"Sunday is when the fun begins." -Philipp Lahm

Yes, he's right. But, to be fair, Friday's Bundesliga opener was pretty terrific stuff. Especially Dortmund's very young Mario Goetze. Man, that kid is absolute shenanigans! And Saturday's televised match in the United States- Stuttgart / Schalke- was entertaining as well. Unless you're a Schalke supporter, that is.

Really, this whole summer has been filled with football: Youth tournaments, Women's World Cup, Copa America, Gold Cup... not to mention the U.S. tour of footballing juggernauts. My voice still hasn't recovered from supporting Chivas over Barcelona in Miami on Wednesday. "Bicicletaaaaaaaaaaaa!" But, football is only football when it's not Bayern Munich on the pitch. Yep, Herr Lahm, you're correct.

Our opening Pokal match against Braunschweig might not have been the best indication of what's to come. But, our most glaring weakness the past two seasons- the back line- might actually be decent this campaign. Boateng has made anyone he's partnered with at center look better. (Here's to hoping the dodgy knee holds up.) And Rafinha, while he makes some iffy decisions, is certainly a few ticks up from anyone playing the wing other than our fearless leader, Philipp. I will, however, reserve the right to change my mind at a moment's notice.

The question for Jupp Heynckes is: Who will be starting? Goalkeepers Neuer and Butt both missed training with tummy-aches... ahem! I mean, "gastro-intestinal distress." However, Neuer's fit to start, says Jupp. The back four will be the same we saw earlier this week: Rafinha, Boateng, Badstuber, Lahm. Coach seems to be leaning towards partnering Tymoschuk, over Gustavo, with Schweini. Now, when we get to attacking midfield, that's where it all gets silly. It all depends on how confident Mr. Heynckes is on the recoveries of Rib and Rob. I'm sure one of them will start, and my money's on Franck. That would leave Mueller on the other wing, and Kroos (who I thought was highly ineffective on Monday) in the ten-slot. Mario Gomez starts up front to defend his goal-scoring title.

My question is: What if Ribery and Robben are both starting? Who do you tell to grab some wood? You can't sit Mueller, can you? But, we all know how much Jupp loves Toni... I'm interested to see what he does with the line-up when everyone is available.

Gladbach clawed their way out of relegation at the end of last season, but Lucien Favre's squad is not to be taken lightly. After all, we didn't take all 6 points from them last term. And they have Marcos Reus, who scored for them in their Pokal opener, continuing his fine form.

"It's only 'Gladbach" is a faulty way of thinking. You only have to look to our slow start last year to show that's correct. We spent the entire year playing an exhausting game of catch up... and we never quite caught up. Dortmund made it clear on Friday that they are absolutely, undoubtedly, for real. We can hardly afford to be points down after Matchday 1. That being said, Philipp still said it best: Sunday is when the fun begins.

Auf gehts, Bayern!

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