Schlagwort-Archiv: Luck

Not for the faint of heart

Veröffentlicht am 21. August 2010 | 1 Kommentar

After a successful start in the league – beating Lübeck 2-0 at their Lohmühlestadion – 1. FC Magdeburg were to play the first round in the Saxony-Anhalt Cup against Landesliga side VfB Ottersleben. Ottersleben, from a suburb in the West of Magdeburg, play in tier VII, so most 1. FC Magdeburg fans expected a dominant win.
In the match itself, however, Magdeburg showed nothing of the tactics that new manager Ruud Kaiser had tried to instill into the team: it was not a quick passing game, but one dominated by long passes and long dribblings. As neither of these yielded much success, regulation time ended with a nil-all draw.
Luckily, just a few minutes into extra time, FCM’s Stiefel scored the lead. But Ottersleben were far from giving up and produced a number of great counter-attacks that could have led to an equaliser, but in the end they failed to produce a goal from these opportunities. The punishment soon followed when Magdeburg’s Becker scored another to make it 2-0 for the final score. With a sigh of relief, FCM fans noted that the club with his new team had just „won“ the second of two competitive matches, and had again not conceded a goal.
Only three days later, the second cup round was scheduled, this time against tier VI side Preussen Magdeburg. Everyone and their dog were convinced that this would be a different game compared to the first round match – and they were right. Only not in such fashion as they had thought. The match got off to a good start, when Stiefel’s free-kick in the third minute was deflected into the goal and Magdeburg took the lead. The next twenty minutes the Regionalliga side dominated play, but then Preussen began to take over. To be exact, 1. FC Magdeburg were exclusively defending now – and badly at that. Consequently Preussen – whose starting line-up included no less than nine (!) former FCM players – scored the equaliser and with the half-time whistle took the lead. An abysmal FCM defense saw Preussen increase their lead to 1-3 after captain Daniel Bauer involuntarily deflected a long pass to a Preussen forward.
Spirits in the stands weren’t exactly high, most of the spectators no longer believed FCM could turn the match around. With 7 minute to go, however, Magdeburg’s Verkic let one go from 25 yards out, and, luckily, the ball hit the inside of the post to make it 2-3. The match had become hectic, so much so that referee Schweinefuß had failed to send off Preussen’s captain for unsportsmanlike conduct after he pushed Bauer over following a foul. After Magdeburg’s goal, however, a Preussen player was sent off with a second yellow for disagreement. The match did not get any easier for FCM though, as Preussen fought tooth and nail to hang on to their lead, but to no avail, as Denis Wolf scored the equaliser with three minutes left on the clock. In extra time, it was again Preussen who could have taken the lead, but their forward only managed to hit the bar. But in the second half of extra time 1. FC Magdeburg took the lead for the second time in the match, when Eddy Vorm headed the ball in from close range. While spectators were still celebrating, repeatedly chanting „Eddy, Eddy“, Preussen equalised again, when goalie Tischer failed to make contact with a cross. This was completely avoidable, especially as the referee had sent off another Preussen player for a cynical foul on Wolf. Penalties were then needed to decided the match. Here 1. FC Magdeburg had the better goalie, Tischer saved one shot, and made two takers shoot the ball over the goal: 1. FC Magdeburg were in round three. Remarkably, fans celebrated rather than pour out criticism over the young team that had tortured them so much in the game.
On Monday, the team were treated to a 90-minute video analysis session with their manager, and by now should have put the match behind them, especially defender Daniel Halke who admitted it had been his worst match in the past three years. However, none of the players were able to say exactly why they had failed to produce a good performance that day. In any case, 1. FC Magdeburg has won all three competitive matches so far, although there is room for improvement in the manner of these victories.

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Getting better

Veröffentlicht am 10. November 2008 | Kommentare deaktiviert für Getting better

Since I posted last, not a lot has happened, aside from Magdeburg’s last three matches.

Only very basic post today as well.

1. FC Magdeburg – VfB Lübeck 3-0
SV Wilhelmshaven – 1. FC Magdeburg 2-2
1. FC Magdeburg – FC Hansa Rostock 2-1

Magdeburg are now in third place.

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Time keeps on running and the games keep coming

Veröffentlicht am 28. Oktober 2008 | Kommentare deaktiviert für Time keeps on running and the games keep coming

I still don’t have much more time than a few weeks ago, so updating this close to therespective matches still is difficult. Therefore, a double update today.

First off, on Saturday, October 18th, Magdeburgg disappointed everyone yet again. In the home match against VFC Plauen the team only managed a nil-all draw. This Plauen team was one of the more harmless opponents that have trod the pitch at Stadion Magdeburg, only beat in that respect by Hertha’s reserves. Plauen were yet another team who were glad to come out with a draw in Stadion Magdeburg, having a line-up with just one forward, as part of a most defensive 5-4-1 tactic.
Magdeburg again suffered in the midfield, unable to get the ball through to their forwards, and when the passes found a receiver up front, the forwards wasted their chance. In all, the draw was most deserved, but of course a disappointment in the light of Magdeburg’s ambition.

Line-ups
1. FC Magdeburg: Beer – Bankert, Wejsfelt, Rosin, Zander (52′ Neumann)- Dragusha (61′ Reimann), Gewelke, Racanel (73′ Matthias), Watzka – Vujanovic, Braham

VFC Plauen: Hruby – Six, Hoffmann, Boden, Wendler – Paulick, Böhme, Schulze, Soltau, Schindler (85′ Hoßmang) – Zimmermann (82′ Marrack)

Score summary
Nought

Attendance
7,769

On Friday last already, Magdeburg had their next match. Travelling to the 2006 FIFA World Cup venue in Leipzig, Magdeburg faced FC Sachsen Leipzig. This was a special match for a number of people. No less than four FC Magdeburg players have played for FC Sachsen before – Catalin Racanel, Christian Reimann, Mats Wejsfelt and Maximilian Watzka – and Magdeburg legend Dirk Heyne is now manager of Leipzig. Heyne was sacked in the winter of the past season after his Magdeburg team had slipped into the relegation zone.
Magdeburg’s manager Linz had reacted to the continuing bad performances of some players and replaced Dragusha with Matthias and Zander with Neumann. This necessitated some changes in positions. Bankert moved to the right side of the defense, to allow Neumann to work on the left side, and Racanel moved out to the left wing, allowing Matthias to take position in central midfield. Unluckily, however, Matthias was not able to get into the game and this led to Magdeburg’s midfield being unable to control the game. Worse was the fact that Racanel moved to the inside to compensate for Matthias‘ inability. In consequence, the left wing was largely orphaned and as the forwards, especially Braham, kept going backwards to the midfield to gain possession, an effective attacking game could not be played.
The fact that Magdeburg came away with three points from this match is largely due to Sachsen Leipzig sucking even harder than the Magdeburg squad. Virtually no organized play was visible whenever the hosts had the ball, and after seeing that, it is clear why the team have only scored three goals in 9 matches. Magdeburg’s goal came off a corner kick that Najeh Braham headed to Wejsfelt who had no difficulty scoring from 6 yards out. In the following minutes Magdeburg largely controlled the match, and whenever they slipped up, they could be sure that no harm would come off it, as Leipzig were totally inept in front of goal. This changed a little in the last 20 minutes, when Leipzig took more control, but their ineptitude continued. Thus Magdeburg ran out 1-0-winners, but the match was certainly not one of those that cause euphoria in fans.

Line-ups
FC Sachsen Leipzig: Lippmann – Balic, Baum (81′ Gerber), Köckeritz, Moritz – Hempel – Heinze, Garbuschewski, Rupf – T. Breitkopf (66′ Hönemann), N. Breitkopf

1. FC Magdeburg: Beer – Neumann, Wejsfelt, Rosin, Bankert – Racanel, Gewelke, Matthias (82′ Dragusha), Watzka – Vujanovic (74′ Reimann), Braham (90′ Prest)

Score summary
31′ Wejsfelt 0-1

Attendance
6,931

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Phew, some weeks

Veröffentlicht am 14. April 2008 | Kommentare deaktiviert für Phew, some weeks

Last time I wrote in here, we were 6 points behind non-relegation. That was just before the away match in Lübeck on March 15. Since then, Magdeburg have not lost a single game and have picked up 11 out of 15 points.
But first things first: in Lübeck, Linz put Steffen Baumgart up front with Najeh Braham, as Christian Reimann had failed to convince Linz in training. The game itself then became a memorable one, though not in a positive way from Magdeburg’s point of view. 36 minutes into the match, Lübeck’s Hirsch was sent off with a second yellow for a foul on Baumgart inside the box – but Gerster’s penalty went to the outside of the post and then wide. Luckily, a Braham shot from outside the box surprised Lübeck’s goalie Hollerieth and Magdeburg thus took the lead. After the break, hopes were high that Magdeburg could use their numerical advantage and do something for the goal differential, but alas, it was not to be.
In the 63rd, Magdeburg were given another penalty, and this time Baumgart took the ball, but Hollerieth saved. Things got more embarrassing for Magdeburg, when Lübeck’s Hollerieth picked up an injury with 15 minutes left on the clock – and then got another player sent off. As Lübeck had already used their three substitutes, Hollerieth had to be replaced by an outfield player, but Magdeburg couldn’t find a way past him and in the end even had to fear for their three points. When the final whistle was blown, Lübeck had won a morale victory – but Magdeburg took the three points.

Lineups

    VfB Lübeck: Hollerieth – Weber (75′ Oppermann), Rump, Wehrendt, Caruso – Altin, Hirsch, Sievers, Martens (46′ Dogan/ 73′ Canale) – Kadah, Hoffmann
    1. FC Magdeburg: Beer – Otte, Prest, Kallnik, Neumann (72′ Wejsfelt) – Müller (84′ Kullmann), Gerster, Habryka, Lindemann – Braham, Baumgart (78′ Reimann)

Summary

    36′ Hirsch 2nd Yellow
    37′ Gerster misses penalty
    41′ Braham 1-0
    63′ Baumgart misses penalty
    75′ Hollerieth injured
    83′ Canale 2nd Yellow

    Attendance: 3,700

The week after this memorable embarrassment, Magdeburg faced then-league leaders Rot-Weiß Oberhausen at home. The game ended in a nil-all draw, a justified result, as the teams were on par most of the time, even though Oberhausen had had the better chances. Magdeburg’s best opportunity came after a lob from Jarakovic, but unfortunately it went wide of the left post. In the end, Magdeburg were content with the point won, as they were still on par with Linz’s master plan.

Lineups

    1. FC Magdeburg: Beer – Otte (46′ Jarakovic), Prest, Wejsfelt, Kallnik – Habryka (85′ Agyemang), Neumann, Zander, Müller – Baumgart, Braham
    Rot-Weiß Oberhausen: Semmler – Embers, Pappas, Schlieter, Kruse – Reichert, Terranova, D. Müller (67′ Schäper), Landers (90′ Landers) – Lüttmann (67′ Aksoy), Kaya

Summary

    Attendance: 12,562

Before the next away match at Düsseldorf, Magdeburg fans weren’t sure what to expect. Düsseldorf were placed well above Magdeburg in the table and were still hoping to gain promotion to 2nd Bundesliga. Magdeburg on the other hand still had the second-worst away record in the entire league. But when Probst slid into a Gerster free kick to take the lead, Magdeburg fans (approximately 1,400 had travelled to Düsseldorf) were getting their hopes up. But Düsseldorf dominated the game and in the 44th had the bst opportunity to equalise, when the referee pointed to the spot in a ridiculous decision. Fortuna’s Lawaree obviously felt the same and Beer could save his penalty kick quite easily. In the second half of the game, Düsseldorf tried desperately for the equaliser, but were denied again and again by Christian Beer – and in the 92nd, Jarakovic scored off a counter-attack that was beautifully executed by Florian Müller and himself, clinching the three points for Magdeburg. During the game, Magdeburg manager Linz was sent into the stands for leaving his zone, but the Düsseldorf player that tried to take Linz’s glasses off in the incident went strangely unpunished.

Lineups

    Fortuna Düsseldorf: Melka – Heeren (63′ Hergesell), Langeneke (56′ Palikuca), Krecidlo (72′ Erwig), Cakir – Anfang, Cebe, Lambertz, Caillas – Lawarée, Sahin
    1. FC Magdeburg: Beer – Prest, Kallnik, Probst, Neumann – Gerster, Lindemann (46′ Wejsfelt), Habryka, Müller – Reimann (68′ Jarakovic), Braham

Summary

    8′ Probst 0-1
    41′ Lawaree misses penalty
    90′ Jarakovic 0-2

    Attendance: 12,049

Sportschau highlight video

After this unexpected victory, Magdeburg faced a difficult home game. RW Ahlen came to town, and they had the best away record – not in terms of points (3rd-best in that respect), but in terms of goals scored: Almost 2 per away game. Now Magdeburg had merely conceded one goal since Linz took over, and none of the top teams had been able to beat FCM in their own stadium. But when Ahlen took the lead after just 9 minutes – Kallnik had been nice enough to pass the ball to an Ahlen winger instead of clearing it – and doubled that lead just four minutes later off a corner, many in the stadium doubted the ability of the team to turn this around. Thankfully, Kallnik scored a spot kick after Reimann had been fouled in the box, marking the first successful penalty from a Magdeburg player since Jarakovic’s equalizer against Babelsberg in October. In the remaining time of the first half, Magdeburg began to dominate the match, but could not produce any clear-cut opportunities.
In the second half, it was once more Najeh Braham who fired in a shot from three yards out. The equalizer was met with cheers as loud as at several points in the last season, but this cheering didn’t help push the team far enough: They just couldn’t score a winning goal. In the end, manager Linz wasn’t sure whether to be happy or angry with the performance. Unfortunately, Dresden managed to turn an impending home loss against Emden into a win with just 5 minutes left on the clock, leaving Magdeburg 4 points behind that ominous line between places 10 and 11.
The game also saw wht some speculate will have been Lindemann’s last stint in the first team for a long time. After repeatedly ignoring his manager’s instructions and a dismal performance he was subbed in the 34th – not a tactical change at all.

Lineups

    1. FC Magdeburg: Beer – Probst, Prest, Kallnik, Neumann – Müller, Gerster, Habryka (46′ Manai), Lindemann (34′ Baumgart) – Braham, Reimann
    Rot-Weiss Ahlen: Lenz – Busch, di Gregorio, Maul, Miletic – Thioune (63′ Wiemann), Bäumer – Großkreutz (62′ Stahlberg), Heithoelter, Chitsulo (76′ Reus) – Toborg

Summary

    9′ Toborg 0-1
    13′ Di Gregorio 0-2
    17′ Kallnik 1-2 (penalty)
    56′ Braham 2-2

    Attendance: 10,800

Sportschau highlights video

Yesterday, Magdeburg were involved in the first of two so-called six-point-matches. The team faced Borussia Dortmund’s reserves at Stadion Rote Erde. Dortmund were on #10 in the table, 6 points ahead of Magdeburg, but Magdeburg still have a game in hand. In a tight game, Christian Reimann scored the winning goal with a beautiful volley after Dortmund had attempted to clear a Gerster corner. The rest of the game was mainly Dortmund attacking furiously and Magdeburg defending, certainly not what Linz would have liked to see – and almost with a bad ending for Magdeburg, when Beer miscalculated a corner and a Dortmund player headed home, almost, that is, as Neumann was able to clear the ball.
Magdeburg now are three points behind the non-relegation zone and play Kickers Emden next Friday – wonder what the welcome for Dennis Tornieporth will be like. Another thing to watch out for is whether VfB Lübeck can finish the season: Last week the club went into receivership and if they cannot finish the season, their matches will be annulled, meaning that FC Magdeburg will lose their 6 points and would move further down in the table.

Lineups

    Borussia Dortmund II: Höttecke – Brzenska, Hillenbrand (76′ Oscislawski), Njambe, Hünemeier – Großkreutz (61′ Öztekin), Omerbegovic, Schmelzer, Eggert (72′ Boztepe) – Nöthe, Senesie
    1. FC Magdeburg: Beer – Probst, Prest, Kallnik, Neumann – Baumgart (61′ Manai), F. Müller (61′ Kullmann), Wejsfelt, Gerster – Reimann (89′ Zander), Braham

Summary

    29′ Reimann 0-1

    Attendance: 1,200

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We can turn things round

Veröffentlicht am 10. Februar 2008 | Kommentare deaktiviert für 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.

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Veröffentlicht unter Fußballerisches, U19, U23

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