Schlagwort-Archiv: Quick update

Transfer update

Magdeburg signed two new players. Daniel Bauer joins the club from Rovaniemi, a defensive midfielder/defender.
Maik Georgi joins the club from Erzgebirge Aue’s reserves, a left winger with a defensive emphasis.

Half-time

When Magdeburg meets Hannover’s reserve on Friday, 19 December, it will be the 18th matchday of the seson, marking the beginning of its second half. The first half saw Magdeburg’s newly formed team struggle at first, with a mere 3 points from the first 4 matches. But since the defeat to arch-rivals Hallescher FC, Magdeburg have remained unbeaten for a run of now 13 games, winning 10 of them and gaining 2nd place behind Holstein Kiel.
The decisive moment of the campaign will come in the end of February. Then Magdeburg will face Kiel away, Babelsberg at home, and Halle away, in other words, the top 4 will play each other. If Magdeburg can win two of these matches and not lose to Kiel, this would mean a big step towards promotion, despite the remaining 13 matchdays that by then will still have to be played.
In a surprise move, Kiel announced today that they have signed Falko Götz, former manager of Hertha BSC and 1860 Munich as manager. Götz will take over the team in the winter break. It is difficult to see what drove this decision, as Kiel seem to be on course to win promotion, winning the non-official fall championship. Speculation about additional financial means will certainly rise considering this move.

Magdeburg’s results so far:
Hannover 96 II (A) 2-0
Holstein Kiel (H) 0-1
Babelsberg 03 (A) 0-2
Hallescher FC (H) 1-2
Hamburger SV II (A) 1-0
Hertha BSC II (H) 2-0
VfL Wolfsburg II (A) 2-1
VFC Plauen (H) 0-0
Sachsen Leipzig (A) 1-0
VfB Lübeck (H) 3-0
Wilhelmshaven (A) 2-2
Rostock II (H) 2-1
Cottbus II (H) 3-1
Altona 93 (A) 0-0
Türkiyemspor (H) 2-0
Oberneuland (A) 2-1
Chemnitzer FC (H) 4-1

Recently

University classes have resumed, I’m job-hunting and don’t have a lot of time to blog…I do have time to attend matches, however.

Hamburger SV II – 1. FC Magdeburg
In a rather poor match, Magdeburg dominated the first half and accordingly took the lead. Keen defending and bad luck on the side of Hamburg sealed the second win of the season.

1. FC Magdeburg – Hertha BSC II
Magdeburg put Hertha under pressure from the start, and the one who felt it most was their goalie. Two mistakes by young Christopher Gäng and Magdeburg was up 2-0. The second half saw Magdeburg just trying to hang on to the result. As they did that successfully, Magdeburg won their first home game since March 2008.

Vfl Wolfsburg II – 1. FC Magdeburg
A double salvo in the 31st and 33rd sealed Wolfsburg’s fate, but a nicely executed counter-attack shortly after the halftime break put FCM under quite some pressure. They withstood however and celebrated the third win in a row in front of 2,400 travelling fans.

Germany U21 – France U21
The play-offs for U21 Euro 2009 saw this clash in Magdeburg’s stadium. This match had been used repeatedly to console the population after the controversial decision not to include the city in the 2011 Women’s World Cup. But the match did nothing in terms of compensation. An uninspired Germany team managed a 1-all draw against a French team who were much superior, but lacked finishing skill. The French must have gone home wondering how they managed not to win. 12,550 spectators were ready to support the team, but Germany just did nothing to warrant any support.

Blau-Weiß Gerwisch – Preußen Magdeburg
On the day after the rather disappointing play-off, I travelled to Gerwisch, 5 miles east of Magdeburg to see a fixture in the round of last 16 of the Saxony-Anhalt Cup. On what can only be called a dignified sports field the two teams played highly entertaining football. The underdogs, Gerwisch being a tier VII side and Preußen tier VI, took the lead off a rather non-controversial penalty, but Preußen equalised after thirty minutes with a strange ball. Unfortunately, Gerwisch’s keeper hurt his hand in the process and had to let in yet another goal before the break. In the second half, Preußen put on the pressure and increased their lead with a beautiful freekick that went in off the post. Gerwisch managed to pull one back almost immediately after wonderfully stringing some quick passes together on the right side. In the end, however, Preußen triumphed, eventually winning 4-2. A much more entertaining match than the night before, and for a tenth of the price…

Tomorrow, Magdeburg play VFC Plauen in an attempt to keep up with league leaders Babelsberg.

Meaningless friendly™

On Saturday, Magdeburg suffered a 2-4 defeat at the hands of what can be called an A2-Team of Hertha BSC. Overall, it was an even match, only at the end did Magdeburg not pay enough attention in defense, and thus Hertha scored 2 goals in the last 5 minutes of the match.
An audience of 6,277 was well entertained though, and large parts of the match created some hope for the coming season. Still three weeks to go till the start of the new season. Magdeburg will face Hanover 96’s reserve team in Hanover.

Quick update

As I’m somewhat busy with university stuff right now, just a quick update. After three matches Magdeburg’s situation remains unchanged, they are still 6 points behind non-relegation. This weekend Magdeburg travel to Lübeck, facing the only tier III team in Germany that did not apply for a tier III license for next season. Winning is obligatory, again, as Paul Linz‘ plan for non-relegation focuses on getting an average of 2 points per game.

Expect longer updates and maybe some nostalgic moments in April.