By Rich M.

​Dennis Geiger is a 25-year-old midfielder for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Geiger was born on June 10, 1998 in Mosbach, Germany, and played for SV Alemannia Sattelbach until 2009, when he joined Hoffenheim’s youth academy. His senior career continued at Hoffenheim beginning in 2017, where he has since scored 6 goals in 102 appearances. Geiger has also made 39 appearances for Germany’s U15, U16, U17, U19, and U21 squads since 2012, scoring 1 goal.

by Rich M.

SV Werder Bremen advanced in the table on Friday with a 1:0 away win against 1. FC Köln. The game’s lone goal came in the 70th minute, when Justin Njinmah touched in a cross from Mitchell Weiser. The goal was Njinmah’s 5th in the Bundesliga, and moves his club 13 points clear of the relegation zone. The loss ends Köln’s 3-game unbeaten streak and leaves the club in the relegation play-off spot, just 4 points ahead of Mainz and Darmstadt. Mainz will host Augsburg on Saturday, and history clearly has been on Augsburg’s side. Augsburg have defeated Mainz more times (12) than they have any other Bundesliga side. The reverse fixture had Augsburg come from behind to win 2:1, thanks to 2 goals from Ermin Demirovic. Darmstadt will host Stuttgart on Saturday, and are currently on a club record of 14 straight winless league matches. Darmstadt’s last league win was back on October 7, when they beat Augsburg 2:1. Stuttgart won the reverse fixture 3:1, thanks in part to Serhou Guirassy, whose 17 goals so far this season make him the league’s second-most proficient scorer, behind only Bayern’s Harry Kane. Saturday’s late game between hosts RB Leipzig and visitors Borussia Mönchengladbach could be a tightly-fought contest. Leipzig are coming off a Champions League loss to Real Madrid earlier in the week, and have only won 1 of their last 6 Bundesliga contests. Gladbach are still without a win in the second half of the current campaign, having drawn with Darmstadt last weekend and lost to Bayern the weekend before that. Gladbach have also never won in Leipzig in 7 attempts, including losses in the last 3. A win for Leipzig could bring them even on points with Dortmund, depending on the outcome of the game earlier in the day between Wolfsburg and Dortmund. The big match on Sunday will be that between hosts Sport-Club Freiburg and visitors Eintracht Frankfurt, who are separated by 4 points in the upper half of the table. The reverse fixture this season ended in a 0:0 draw, and Frankfurt are unbeaten in their last 3 meetings with Freiburg, and only lost 1 of the previous 8. Matchday 22 will end later on Sunday when VfL Bochum 1848 host FC Bayern München, in what could be another lop-sided Bayern victory. The visitors have claimed a 7:0 win in this fixture in each of the last 3 seasons, while winning their last 3 games against Bochum by an aggregate score of 17:0. The reverse fixture on Matchday 5 featured Harry Kane’s first Bundesliga hat-trick, and Kane also assisted on 2 other goals.

By Rich M.

​Tarek Buchmann is an 18-year-old defender for FC Bayern München. Buchmann was born on February 28, 2005 in Augsburg, Germany, and spent his youth career playing for FC Lauingen and FC Augsburg before joining Bayern’s youth academy in 2019. He signed his first professional contract in 2023, and made his professional debut on August 29, 2023 for Bayern München II in a Regionalliga Bayern match against DJK Vilzing. Muscular injuries in the current season have kept him out of action. Buchmann has also made 12 appearances for Germany’s U16, U17, and U18 squads since 2020. Buchmann is the son of a Togolese father and German mother, and was awarded the Fritz Walter Medal U17 Bronze in 2022.