Although the top level of German soccer–the Bundesliga–won’t start play until mid August the lower level leagues in the country are already underway with their season. That includes the second level of competition known as 2.Bundesliga and they’re featuring an attractive Monday game between Arminia Bielefeld and St. Pauli. The game will be played at the Sch\u00fccoArena in Bielefeld, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both of these teams finished middle of the pack in 2018-2019 with Arminia in 7th place and St. Pauli in 9th. Each team finished with 49 points (along with Holstein Kiel and Jahn Regensburg) but ended up in their final seeding due to goal differential. St. Pauli had a -7 goal differential last year while Arminia finished ‘in the black’ in terms of goal differential at +2. Arminia had a stronger finish to the season with 3 wins in their final five games (3-1-1) while St. Pauli had only 1 win in their final five fixtures of the season (1-1-3). In fact, Arminia ended the year on a three game winning streak and should come into this season with decent confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
St. Pauli started last season strong but faded badly toward the end of the campaign. Given their shabby performance near the end of the year it’s hard to believe that at one point they were in the mix near the top of the table and competing for promotion. They were as high as second place in the 2.Bundesliga table at one point but when they hit a losing streak they ‘hit hard’. Eventually it was a six game winless streak that included three games lost by a margin of three goals. It was this run that knocked them out of promotion contention and cost former manager Markus Kauczinski his job. They brought in Jos Luhukay as his replacement on an interim basis and decided to bring him back this season. He’ll be on a ‘short leash’ and a poor start could see him sacked as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arminia Bielefeld did the exact opposite. They were miserable in the first half of the season and found themselves in the lower echelon of the standings for much of the year. The nadir of their campaign was a nine game winless run but their play improved toward the end of the season–enough that manager Uwe Neuhaus was brought back for this year. The team has a bit more confidence in him than St. Pauli does in Luhukay. As is usually the case at this level of football, both sides lost quite a few players from last season but this is the same refrain heard every year by teams below the European elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
St. Pauli won last year at Beilefeld but that was before each team experienced their late season reversal of fortune. Look for the home side to get a measure of revenge in a game that should see a fair amount of scoring. The Germany soccer odds<\/a> show this as the only game on the board for Monday and we’ll call it Arminia Bielefeld\/Over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n