Euro 2008 Day 2: Convincing start for Germany

Even more annoying flag sightings, this time right across my backyard on a balcony on the top floor. A huge German flag. Boy, I'm pissed. What's not surprising is that there have been slight squarrels between German and Polish fans in Klagenfurt with 17 arrests. German newspapers report that the German side was chanting anti-polish and racist slogans. All this comes as no surprise since tabloids from Poland had very mean and brutal headlines over the past week which led to retaliation from Germany's biggest tabloid "Bild". We'll just have to wait and see what will happen after the game. When both teams met during the World Cup 2006 there were some of the worst riots during the tournament.

Austria vs Croatia 0-1 (Group B)
On paper this looked like a sure win for Croatia and they went ahead early with a penalty after a foul against Ivica Olic. But from the 30th minute on they seemed to lose control of the game. Austria organized themselves and created quite a few chances. In the 2nd half it was only red-white-red. Croatia was begging for the equalizer with no effort to score a second goal. This was simply disappointing. A team who has so much skill standing in their own half and defending all the time. The player who impressed me most was Ümit Korkmaz who will go to Eintracht Frankfurt for the next season. When he came into the game Austria suddenly became much more stronger over their right side. That was something the Austrian team was missing in the beginning, all their attacks came way too often through the middle of the pitch. In the end, they deserved a draw but they simply weren't able to get clear shots at the Croatian goal. I don't see the German team have any problems with both sides, but we still have to wait how they fare against Poland.

Germany vs Poland 2-0 (Group B)
A good start into the tournament for the German team. The first half was awesome, albeit because of the Polish team putting up a good clean fight. Chances on both sides with the clearer ones for Germany which eventually lead to the first goal by Lukas Podolski. The play over the wings was extraordinary, I haven't seen a German team play a game on the sides so well in a long time. Both defensively and offensively defenders Marcell Jansen and Philipp Lahm alongside with their offensive counterparts Lukas Podolski and Clemens Fritz were great. In the first half they were dominant. The defense started to crumble a little bit after 35 minutes, but the chances Poland created weren't very convincing.
After the break Poland got more of the game while one could see that the German wingers were at their limit. Still the German attack was always a threat. There was one scene in the middle of the 2nd half when Germany took the ball in their own defense and started to flow, passing the ball over short distances, then suddenly stepping up a level and starting a promising attack over the right side which lead to a great shot by Michael Ballack which eventually was saved by Polish keeper Artur Boruc. The second goal put an end to all Polish dreams, by then Germany was in complete control.
What was annoying - as always - was the German commentary, but I have stopped to look for anything better from German TV stations. It's plainly disgraceful.
Germany are in first place of their group and looked very confident. I didn't watch the Portugal match, but this showing tonight was worthy of a contender for the title.

The Gaslight Anthem @ Werkstatt, Cologne

I had been looking forward to this evening for a long time and then it was over a little bit too fast. I was working in the morning and had to rush to a rehearsal afterwards so there wasn't any chance to grab something decent to eat by the time we arrived at the "Werkstatt". The weather was fine, quite a few people were there and before we knew it our good friends of The Gaslight Anthem came out of the venue and the time turned back a few months. It was almost like they never left. I really enjoyed talking baseball with Benny again.
The show was fabulous. The whole band seemed to be in a very good mood and everybody looked like they were having a lot of fun. Although Alex (bass) seemed to be a little annoyed by the artificial smoke cannon. New songs, old songs, even songs of the upcoming record which will be out after this summer. Oh boy, I can't wait to get this goodie.
No one of the crew seemed to be interested in Fall Of Troy who played as the headliner for the night. Judging from their fans I didn't miss much since one dork was yelling their name while The Gaslight Anthem was playing. Those fanboys can really be a nuisance.

It was one of those special nights that don't come around to often and especially since I don't have that much money to burn. Somehow I didn't go to a lot of shows in the past few months so it felt really good to hang out with my friends for a nice summer evening. The only thing on the downside was that this was the opening day of the football Euro championship so I wasn't able to watch the second game of the day. Nevermind. Great Entertainment. Hopefully I will make it to another show.

Euro 2008 Day 1: Huge setback for the hosts and an expected win for one favourite

To be honest, the tension wasn't rising for me over the past few days. Somehow I was still in some state of shock after what happened in the final game of the Verbandsliga. Maybe this will change when Germany take action today, but I will just have to wait and see. The number of flags pinned to cars and hanging out of windows is definetely increasing over the past week and it is slowly reaching a point where I will be really annoyed by the sight of black-red-gold everywhere.

Switzerland vs Czech Republic 0-1 (Group A)
I missed the opening ceremony which is a good thing since all the heck with dancers, singers and other unimportant and surely not football related stuff is something I have no interest in. When I arrived home after a rehearsal session with A Modest Proposal me and our singer sat down and watch the game. Or at least we tried. There wasn't really that much happening on the pitch and the only things I remmeber of the first half was a shot by some Swiss player from far range and the injury of Swiss striker Alexander Frei. This is extremely sad because Frei just recently recovered from a knee injury and was doing pretty well in the closing matches for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
His teammates looked like they were trying to get the win for him in the 2nd half and the created some chances, but it were the Czech team to score the only goal. The Czechs weren't convincing at all and you could really se that they are lacking the creativity of Pavel Nedved and Tomas Rosicky. All in all it was to a certain extent a typical opening match with both sides still trying to find their pace.

Portugal vs Turkey 2-0 (Group A)
This seemed to be different for the match between Turkey and Portugal, but I have to be honest: I didn't see a single moment of this one, because I was out watching The Gaslight Anthem play in Cologne. From what I've read and heard it must have been a pretty convincing victory for Portugal although Christiano Ronaldo - who everyone expects and predicts to be THE star player of this tournament - didn't seem to have his best day. His teammates stood up for him and secured the win, which gave all of us a quite night. Because every time a Turkish side wins something the community completely loses its mind and starts going crazy. So this leaves Portugal in first place after the first day and they seem to look like a sure shot to advance to the next round.

It wasn't meant to be: Fortuna lacks one point for promotion

I have never been the biggest enthusiast when it comes to cheering from the terraces. Of course I get excited and I yell stuff at the players, but I never felt close to those cheerleading sections in the stands of the stadium. I also haven't been very emotional about the results of my team. Of course I checked the games section of the newspaper or the team's website when I wasn't able to go, but I never really took it to heart. Maybe that's because my club never gave me anything important to cheer about. Important - in this sense - means the chance for promotion, a chance to win a cup, something like this. There were numerous chances, but somehow it never boiled down to that one final match which would decide everything. It was always done before we had the chance to compete.
Fortuna Cologne has always been my team ever since I begged my father to take me to a match against Eintracht Braunschweig in 1988. Two years earlier the club squandered its chance for promotion in a three game series against Borussia Dortmund. They won their home match 2-0 and lost at Dortmund 1-3 with the deciding goal being scored in the final minute. The deciding match was lost 0-8 because half of the team were down with the flu. Three years earlier they lost the final of the german cup competition in a close match against city rivals 1.FC Cologne. Fortuna was the better team back then but they lost. I somehow think I know what it must have felt like to be a Boston Red Sox fan before 2004. We have always been close, but we never made it. We had our joyous moments when we beat our rivals in the 2nd division in 98/99 twice (4-2 and 3-0). But that's it.

So today we had the chance. It came down to the last match and the whole city was buzzing. Fortuna (61 pts) was to play against VfL Leverkusen (62 pts). Fortuna needed a win, Leverkusen a draw. The match was moved to Sportpark Höhenberg, the home ground for Viktoria Cologne. And the people were pouring in. Remember, this is 5th division german football. And the turnout was more than 6.000! What a crowd. What a match.
Right from the start it was clear that Leverkusen wanted to settle for a draw. Fortuna wasn't creating any chances instead they were lucky they didn't have to concede a goal. After the break Fortuna got in control, hitting the post and the crossbar, getting their chances, keeping the hopes of their fans alive. And only a few minutes from time the scored. They scored! Oh what a joy, oh what a roar. I don't know who I hugged but I tried to catch as many people around me as possible. We were on cloud nine ........... and then we fell. Hard. Brutal. A deflected shot bounced in front of a Leverkusen striker who scored the equalizer in the 90th minute. Although evrybody says that you never experienced a crowd fall silent so instantly this was what happened. I was stunned. Speechless. Shattered. Broken. At a loss for words. The injury time was like a trance. I am still completely out of myself. I feel nothing. We came so close and yet here we are with nothing in our hands. It could have been the party of a lifetime. Our first promotion in 35 years. And now we have to start all over again.
The biggest hope, my biggest hope, is the support. The people refused to go home until the team came to them. Those guys were completely devastated. One player was crying. Honestly crying. The whole atmosphere was so gloomy. The train ride back home was so silent. Completely different from when we arrived there.

I think I will need a few days to get over this. But when I am I will look forward to the next season.

Verbandsliga: Let's go f*ckin' mental, Fortuna wins again!

Usually when sporting events are pretty close calls german media tends to label those games "directed by Hitchcock". And one could not describe it better when it comes to Fortuna Cologne's last home game this season. The situation before the game was clear: Fortuna was in 2nd place with 4 points behind leaders VfL Leverkusen. Leverkusen was playing in Alfter who had only lost two home games. So all we needed was a win against Borussia Freialdenhoven and a loss to Leverkusen at Alfter. When the game started the atmosphere was almost like 10 years ago, when Fortuna was still playing in the 2nd division. 2.100 spectators, cheerleaders accompanying the players onto the pitch, chants, banners, flags, everything. Still the game started porrly. Fortuna was behind early (14') and from that point on it was a very onesided affair. The equalizer came after 22 minutes when Rachid Boullal scored a volley screamer after a header from Marc Böing. The score stayed like this until halftime and when the news spread that Alfter went up 1-0 against Leverkusen the mood was suddenly getting better.
in the 2nd half things looked good. Until Fortuna lost Yannick Moudoute. He kicked away the ball after commiting a foul and then he complained which led to another yellow card. So here we were, down to 10 men and still tied at 1-1. Things didn't look good, but all of a sudden it was only Fortuna playing. True, Freialdenhoven was approaching Fortuna's goal every now and then, but there was never any immediate threat. Instead Fortuna missed quite a few chances themselves. Then, in the 84th minute Kevin Kruth scored and the whole stadium errupted. In the meantime people were notified that Alfter was leading 2-0 against Leverkusen and there we were. It all comes down to the one final game. The last game of the season. VfL Leverkusen will host Fortuna next week to decide who will be promoted to the new Oberliga NRW. Leverkusen can settle for a draw, Fortuna needs a win. And, oh boy, have they won in the past few weeks. They are at eight in a row now and while the team was celebrating with the fans you could hear people say "only one more, guys, only one more!".
I have the feeling that I am witnessing something very special. This is a special team and what they have achieved up until now is already impressive. If they get promoted they will become immortal. Only one more.

Champions League Final: United have done it again

The fourth final since 2001 which was decided in a penalty shootout and the funnny thing for the Germans is that those were two english clubs going at it after extra time. England always has the image of failing in a penalty shootout as they had done so very often in the past, especially on the national team level. But let's start from the beginning.
You can break down the match in to different intervalls. The first half was completely dominated by Manchester United who controlled Chelsea for most of the time and went ahead 1-0 on a header by Christiano Ronaldo (26') who scored following a very nice combination on the left side which led to a beautiful cross by Wes Brown. They should have gone up 2-0 only minutes later when Tevez (with a header) and Carrick (with a shot from 12 m) found their master in Chelase goalkeeper Petr Cech (35').
There really was nothing to see of Chelsea. The attack was taken out of the game by Manchester, Drogba, Joe Cole and Malouda didn't create any chances, the midfield wasn't in charge at all, although the german TV commentary always praised Michael Ballack for his efforts. The equalizer came as a bit of a surprise only seconds from half time. Lampard scored on a deflected ball (45').

But this all turned around as soon as the teams came out for the 2nd half. Now Chelsea was dominating the game, pressing Manchester back into their half and even striker Wayne Rooney had to help out in the defense. Chelase created a lot of chances and while the german TV commentary was all praise for Ballack one should not forget the efforts of the lone striker Drogba, who got close to scoring when he hit the post (78'). But there weren't any goals in the 2nd half so the game went into extra time. from there on the game got a little ugly, mainly because there were a little too many breaks in the action. A lot of players went down with cramps causing the referee Lubos Michel to stop the game very often. Still both teams were looking for their chances with Chelsea having the better ones, the biggest coming from Lampard who hit the crossbar (94'). There was turmoil in the 2nd half of extra time after some fighting on the field following an argument between Vidic and Drogba which saw the Ivory Coast international sent off with a red card (116'). But that was it, they were going to penalties.

Ronaldo was the first to miss and he did so with his very own arrogant style. When you shoot a penalty the run up to the shoot has to be one fluent motion, you are not allowed to stop in between. Now what do you think is Ronaldo doing? He stops half way to irritated Cech who the blocks the ball. I simply get annoyed when Ronaldo does something like that. He is such a talented player but I simply hate his arrogance. Chelsea should have won this had only John Terry scored. He was the last of the five Chelsea players to shoot the penalty and he only hit the post. Anelka then missed his chance and by doing so he was giving the tile to Manchester who once again are champions of Europe. Congratulations.

An exciting match which lost a bit of steam in the closing minutes and in extra time, but the will power of the players and the intensity was always there. The most annoying thing to me was the german commentary. It is a real nuisance to listen to those idiots talking about stuff they don't know anything about. Most of what they say is about sthings which are not taking place on the pitch. Hey, let's be honest, I want to hear a comment about the game, not about something which happened last evening in the players' lounge or whereever. German TV will never get this.
The other big story was Michael Ballack who is still waiting for his first win in a big final match. He lost with Leverkusen in 2002, he wasn't in the World Cup final that year because he was booked in the semi against Korea and now he lost with Chelsea. A friend of mine is really worried that this might affect his performance during the Euro 2008. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

German Bundesliga: The Season Recap

So this season is finally over and Bayern are champions again. Who would have thought...
There weren't any really big surprises apart from Nürnberg going straight down to the 2nd division after they had won the german cup a year ago. The almost did the same thing 40 years ago, when they were relegated after winning the championship, the only club to do so in the history of the Bundesliga. Having said that Bielefeld is staying in the Bundesliga which, I think, will be of some relief for other teams because I don't see Bielefeld strong enough to stay on top. Moving up the ladder the race for the Uefa-Cup was a close one. Four teams had a chance, but in the end only two remained. Hamburg and Wolfsburg will represent Germany in next year's competition while Stuttgart will test their luck in the UI-Cup and Leverkusen will have to watch it from afar. Apparently they are so frustrated at Leverkusen they immidiately fired coach Michael Skibbe, which is something I cannot understand at all. That man has built up something there, bringing in a lot of young players and having them play some really exciting football. Now having him kicked after a season which didn't earn the club a spot in international competition is way too much.
Speaking of changes, Borussia Dortmund finally got rid off coach Thomas Doll and that was the best that could happen to the club. Doll stepped down at his own will after a more than mediocre season with the appearance in the german cup final being his only accomplishment. He completely ruined the team, though I have to admit that some of his players are simply not fit for Bundesliga football.
Looking forward to next season I don't really see that many changes. Bayern will make it again, I think. Behind them there will be Schalke and Bremen (just as this year) and behind those two there will be two other teams out of Wolfsburg, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Leverkusen, maybe one surprise team as well. Somehow this is getting a little boring...
The final table:

1 Bayern München 34 22 10 2 68:21 47 76
2 Werder Bremen 34 20 6 8 75:45 30 66
3 FC Schalke 04 34 18 10 6 55:32 23 64
4 Hamburger SV 34 14 12 8 47:26 21 54
5 VfL Wolfsburg 34 15 9 10 58:46 12 54
6 VfB Stuttgart 34 16 4 14 57:57 0 52
7 Bayer Leverkusen 34 15 6 13 57:40 17 51
8 Hannover 96 34 13 10 11 54:56 -2 49
9 Eintracht Frankfurt 34 12 10 12 43:50 -7 46
10 Hertha BSC 34 12 8 14 39:44 -5 44
11 Karlsruher SC 34 11 10 13 38:53 -15 43
12 VfL Bochum 34 10 11 13 48:54 -6 41
13 Borussia Dortmund 34 10 10 14 50:62 -12 40
14 Energie Cottbus 34 9 9 16 35:56 -21 36
15 Arminia Bielefeld 34 8 10 16 35:60 -25 34
16 1. FC Nürnberg 34 7 10 17 35:51 -16 31
17 Hansa Rostock 34 8 6 20 30:52 -22 30
18 MSV Duisburg 34 8 5 21 36:55 -19 29

Going down one floor in the 2nd division you had some last minute drama on the last matchday. While almost everything was clear on top with M'gladbach and Cologne having secured promotion at the bottom of the table there were four teams fighting for survival. Former top level club 1.FC Kaiserslautern pulled themselves out of it by beating a team from Cologne who looked as if they had too much party after their promotion last weekend (3-0). So it had to be Kickers Offenbach, who lost to Osnabrück who are now joing Paderborn, Jena and Aue in what will be the new third division of german football next year. Meanwhile perhaps the biggest surprise was the promotion of Hoffenheim, a very small village in the south of Germany. Backed by the financial powers of Dietmar Hopp, the man behind computer giant SAP, this club went all the way from the pits of amateur football to the first division. Hopp, who actually played as a striker for Hoffenheim when he was young, achieved this not only by spending some money but also because he hired the right people for the coaching staff. Ralf Rangnick, former coach of Schalke, Hannover and Stuttgart is in charge and behind him there is Bernhard Peters who coordinates the training regimes for the youth teams. Peters, a former national hockey coach for Team Germany, was also in the mix for the german national football team before the World Cup in 2006, but was not considered, much to the anger of Klinsmann. So now those two are working in Hoffenheim and they brought this village of around 4.500 inhabitants to the Bundesliga. Which annoys a lot of those traditionalists who would rather see big clubs with a lot of history and big stadiums play on the top level. Still Hoffenheim earned it and, to be honest, I'd rather watch some decent football by a small club than see struggling big clubs who are simply not delivering. Welcome Hoffenheim.
The final Table of the 2nd Division:

1 Borussia M'gladbach 34 18 12 4 71:38 33 66
2 1899 Hoffenheim 34 17 9 8 60:40 20 60
3 1. FC Köln 34 17 9 8 62:44 18 60
4 1. FSV Mainz 05 34 16 10 8 62:36 26 58
5 SC Freiburg 34 15 10 9 49:44 5 55
6 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 34 14 10 10 53:47 6 52
7 Alemannia Aachen 34 14 9 11 49:44 5 51
8 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 34 11 11 12 47:53 -6 44
9 FC St. Pauli 34 11 9 14 47:53 -6 42
10 TuS Koblenz 34 12 11 11 46:47 -1 41
11 1860 München 34 9 14 11 42:45 -3 41
12 VfL Osnabrück 34 10 10 14 43:54 -11 40
13 1. FC Kaiserslautern 34 9 12 13 37:37 0 39
14 FC Augsburg 34 10 8 16 39:51 -12 38
15 Kickers Offenbach 34 9 11 14 38:60 -22 38
16 Erzgebirge Aue 34 7 11 16 49:57 -8 32
17 SC Paderborn 07 34 6 13 15 33:54 -21 31
18 FC Carl Zeiss Jena 34 6 11 17 45:68 -23 29

Which still leaves open who will be promoted to the 2nd division from the Regionalliga as there are still some matchdays left on their schedule.

And, of course there are the final two rounds on Verbandsliga level where Fortuna Köln is trying to get into first place to earn promotion to the new NRW Oberliga. Fortuna are four points behind leaders VfL Leverkusen who have to play at 13th place VfL Alfter who play their home games on ash which will be tough. While Fortuna take on Borussia Freialdenhoven (6th). If Leverkusen loses and Fortuna wins then we will have a real final at Leverkusen on the last day of the season as Fortuna will travel up north to take on the leaders. It's going to be close. If you're capable of understanding german here's a page where you can follow the action.