Saturday Scores: Nürnberg Holds BVB, Werder Tops Hamburg

FC Bayern is off until tomorrow afternoon (see our preview of the match here), but otherwise we've had a pretty busy day through Germany. Read on for a quick recap of scores, a few video highlights, and a discussion of how the table might look after the weekend.

First, and most importantly: 1 FC Nürnberg rose to the challenge, earning a 1-1 draw vs. defending champions Borussia Dortmund. Der Stadion Nürnberg was rocking when Tomas Pekhart gave the home side the lead. Kuba leveled a few minutes later for BVB, but Nürnberg held on for a vital point. Some goal highlights:

Looks like that was Hummels who got out-jumped to the header on that first goal. In fact, I shouldn't even say "out-jumped" when Hummels really didn't even try to jump at all. He tried to do that basketball-box-out move, instead of just trusting himself to go up high and win the header. Anyway, both of these clubs are now on 4 points after 2 matches. Nothing truly disastrous for BVB, but it opens the door for Bayern and a few other clubs to take an early lead, IF we take care of business on our end.

Elsewhere, Werder Bremen and Hamburg were both looking for their first points, and it was Werder who did enough for a win. ESPN's Soccernet calls this one a match between "derby rivals," but I think they're sort of stretching the meaning of that term. It was quiet in the early going, with a missed penalty and a Nils Petersen near-miss the only highlights of the first half. But Bremen turned it on in the second, with Nils sealing the win with a goal that took the score to 2-0.

Schalke picked up a 3-1 win over Augsburg, going ahead in the 33d minute and never looking troubled after that. Ibie Afellay came off the bench to make his debut for Die Blau und Scheiss. Some video from that one - should have all goals:

Some other quick-hitters:

- Leverkusen beat Freiburg 2-0, going ahead inside the first 10 minutes and never looking back

- Eintracht Frankfurt clobbered Hoffenheim, 4-0. Hoffenheim had two men sent off, but it was already 2-0 to Eintracht Frankfurt even when the numbers were even.

- BMG and Düsseldorf are scoreless in the 2d half, with the Foals having the better chances. Düsseldorf would probably be happy with a draw here, which would leave them undefeated in their first 2 after promotion.

We'll have a more complete rundown after tomorrow's games. Briefly, Eintracht Frankfurt is possible the biggest positive surprise, and Hamburger SV and TSG Hoffenheim are possibly the biggest negative surprises. BMG starting to make some noise as I'm writing this. Thanks for reading.