Matchday 31: FC Sankt Pauli – RasenBallsport Leipzig 1-0!

Drink this!

Yes, YES, YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! Seems that the energy shit that our yesterday’s guests are named after and exist because of it isn’t much better than the respective “energy” liquid we were advertising last year. HUGE victory for the Boys in Brown, practically depriving Red “Modern Football” Bull from their primary target this season and (the most important) keeping us alive in the extermination race that’s currently going on and is expected to continue with undiminished intensity until the very last day of the season. The word “tough” is quite lenient in order to describe what expects us in the last 3 matchdays but with such commitment and passion we can go on hoping and play for all or nothing until the sweet or bitter end…

 

Another matchday with the Scum crew scattered in chunks towards all posible directions, from Epirus to Peloponnese and from Attica to Macedonia. So here am I (thankfully, along with Sister Scum) Sunday morning at Rotunda, having a cold beer and taking feedback from the Athens front (remaining Scum and Athens Club, all together at the Locomotiva) while waiting for the St. Pauli Thessaloniki Club crew under the majestic Greek Spring Sun 😀 Finally to the venue and, after the heart warming welcome from our Northern comrades, all ready for a match of life or death, something actually that we have been quite familiar to, especially during the 2nd round of the season. Squad entrance under an impressive show from the Süd (we’re expecting the bill soon however) and off we go 🙂

Source: Giannis, the mad Greek bastard from the Skinheads 😀

Match underway and the first Sankt Pauli good chance with…8″ on the clock (!) and Schachten’s sidenetting shot (from within the box, to the left), an action quite indicative of the Brown/White intentions, which were nothing less than victory, couldn’t be otherwise anyway…Nevertheless, match pace didn’t keep up at this level (I’m not sure that such an outcome would be in our best interest anyway), a more or less controlled and balanced game with the next occasion again for FCSP, a Schachten (again) header over Coltorli’s crossbar on 13′. Not much except some very tough duels at the center and the first Red Bull opportunity (25′) with a Forsberg shot (just in the box, from the left corner edge) – Himmelmann dived in time at his low front corner and saved to a corner. Same motive with the game getting progressively harder for the rest of the half. Then, while approaching the end of the half and with everybody in the venue waiting for the half time whistle, the Kalla BIG forward ball, the Thy LONG run and THE MADNESS, both in Millerntor and venue (for sure the neighborhood felt it 🙂 ), as soon as the ball crossed the line! 1-0 for FCSP on 45′ with a Thy goal that can be proved decisive for our survival along the way – you could still feel the noise even after the half time whistle 🙂

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!!!! (image source: http://www.bild.de)

Game on in the 2nd half with the balance having changed from the very first minutes. Red Bull took over control of the game (needed the victory as bad as FCSP but for completely different reasons) but without being able to convert this supremacy to something solid. They left at the same time plenty of open space backwards for anybody willing to take advantage of it, something that Kalla did on 61! This crazy bastard, capable for the best or the worst throughout the past 12 years, won the ball a few meters in front of our box, won 2 consecutive duels by force and started a fuckin baseball run with the ball that, having managed the last dribble, could end up as one of the biggest FCSP season highlights. He didn’t (hey, he’s a defender after all 🙂 ),  still kept the ball and, all alone in the box between lots of Red Bull legs, created chaos from the right, passing the perfect assist that unfortunately no FCSP player was fast enough to catch up with it- Kimmich ended the Terror 😀 Same motive, while the tension was starting to really show both in the field with the game getting tougher and tougher and Millerntor louder and louder 🙂 A lot of tension inside the pitch, result of the extreme significance of the game but no solid results in the form of big chances, especially for Red Bull which was behind… Pressure from the guests naturally increased and could pay back on 80′ when after a corner not ideally cleared balled ended up at Kimmich’s legs, unguarded, just 1-2m out of the box, directly facing the net. He lifted the head up, aimed and fired with everybody in the venue frozen but ball ended up just over Himmelmann’s right upper corner, followed by a big exhalation, coming from some 24 thousand people in Millerntor and a lot more of other brown white maniacs worldwide 🙂 Breathing chance for FCSP with Halstenberg’s 25+m free kick just over Coltorli’s (completely in control of the situation) left corner and action again back around our box for the closing stages of the game. Lots of pressure by Red Bull now but all these in the form of deep balls into the box intended to inflict chaos, something that was proved quite unsuccesful as the FCSP defense was handling the situation much better than we are used to 🙂 A last counter attack for FCSP on 89′ and the chance to lock the game and end the clock torture but Koch’s direct volley didn’t have the desired result (chic!). Still wasn’t over, Red Bull pressed until the end and they would have probably killed us out of the blue in the very last second, if Robin Himmelmann wasn’t around – Skyman saved the day once more on 90+3, showing excellent reflexes, jumping towards his left corner and saving Reyna’s direct rocket on its way to the back of our net, causing screams of relief in the venue and Hell of Joy inside the loudest Millerntor of the last months 🙂 Red Bull’s time ended up, full time whisle, FCSP 1 – Red Bull 0!!!

The thinness of the line between Heaven and Hell as Reyna’s shot is travelling towards our net on 93’… (image source: http://rotebrauseblogger.de)

Mission completed! Sankt Pauli handled the pressure of the game, handled the pressure of the opponent, was calm when brain was required and full of passion when duels in the pitch asked for it! You know something? These guys may actually do it in the end 🙂 Don’t get me wrong, this is not time for anybody to get carried away, this situation is still extremely shitty and the 15th place we’re currently occupying is nothing more than an illusion, when considering the overall standings and our remaining schedule… Still, a) with 15th place, we have again theoretical control of the situation since we do not depend on what others will do (my ass!) and b) (that’s the good part) this squad provided enough indications that we will leave no game without having fought first 1910% from the very first (Schachten 1′) to the very last (Himmelmann 90+3′) moment of the game…

3 games left… One of them, the one in between (Bochum) is considered mandatory (nothing is optional at this stage, actually but…), the other two (FCK, Darmstadt) are probably the worst possible games that anybody could imagine…The two main challengers of the 2nd privileged place (direct promotion) running towards a photo finish equally agonizing as our relegation drama… According to the law of possibilities we’re fucked, navertheless we have no choice than go Kamikaze and try the excess that will make the difference. Let’s not fool ourselves, we can’t count only to a Bochum win (we have to win them first, of course) if we want to avoid direct relagation, we need more than that – if squad can live up to such expectations, remaining to be seen…

…starting this Saturday at Kaiserslautern vs the local FCK… Couldn’t be more fucked up ladies and gentlemen 😀 With the bright exception of 2012-13, as you can see for yourselves here, there’s only one word to describe our recent history experiences at Fritz-Walter-Stadion: PAIN! Let’s all keep fingers crossed, stand behind the squad anyway we can and help our club survive, C’MON FCSP!

Match goals:

1:0 Thy (45′, Right foot shot, Kalla)

Spectators: 23584 (sold out)

Sankt Pauli cards: Gonther(5, misses next), Daube(6), Buballa(2)

For full match coverage (in German) visit: http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/2bundesliga/spieltag/2-bundesliga/2014-15/31/2407806/spielanalyse_fc-st-pauli-18_rasenballsport-leipzig-15778.html

Last 6′ of the game as seen from the Haupttribune Red Bull section 😀

Further reading:

• Der Übersteiger (German)
• USP Photo Gallery
• Blutgrätsche Deluxe (German)
• Hamburg ist Braun Weiß (German)
• Grenzenlos Sankt Pauli (German)
• Kleiner Tod (German)

AUF SANKT PAULI!