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Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Friedrich, Parensen, Reichel (Ryerson); Zulj, Schmiedebach, Hartel; Mees (Gogia), Polter, Abdullahi (Andersson) Bochum: Riemann; Hoogland, Soares, Gyamerah, Fabian; Losilla, Tesche; Sam (Saglam), Weilandt, Lee; Hinterseer Goals: Union: Polter - 60; Zulj - 87 Polter the penalty-winner and taker. Source: Union Berlin   It was another relatively unimpressive display for Union Berlin on Saturday, yet it’s hard to complain when the team still came away with three points and ended the first round of fixtures -- known as the Hinrunde -- undefeated for the first time in their history. Yes, a whopping ten of their seventeen matches this season have ended in draws, and it’s worth noting that in some of those draws, they were lucky to scrape by with a point. Yet Union’s ability to turn losses into draws and wins even when they look largely mediocre over the course of 90 minutes is one worth celebrating, especially since last year, as we all know, they...

Magdeburg: Brunst; Müller, Erdmann, Schäfer; Bülter, Laprevotte, Preißinger (Weil), Niemeyer (Costly); Türpitz (Butzen); Beck, Lohkemper Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Hübner, Friedrich, Lenz; Schmiedebach, Kroos (Polter), Zulj; Abdullahi (Gogia), Polter, Mees (Hartel) Goals: Magdeburg: Beck - 39 Union Berlin: Gogia - 65 Welcome back, Gogia! source: Union Berlin Union Berlin escaped Magdeburg with only a point on Sunday -- and they were lucky to do so. Despite the home side sitting in 16th place in the table, they looked to be the better side for the majority of the game, and if it weren’t for the welcome return of Akaki Gogia’s scoring boots (he seemed to have misplaced them for a bit), Union’s unbeaten run in the league would have come to an altogether inglorious end. Urs Fischer always talks up the opponents in his pre-match press conferences, so it was no surprise to hear him praise Magdeburg despite their lowly place in the table and note that Union would have to ...

Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Hübner, Friedrich, Reichel; Prömel, Schmiedebach, Kroos (Zulj); Abdullahi (Hartel), Andersson, Mees (Parensen) Darmstadt: Fernandes; Rieder, Franke (Höhn), Sulu, Holland; Medojevic, Jones; Heller, Kempe (Boyd), Wurtz (Mehlem); Dursun Goals: Union: Andersson - 28, 42; Sulu (OG) - 65 Darmstadt: Dursun - 73 Union had a lot to celebrate in this game. Source: Union Berlin   Well, Darmstadt at home, or as I’d like to call it, How Sebastian Andersson Got His Groove Back. At the start of the season, the Swedish striker -- brought in to supplement the Union attack during Sebastian Polter’s lengthy layoff -- was on fire, memorably banging in two goals in a 4-1 demolishing of St. Pauli and netting two more against Köln and Ingolstadt. Yet his output has dwindled in recent weeks, especially once he lost his spot in the starting 11 to the prodigal Polter. But after a tough game against top-of-the-table Hamburg on Monday, Urs Fischer needed to rest some...

Stadion An der Alten Försterei, Berlin Saturday, December 1 7:00 a.m. EST, 13:00 CEST Referee: Marco Fritz This Match, Last Year: Union Berlin 3 - 3 Darmstadt All-Time in All Competitions: 0 Union Berlin wins, 2 Darmstadt wins, 2 draws Union Berlin's League Form: D-D-D-D-W-D Union Berlin's League Position: 3rd, 24 points, +11 GD Darmstadt's League Form: L-D-W-W-L-L Darmstadt's League Position: 12th, 17 points, -4 GD The calendar turns to December tomorrow and Union Berlin still sit with a nice looking 0 in the loss column for this season. They've picked up some critical points on the road against the promotion favorites sitting in the two slots in the table ahead of them, including a big come-from-behind 2-2 draw at Hamburg this past Monday night. Make no mistake, this team's fighting spirit proves that they are never out of a match; they've shown that in Cologne and Hamburg and Dortmund as well. But it's in Köpenick where ...

Hamburg: Pollersbeck; Santos, Sakai, van Drongelen, Lacroix; Holtby, Hunt (Bates), Mangala (Moritz); Jatta, Hwang, Narey (Arp) Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Friedrich, Hübner, Reichel; Schmiedebach, Prömel; Abdullahi, Mees (Hedlund), Hartel (Gogia); Polter (Andersson) Goals: Hamburg: Hunt - 58; Holtby - 65 Union: Mees - 12; Abdullahi - 90 Same, Abdullahi, same. Source: Union Berlin Seeing as Hamburg had never been relegated to the 2. Bundesliga before this year and Union Berlin have never been promoted above the 2. Bundesliga, the first-ever competitive fixture between the two clubs was always going to be a big event. (While Union’s ancestor club did play against Hamburg a couple times way back in the 1920s, the modern iteration of Union Berlin has not.) Der Dino’s debut in the 2. Bundesliga was an inauspicious one -- a 3-0 loss at home to Holstein Kiel. But apart from one other wild home loss -- 5-0 loss to Jahn Regensburg -- Hamburg have pieced together a string of posit...

Volksparkstadion, Hamburg Monday, November 26 2:30 p.m. EST, 20:30 CEST Referee:  Frank Willenborg All-Time in All Competitions:  First competitive meeting Union Berlin's League Form:  W-D-D-D-D-W Union Berlin's League Position:  3rd, 23 points, +11 GD Hamburg's League Form:  D-W-D-W-W-W Hamburg's League Position: 1st, 27 points, +3 GD The win over Fürth was the first time Union scored in the first 10 minutes since beating Sandhausen in February. Thanks to the international break, it feels like it's been forever since Union's 4-0 win over Greuther Fürth left us all feeling a little more comfortable about the state of the team. If that had been yet another draw, I'm not certain how we all would have felt going into a match like this one. On Monday night, Union make the trip north to face top of the table Hamburg in what is probably their biggest league test since the early season trip to Köln. This is one of those measuring stick so...

1. FC Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Friedrich, Hübner, Reichel; Schmiedebach, Zulj, Hartel; Mees (Hedlund), Polter (Andersson), Abdullahi (Redondo) SpVgg Greuther Fürth: Burchert; Wittek (Raum ), Magyar (Bauer), Maloca, Sauer; Gugganig, Mohr, Ernst; Green (Abouchabaka), Atanga, Keita-Ruel Goals: Union: Mees - 5, 10; Polter - 29, 56 Polter and Mees celebrating with Union Berlin's mascot - truly a blessed image. Source: Union Berlin .  Union Berlin hadn’t won a game since October 1, but what was becoming an increasingly worrying and seemingly never-ending bout draws finally came to an end this past Sunday with a glorious 4-0 smashing of Greuther Fürth at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. Union had not dominated a game like this since they beat St. Pauli 4-1 on Matchday 3 -- a result that was beginning to look like a shimmering oasis in a desert of 0-0 and 1-1 draws. Yet with the goal-scoring beginning startlingly early in this game and not slowing down from there, one ho...

Stadion An der Alten Försterei, Berlin Sunday, November 11 7:30 a.m. EDT, 13:30 CST Referee: Daniel Schlager This Match, Last Year: Union 3 - 1 Fürth All-Time in All Competitions:  4 Union wins, 10 Fürth wins, 9 draws Union Berlin's League Form: W-W-D-D-D-D Union Berlin's League Place: 4th place, 20 points, +7 GD Greuther Fürth's League Form: D-W-D-W-L-D Greuther Fürth's League Place: 5th place, 20 points, +4 GD Note: League places are as of the start of this weekend's fixtures. I've mentioned repeatedly (that is, when I've been doing previews at all...) that you've got to win your home games. So, here we are, Union back at Alte Försterei sitting on four consecutive draws in the league (with a cup tie that also ended level after 90 minutes thrown in there for good measure.) They've scored twice in those four games. They haven't won since October 1. Yet they still entered the weekend in fourth place, thanks to the fact ...

Jahn Regensburg: Pentke; Saller, Sorensen, Correia, Föhrenbach; Geipl (Al Ghaddioui), Fein (Lais); Stolze (Derstroff), George; Grüttner, Adamyan Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Ryerson, Friedrich, Hübner, Reichel; Prömel, Schmiedebach, Zulj (Andersson); Gogia (Hartel), Polter (Parensen), Mees Goals: Regensburg: George, 45+1 Union: Polter, 45 Union away support doing Union away support things. Source: Union Berlin Union Berlin may not have come away the victors in their DFB-Pokal tie last Wednesday night, but one cannot deny that the team impressed even in defeat.  Union knew that if they had any hope of getting a result at the Westfalenstadion, they would have to bring far more of a fight to undefeated Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund than they had during their previous league fixture against Dynamo Dresden. And indeed, thanks to the goalscoring exploits of prodigal striker Sebastian Polter, who seems to have finally returned to form following his extensive injury break,...

Continental Arena, Regensburg Sunday, November 5 7:30 a.m. EST, 13:30 CET Referee:  Sascha Stegemann This Match, Last Year: Regensburg 0 - 2 Union Berlin All-Time in All Competitions: 5 Union Berlin wins, 1 Regensburg win, 3 draws Union Berlin's League Position: 3rd, 19 points, +7 GD Union Berlin's League Form: D-W-W-D-D-D Regensburg's League Position: 9th, 16 points, +3 GD Regensburg's League Form: W-W-W-D-D-D I'm still a little bitter. I have to say, I was left a little more than a little gut-wrenched when Union battled so hard for 120 minutes on Wednesday, only to lose on a late penalty. To see much of the non-German media cover the match along the lines of "Dortmund left it really late to beat their second-division opponents..." fails to encapsulate what a gutsy performance this was from Union. As I posted on Twitter, "it's almost like Union might be a decent, well-organized, well-coached team..." But that...

1. FC Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Friedrich, Hübner, Reichel; Kroos, Prömel, Schmiedebach (Zulj); Mees (Abdullahi), Andersson (Polter), Gogia Dynamo Dresden: Schubert; Wahlqvist, Gonther, Hamalainen, Heise; Nikolaou, Hartmann; Benatelli, Aosman (Berko), Ebert (Alik); Kone (Djuljevic) Goals: What are these goals of which you speak? Hey, new guy! Source: Union Berlin. In case you haven’t been counting (because why would you want to?!), it has been close to 300 minutes since an outfield player scored a goal for Union Berlin. I specify outfield player because, lest you forget, goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz scored a beauty of a header after coming up for a set piece in extra time against Heidenheim on Matchday 9. That Gikiewicz’s goal only earned Union a draw at home, as opposed to a win, is troublesome. That Union Berlin followed that draw with two consecutive 0-0 draws, one at home, is even more of a cause for worry. Yes, as many will remind you, Union Berlin remain one of only ...

SC Paderborn 07: Zingerle; Dräger, Schonlau, Strohdiek, Collins; Vasiliadis (Hünemeier); Antwi-Adjej, Klement, Schwede (Tekpety); Gueye, Zolinski (Ritter) 1. FC Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Lenz, Hübner, Friedrich, Trimmel; Schmiedebach, Prömel, Kroos (Zulj); Gogia (Mees), Andersson (Polter), Hartel Goals: LMAO Manuel Schmiedebach might not play for a Red Bull team, but he does appear to have wings. Source: BZ Berlin When Arsenal went an entire season unbeaten in 2003-2004 and earned the nicknamed “the Invincibles,” naysayers pointed out that of the 38 league matches Arsenal played that season, a shockingly large number actually ended as draws -- 12, to be exact. There are Premier League champions since who have finished seasons with more points than the Invincibles did; while they may have lost a game or two, they didn’t draw nearly as many. Sure, going undefeated was still a brilliant accomplishment for that Arsenal side, but it wasn’t a perfect run, that’s for sure. Union Berlin...