertha’s Arne Friedrich.Promoted Nuremberg secured a resounding 3-1 win at a disappointing Kaiserslautern, Bayer Leverkusen beat Hanover 96 2-1 and SC Freiburg and Hansa Rostock drew 0-0.- Nampa-Reuters