Schlagwort-Archiv: Germania Halberstadt

Changes…

Since I last wrote, there have been some changes at 1. FC Magdeburg. Following the draw against Babelsberg, the team went into a steady decline, losing three out of four games, among them the important derby against Hallescher FC. Following a 0-3 defeat to Wolfsburg’s reserves at home, the 1. FC Magdeburg board decided to draw the line and sacked manager Paul Linz. The new manager would be former player Steffen Baumgart. this move was somewhat surprising, seeing as how Baumgart has no experience managing a team.

Nevertheless, the board are convinced he is the right man.
His first match was the 2nd round of the Saxony-Anhalt-Cup against Germania Halberstadt’s reserves – with all their players coming from the first team. Magdeburg won the match 2-0, but there was not much change visible in their play, aside from a marked improvement in attitude. On Thursday this week, Magdeburg play the cup quarter-final against fellow Magdeburg side MSV Preußen. Kick-off is at 6 pm, a time that necessitates a clear performance by the team, as dusk sets in around 8 and extra time could certainly not be completed before dark.

We can turn things round

Today, for the first time since December, FC Magdeburg’s first team was involved in a competitive match. Since that 1-2 defeat in Cottbus, a number of things have changed in the club.
First of all, a new manager was put in charge, Paul Linz of Trier fame. Three new players were brought in, two forwards and one very experienced allrounder who can play almost everything – Christian Reimann, Najeh Braham (2004 African Cup of Nations winner) and Steffen Baumgart, respectively.
Then, Paul Linz changed the system – instead of Dirk Heyne’s favored 3-5-2, Magdeburg now play 4-4-2. Despite the problems that such a change usually brings, Magdeburg conceded only twice in their preparation matches, one goal each against Sachsen Leipzig and Schalke 04. Also, Magdeburg started to score themselves, losing but one of the preparation matches.

Thus, there was an overall optimism that the team would perform sufficiently well to beat tier IV side Halberstadt in the FSA-Cup today. In addition to that optimism came the knowledge that in the past years, Halberstadt had never ever scored against Magdeburg in a competitive match.
Until today: After a terrible start to the game, Magdeburg’s goalie Unger was stumped in the 12th minute, when Halberstadt’s Gottwaldt put the ball away after a corner kick. However, Magdeburg quickly retaliated and it was new forward Najeh Braham who headed in a Gerster freekick ten minutes later. Magdeburg were still unable to control the game, and especially the right side of the back four were a constant source of trouble, with right defender Friebertshäuser being constantly outpaced by his opponents and…then there was Kallnik. Kallnik is playing the same way he has played since his 30th birthday – slow, no vision, no positioning. When Friebertshäuser had to resort to yet another foul near the box, there was a general feeling of danger in the air, and justifiedly so. Again Gottwald scored and Magdeburg went into the halftime one goal down.

Shortly after the break – and after another Kallnik-caused breakaway when Magdeburg’s Unger had barely won the 1-on-1 – Linz finally saw fit to replace him. He subbed in Zander and Florian Müller for Kallnik and a not very efficient Baumgart, respectively. With this substitution, there were a number of position changes. Left defender Wejsfelt moved to the center, left midfielder Neumann took over as left defender. Lindemann, whose turn as a classic 10 turned out to be an utter disaster, moved to the left, allowing Zander to take over as playmaker. This served to calm the game, as Zander at least tried to pass the ball quickly, Magdeburg were slowly gaining a foothold over Germania Halberstadt. The hosts had resorted to defending their lead, and this they didn’t do too badly. When the equaliser still wouldn’t come, Linz changed formation – he substituted Agyemang for Friebertshäuser (who had gotten better after Kallnik was gone…) and switched to a 3-4-3. That eventually tipped the scales in Magdeburg’s favor, and it was once more Braham who equalised once more with just 7 minutes to go. Agyemang missed the chance to decide the game in regular time, and so extra time was required, much to the chagrin of Magdeburg’s chairman who had to cut short his afternoon plans. In extra time, Halberstadt started to push a little more again, realizing they probably wouldn’t survive thirty minutes without conceding. But it did them little good, as it was Braham’s day today: Just one minute into the second half of extra time, Braham headed home once more, deciding the game in Magdeburg’s favor.

What can be learned? First of all, we have forwards. We do indeed, and they (well, one of ‚em) score, too. Second, if you have to play Prest as a central defender because he’s the tallest, you should put a quick central defender next to him, not an aging 32year-old whose only merit right now is the captaincy. Kallnik has no place in the back four, he’s too slow, he doesn’t position well and he lacks vision. Third, Paul Linz makes changes when he sees something wrong. That’s good. The best part of it being that his changes actually work.

In other news, our U23 won a postponed match yesterday, beating Hallescher FC U23 4-3 eventually. They had led by a 3-0 margin at half-time but through individual errors allowed Halle to equalise, despite their being a man down shortly after the break. Unfortunately, some individuals in the guest area thought the 3-3 equaliser was the signal to toss rockets and smoke-bombs onto the pitch. The police removed Halle’s supporters and afterwards Deumelandt scored the winner.

Our U19, struggling as the team is in the U19-Bundesliga, managed to grab a point at Hertha BSC U19, finishing the game 2-2 despite being 0-2 down at half-time. Here’s hoping that will not be the last points for them.

What the…? That’s all you can do?

I’m lagging a bit in updating, anywy, here goes.

On Saturday, FC Magdeburg played SV Babelsberg 03. Freshly promotoed, Babelsberg had been struggling since the start of the season and have now changed their manager, new at the helm is Dietmar Demuth. He once asked his players (when at FC St. Pauli) to wear down the opposition by scoring constantly. That’s not the tactic he’s using at Babelsberg though. The guest were playing defensively during the entire first half, but as Magdeburg were obviously trying to repeat their Braunschweig performance in terms of attacking play, Babelsberg weren’t really threatened, except for Eric Agyemang’s attempt that went low at the goalie.
In the half-time break, Demuth had obviously told his players that he wanted more than just a draw, and so Babelsberg were becoming more audacious by the minute, culminating in their taking the lead at the 62nd, when Biran scored off a counter-attack. Under a lot of booing and jeering Magdeburg attempted to rectify the situation, but there was not much to be gained from their usual imprecise and hectic passing. However, in the 76th Jarakovic played a great pass at Lindemann who was fouled inside the box. Jarakovic stepped up to the penalty and converted it into the equaliser. In the remaining 15 minutes, Magdeburg pushed to take the lead, but their attempts can once more only be described as hapless… The match ended in a disappointing 1-all draw, giving more force to those who would sack Dirk Heyne, Magdeburg’s manager.

Lineups
1. FC Magdeburg: Beer – Grundmann, Prest, Wejsfelt (67′ von der Weth) – Gerster, A. Müller, Neumann, F. Müller, Lindemann – Agyemang (67′ Kullmann), Jarakovic

SV Babelsberg 03: Busch – Jonelat, Neumann (46′ Hartwig), Rudolph – Mauersberger, Moritz, Lukac, Zenk, Laars – Biran (76′ Stiefel), Frahn (88′ Ben-Hatira)

Score Summary
62′ Biran 0-1
76′ Jarakovic (pen) 1-1

Attendance
7,621

On Halloween, or rather Reformation Day, Magdeburg’s U23 had to play their Lotto-Pokal (formerly known as FSA-Cup) match. In the round of the last 16 teams they were once again facing Germania Halberstadt in a reprise of last year’s semi-final. This time however, Halberstadt won the match 2-1. It has become eviden in these 90 minutes that not only the FC Magdeburg first team, but also the U23 has a problem with build-up play, and the basics of the game, passing and positioning.
Halberstadt took the lead within 10 minutes, but just another minute later was reduced to ten men, as the referee sent off Halberstadt’s Hosenthien. He had attempted to kick a Magdeburg player after said player had committed a foul on Hosenthien. The red card may have been a bit harsh, but it’s the rules of the game. But even with a man more on the pitch Magdeburg was not able to put much pressure on Halberstadt and it took until the 52nd for the U23 to equalise, when Kukulies headed in a beautiful cross at the far post. Haberstadt was not finished off yet though, and in the 70th minute took the lead again when Magdeburg’s goalie Ronneburg went out of his goal too early and missed the ball with his challenge. Even if the ball had not gone in, it’s pretty likely there would have been a penalty, as the tackle wasn’t entirely fair.
With 8 minutes left on the clock the referee made another controversial decision, sending off Magdeburg’s Peter Otte after a foul that at most would have deserved a yellow card. In the end, Halberstadt deserved to win as they were the better team overall.

Lineups
1. FC Magdeburg U23: Ronneburg – Otte, Loth (28′ Zander), Jahnel (76′ Gebauer) – Probst, Friebertshäuser, Schulz (72′ Windelband), Kauffmann – Deumelandt – Kullmann, Kukulies

VfB Germania Halberstadt: Kischel – Sommermeyer, Gottwald, Saalbach, Pölzing – Kopp, Hosenthien – Binsker (75′ Reitzig), Gerlach (83′ Kaczur), Stefke – Banser (88′ Luck)

Score summary
10′ Binsker 0-1
52′ Kukulies 1-1
70′ Kopp

Attendance
600 (only those counted who paid seperately, 1. FC Magdeburg season ticket holders have free admission to all U23, U19 and U17 matches)