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.