By Rich

Daniel Brosinski is a 29-year-old right back for 1. FSV Mainz 05.  Brosinski was born on July 17, 1988 in Karlsruhe, West Germany, and spent his youth career playing for SG Siemens Karlsruhe until 2001, and Karlsruher SC from 2001 to 2006.  His senior career continued on Karlsruhe’s reserve squad from 2006 to 2008, 1. FC Köln’s reserve and senior squads from 2008 to 2011, SV Wehen Wiesbaden in 2011, MSV Duisburg from 2011 to 2013, SpVgg Greuther Fürth from 2013 to 2014, and Mainz since 2014, where he has scored 3 goals in more than 100 appearances.  Brosinski also made 4 appearances for Germany’s U-20 squad between 2007 and 2008.

By Rich
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Saturday is the last day of regular play for this Bundesliga season, and although Bayern won the league title weeks ago, much is at stake at both ends of the table.  Both Bayern and Schalke will be playing in the UEFA Champions League next season, and 5 other clubs still each have a mathematical chance of joining them.  4 Bundesliga teams are each guaranteed a spot, while the team finishing in 5th place qualifies for the UEFA Europa League group stage, and the team finishing in 6th place will look at entry in the 2nd qualifying round.  Should Bayern win against Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFB Pokal final on May 19th, the team that finishes in 7th place will enter the 2nd qualifying round and the 6th-place finisher will enter the group stage.  In the middle of the table, Hertha Berlin, Augsburg, Werder Bremen, Hannover, and Mainz cannot mathematically qualify for Europe play, but all are safe from relegation.  Cologne will finish the season in last place and are already relegated to the 2. Bundesliga next season.  Freiburg will remain in the 1. Bundesliga with a tie or win in Augsburg, or with a Wolfsburg loss to Cologne.  Should Freiburg lose to Augsburg and Wolfsburg win against Cologne, Freiburg will end the season in the relegation play-off slot.  Wolfsburg will need both a win over Cologne and a Freiburg loss to avoid relegation.  Otherwise, Wolfsburg can match Hamburg’s result to Gladbach to land in the relegation play-off spot, or a Wolfsburg draw and a Hamburg win under 10 goals will also land Wolfsburg in the relegation play-off.  But, if Wolfsburg loses and Hamburg wins, Wolfsburg will be relegated.  Hamburg can only avoid relegation on Saturday with a win against Gladbach, and even then only if Wolfsburg loses.  If Wolfsburg draws against Cologne, Hamburg will have to win by at least 10 goals.

On May 17th, the 16th-place finisher in the 1. Bundesliga will host the 3rd-place finisher in the 2. Bundesliga, and on May 21st, the 3rd-place finisher in the 2. Bundesliga will host the 16th-place finisher in the 1. Bundesliga.  Fortuna Düsseldorf and 1. FC Nürnberg have both already won promotion to the 1. Bundesliga next season, and Holstein Kiel is in the relegation playoffs on May 17th and 21st.

The FIFA World Cup begins on June 14th.  Germany will play Mexico on June 17th, Sweden on June 23rd, and South Korea on June 27th.

The 56th season of the Bundesliga will begin on August 24th, 2018.

By Rich
Florian Mayer is a 20-year-old defender for Borussia Mönchengladbach.  Mayer was born on March 4th, 1998 and spent his youth career playing for Schalke 04 from 2005 to 2013, VfL Bochum from 2013 to 2016, and Borussia Mönchengladbach from 2016 to 2017.  His senior career continued at Gladbach starting in 2017, where he has made appearances for both their reserve squad and their 1. Bundesliga squad.  Mayer also made 1 appearance each for Germany’s U19 and U20 teams in 2017, which included a full 90 minutes against Denmark in a 3:1 victory.

By Rich
A hat trick from striker Andrej Kramaric allowed Hoffenheim to down visiting Hannover 3:1 on Friday.  Kramaric scored his 1st goal in the 16th minute off a pass from Serge Gnabry, and scored 2 further goals in the 50th minute and 86th minute, keeping them in the hunt for the Europa League and just 2 points behind Borussia Dortmund and 1 point ahead of Bayer 04 Leverkusen.  Hannover’s lone goal came in the 24th minute from Kenan Karaman, and it was his 1st goal of the season.  Kramaric’s goals were his 8th, 9th, and 10th goals since the beginning of 2018, placing him just behind Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski in goals scored this year.  Borussia Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin announced on Twitter that he has been accepted into a course at Harvard Business School, but plans to combine his studies with his BVB responsibilities.  Sahin is not the only Bundesliga player to get involved in academic activities recently:  Robert Lewandowski completed a course in 2017 in physical education with coaching and management at Warsaw’s School of Education in Sport, while Augsburg striker Alfre∂ Finnbogason and Hertha Berlin defender Jordan Torunarigha also completed courses of their own last year.  Cologne legend Lukas Podolski, who joined ​Japan’s Vissel Kobe last summer, wrote in an article for Germany’s Bild that he would love to play for his hometown club a third and final time before retiring.  Podolski, who is 32 now, joined 1. FC Köln at the age of 10 and ultimately scored 79 goals for the club in 169 league appearances.  If he returns, he could play alongside Jonas Hector and Timo Horn, who recently signed contract extensions that did not include release clauses they could have used in the event the club is relegated.  The big match on Saturday occurs when Eintracht Frankfurt travel to Munich to take on the league champions.  Frankfurt coach Niko Kovac won both of the season’s matches as a player in 2002-2003, and will take over as coach at Bayern next season.  The stats clearly point to a win for Bayern, as they have won the pair’s last 4 Bundesliga encounters and Bayern have not lost any of their last 37 Bundesliga home matches.  Frankfurt, on the other hand, have lost their last 5 away matches.  Looking ahead to Sunday, Schalke may move closer to securing a 2nd-place finish when they host Gladbach, while Gladbach are still in the hunt for a Europa League spot.  Schalke have won 13 of their last 17 home matches against the Foals.