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Soccer

Japanese midfielders shine, Bayern falter again

October 1, 2017

It was a good week for Japanese players as Yoshinori Muto, Shinji Kagawa, Tatsuya Ito and Genki Haraguchi all impressed. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich made history again, but it wasn't the good kind this time.

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Deutschland Bundesliga FC Augsburg vs. Borussia Dortmund | Shinji Kagawa
Image: imago/kolbert-press

Everything you need to know about Matchday 7

Good week for: Freiburg, Dortmund, Japanese players

Bad week for: Bayern Munich, Hoffenheim, Cologne

Best bits

- Japanese players stole the spotlight this weekend. Shinji Kagawa became the all-time Japanese top scorer in the Bundesliga, scoring his 38th career goal on a beautiful lob against Augsburg. Yoshinori Muto had a fantastic glancing header himself, beating Koen Casteels for the equalizer in Mainz's draw with Wolfsburg. Youngster Tatsuya Ito had a good performance in his first ever Bundesliga start for Hamburg and Genki Haraguchi set up Ondrej Duda with a terrific dribble and pass to give the Slovenian attacker his first-ever Bundesliga goal. 

- Last year's second division top scorer Simon Terodde finally got his first Bundesliga goal on Saturday. A minute after coming off the bench, the Stuttgart forward attacked a corner from Dennis Aogo and headed it home to level the scoring against Frankfurt. But Stuttgart were second best in the end after Sebastien Haller scored the winner in stoppage time.

Deutschland Eintracht Frankfurt v VfB Stuttgart - Bundesliga
Simon Terodde scored his first Bundesliga goal of his careerImage: Getty Images/Bongarts/M. Hangst

- Martin Harnik cannot stop scoring. The Hannover forward scored his fifth goal in seven games in Hannover's 2-1 loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach. He is responsible for more than 70 percent of Hannover's goals this season.

- Bayern Munich made history over the weekend, but this time it wasn't the good kind. They blew another 2-0 lead against Hertha Berlin as part of a 2-2 draw in the German capital. It is the first time in Bayern's history they have let a 2-0 lead slip in consecutive Bundesliga games.

Bundesliga 7. Spieltag - Hertha Berlin vs Bayern München - Niederlage des FC - Hummels
Mats Hummels (middle) hangs his head as Bayern draw with HerthaImage: Getty Images/Bongarts/M. Rose

- Freiburg collected their first win of the season in spectacular fashion by beating Hoffenheim 3-2. Florian Niederlechner and Caglar Soyuncu turned around Freiburg's early deficit in the first 20 minutes before Pascal Stenzel added a crucial insurance goal just before time.

Best quotes

"We are no longer the strongest team in Germany." Bayern Munich interim coach Willy Sagnol to Sky Sports after Bayern blew another 2-0 lead

"We need to get luck back on our side." Bayern Munich defender Joshua Kimmich

"Yoshinori Muto has our complete trust. He pushes forward and has been rewarded with his third goal of the season." Mainz coach Sandro Schwarz

"The new players played really well. There is a lot of hope for the future when you have these young lads." Hamburg coach Markus Gisdol after fielding youngsters Tatsuya Ito, Vasilije Janjevic and Fiete Arp against Bremen

"We were very lucky with the result, but that was the worst performance in my time as Dortmund coach." Dortmund coach Peter Bosz after his side's 2-1 win against Augsburg

Injury news

Bayern's situation may have gone from bad to worse after Franck Ribery had to be carried off the field. The defending Bundesliga champions confirmed in a statement after their 2-2 draw with Hertha that Ribery had suffered a knee injury, although no official diagnosis was given.

Bundesliga 7. Spieltag - Hertha Berlin vs Bayern München - Verletzung Ribery
Franck Ribery was helped off the field after sustaining a knee injuredImage: picture alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler

Charles Aranguiz suffered a calf tear in Leverkusen's 1-1 draw with Schalke and will have to miss the next three weeks. The injury is a big blow for Chile, who have work to do in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.

Jhon Cordoba had to come off early after Stefan Ilsanker stuck his knee in to the back of Cologne forward's leg. Rani Khedira also left Augsburg's game against Dortmund with an injury.

Deutschland 1 Fussball Bundesliga Borussia Mönchengladbach Hannover 96 | Thorgan Hazard
Thorgan Hazard celebrates after scoring the winning penalty for Borussia MönchengladbachImage: imago/S. Wensierski

Bizarre Bundesliga

It was another dubious week for video assistant referees (VAR) as fans were made to wait minutes on end for the final decisions. The worst case was in Borussia Mönchengladbach's 2-1 win against Hannover, where a penalty decision gave the newly promoted Reds their first loss of the season.

With the game locked at one apiece in stoppage time, Salif Sane tackled Vincenzo Grifo on the left side of the penalty area. Referee Christian Dingert pointed to the penalty spot, but then decided to double check his decision with VAR. The patience of the Borussia Park's spectators was put to the test as the video assistants took more than two minutes to make a decision. Ultimately VAR confirmed Dingert's call for a penalty on the field, and Thorgan Hazard booted the spot kick home for the match winner.