Lowlights and Highlights

Nurnberg vs. Bayern Munich – Well as I said, this was going to be a tough match for Nurnberg. As much as I wanted a win, or even a draw, Bayern Munich won by a resounding 4-0. As I am biased for Der Club, I really don’t have much to report. The match could have been worse – Bayern Munich beat Freiburg 7-0 a few weeks ago – but nonetheless this was bad. Just to throw out some numbers, Bayern Munich had 78% possession compared to 22% for Nurnberg. The shots total was lopsided as well. Bayern Munich had 13 shots with 5 on goal, while Nurnberg had 4 and 2 respectively. The possession and shots comparison sums up the game right there. As far as when the goals came, Bayern Munich had three in the first half, with the first coming in the 2^nd minute of the game. That probably was a sign of things to come.

Even with Nurnberg being out of the game, I sat and followed through the whole thing. I don’t know if it’s my dedication to my team or just my new passion for watching football coming out, but I sat there early on a Saturday morning, wearing my Nurnberg jersey, watching a live stream in Portuguese because it was all I could find, and stuck with my team even through a 4-0 defeat. It made me a stronger, more impassioned Nurnberg fan, but possibly more important it deepened my hatred of Bayern Munich.

Oxford United vs. Port Vale – With Nurnberg’s match starting just thirty minutes before Oxford’s, I really didn’t follow the second by second action on the match tracker. It seems like it was a cracking match though. In the 11^th minute, Oxford center back Michael Duberry got things going on the right track with a nice headed goal. That was his first goal in a Yellows jersey since joining this summer. It would also be the only goal of the first half.

The second half would be the more exciting portion of the match. Port Vale would tie the match in the 62^nd minute, but Oxford would find their own goal just two minutes later to go back ahead. Oxford midfielder Peter Leven scored the goal, which will probably end up being the team’s goal of the year. Leven was just five or six steps past the halfway line when we unleashed a floater at goal that caught Port Vale’s goalkeeper by surprise and flew into the net, just bending perfectly below the bar. Port Vale would get a chance to level though in the 83^rd minute. Duberry would commit a foul in the penalty box, giving Port Vale a penalty kick. Port Vale’s striker Marc Richards who scored their earlier goal tried to go for the bottom corner, but the Yellows goalkeeper Ryan Clarke made a nice save to keep his side ahead. That save and Leven’s wonder goal would prove to be the deciding factors in a 2-1 win that moved Oxford United into fourth in the League 2 table.

I don’t normally share links to match reports, but Leven’s goal is just too good not to share. If you want to see just the goal, fast forward to the 30 second mark -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdzmWG2nh28&feature=related

Newcastle United vs. Stoke City – Newcastle played Stoke today in a Monday afternoon (for me anyway) Premier League match. This match was all about Newcastle’s Senegalese forward Demba Ba. In the first half, Ba scored in the 12^th and 40^th minutes to put the Magpies up by two goals going into the half. In the second half, Ba found himself in the penalty box defending against Stoke’s Peter Crouch. Ba, or any striker for that matter, really shouldn’t be finding themselves in their own penalty box defending against the opposition’s striker. Well the mismatch showed and Ba committed a foul on Crouch in the box, giving Stoke a penalty kick. Stoke would convert the penalty and get back into the game just being down a goal at 2-1.

Ba would however get a chance to make up for his foul. In the 80^th minute, Newcastle’s striker Leon Best drew a foul in the penalty box and Newcastle were rewarded with a penalty kick of their own. Who stepped up to the spot? Mr. Ba of course. Ba drilled the ball into the bottom corner and finished off his hat trick. With that, Newcastle won the game 3-1 and moved up into third position in the league table. They also still hold on to the best defense in the league with only seven goals scored against them so far this season.

FC Nurnberg

This Saturday is Nurnberg’s first derby match with Bayern Munich of the season. Bayern Munich will host the match at their Allianz Arena and will hopefully not demolish my beloved side. Unfortunately Bayern Munich are outscoring the competition 26-3 in competitions so far so I fear for Der Club who are sitting in the bottom half of the table. While Bayern Munich has been the team to beat in German football for the last few decades, Nurnberg was the team in the early 20^th century.

With that said, you could compare Nurnberg and Bayern Munich to the Mets and Yankees of American Major League Baseball. On a success and monetary standpoint though, I think Nurnberg is much further behind Bayern Munich, than the Mets are with the Yankees. Nurnberg’s whole team payroll probably equals that of just the midfield for Bayern Munich. With that in mind, I’m being realistic about Der Club’s chances. I of course would like them to win (anything is possible) but ultimately I simply just don’t want it to be a devastating loss. If Nurnberg wins I’ll be ecstatic, if they draw I’ll be happy, if they lose 1-0 or 2-0 I’ll be disappointed but content, and if they lose worse than 2-0 I’ll be ashamed and devastated. To top it off, I have a new coworker that works from Germany and of course is a Bayern Munich fan. I really would like at least a draw for some bragging rights. I guess I could take the hits from a 2-0 loss (that’s a respectable loss) but again anything worse, well I’m just asking for it returning to the office on Monday.

Now, those reading this are probably wondering – Why are you a FC Nurnberg fan anyway?

Well, my connection with Nurnberg is stronger than with my other football clubs I follow. Most namely, Nurnberg is the only one of the three cities that I have actually been too. Between my sophomore and junior years of high school, I took a class trip to Germany. I think we only stayed a day or two in Nurnberg but it stuck out in memory as my favorite city on the trip. As far as details go, all I can remember is that we toured the city’s old fortifications, had a lunch in the town’s main square next to the old Gothic fountain, and stayed in a hostel that was essentially the newer section of the city’s castle. Still I just remember having a good feeling about the place. The memories of being in Nurnberg led me to be a follower of Der Club (a nickname for FC Nurnberg).

I returned to Germany with another school trip during my senior year of college. Although we went in January during the Bundesliga’s winter break, the return to Germany sparked my interest in German football, and really now that I think of it football in general. I must admit too that I did buy my first club jersey while on that trip too…a Bayern Munich jersey. Deeper into my following of FC Nurnberg, I hate admitting that I had a Bayern Munich jersey before I had a Nurnberg jersey. I haven’t worn the Bayern Munich one for quite some time (I can’t remember when I did) and frankly am disgusted when I see it at the bottom of my shirt drawer (maybe I should just take it out).

My Nurnberg jersey though I wear very proudly (as I will at work tomorrow in advance of Saturday’s game). My coworker in Germany and another coworker who is natively German (a Borussia Dortmund fan) tell me I should have picked a better team. I’m not bothered by not being at the top of the tables, although I wouldn’t mind it. FC Nurnberg has been relegated from the Bundesliga more times than any other club in Germany. However, with that said they have always returned every time too. They may be underdogs, but they always put up a good fight.

I’m also a proud supporter of Nurnberg even though they are the toughest of my teams to follow. There is a greater time difference to Germany than with England, seven hours instead of six. Luckily though the matches seem to start later in Germany, so the early Saturday games are usually at a respectable 8:30am my time. The largest hurdle to overcome in following Nurnberg though is the language. I took four years of German in high school and a semester in college, but that was awhile ago. The Bundesliga streams live audio commentary of the league matches on their website. Luckily I still remember bits from my schooling so I can mostly follow (with the assistance from a match tracker of course). From my German classes I knew “ecke” was corner so I know when it’s a corner kick for example, but I have picked up words from listening too – most importantly that “tor” means goal.

And with that said, I hope I hear “tor” come up for Nurnberg a lot this Saturday.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

As I mentioned previously, both Nurnberg and Newcastle played in cup tournament action on Wednesday night. As my clichéd title states, sometime you win, sometimes you lose. That was exactly the case with these two teams.

Nurnberg vs. Erzgebirge Aue (DFB Pokal) – It took awhile for this game to get going but luckily it was Nurnberg who finally broke the game open with back to back goals in just a few minutes. It took until the 64^th minute for the ball to hit the back of the net, but Der Club’s midfielder Alexander Esswein was the first to do so. Just four minutes later, halftime substitution Julian Wiessmeier doubled Nurnberg’s lead. As their defense is much better than their offense, I was hoping that was good enough for them to hold on for the win. One of Aue’s strikers scored in the 78^th, enough to make me worry, but luckily Nurnberg did hold off against any more goals and held on for the win. They progress to the third round of the Pokal which will be played in December.

Newcastle United vs. Blackburn Rovers (Carling Cup) – This may possibly be the most exciting match all season. As the 90^th minutes past by and stoppage time began, it looked certain that Newcastle would fall with an embarrassing 2-0 defeat to a struggling Blackburn team. However, that spark that the Magpies have had this year ignited and they finally came alive. At the death of the game, Danny Guthrie (who has only made three appearances all season including this match) scored in the 3^rd minute of stoppage time. At that point it was for sure still a loss, just not a shutout at least anymore. However, the match kept going, the whistle wasn’t blown…and Newcastle’s Yohan Cabaye hit a goal to level the game in the 6^th minute of stoppage time!

The game went into extra time where unfortunately Blackburn was back on top just nine minutes in. Yet again, Newcastle would have to play catch up in the match. Yet again they would level though, albeit with a bit of luck. One of Blackburn’s defenders committed a foul in the box and Newcastle were given a penalty kick. Peter Lovenkrands leveled from the penalty spot, just as the first half of extra time came to a close. The second period of extra time ticked by with good action but it looked like the game would go to a penalty kick shootout. As luck would have it though, Blackburn would pull ahead once more with a last second goal of their own in the last minute of extra time. Newcastle didn’t have enough time to catch up after that one and they would go down in a heart breaking loss to Blackburn 3-2.

Personally it was a rough match to follow. It was a Wednesday afternoon at work so I would only check out the match tracker every so often. If I have been watching a live stream of the match, I surely would have been going crazy. Even though it was a loss, I will have to try to find a replay somewhere online.

Still, I thought Newcastle would do well in the Carling Cup so it is rather disappointing. They were sadly hoping to win some silverware this season and now with dropping out of the Carling Cup can only do so by winning the league or by winning the FA Cup. I’m a fan, but I wouldn’t bet for them to win either. Newcastle is still undefeated in the league but currently the teams from Manchester are cruising – especially Manchester City who smashed Manchester United last weekend. In the FA Cup, anything and everything can happen. Sure it could happen, but the chances are slim.

I Got a (Yellow) Fever

And the only prescription is more goals!

Oxford United vs. Plymouth Argyle – Oxford came back strong after their bad loss to a nine-man Gillingham this past Saturday. The Yellows looked very strong in two thirds of the game. In the first 30 minutes they looked good and the last 30 minutes they looked great. That middle half hour though, the 15 minutes on either side of halftime, not so great.

The match started out well though, like I said. On loan striker Robbie Hall, got the yellows ahead in the 15^th but that alone was really the first half highlight. In the first 30 minutes, Oxford United had most of the possession by a huge margin – roughly 62% to 38%. Shot wise they did fine in the whole half, with 7 total and 5 on goal, compared to Plymouth’s 2 total and 1 on goal. However, even though the shots were still coming the possession went downhill in those final 15 minutes of the half. At the break, Possession no longer favored the Yellows by a great margin, it was basically even.

The first 15 minutes of the second half was the worst portion of the middle third of the match. Oxford defender Michael Duberry committed a foul in the box in the 54^th, giving Plymouth a penalty. Plymouth converted a minute later and the match was now 1 – 1.

The wheels started turning though shortly thereafter. The possession was rising back in Oxford’s favor again. I caught it at the 60^th minute and it was 55% to 45%. At the 66^th minute, the shot totals were still way in Oxford’s favor as well – 11 total and 7 on goal, with Plymouth still only at 2 and 1 respectively. With those stats climbing back, I was hoping it was only a matter of time.

Robbie Hall again was the savior and scored his second in the 68^th, which brough the Yellows back on top by a goal. This then opened the flood gates. Constable scored in the 71^st, Peter Leven joined the goal party in the 77^th, and Constable matched Hall’s brace by completed his own in the third minute of stoppage time. Not only a 5-1 victory Oxford, but also done with great stats to boot. To continue with the possession and shots numbers, the possession total was remarkable at the end – 62% to Plymouth’s 38%. The shooting category was ridiculous, 16 total with 11 on goal for the Yellows and still only 2 total and 1 on goal for Plymouth. It was a very good day for Oxford’s offense, and barring that one hiccup, a good day for the defense too.

(As a side note on the defense and that one little hiccup, I really hope Michael Duberry bought keeper Clarke a drink at the pub for giving up that penalty and ruining Clarke’s shutout.)

Big picture, Oxford moved back up into the promotion zone taking the fifth spot. The Yellows kept hold of the lowest goals against total as well, with only that one goal against. They also increased their goal differential, which is looking more crucial in a tight race for promotion.