Thanks Santa!

Well Santa delivered this Christmas with good results in the Boxing Day matches. Not only did I get the Newcastle win that I requested but the lads from Oxford pulled out a win as well. Because of family obligations, I didn’t watch or follow these matches much – except the odd check on the iPhone – but I am of course still thrilled with the results, even if I didn’t see them happen. Here’s how the matches went down –

Newcastle United vs. Bolton Wanderers – The Magpies traveled to Bolton to take on the Wanderers who have been lurking in the bottom three of the Premier League table. With that in mind, it should have been an easy win but then again it should have also been easy wins against Norwich City, Swansea City, and West Brom. The lads must have gotten some good gifts for Christmas though as things were different than those last three mentioned matches.

The first half was dull as neither team really did much of anything. Each team earned a yellow card each for their efforts. The second half looked like it could be the same thing. Newcastle’s manager Alan Pardew brought in midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa in on as a substitution in the 61^st minute. Ben Arfa has wanted to get back into the starting eleven and he helped buffer his chances of that just eight minutes later. In the 69^th, Ben Arfa broke things up with a goal from the penalty spot area to put the Toon up 1-0. Right after the restart, just two minutes later, Demba Ba then scored another goal to put the team up 2-0. (It’s almost to the point now that Ba needs to score for the match to be official.) Ba’s goal would be the final one scored for both teams as they would go on to keep the 2-0 win over Bolton.

The win really didn’t change anything in the standings for Newcastle. They’re still in the 7^th position, just behind Liverpool. If anything they buffered themselves a bit more from 8^th spot. I guess they did catch up on points though. Liverpool drew in their match so Newcastle are now just a point down from Liverpool’s 6^th spot.

Oxford United vs. AFC Wimbledon – As a mentioned in the opening for this post, Santa also brought me a win for Oxford. They continued their winning ways against lower position sides to get back to the upper third of the table.

While Newcastle’s win would be all in the second half, Oxford’s win would be about the first. They needed some of the match to stretch the legs and get the blood moving, but that was all over in the first quarter hour. In the 18^th, Oxford’s striker James Constable would put the Yellows up 1-0. The match then went a bit quiet again, but just before the break Oxford would get their second. In the 44^th, Asa Hall hit a nice simple header past Wimbledon’s goalkeeper and took a two goal lead into halftime.

Wimbledon threatened the goal much more in the second half – even hitting the bar once – but nothing would come of it in the end. Oxford United held AFC Wimbledon off and take the needed 2-0 victory. Just like Newcastle, Oxford’s win did not change their position in the standings. They still sit at 8^th place, just shy of promotion playoff contention. (It’s also worth mentioning that they also sit just a point shy of fierce rivals Swindon Town who hold the last promotion playoff spot.) Next week’s match against Torquay (just two positions and two points down) should be a good match, one that Oxford really will need to win. A week later, it will be another tough test against league leaders Crawley Town. The Yellows need to be in good form and attempt to take points from that match as well.

Euro 2012

With some extra time to relax this Christmas weekend and no games until Boxing Day, I can catch up on some posts that I’ve been meaning to write. I’m of course very much focused on FC Nurnberg, Newcastle United, and Oxford United, but outside of these three clubs and their respective league games and cups there’s of course much more going on in the football world. The largest non-league event is of course the Euro 2012 tournament.

I think it was about a month and a half ago that they had the final playoff games to determine the final teams to round out the 16 that make up the final tournament. Although I normally cheer on Germany (having 98% German background), I was cheering on Ireland (that last 2% of me is Irish) to make it through the extra playoff round and into the final 16. (Germany had already qualified anyway.) Luckily, Ireland managed to handily fend of Estonia and locked in their place for the final tournament in Ukraine and Poland.

After being left mistakenly out of the 2010 World Cup and having been hit hard by the recent economic downturn, making the Euro 2012 tourney meant a lot to Ireland. There is a good write-up on ESPN’s SoccerNet that you can read here. (You may also enjoy the first section of this article, detailing how one Irishman earned his seat for the second match between Ireland and Estonia match.)

Earlier this month, they then had the final draw to set the groups for the Euros. Group A, which is probably the weakest group, places together the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland (automatically qualifying as hosts), and Russia. Group B is being hailed as this tournaments “Group of Death” as it contains Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, and Portugal. Another tough group is Group C groups Croatia, Ireland, Italy, and Spain together. Group D then has England, France, Sweden, and Ukraine (also automatically qualifying as hosts).

I feel confident that Germany should get through group play even in their tough group. They are being hailed as the favorites as they have been very dominant in international friendlies and in the Euro 2012 qualifying. My concern however lies with my other favorite, Ireland. I think they can beat Croatia, are probably on par with Italy, and would lose to Spain. That’s basically a win, a draw, and a loss, which would not be an automatic move through to the quarter-finals. If they could beat Italy and draw with Spain they would be much better off.

I should mention that I have ulterior motives for the Irish to get through group play as I may be in Ireland during the later stages of the Euros. It would just be amazing to be in a pub in Ireland, enjoying a pint, and watching the game with rowdy Irishmen and women. Ireland may need some luck to get past group play, so it’s good that Ireland is known for a bit of that.

All I Want For Christmas Is a Newcastle Win

I wasn’t doing a very good job of checking my schedules and noticed late this morning that there was Premier League action today, with Newcastle United playing West Bromwich Albion. All I can say is that I hope I didn’t disturb my coworkers with all the noise I was making banging my head against the desk.

Again, Newcastle was throwing up the shots today. The end of game total had Toon with 26 and WBA with 15. However, unlike last week they did find the back of the net. Demba Ba, per usual, led the team in that department scoring two goals in the 34^th and 81^st. Sure the offense scored today, but alas the defense did not. Each time Ba scored, it merely caught up with a goal that WBA had scored earlier. I was hoping that Ba’s second was late enough that they could at least sneak out with an undeserved draw. West Bromwich Albion though would indeed find goal one more time in the 85^th and win the game 3-2.

Somehow Newcastle still managed to hold on to 7^th place in the standings with this loss. They still now haven’t won a game since November 5^th against Everton. How they’ve only slid to 7^th, I have no idea. One thing I didn’t fail to notice though is what else happened after that last win. The week after the Everton match, November 9^th to be exact, is when the idiotic ownership group guided by the grand idiot Mike Ashley changed the stadium’s name from St. James’ Park to the Sports Direct Arena. Yes, I know, the Magpies have had a lot of injuries but I couldn’t ignore the timing of the grounds name change. It may just be coincidence but this could just be showing that the renaming of historic St. James’ ripped the soul out of the club. The name change showed that money apparently meant more than history, however with how the team has done since then – does money mean more than a winning team?

Another Cup Goes Dry

DFB Pokal – Nurnberg vs. SpVgg Greuther Furth – I had high hopes for Nurnberg’s match against SpVgg Greuther Furth in their DFB Pokal match up. I was coming off the high of Der Club’s nice weekend win, and was thinking that could carry over into this match making a win easy. Helping that was the fact that SpVgg Furth is a 2^nd Division Bundesliga team. However, after SpVgg scored first in the match in the 15^th minute, I decided I needed a closer look at their season so far. Sure they’re a 2^nd Division side, however they’re in second place with high chances at promotion. Great. Nurnberg is a bottom table team in the 1^st Division so they’re basically equal quality (if SpVgg Furth isn’t actually better). Looking deeper I also discovered that they have two of their players in the top five of the top scoring players in the 2^nd Division Bundesliga this year. Double great. Oh, and they also have the greatest goal differential in their league this year, because of the second best offense and the best defense (based on goals for and against respectivly). Great, Great, Great.

Well, like I said Nurnberg were down 1-0 already after the 15^th minute. Off course, they did score three goals this past Saturday against Leverkusen, but they do have one of the lowest scoring sides in the Bundesliga for a reason. They just couldn’t find that goal to get back level in the game. SpVgg Furth even had a player sent off in the 66^th minute with a second yellow card, but Der Club still couldn’t get caught up. They were just playing flat against a team that really had the enthusiasm to knock off a 1^st Division side. I thought Nurnberg should have gotten a foul call or two towards the closing moments (one could’ve given a penalty), but that’s how things go sometimes. The match would end with a 1-0 score and Nurnberg would be out of the Pokal.

With that, Nurnberg go into the winter Bundesliga break with a mixed bag. They are out of the DFB Pokal (which in reality, they probably wouldn’t have won anyway) but more importantly they are out of the relegation zone. I’ll take the latter over the former any day. We’ll have to wait awhile until the next match though. With the winter break, Nurnberg’s next match isn’t until January 21^st. With that said, Der Club will be absent from my match reports until after then. Of course, if they pick up a transfer in January – which I really hope they do – be darn sure that I’ll mention it here. Until then, I’ll just have to get my German fix by drinking some nice German beer…

Yay! Points!

I shouldn’t be so cynical, but it’s been a hard stretch here for me lately with the way my clubs have been playing. Following the weekend of November 5^th/6^th, my three teams had only managed one lonely single win between them (not counting this weekend’s action). They collectively played thirteen games! Worse still, there were only two draws in there too! I couldn’t tell you how much I would’ve loved to have had some simple drawn, take one point away type matches these past few weeks. As my title states though, those weeks of dreaming for draws and wins are over. Well, at least for this week… (let’s not get too optimistic).

Let’s go from worst to best matches for this week’s post –

Newcastle United vs. Swansea City – What can I say about this one? The Toon, and especially Demba Ba, were firing off the shots but none of them could find the target. Newcastle outshot Swansea significantly, 22 shots to 3, but only three of the Magpies’ were on goal. With their defensive rock in Coloccini back from injury, Newcastle seemed to easily handle Swansea defensively. However, you can’t win a match if you don’t score goals. And the match wouldn’t be won. Things would end in a very ho-hum 0-0 draw. Luckily, very luckily with how injuries have plagued the team, Newcastle held onto the 7^th position in the standings.

Oxford United vs. Northampton Town – This match had all the action in the second half. Just five minutes into the half, Tom Craddock, who just recently returned from a long injury, put one past Northampton’s goalie to put Oxford up 1-0. It looked as though that one goal might be it for the match, but then things got interesting in the closing minutes. In the 86^th minute, Craddock would be fouled in the box earning a penalty. Although he scored earlier in the match, Craddock wouldn’t even work the goalkeeper with this opportunity, missing with the shot high and to the right. Luckily though fellow Oxford forward Deane Smalley would help out and score just a minute later to finally get that 2-0 score. However, Northampton would get a chance to at least get a goal on the board late into stoppage time. Oxford’s Damien Batt would commit a handball in the box giving Northampton a penalty chance of their own. However it would be a day of missed penalty chances. Although Northampton wouldn’t miss the goal altogether, the Yellows keeper Ryan Clarke would handily keep it out keeping his clean sheet and keeping the score at 3-0.

Oxford United really needed the win to get back into the top third of the table. The win also allowed them to leapfrog some teams in the standings. They went from 12^th to 8^th position. As I mentioned last week, the Yellows have a good chance to continue this upward trend with the next two matches against teams below them in the standings in AFC Wimbledon and now also Torquay. However, the third game out is a bit looming as it is against league leaders Crawley Town. I guess I shouldn’t get too ahead. As anything can happen in a match, it’s best to look at things one match at a time.

Nurnberg vs. Bayer Leverkusen – In front of this match I was really hoping that Nurnberg could pull off a win. Not only did I want them to get out of the relegation zone, but I also wanted them to end on a good note before going into the Bundesliga’s winter break.

Well, Der Club started things off with a bang. Right away in the 8^th minute, forward Daniel Didavi put them ahead of Leverkusen. Jens Hegeler doubled their lead just a short time later in the 22^nd to get a comfortable 2-0 lead. After that, they just needed to hold on. I was of course worried considering the form as of late, but they would indeed blank out Bayer Leverkusen. They would actually put one more goal on the board too as striker Tomas Pekhart scored in the 73^rd minute. Not that there has been many to choose from, but this 3-0 win over Bayern Leverkusen would be Nurnberg’s best win of the season to date.

With the win, and with Kaiserslautern later drawing their match luckily, Nurnberg crept out of the first relegation spot and into safety (for now) taking the 15^th position in the standings. Yes, it’s only one spot but I am so unbelievably relieved to not have them be in the relegation zone during the winter break.

Like I’ve said, I think Der Club really need to pick up some reinforcements in the January transfer period to sufficiently rid themselves of the threat of relegation. However, I think they can also use the time off to get some more training in and to congeal better as a team. With a few key players now back from injury, the players need to get used to each other. Their form has been on the extremes lately. They’ve had either really bad losses or nice wins like this one against Leverkusen. They’ve either been shutout in losses, or, though much fewer, they’re defense got a shutout in a win. Some draws in there would’ve at least given them some points in the table, which probably would’ve distanced them from relegation a bit more. I’m hoping some good practice sessions solidify their form.