Time To Turn Things Around

As you may have noticed, I haven’t really been writing much on here lately.  Yes, I haven’t put any words down but I really haven’t been wholeheartedly following my soccer much either.  It’s been mostly passive following, just checking the scores here and there.  I couldn’t tell you the last time I actually watched a match.  (It was probably the last time I posted…)  Well that needs to change.

And so do my teams’ performances…

When I last wrote the club seasons were just starting really.  To begin, Nurnberg had a win and a fantastic draw to defending league champions Dortmund.  They then grabbed a narrow win over Monchengladbach but after that…?  Well, the wheels started coming off.  Der Club have now lost four in a row, two of those by two-goal margins and last week’s match by a three.  There’s still clubs below Nurnberg in the standings of course, but not many as they are now in 14^th (out of 18).  

After those first three games I was hoping Nurnberg would be the surprise team of the year and hold a place near the top.  Now however they’re back to their usual place towards the bottom, with the near threat of relegation.  There’s still a ways to go in the season of course, but in the short term they host Bayern Munich in a month’s time.  Bayern Munich has won all of the seven matches so far.  Of those seven the smallest margin of victory was two goals – and that was just in two of the matches.  As much as I hate / despise / loathe Bayern Munich, I’m realistic and hope that Nurnberg can start to turn things around now so they don’t lose by more than two goals.  Of course I want them to win, but the quality difference between the two sides is just too great for there to be much chance for it.

Moving north to England, things have been a bit ho-hum for Newcastle so far this year.  Since my last post, they picked up draws against Everton and Reading, took a win from Norwich, and recently took a 3-0 beating by the hands of Manchester United.  Everton is on fine form right now so that loss is fair and of course so is the one to Man United.  But a draw to Reading and for that matter the much earlier draw to Aston Villa (as I mentioned in the last post?).  The Magpies qualified for the Europa League last season so I now they’re better than this.  With Europa mentioned, yes they are leading their group in the first round of play, but they need better balance.  I’m hoping they aren’t spread too thin this year.

Newcastle hopefully will bounce back this weekend in their local derby match against Sunderland.  It’s a shame though that the match will be away as they one bright spot of news in the aftermath of the Man United beating is that Newcastle’s stadium will again officially be named St. James’ Park.  (You can read my post from last year when they changed the name to SportsDirect Arena.)  I guess it’s not all good as the new sponsor Wonga isn’t the best company, some even referring to it as a “legal loan shark” company.  In any case the British government hasn’t shut them down or anything, plus many other teams are sponsored by betting companies (sports betting is legal in Europe)  Moral company or not, I’m still ecstatic that I’ll never hear or see SportsDirect Arena during a Newcastle match ever again.

Lastly we come to my English League Two side Oxford United.  In my last post they were still doing ok.  They knocked off Swindon Town in the JPT cup and did take a league loss to York but still were sitting third in the league.  Unfortunately that York loss was the start of a six game losing skid.  Making it worse, only one of those losses was by a single goal, the rest were defeats by two goals or more.  It was so bad that fans wanted the manager fired.  

The Yellows though look to be digging out of their hole however.  Last Tuesday they came back from being down 2-1, to come back and beat Wimbledon 3-2.  Over the weekend they also took a solid draw against league leaders Gillingham.  Keeping the yellow tide rolling, Oxford played very well today in the third round of the JPT cup against fellow League Two side Cheltenham.  Again Oxford came back from a 2-1 deficit, but this time took a 4-2 win.  I actually followed the match too, doing the typical combination of a match tracker and updates from my favorite Oxford United fan forum.  You can bet that the “refresh” button was hit quite often in today’s dramatic victory.

Hopefully this good form keeps going for the Yellows.  They have a good test this weekend against current 2^nd place holders Port Vale.  I think after today I’ll make it a point to follow the whole match… even if the repetitive clicks of “refresh” does break my mouse button!

Let's Continue Shall We?

Before I get behind (again), I thought I better post something about this past week’s matches before this weekend’s matches get underway tomorrow.  [Edit:  I just realized that the major leagues are on international break so it’s only Oxford playing this weekend.]  I’m also half watching a World Cup qualifying match between Ireland and Kazakhstan, so I thought I might as well write while that goes on.

I’m still working my way into the season and not too much of a hardcore fan yet – scheduling my weekend around the matches and always watching a live feed or following a match tracker for the full 90 minutes.  However I did watch bits of two matches last weekend.

I did catch a live feed of the tail end of Nurnberg’s draw with Borussia Dortmund.  Although it wasn’t a win, a draw against Dortmund – last year’s league and cup winners – can be considered just that.  Der Club should have gotten beaten handily.  This was probably the best result of the weekend for me, but also is probably considered to be Nurnberg’s best result so far.  (Although it was just their second fixture… but it’s still better than their 1-0 win over Hamburg.)  It’s also worth mentioning that somehow the live feed I found online was not in German, but in English!  Extra points for best match of the season so far.

On Sunday I again had good luck finding a live stream of Newcastle’s match against Aston Villa.  If it wasn’t for a wailing long range goal from Ben Arfa, the Magpie’s would have lost, but luckily that made the result a 1-1 draw.  Aston Villa always is a plucky team that you can never ever take a win (or a draw) for granted.  However Newcastle really needs to get some momentum in the next few matches before they play Manchester United on October 7^th.  Luckily the schedule has them playing what should be mid-to bottom-level sides in the standings until then – Everton, Norwich City, Reading.

Leaving Oxford United for last, the Yellows have had a bit of a mixed week.  On Saturday they suffered a disappointing 3-1 loss to York in a regular league match.  I think that result had all Oxford fans wondering a bit.  After beginning the season with three straight wins, this bad loss occurred and maybe brought expectations down a bit.

 

Tuesday though brought a big chance for retribution.  They played local rivals Swindon Town in a round of the Johnstone Paint Trophy cup – a knockout cup for the 48 teams of League One and League Two.  Besides just being a heated local rivalry for a cup, this also had an extra bit of flair with the fact that Swindon was promoted to League One last year but Oxford remained in League Two.  The Yellows would want to stick it to their rivals a bit.

And indeed they did.  It looked as though the match would for sure be going into extra time, but as some players start coasting towards the end of 90 minutes, it’s when things can happen.  Luckily for Oxford, Swindon was the one on their heels.  Swindon’s defenders got their signals crossed in the box, giving Alfie Potter a goal at 88 minutes.  The final whistle sealed the deal and Oxford United would progress onto the next round of the JPT cup whereas Swindon would rue their loss, especially their, shall we simply say controversial, coach Paolo Di Canio who ridiculed his players in the media (again).

Tomorrow will be a proving match for Oxford, playing current 2^nd placed team Exeter.  Although it would be nice for the Yellows who are just below in third to move that little bit up in the table, it will be more important to just play well against a decent side.  If they play like they did Tuesday night against Swindon they’ll do just fine.  

Really, as long as they don’t look as bad as Ireland does in this match against lowly Kazakhstan, I’ll be happy.  It’s the Euros all over again…  

[Mandatory edit:  After writing that insult to the Ireland side, what do they do?  They win their match in dramatic fashion.  They were losing 1-0 in the 85^th minute, but after a converted Robbie Keane penalty in the 88^th minute, the ball almost magically fell to Kevin Doyle in the middle of the box who put it away for  an 89^th minute goal.  Two minutes, two goals, 2-1 win.  Dare I say it?  Luck of the Irish.]

And Here We Go

After a long summer break I’m finally back writing my thoughts on this crazy game American’s call soccer.  More importantly though, the season has started again as well.  First off however, let’s do a quick recap of everything (major) that happened since I last posted.

That last post I wrote in May left everything hanging from the Champions League final.  Well Chelsea did up winning over my much hated Bayern Munich.  After that semi-official end to the league season, it was then time for the European Championships.  I was actually on vacation in Ireland for most of the Euros, but sadly Ireland was really out of contention by even the second match of the group stage.  My favorite that had a more realistic chance of winning the tournament though was Germany.  I apparently was not having  the best luck of teams however as they were eventually beaten in the semi-finals by Italy, who would end as runners-up in the end.  Although I had a great time watching the matches in the pub as I traveled around Ireland, I didn’t bother watching the final between Spain and Italy.  I figured Spain would win easily.  My prediction was confirmed as I walked around the streets of Galway, with many Spaniards (mostly university students it seemed) dancing and singing praises of their teams victory.

Besides transfers (which I may or may not cover at some point), I think that is a simple overview leading up to the start of this new season.  Sure, the Olympics soccer tournament was in there, but I didn’t follow it at all (who won?).  It’s such an odd tournament anyway with its age restrictions, not to mention how this year all of Great Britain was on one team.

As far as the 2012-2013 club season is concerned, I have catching up to do.  I really wasn’t prepared for the season to start and really am just not fully ramped up for it though.  However, the fixtures keep happening so I need to start planning my weekends (and sometimes weekdays) for the matches.  

To get caught up, let’s start with my English sides.  The lads in the big time Premier League up in Newcastle have had a mixed bag so far.  The opened the season with a 2-1 win over Tottenham but then a week later took a 2-0 defeat from Chelsea.  I suppose after playing those two sides though, have one loss and one win is not doing shabby at all.  In between those two league matches, the Magpies also played a Europa League qualifying match away against Greek side Atromitos, coming out with a 1-1 draw.  Luckily, they earned an away goal, but they’ll be looking for more than that as they play the second leg tomorrow at St. James Park.

Moving down a few leagues, Oxford United have been doing a smashing job in League Two.  They’ve played three matches and won all three!   That along with their +5 goal differential has them sitting top in the league, just above Gillingham (the only other team with three wins in as many matches).  Sure the Yellows are only three matches into a forty-six game season, but still it’s a good positive spark to the beginnings of the season.  To bring things down to earth a bit though, they are out of the Capital One Cup (a knockout tourney of the top four English leagues).  They won their first match in the cup dramatically in a penalty shootout against League One side Bournemouth.  Luck wasn’t with Oxford though for the second round draw, putting them up against Championship League side Leeds.  It’s not really surprising that they lost 3-0, as I said falling out of the tournament.  Still… three league wins in a row!

Lastly, we come to my team in Germany’s Bundesliga, FC Nurnberg.   Der Club began their league campaign last weekend, starting off with a 1-0 win against Hamburg.  Bigger, and really more disappointing news though is from the DFB Pokal.  After playing the first round (which occurred a week before the regular season opened), Nurnberg is already out.  They should have had an easy time against TSV Havelse, a team that plays in the fourth division of German football.  However, the little side from near Hannover (I had to do some research to find out where they were from), beat my Nurnberg side 3-2.  I’m going to take this as a blessing in disguise however.  As so often is the case, Der Club will probably be fighting against relegation again this year.  Having to focus on only the league will be a great asset.  Would they (and I) have rather not go out in a first round Pokal match to a really low division side?  You bet.  But would they (and I) rather stay in the top flight of the Bundesliga at the end of the season?  That’s an even more resounding ‘you bet.’

At this point, all the teams are in it for the long haul.  Newcastle hopes to build on their success from last year and hope to qualify for the Champions League, if not even vie for league champions.  Oxford United will of course be trying to be promoted from League Two to League One, with a bright start on that already.  Then there’s my underdogs Nurnberg again, always trying to improve but also with a wary eye on the relegation zone.   Anything can happen though, so right now I’m just looking towards each club’s next match.

Bonus Feature: Haters Gonna Hate

Let’s start this right off. I hate Bayern Munich. No I mean I really hate them. As a Nurnberg fan, I have to hate them and vehemently do. Nurnberg and Bayern Munich are historically the two big German league teams from Bavaria and so are rivals. I also hate them as they basically are the Yankees of the Bundesliga. They have the new fancy stadium, the larger player payroll, and are nicknamed “Bayern” even though there are other teams in Bayern (Bavaria). Next season, there will actually be three others besides Bayern Munich from Bayern in the Bundesliga – Augsburg, Greuther Fuerth, and of course Nurnberg.

I could list many more reasons why I hate Bayern Munich, but I feel I have to admit something first. I shamefully actually own a Bayern Munich jersey. Yes, it’s true. Lying in the very bottom of the bottom drawer of my dresser, it hasn’t seen the light of day in years though. I bought it years ago when I was in Germany on a trip, but it was before I really followed German football and before the roots of my Nurnberg fandom really started to grow. Yuck. I shudder at even the thought of ever putting the jersey on again.

So back to all that hatred… Why do I bring up my strong disliking for Bayern Munich? They are playing Chelsea this Saturday in the Champions League final. As UEFA had scheduled the final to be in Munich’s Allianz Arena far in advance, Bayern Munich had been gunning for the final all season. That tunnel vision helped Dortmund win the Bundesliga season title as well as the DFB Pokal final against Bayern Munich (not that Dortmund didn’t just dominate anyway). Rather lamely, Bayern Munich say winning the league doesn’t mean anything anyway. Said very well from a team that always sets their expectations to win the league, but hasn’t now in the last two years.

Anyway… back to the Champions League final. Although I hate Bayern Munich, I was actually cheering for them in their semi-final with Real Madrid. My hate for Bayern Munich is so twisted that I wanted them to get to their precious final, to play in their home park, to play in front of thousands upon thousands of home fans – and lose! There is little worse than a team losing such a huge match, in front of so many home fans, in their home stadium. I’m hoping to see the disappointed faces of Bayern Munich fans as Chelsea lift the trophy. I want to see tears on Arjen Robben’s face from losing. (Neuer, Schweinsteiger, and a few others I wish no real harm on. They just play for the wrong team. Robben though… I really hate him. I want to punch him in the face too.)

Cheering on Chelsea in the Champions League final though very nearly came at a cost. With Chelsea not finishing in the Premier League in a Champions qualifying position, only winning the final will put them in the tournament for next year. If that happens, the lowest seeded Champions qualifier in the league gets bumped down to the Europa League. Newcastle was in the mix for that final spot – 4th in the Premier League – but finished in 5th. While they still qualified for Europa League anyway, I would’ve been just fine with them being bumped from Champions to Europa League as any European competition qualification was far above preseason expectations. Of course if that had happened, the HUGE consolation prize would have been that Bayern Munich lost the final. Luckily, that still can happen.

Come Saturday afternoon, I’ll be watching the final wearing my Chelsea jersey (yes, purchased before I was ever a deep-rooted Newcastle fan), while probably drinking a beer, and loudly cheering against Bayern Munich. It doesn’t seem that it’s a given that the match will be on television in my area, so I may have to watch the soccer season’s biggest match on live feed somewhere online. Well, wherever I end up watching it, as far as Bayern Munich is concerned, this hater will be hatin’.