A Morning mit Bundesliga

(image via gorriti’s flickr stream)

Hoping for an EPL game to follow this morning, ESPN3 was streaming a Bundesliga match between FC Augusburg (recently promoted to Bundesliga 1) and FC Kaiserslautern at Kaiserslautern. As will probably be the case during much of the season, halftime was spent doing a little wiki research on both the clubs and the Bundesliga in general.

Evidently, Kaiserslautern is home to 50,000 NATO troops, many of them American, with Ramstein AFB located in the vicinity. This brings to question the number of Americans attending these games and how much American interest there is in the European soccer leagues in general. I can assume if the popularity of MLS in this country is any indication, it’s a small, but growing share (more on this in a future post).

Anyway, Augsburg dominated most of the first half until Kaiserslautern turned things around, and put a little more pressure on the offensive end, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

Of what I’ve seen of both leagues, the competition and level of play seem to be equal between the EPL and Bundesliga. Of course, this is coming from my rather nascent fandom, so it will be interesting to see how both seasons play out, and how profound my knowledge is come next summer. Ultimately, if I can maintain an icy Bob Bradley-esque stare, gazing into the TV screen, unblinking and undistracted, assimilating an entire match between, say, Wigan and Blackburn, I’ll consider myself successful.