Bundesliga : Week 4 Preview

It's rivalry weekend in the Bundesliga as two of the premier derbies in Germany take place in the fourth round. The next nail-biting, white knuckling weekend of German football is headlined by two of the local derby matches. St. Pauli and Hamburg meet in the Hamburg derby, while Schalke hosts Dortmund in the Rhine River Derby. Some of the heavyweights in German football will continue to look to turn their season around, as Stuttgart and Wolfsburg look to pick up their first points of the season. Hoffenheim and Mainz will also have the opportunity to keep their perfect records intact in the fourth round of the German Bundesliga.

Game of the Week:
Schalke 04 vs. Borussia Dortmund (September 19, 11:30 am EST)
Ah, the Rhine River Derby! What a matchup it will be! So much anticipation! So much excitement! There's just a touch of sarcasm there, but for good reasons of course. This version of the Rhine River Derby will be the 77th contested, and there will be plenty at stake. At the same time though, there are a couple of caveats that will take away from the derby match. Firstly, Schalke are in dire straits at the moment. There are troubles on the field, where they have not won a game this season, and troubles off the pitch as well, with manager Felix Magath taking much of the heat. Think: Bob Bradley, only the fans' opinion matters. Magath can't take another loss, surely. If so, he'll be the most successful person to fail a majestic ship since Captain Edward Smith ran the Titanic straight into an iceberg all those years back. In addition to the game on the pitch potentially failing to live up to the hype, the stands will also be noticeably quiet. Dortmund's fans have boycotted the match, angered by the increase in ticket prices that would make it difficult for younger fans to get in to the game (sounds something like Michael Jackson would say). Should the plan go through, the away section of the stadium will be empty, which will take away from what tends to be a fantastic derby.