Matchday 04: Red Bull – FC Sankt Pauli 0-1!

Taurine is good, Soul is better 😉

source: http://www.l-iz.de

This Lienen bunch is intending to drive all of us fuckin’ crazy! The same squad that managed last season to save the league at the very last moment, minus some key players, is moving like a Locomotive, sweeping so far almost everything in its way. Latest victim, the corporate energy drink troupe from Leipzig from whom we managed to steal the priceless (and doubtful before the game) 3 points, with smart play after the opening stage of the game and big amounts of will and passion all along. Too early to go mental but not too early to feel good 🙂

 

Game was believed to be one of very high interest (at least here) as both the financial gap between us and them and our cohabitation at the upper floors of the table suggested. Things became even spicier when the replacement of the Red Bull Club Crest (or corporate logo in our case, if you prefer) with the word “Leipzig” on the FCSP website came to everybody’s attention a few days before the game. Red Bull staff initially offered to resend to FCSP the logos only to find that the problem wasn’t technical, something that created an “unpleasant” atmosphere between the clubs, something that was translated to some caustic statements from both sides 🙂 Details on the story, that for sure isn’t over, you can find here.

With all these in mind, we were expecting a furious Red Bull into the game, a thing that seemed quite close to reality during the opening stages of the match with game played almost exclusively in our own half. First big opportunity of the match for RB on 6′, with Himmelmann reaching first to the ball with his legs, in front of Selke after a very dangerous assist deep in the heart of our box and ball repelled to safety by someone (!) after the rebound shot! Another one on 7′ with a Forsberg shot, from within the box to the left, ending safely in Himmelmann’s grasp. Our turn on 11′ with a Rzatkowski foxy 25m free kick going instead of the heart of the box directly towards Coltorti’s posts, RB keeper was ready and repelled the ball to safety. Game on, with the hosts playing fast and occasionally pretty technical and the Boys in Brown trying passionate to hold them back, resulting in a lot of half finished attempts on behalf of the hosts – actually, ball was really lost on 22′ when they dissolved our defense with some delicate manoeuvres and quick ball exchange but (phew!), after Forsberg’s final attempt, we were lucky to see the ball hitting on Himmelmann’s right post and getting the fuck away, towards safety (phew!). The Boys in Brown managed to survive the critical opening minutes and with the clock reaching 30′ they had already managed not only to slow somehow the very dangerous RB pace but to start creating dangers for the hosts, having actually already fired a warning shot on 27′ with Alushi whose shot, after charging in into the box from the right, was stopped initially by Coltorti’s excellent reflexes and then by Teigl, just a little before the goal line. 2nd chance for FCSP on 38′ with Teigl again saving RB  by stopping again a Ziereis shot with Coltorti neutralized after an unlucky exit choice. ANOTHER ONE on 41′ with Nehrig, after getting rid of his opponent following a corner, diving for a header that ended up a little by RB’s left post…and with the end of the half approaching, while we had a very funny debate regarding the quality of our offensive line (details not allowed in public 🙂 ), THE SHOCK (for them 😀 )!!! 44′ into the game with ball flying in the air from head to head, first ball control by Rzatkowski, 2nd by Thy and immediatelly THE KILL with a direct shot just out of the box, sending the ball where Coltorti could do simply nothing! 0-1 for FCSP and half time shortly afterwards with the hosts still trying to digest what just happened to them 😉

Lennart Thy being congratulated for the bullseye (source: http://www.dfb.de)

2nd half underway with FCSP looking in control of the situation…until 51′ and a tremendous chance for RB, with Poulsen stealing the ball from last man in line, Sobiech (awww man…), moving forward into the box, deciding to pass the assist to unattended Selke, to the right , who missed the best opportunity of the game up to then, sending the ball JUST by Himmelmann’s right (lucky) post! Our turn and a good counter attack for FCSP on 58′ with final recipient of the ball Sobota who preferred another ball control instead of a direct shot (the ball din’t quite like it, it went out of bounds) and again RB’s turn on 65′ with Alushi pushing Ilsanker into the box (seemed like a penalty to us) but the referee saying “play on”… Game continued flowing with the Boys in Brown holding firm overall, the RB squad looking like they’re out of ideas and we had to wait another 10′ (yeah, like we really cared at this point 😀 ) until we see something really worth to mention in the field, a Kaiser 27m shot, just over Himmelmann’s crossbar…and another 10′ until another free kick by Kaiser (87′), this time from a similar distance but from the left flank that this time forced Himmelmann to jump to his upper left corner and save the day! Game finally into injury time, with everybody waiting in agony for the 5′ to pass…A chance for FCSP to finish the game prematurely with Alushi making the wrong choice and sending the ball to Hell from 10m but from an acute angle, after a good exchange near the flag with Choi (90+4′), another distant but poisonous shot by Kalmar (90+5′), succesfully handled again by Skyman and…game over!!! RB 0 – FCSP 1, with the local fans/customers emptying the stadium while the Boys in Brown were getting a standing ovation from the equally passionate FCSP fans who made the trip to support Ewald Lienen’s Pirate Brigade 🙂

The Brown White fan force 🙂

If I was to be told by someone exactly one month ago that 30 days later our squad would be after 4 matchdays 2nd in the table and undefeated, having already passed victoriously from Karlsruhe and Leipzig, I would propably kindly suggest to him to watch it out a little with the drug mix he(she)’s using…Well, seems (to my big pleasure, no matter how worrying it sounds regarding my mental health) that the only fucked up head here is mine 😀 Seems that the risky bet that has been put on the table by the Club starts paying back and we’re heading for a far more painless season comparing to last year’s almost traumatic one. Squad has started looking not just good but confident as well. Regardless of the theoretical gap between the two squads, primarily based on the financial gap, FCSP not only won the game today but did it easier than probably expected even by the more optimistic of the FCSP fans. Yes, RB had a few chances to get ahead in the early stages of the match but as soon as the Boys in Brown found their steps in the pitch, they not only balanced the game but they showed that when they want something they can get it, by outplaying the opponent towards the end of the half, something that led to the winner. There were a few critical mistakes along the way but overall the squad was focus and passionate, pressing occasionaly the opponent very high into the pitch and leaving them from a certain point and then without options, trying to find the solution with deep balls and free kicks. What’s in store for this squad along the way?

Greg (despite the “Professor of Bollockology” title that he’s about to claim, based on his predictions) says that we should keep a low profile… Heard friends talking about promotion yesterday… Of course I would be more than happy to earn both titles ( 😀 ) this season but seems to me that we still have a long way to go until we seriously start talking about promotion and, even if we don’t, some modesty could only be in our favor at this stage. A very long way still to go, and lots of things can go bad along the way, from a normal performance gap somewhere in between to a few unlucky injuries (knock on wood!) in critical positions at a critical point that can turn the picture completely upside down. So let’s don’t go mental, at least until the time is right to do so ( 🙂 ) and take it one step at a time…

…starting with the trip to really cozy Frankfurter Volksbank-Stadion for the game vs FSV Frankfurt next Sunday. A really nice environment, which however can hide very unpleasant surprises inside the pitch as personal experience says…A game that requires all the attention we can give to it, if we want next week being as crazed from joy as we currently are…So let’s go there, feed the ducks in the park lake, opposite of the stadium, with some bread, feed FSV with 1-2 goals, after playing a focused, serious and passionate match and get back here in style and with a little more ambition in the bags, C’MOOOOOOON FCSP!!!

Line Up:

Himmelmann

Nehrig L. Sobiech Ziereis Buballa

Alushi Rzatkowski

Sobota (Deichmann 90′) Maier (Verhoek 84′) Buchtmann (Choi 78′)

Thy

Match goals:

0:1 Thy (44′, Right foot shot, Rzatkowski)

Spectators: 41795 (sold out)

Sankt Pauli cards: Sobota(1), Maier(1), Thy(1)

Match highlights

Ewald Lienen: “FCSP should make no advertising for Red Bull” 🙂

Further reading:

• Kicker (German)
• Grenzenlos Sankt Pauli (German)
• St. Pauli Club Zena (Italian)
• Kleiner Tod (German)
• Magischer FC (German)
• Der Übersteiger (German)
• Hanseator (German)
• Rotebrauseblogger (German)
• Sankt Pauli Province Fanatics (German)

Ah, not to forget! Thanks to comrade Walter from Berlin for the Übersteiger galore 😉