Schlagwort-Archiv: 2007-08

Can’t hardly wait

Veröffentlicht am 3. Februar 2008 | 1 Kommentar

Well, two weeks have passed by since the semi-triumphant 1-all draw against Schalke 04. In the meantime, two other players have left Magdeburg. Dennis „I want my mama“ Tornieporth went back where he came from, to Kickers Emden. His stay at Magdeburg was overshadowed by complaints, he just didn’t fit in with the rest of the team, culminating in his calling the move to Magdeburg a mistake in a radio interview. Eventually, Magdeburg dissolved the contract and the player was let go.
Just hours before the transfer window closed, midfielder Andy Müller left the club for VfB Oldenburg. They currently play in Oberliga Nord and have hopes of qualifying for the new tier IV league that starts in the next season. Müller’s move was necessary as Magdeburg had picked up an additional midfielder, ex-Bundesliga pro Steffen Baumgart, and needed to cut down on playing squad costs.

In other news, Magdeburg won two more test matches, against Hertha BSC’s reserves (leader in NOFV-Oberliga Nord) and Czech Gambrinus Liga outfit Siad Most (well, they’re 16th. In a league of 16).
Magdeburg won both matches, but it’s hard to draw any conclusions from that, as Paul Linz made liberal use of the available substitutes. Next Sunday, the squad will face their first competitive match since December, when they meet NOFV Oberliga Süd team Germania Halberstadt in the cup quarterfinal. However, Linz seems to be quite fond of 20-year-old Tobias Friebertshäuser. Against Most he got a start as right defender, and in the Hertha match he was subbed in for the same position. Afterwards, Linz was full of praise, which, according to a newspaper interview, came as a bit of a shock for Friebertshäuser.
I’m curious who’ll start against Halberstadt.

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Methadone

Veröffentlicht am 23. Januar 2008 | Kommentare deaktiviert für Methadone

Well, last Saturday I finally was able to catch some live outdoor football. In the first game since that disappointing outing versus Werder Bremen’s reserves in December, Magdeburg only managed a draw. But in contrast to the abysmal 1-all draw against Bremen, this one saw a new and improved FC Magdeburg team. Not only did Magdeburg field two new players, Christian Reimann (formerly at Sachsen Leipzig) and Najeh Braham (formerly at Siegen), but the new manager Paul Linz seems to also have instilled some desire to play attacking football in a formerly timid squad.

The other reason why this match was somewhat superior to the Werder slump was the atmosphere the 20,000 spectators created – and maybe the opponent being Bundesliga outfit Schalke 04 helped a bit too. In all, Magdeburg’s 1-all draw was a deserved one, even though the Magdeburg goal was an own goal by a Schalke defender who put a Neumann cross behind his goalie.

This winter break has been a big joke. No snow, hardly any frost. This season, matches could have continued all winter. But I’m sure, come the end of the break in mid-February (at least for tier III and IV leagues), we will have wonderful frosty and snow-rich days…

On an unrelated note, Magdeburg have signed former Bundesliga pro Steffen Baumgart on a free transfer yesterday. Baumgart has played more than 300 matches in Bundesliga 1 and 2. He had been out of contract since January 3, when his contract at Cottbus was dissolved. Baumgart is a leader the team has been lacking, at least according to Linz. We’ll see…Saturday, the team will play Hertha BSC’s reserves in another test match.

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Happy new year

Veröffentlicht am 8. Januar 2008 | Kommentare deaktiviert für Happy new year

Yesterday, FC Magdeburg resumed training for the remaining 16 matches of the Regionalliga Nord season. While a dozen or so players had been training since January 3 on a voluntary basis, the main contingent of the squad started yesterday.
Danny Kukulies was gone, of course, having joined TeBe in the break. In his stead, Magdeburg has signed Christian Reimann from tier IV side FC Sachsen Leipzig. Reimann had terminated his contract with his old club, after having sent them three reminders, urging them to pay his wages. Sachsen Leipzig have been in financial crisis over the past few months, and were unable to comply with his demands. After three reminders, any employee is allowed to terminate his contract under German law. Hence, no transfer fee was paid.
Also present on the first day of training was Najeh Braham who dissolved his contract at Sportfreunde Siegen, after he was sent to the reserves and did not at all see a chance to get out of there again. He will train with Magdeburg on a trial basis for two more weeks, after which a decision regarding a contract will be made. Braham already knows Magdeburg manager Paul Linz from Eintracht Trier

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Indoor champions

Veröffentlicht am 17. Dezember 2007 | Kommentare deaktiviert für Indoor champions

Last Saturday, the NOFV held its annual Indoor Championship at Riesa in Saxony. This is indoor footy, not futsal, of course. All Regionalliga teams from the NOFV territory were „invited“ to participate (there’s not really a way not to take part…) and so six teams competed in two groups of three: Cottbus II, Rot-Weiß-Erfurt and 1. FC Magdeburg in one, SV Babelsberg 03, Union Berlin and Dynamo Dresden in the other group. To add some spice to it, Magdeburg had lost to both Erfurt and Cottbus only recently.
In the first match, Magdeburg struggled, but was able to come away 4-3 winners over Cottbus‘ reserves. Yet a 0-2 loss to Erfurt meant that all hinged on the Cottbus-Erfurt match, and Magdeburg fans were treated to quite some drama, as Cottbus took a quick 2-0 lead. Erfurt, however, managed to equalize and eventually even win the game 4-2. This meant Magdeburg would face Union Berlin in the semi-final, while Erfurt met Dynamo Dresden.
The semifinal was a close call that had to be decided by spot kicks from 9 meters. Here Magdeburg’s goalkeeper saved some spot kicks and Magdeburg were through to the final where they once more met Erfurt. This time, Magdeburg didn’t go down easily and the match went to spot kicks as well. Again Marian Unger came to the rescue and for the first time Magdeburg were crowned NOFV Indoor Champions. Of course, indoor football is not a very good indicator for the quality of any team, as evidenced by the fact that Magdeburg’s Danny Kukulies became best goalscorer of the tournament, a player who couldn’t do anything in the open air season.
Impressions from training show that since the arrival of Paul Linz the team has trained with more concentration and also with increased intensity. Understandable, as with a new manager nobody can rely on previous merits so everyone has to prove his worth. Beginning in January, Magdeburg will play several friendlies, the highlight being the match against Bundesliga outfit Schalke 04 (January 19). Other opponents include Sachsen Leipzig (January 13) , Hessen Kassel (January 16) and Czech first flight team FK SIAD Most (not fixed yet, probably February 2).As training restarts on January 7, there are only a small number of days of training before the first match, but with the intensity of training shown so far, they should suffice.
In terms of transfer news it looks like Danny Kukulies will leave for tier IV side Tennis Borussia Berlin, and Tornieporth looks to be out of the door as well, despite hopes of getting a fresh start after Heyne had taken him out of the team for disciplinary reasons. No news regarding incoming players as of yet, only a plain denial of interest in Erfurt’s Kumbela who has been suspended by his club for disciplinary reasons (hitting his pregnant girlfriend in a nightclub, apparently).

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Little updating

Veröffentlicht am 16. Dezember 2007 | Kommentare deaktiviert für Little updating

Moved my blog to WordPress, hope there aren’t any issues or anything wrong.

Blogging shall resume shortly.

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Look at that, FA!

Veröffentlicht am 11. Dezember 2007 | Kommentare deaktiviert für Look at that, FA!

Within 48 hours of Dirk Heyne’s dismissal, FC Magdeburg have presented his successor as manager: Paul Linz.
Linz is a former forward and has played 33 Bundesliga matches and 233 matches in Bundesliga 2. Among others, he played for Werder Bremen and Waldhof Mannheim, scoring 115 career goals. After his playing days were over, he managed several clubs, most successfully Eintracht Trier which he guided back to Bundesliga 2 after a 21-year-absence.
At today’s press conference, Linz stated that while he’d have to see the team before deciding exactly what he’ll do, he wanted to put Magdeburg a lil more into the direction of attacking football. No surprise there, this coming from a former forward who, as he said, „always gets nervous when pushed back“. Linz added that there certainly was something to be done about the dismal performance of the attackers, in terms of winter transfers, he didn’t think the players were quite as bad as their statistics indicate. He indicated that he was not rushing the transfer issue, as he would want to sign quality players.
His contract runs till the end of the season, and if Magdeburg do qualify for the new tier III league, it will be automatically renewed for two more seasons. Thus, FC Magdeburg have solved one out of the three interesting issues in the winterbreak, the remaining two being the new players that have been promised.

Thursday sees a supporters meeting to discuss the new away kit. After the disastrous affair with this season’s orange away kit, the board had announced they’d listen to the fans‘ suggestions and wishes. Ought to be interesting.

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Finally…

Veröffentlicht am 10. Dezember 2007 | Kommentare deaktiviert für Finally…

Yes, finally the Magdeburg board hhave taken the step many had expected three weeks ago: Following the 1-2 defeat at the hands of Cottbus‘ reserves, manager Dirk Heyne was relieved of his post. The board were quick to declare that they would like Heyne to take on another task at the club, owing to his iconic status (408 competitive matches as goalkeeper for the club) with the fans.
Looking back, Heyne was the right manager for the club when he was first installed, back in 2003. Then Magdeburg had just escaped bankruptcy and were struggling to get out of tier IV football on a tight budget. Heyne had been managing the club’s Under 19 team and his high identification with the club in addition to his relatively low experience in management (he had been goalkeeper and youth coach at Borussia Mönchengladbach, buthad never had the responsibility of managing a senior side) made him a good solution for the club.
Over the next few years, Heyne formed a competent team that consistently played a decent game of football. As relatively few changes were made to the playing squad, the players got to know each other very well, thus compensating with teamwork for what they lacked in individual ability. In the past two seasons, Heyne’s tactic (strong defense with counter-attacking football rather than trying to dominate the opposition) yielded great results: the team was promoted from Oberliga Süd and finished 3rd in the first year in the Regionalliga.
This style of play was highly dependent on a working midfield, an attentive defense and forwards that converted the few chances they got during a match. For some reason, this did not work this season. The difficulty lies in analyzing why it did not. Of course, this season’s team differs from last season’s. Players have aged, and some have not aged well. Two forwards left and were not adequately replaced. And our best new player, midfielder Florian Müller, is to tied up in defense to effectively fulfill an attacking role.
As Dirk Heyne was incapable of solving the problems in Magdeburg’s play, his dismissal was inevitable. Now it will be interesting to see who the board present as his successor and whether they can attract helpful players in the winter break.

Oh yea, here are the Cottbus stats.
Lineups
Energie Cottbus II: Männel – Bankert, Bittroff, Franke – Hackenberg, Schuppan, Thielemann, Küntzel, Bandrowski – Hensel, Ramaj (46′ Marrack)

1. FC Magdeburg: Unger – Grundmann, Kallnik, Probst – Neumann, Habryka (64′ Kukulies), Manai, Müller, Lindemann – Agyemang, Kullmann

Score summary
26′ Schuppan 1-0
63′ Schuppan 2-0 (pen)
67′ Grundmann 2-1

Attendance
700

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