1.FC KAISERSLAUTERN (Fritz Walter Stadion)

The third and final game of the weekend was a trip to see 'die Roten Teufel' of Kaiserslautern take on their rivals Cologne in a Bundesliga clash.

It was a hair raising trip from Karlsruhe, as the sat-nav directed us along an A road through the vast Rheinland-Pfalz forest, with snow covered trees (it put me in mind of the Snake Pass back home, which is the road that crosses the Pennines). I'm sure I would have appreciated the vista a lot more had I not been driving, though my passenger did assure me it was stunning!

Anyhow, as a mere novice to driving in Germany, I managed to pass the test with flying colours and we were parked up at the university just under an hour before kick off. Thanks to the efficiency of the park and ride scheme, which was free, we were at the Betzenberg just 10 minutes later.

The Betzenberg stadium, which was re-named in 1985 after former Kaiserslautern and West Germany legend Fritz Walter, is high upon a hill overlooking the city. It has a capacity of 49,750 but it was far from full at this evening's game. It is a fantastic ground though, which was re-developed for the 2006 World Cup, and the 'Red Devils' in the West Curve did make some noise.

I had high hopes for this game, despite the lowly positions of the respective clubs, but as the locals would say, this game was total Scheiße!

The only things of real note that happened in the 90 minutes were Kaiserslautern being reduced to 10 men, just before half time, when  Ariel Borysiuk received 2 yellow cards on his debut. Cologne having a goal disallowed, after 54 minutes, when  Milivoje Novakovic was ruled offside and the winning goal itself.

Odise Roshi scored in the 72nd minute, which was within seconds of him coming on as a substitute, when he headed home from a corner kick, to give Cologne the three points. Obviously the quality of the game was not helped by the sending off, Kaiserslautern becoming more and more defensive as the game went on, and Cologne's goal threat was lessened by the absence of 15 goal striker Lucas Podolski.

It was an anti-climatic ending to what was another fantastic weekend of German groundhopping, despite the cold weather. Roll on May when I will be doing it all again, and hopefully it will be marginally warmer!

17:30, Sunday 5th February 2012
Bundesliga
1.FC Kaiserslautern 0-1 FC Cologne
Attendance: 38,043

KARLSRUHER SC (Wildparkstadion)

After the 55 minute journey from Sinsheim to Karlsruhe, Saturday evening was spent in the quite splendid Vogelbrau hausbraueri, where the beer was excellent and the food fantastic.

It must have been good as it went unnoticed that upon walking back to the hostel at around midnight, the temperature had dipped to around -13°C!

There was plenty of time to kill in the morning which allowed us to get a prominent parking space on the ring road just along from the ground. This would assist us greatly in our escape to the next game.

The morning had brought only a small rise in the temperature, where it was now up to a positively balmy -8°C. There was never any danger of the game being called off though, with the undersoil heating earning its corn. After tickets were purchased, for a very reasonable €10, pre-match was spent in the Karlsruher club house, where by chance we bumped into a Karlsruher supporter who was from Preston, who moved to Germany 11 years ago. A very interesting conversation indeed.

The Wildparkstadion is situated on the main ring road to the North and is very easy to find. The Wildparkstadion is a classic old ground with large banks of terraces.  The capacity is around 30,000 but, with Karlsruher struggling at the bottom of the 2.Bundesliga, crowds this season have been dwindling to below half that.

Having said that there was a cracking atmosphere inside the ground, made up by over 500 Aue fans which, with the day's weather and early kick off, you have to give them credit for travelling.

After a sluggish start the game came to life when Erzgebirge took the lead after 17 minutes when Ronny König headed home a free kick. Within 5 minutes though the homesters were level when Pascal Groß low shot found it's way into the corner of the net, via the post.

The rest of the half was pretty even as both teams attacked each other, creating decent chances, however it was all square at the break.  The cold was beginning to bite so I took the opportunity to get some Glühwein during the interval to try and warm up!

The second half was just 10 minutes old when Karlsruher completed their comeback and grabbed what proved to be the winner. Hakan Calhanoglu lifted the ball over the Aue defence for Steffen Haas to chase down and, as Erzgebirge's keeper rushed off his line to close the ball down, Haas lobbed the ball over him and into the unguarded net.

Within seconds of taking the lead, Karlsruher were reduced to 10 men when Delron Buckley was shown a straight red card for throwing a punch at Jan Hochscheidt, who had been a constant thorn in the side of Karlsruhe and was easily Aue's man of the match.

This red card however didn't cause the homesters to much discomfort and seemed to galvanise them to hold onto to seal the points, if anything Karlsruhe maybe should've extended their lead. The win also helped to lift Karlsruhe of the bottom of the table, where they were replaced by Hansa Rostock.

All that was left for me to do was get out of the ground as quickly as possible and get onto the autobahn for the final game of the weekend....

 

The Aue fans





Nummer fünfzehn Matthias.....


13:30, Sunday 5th February 2012

2.Bundesliga

Karlsruher SC 2-1 Erzgebirge Aue

Attendance: 11,515



TSG 1899 HOFFENHEIM (Rhein-Neckar Arena)

This weekend was another 'Bundesliga' weekend with three games in two days. Not even the sub zero temperatures could put off my trip to Germany!

First game of the weekend was a trip to Sinsheim to see Hoffenheim take on bottom of the league Augsburg.

Hoffenheim are the village club (population of around 3,200) that have been bankrolled all the way to the Bundesliga, in the process making themselves pretty unpopular with other fans. Since the early nineties they have risen from the 8th tier of German football to where they are today. They eventually reached the 2.Bundesliga for season 2007-2008, which was actually their first season as a professional club. They finished second in this season to take their place amongst the German elite.

In the 2008-2009 they actually topped the Bundesliga at the winter break, but when injuries to key players hit they fell away to finish 7th. In the following seasons they consolidated their position in mid-table with two successive 11th place finishes.

The man responsible for this meteoric rise is Dietmar Sopp, a former Hoffenheim youth player, who founded software company SAP. At the time of their promotion it was estimated he had ploughed around €120M into the club. He also financed the building of a brand new 31,000 capacity stadium in the nearby town of Sinsheim.

Which brings me nicely onto why I was here today!

The ground is situated just off the A6 (which was lucky as I was driving in Germany for the very first time) but is basically in the middle of nowhere. It was quite an impressive arena though. There were no 'proper' bars within a 15 minute walk of the ground, so had to make do with a Currywurst and Coffee from a small cafe nearby. 

The game was decent enough, but in truth neither side are going to pull up any trees this season. Hoffenheim, who had ex-RS player Ryan Babel (who is still crap) in their line up, fell behind when Sascha Mölders scored for the visitors after 31 minutes.  The homesters were level after 38 minutes when Peniel Mlapa lobbed the onrushing Simon Jentzsch and the ball went over the line despite the best efforts of the two covering Augsburg defenders.

Hoffenheim took the lead from the penalty spot on 51 minutes when Sejad Salihović scored after Roberto Firmino was fouled. The visitors got a deserved equaliser after 72 minutes when Sebastian Langkamp's header from a corner was fumbled over the line by home 'keeper Tom Starke. 

It was a relief to get back to the car as the second half was spent stood up at the back of the stand trying to keep warm as temperatures dipped to around -10°C. It was then onward to Karlsruhe in readiness for Sunday's feast of football...weather permitting of course!



Sejad Salihović scores from the penalty spot to put Hoffenheim 2-1 up



Saturday 4th February 2012

Bundesliga

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 2-2 FC Augsburg

Attendance: 22,500

ECCLESHALL (Pershall Park)

With the cold and wet weather once again disrupting plans, I decided to play it safe today and head to a ground that hasn't seemed to have had any problems in recent weeks as regards to getting a game on, namely Eccleshall of the North West Counties League Division One.

Eccleshall is a Staffordshire town but not too far from the Shropshire border. Stafford is around 7 miles away to the south and Market Drayton is around 10 miles to the north. 

Eccleshall's ground is in nearby Pershall, hence it's name Pershall Park, which is just over a mile or so out of the town.

For a small town however, it boasts three entries in the 2012 GBG. Pre-match was spent in The George, which also happens to be 'the tap' for the Slaters Brewery. The 'Top Totty' went down very well!

Ashton Town (from Ashton-in-Makerfield) were the visitors today and, with both teams not exactly pulling up any trees this season, I wasn't expecting a classic. Ashton, however, seem to be in more turmoil than their hosts being third from bottom of the league and dispensing with their managers services during the week.

After a promising opening from the visitors in which Harry McGill had an effort cleared off the line, the homesters soon found their rhythm and after 15 minutes a cross from the left found it's way to skipper Daniel Hughes who hit it home from the edge of the box.

After 23 minutes it was Eccleshall's turn to have an effort cleared off the line when Josh Lane's header was booted away, however just 2 minutes later Eccleshall did double their advantage when Thomas Wakefield broke into the box and squared the ball to leave Hughes with a simple task of tapping the ball home. 

The homesters as you'd expect were now dominating the game and could easily extended their lead, but just before the break Ashton grabbed a goal back when McGill broke through and planted the ball into the corner of the net.

The second half momentarily began as the first half ended with Ashton on the attack but Eccleshall soon gained the advantage once again when Thomas Loraso fired narrowly wide on two occasions, however they soon bagged their third goal when Lane's cross on 61 minutes was swept home by Wakefield to seal the points for the homesters.  The cherry on the cake was provided by Danny Hughes on 64 minutes when he wriggled through the Ashton defence and scuffed his shot home to complete his hat-trick.

Eccleshall had plenty more chances to add to their goal tally but in the end had to settle for four. A deserved victory and, for me, a good day out in Staffordshire.

Saturday 28th January 2012

North West Counties League Division One

Eccleshall 4-1 Ashton Town

Attendance: 36