On Bayern Munich: Notes from their classic opening game against VFL Wolfsburg.

German giants Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg faced off today in the opening match of the world's top scoring football league: the Bundesliga. And all of the bells and whistles were clanging and clattering. In my feed from an Italian television station, I saw the opening ceremonies. These consisted of children in giant plastic balls running around the field in Bayern and Wolfsburg jerseys. It was amusing, as German culture often is.

But now, to the match. This was a tale of two halves, as some football matches turn out to be. I will first break down the major events of the game, then get more in depth:

In the first half, Bayern totally dominated possession. I believe the tally was 72% to 28%, which is absurd.

Bayern wasted no time getting on the scoreline, as in the 8th minute clever one-touch interplay between youngsters Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller (the World Cup's Golden Boot winner) generated the first goal. Muller's finish was clinical and left Wolfsburg's Swiss keeper Diego Benaglio flat-footed in disbelief. It seemed that the world would be in for another Bundesliga season dominated by the boys in red and white stripes from Munich.

Other than this, no real chances were generated in the first half, as Bayern knocked the ball around looking for a way through.

The second half found Wolfsburg very much on the front foot, mostly because of a substitution of midfielders Tolga Cigerci for Zvjezdan Misimovic. I personally don't know why Misimovic wasn't starting, as I consider the Bosnian to be an absolute artist with the football at his feet. But here I was saying I'd save the analysis for afterwards.

Anyway, Wolfsburg generated two great chances, the first for Mario Manzukic, whose effort agonizingly hit the post. The second came from Edin Dzeko, who forced a great save from Bayern keeper Jorg Butt with an extremely impressive driven shot that menacingly dipped halfway on it's way to the upper 90.

The corner that followed would produce the equalizer, as Dzeko rose unchallenged, flicking the ball into the top right corner.

From here, things quieted down again, as Bayern once again dominated the game. Bayern soon changed out an all but absent Miroslav Klose for Mario Gomez, and switched in Danijel Pranjic for Kroos.

It looked as if the game would finish level, and Wolfsburg seemed happy to let it do so. But, in the 91st minute, Franck Ribery whipped in a cross that looked too far, something that plagued him all night. But sliding in on the back post was the man of the match (not arguable), Bastian Schweinsteiger (pictured above), who got a touch on the ball, slotting it into the goal. Jubiliation for Bayern, who were playing in front of a lively and bursting to the seams Allianz Arena, and dejection for Wolfsburg followed.

And now for the analysis, first for Bayern:

First we'll start off with the bad stuff. The problem for Bayern in this game is a problem they struggled all last season with. Of course, they still won a double and got to the final of the Champions League, so I guess "struggle" isn't really the right word. But at any rate, the fact is, Klose barely touched the ball in this game. He looked to be totally lost and just didn't seem to be a part of the gameplan to begin with. However, he wasn't helped by Ribery, who, I think, had a less than great game, until the last minute of course. Every ball he played in was over everyone's head, and he seemed to have no pace at all with the ball. He just didn't look lethal in any respect.

Even when Klose was taken out for Gomez nothing was happening up top for Bayern. The one striker that I think really fits in this team is Ivica Olic, who was unavailable for this game. Here's why: he's fast, can pass well, and works well in structured environments. Klose and Gomez are good for teams that rely on a defense-counter system, so they can stand on one end of the field, get into the box when their team has the ball before anyone else can get back, and out muscle the one man on them and head it in. All of Klose's 14 goals for Germany were made inside of the penalty box. He needs good service, and that's not how Bayern works.

Let me explain further with this game as an example, Bayern work best when their talented wingers: Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, and Thomas Muller, cut inside, or when they're working the ball through the middle with Schweinstager and Van Bommel.

One more bad thing and then I'll tell you why Bayern are incredible: defending set pieces. In almost every set piece today Bayern were outboxed and outjumped by Edin Dzeko. That's how they conceded the only goal for Wolfsburg, but Dzeko had plenty of other opportunities to convert from these situations. I think Bayern really missed Argentine giant Martin Demichelis inside. Demichelis didn't play because he was basically the reason why Argentina were eliminated in the World Cup, and why Bayern lost the Champions League final against Inter. And all of the fans hate him. Hate him or love him, the guy's big and he's good at set pieces. It's a give and take, really. Quid pro quo.

Now, good things, starting with the best: Bastian Schweinsteiger. Schweiny is a general on the football pitch. It's the only way to describe his ability to organize his side and play exactly the right pass every single time. Not to mention his rare-but-genius runs into the box, the penultimate one being the one that won Bayern this particular game. Schweiny is the Scholes of the Bundesliga, he dictates the game almost single-handedly. He also has the work ethic of two men and will take an inhumane beating for the good of the cause. But of course he always gets up, cuz Schweiny ain't no bitch. Bayern fans must feel assured in knowing that their brightest star is still shining, selflessly, in the Allianz Arena.

Also in midfield today was Mark Van Bommel, who was good. It's hard to really say anything else, because he was just adequate. He did exactly what he had to do, no more, no less. He took a shot at one point that sailed ten yards over the cross bar and I saw him mouth "That's not me." You have to admire his honesty.

I also got a chance to see Toni Kroos today, who was very impressive. The most impressive thing about this new German starlet was his ability to link play between the midfield and the attackers. It was this ability that resulted in Muller's goal. Kroos has pretty good field vision, and also plays with a great speed that gives Bayern a certain lethality in the final third. I look forward to seeing this young man progress, and perhaps even become a 90 minute fixture for them. The Italian commentators seemed to be relishing in the fact that Kroos and the Italian word for cross are quite similar sounding, as they said his name and then that word in quick succession whenever he crossed the ball. It was humorous.

Pranjic coming off the bench and replacing Kroos was also quite good. He's a similar player to Kroos, but just has that bit of experience that I think manager Louis Van Gaal thought would be enough to give Bayern the edge.

Let's move up to the attacking players before we go back. Ribery, despite his game winning cross, I didn't think was very impressive in this game. Most times he was the one who would have generated the chances for Bayern, but he lacked any quality in the final third today to generate those chances until that final minute. As I said earlier, each ball was pretty well over the heads of the Bayern hopefuls in the box, and his shots were tame to say the least. Benaglio sort of flopped on each of them as they rolled toward him, almost mockingly. When Bayern's attacks ended, it was often because of a misplaced ball or a selfish play by the aging Frenchman.

On the other side Muller was phenomenal. Other than his goal, Muller flew around the pitch with the same ease that he showcased in the World Cup. He and Kroos also seem to be on the same wavelength, which I think will be an extremely interesting connection to watch throughout the season. Muller was also the only one making a valiant effort to get the ball in to Klose or Gomez. The problem is that both of them make such nebulous, truly worthless runs in the box, that Muller would often look, and then try and take it himself, knowing that he would just give it away if he tried. I believe that the Italian commentators were saying that Manchester United have interest in Muller, because every time he got the ball they mentioned the club. I hope that doesn't happen. Even though I'm a Man U fan, Muller belongs in Germany and he belongs at this club. I hope he stays.

I won't talk about the strikers, I've already chewed them out enough.

To the back. As I mentioned, Demichelis was out of this match, as Van Gaal preferred another German youngster Holger Badstuber. Badstuber was impressive today. He stormed out of the back and was the starting point of some of Bayern's more promising attacks. He had a few lapses in defense, but overall had a solid debut.

Daniel Van Buyten appeared as usual alongside Badstuber and also had a good game. He hardly wasted a ball and was often where Wolfsburg attacks ended. The Dzeko goal was his fault, I'm pretty sure, but forgive and forget I suppose.

Philipp Lahm was a little less impressive today, not making as many of his infamous overlapping runs out of the back. He was solid in defense, but the usual flare from him wasn't quite there.

Perhaps the most interesting performance was from debut boy Diego Contento. Despite his name, this young man (20) was born in Germany and I personally think he could be the future left back for Germany. I also don't particularly like Boateng, but that's another story for a different day. Young Diego was the fullback on display for Bayern, making a number of audacious and successful runs from the back. He seemed to be everywhere for Bayern. I look forward to the double pronged fullback attack from Lahm and Contento this year.

In goal, Butt was solid, as to be expected. He stopped a shot with his foot, tipped over a howler from Dzeko that would have surely scored, and had good distribution, despite one terrible giveaway.

On to Wolfsburg, which will be more brief:

Midfield: Brazilian Josue and Algerian jackass Karim Ziani (remember him?) were reduced to Van Bommel and Schweinsteiger's tackling dummies. They might as well have been spectators.

Misimovic, when he came in for the second half, was the high point. His passing was brilliant, his moves were slick. His finishing however, would cost Wolfsburg the match.

Cicero was committed almost entirely to defense, which he actually performed valiantly.

Conspiculously absent was star Thomas Kahlenberg. I don't know where he was, maybe he's hurt or something.

Attack: Edin Dzeko is one of the hottest players in the world. He will not stop scoring this year, I promise. His header was sublime and the shot that Butt tipped over I don't think would have been stopped by any other Bundesliga keeper.

Mandzukic was a workhorse and did the work that Josue and Ziani shamelessly didn't do. I'm not sure why Brazilian Grafite didn't start for him. Speaking of Grafite, he came on for like five minutes and did nothing. In case you were wondering.

Defense: Andrea Barzagli was the dominant performance, who was probably the one thing keeping Muller from a brace.

Slovakian Simon Kjaer was also quite good, and played a major part in rendering Klose and then Gomez useless.

Riether and Schafer were the other two, and I honestly barely learned their names.

I've already talked a lot about Benaglio, who was decent. Sucks for him that they lost.

These are all of my reactions from today's match. I'm sure you have some thoughts. You don't need an account to comment, you can be anonymous.

Stay tuned tomorrow for match day number two from the Premier League.

On Ribery and Benzema: What their prostitution scandal means

So some interesting news came across the wire last night: French national players Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery (pictured above) have been arrested by a special magistrate in Paris for paying an underaged sex worker for...well, sex.

Now before we go any further, we need to put this in a cultural context, after all, this is France we're talking about. Prostitution is legal in France but only if the sex worker is 18, this young woman was 16 at the time of the alleged incidents. However, there are a number of appendixes and stuff, like the person has to "look like a minor, say they're a minor, or the client has to know that they are." All of which Ribery's lawyer is claiming "was not the case." So in a sense, because of France's loose mores about this kind of thing, Ribery and Benzema probably won't recieve the 40,000 dollar fine and or 4 years in prison that they might if they had done this in Singapore. However, there are still implications we need to discuss.

This girl has come out and said repeatedly that they had no idea, but she also knows that she could have just damned one of the most popular footballers on the modern stage, Ribery. She can come out and say on record all she wants, but somehow I don't think that Ribery or Benzema were completely oblivious to her age. They also paid top dollar for her, so that tells you something. Benzema met her in a night club and paid for her services, and Ribery flew her out in a hotel in Germany as a birthday present to himself.

Now, let's talk about what this means to me and world football. In this case, I feel like Benzema is at least moderately forgivable. He's still young, he's still enjoying the delights of being a young kid just signed to Real Madrid, so in that sense I guess he's sort of off the hook.

Ribery, on the other hand, has a huge reputation as not only being a modest man with a very happy marriage, but he's also been around the block a few times. He made one of the bravest recoveries in the history of sports when he resumed playing football after a massive car accident nearly killed him and left a huge scar on his right cheek. He's always been one of the cleanest, most sporting players on earth and has a huge amount of respect wherever he goes. What I'm saying is, it really makes you think when a guy like Ribery gets caught doing stuff like this. There was an episode of South Park recently about rich men cheating on their wives in lou of Tiger Woods, and the gyst of the episode was that we shouldn't act all surprised when it happens. But I think that needs to stop. At one point do we lower our standards so low for men, and still expect a woman to be monogamous, that we become an uncivilized, moraless society? And even without that, would we not expect better of some of our most idolized and respected figures of said society?

I don't know, I know I expected better from Ribery. It'd be one thing if this was Ronaldo, who has allegedly had sex with hundreds of women. But it's frickin' Ribery. He may have to come off my favorite player list.

On France: What makes them the most balanced team in the world

France is not my favorite team. I'm actually pretty sure I have no feelings about them whatsoever. But, when looking over their roster, it's incredible to realize how much balance this team has, in every aspect of the game. Let's examine this.

1. Power and speed in attack. Franck Ribery (pictured above) is really fast. But, he's not Theo Walcott fast (who runs like a track star who happens to have a ball at his feet), this is controlled speed. This is speed that can stop on a dime, cut in, and deliver a cross. To my knowledge, other than Portugal's Simao, the previously mentioned England's Walcott, and Holland's Arjen Robben, no other player is known for breakneck pace like Ribery is. Ribery sets the pace for this team, and you should watch France if only to (try) and see him on the ball.

But then they've got guys with great power too, like Yoann Gourcuff, whom I discussed yesterday. So France can gash you with their pace, and then break your back with their heartstopping shots.

2. Age. Some teams in the world cup this year, like Germany, Holland, and in my mind Brazil, are getting a little old. Like, all of them. Other teams, like Argentina, are full of a lot of youngsters. France has a lot of both, the perfect mix really. And this shows with their captain, Thierry Henry. Now, Henry didn't play his best football this year, riding the bench at Barca, but he's still a leader on and off the field. Then they have guys like Gourcuff, who are in their first World Cup and are eager to make their debut.

3. Balance at every position. Let's start from the back and work our way forward on this one. Lloris is a great goalkeeper. So great, that many think that a lot of the reason why Lyon made their run in the Champions League this year is because of his outstanding reach and reaction time.

In defense, they have William Gallas, who is arguably the strongest defender in football. He's also a cocky asshole, which is needed on the back line of any great team. Then they have Patrice Evra, who is, in my mind, the best defender on the ball in the world. His crosses are absolutely superb, and his ability to get up the field will allow Ribery to get into the box, where that speed and agility will come in very handy. Also back there is Bacary Sagna, who has been known to get up field and take a whack or two, adding some power into the mix. They round it out with Gael Clichy, a solid, all-around good defender.

Midfield is where the talent really starts to show. In the defensive midfield positions, they have Alou Diarra and Jeremy Toulalan, one of the most reliably impenetrable combinations in Europe. Out on the wings, they have Ribery and Florent Malouda, who is also wickedly fast. Then up top in the middle is the man of the hour, Gourcuff.

Finally, up top, they have Nicolas Anelka who was recently described by The Sun as "the world's most complete striker," Henry whom we have already talked about, and Andre-Pierre Gignac, who's got some great skills.

All in all, I can't think of another team that has this kind of balance in every aspect of football (shut up Spain). France is a darkhorse to win the Cup, in my opinion.