Damage in the Box!: Stuttgart

After spending a rather 'refreshing' evening at the Brauhaus Schönbuch, I decided an early morning stroll over the bridge, over the River Neckar, into the district of Bad Cannstatt would be the best option to start the day!

Bad Cannstatt is where the Neckarstadion is located. This is the home of Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart (or VFB for short). Under the current sponsorship deal the stadium is called the Mercedes-Benz Arena.

VFB, formed in 1912 through a merger of Stuttgarter FV and Kronen-Club Cannstatt, are a famous name in German football. They were founding members of the Bundesliga have been champions on 5 occasions, the most recent being in 2007.

This season however they have to be content with a Europa League berth, having already guaranteed themselves a place in the qualifying rounds by finishing (at least) 6th.

A win today, and other results going in their favour, could see them finish 5th and go straight into the group stages, but that would require a Leverkeusen loss at lowly Nuremberg.

Opponents Wolfsburg also had a chance of the Europa league, but again it would require a win for themselves and a loss for Hannover against already relegated Kaiserslautern.

Wolfsburg did their best best to keep to their side of the bargain.

After withstanding early Stuttgart pressure, they took the lead after 28 minutes, Patrick Helmes firing home unmarked after a good square ball from the right.

This gave the visitors an interval lead but Stuttgart began the second half brightly, just as the heavens opened. However the were caught out again on the hour mark when Marco Russ bundled the ball over the line, after a crossed ball was headed back into the six yard box.

Fritzle the mascot is very
popular with the kids

It looked like game over for the homesters, but in an amazing 6 minute period they found themselves in the lead. After 73 minutes Cacau headed home before Maza (77m) turned to fire home another cross, to level things up. Within seconds Wolfsburg hit the upright, but the ball went up field and Ibrahima Traoré (79m) met the ball at the back stick to give The Swabians the lead.

This seemed to knock the stuffing out of Wolfsburg and they never looked like getting themselves back into the game, if anything Stuttgart could've extended their lead, Vedad Ibišević having an effort cleared off the line late on.

The stadium is very impressive and today there was a fantastic atmosphere with a superb choreographed display of flags and banners. I must also pay tribute to the stewards who were happy to allow me, and many others, to stand in the aisles to keep dry as the heavens opened. I would've got drenched otherwise and also, it gave me a much better view of the Stuttgart goals!

Saturday 5th May 2012
Bundesliga
VFB Stuttgart 3-2 VFL Wolfsburg
Attendance: 58,500

I found myself in Germany for another round of games as the Bundesliga season drew to it's conclusion.

The weekend though began with a Friday night Regionalliga game, at the Gazi-Stadion auf der Waldau, in the shadow of the TV tower, which is the home of Stuttgart Kickers.

The Kickers, founded in 1899, are on course to claim the Regionalliga Süd title and with it promotion to Liga 3 and, assuming their nearest challengers Großaspach match Kickers' results, they need just four points from the remaining three games to be crowned champions.

Kickers were founding members of Liga 3 back in 2008 but were relegated back to the Regionalliga after just one season. Tonight's opponents were lowly FC Memmingen, so this was as good a chance to stay on track for a return as they were ever going to get.

However, there is no accounting for what the pressure of a situation can do to a team and it's all about how you handle that pressure. Tonight was a case in point.

In front of a seasons best crowd of 5,400, it was an incredibly nervous performance from the Kickers and the game was settled by virtue of a scrappy goal after 15 minutes, Marco Grüttner netting the all important strike.

Despite total dominance of the the possession, Kickers could not find that elusive second goal that would have made the game easier. It was tense but they managed to hold on and take themselves within a point of the title.

However, within 48 hours, they would indeed be crowned champions as Großaspach lost 3-2 to Hoffenheim II. I would imagine Paul's beer caravan (right) where I spent some valuable drinking time pre-match on Friday, would've been doing a roaring trade when that result came through!