Matchday 08: H$V vs FC Sankt Pauli 0-0

Still the City Boss

source: http://www.berliner-zeitung.de

…and in case somebody has any doubts, a look at their faces after full time whistle tells the whole story. FCSP got a draw and had the chances even to win the match in the end, in a game clearly less intense than the last one in there. Yeah, numbers say 72-28 possession for H$V but this superiority not only didn’t convert to real stress for us but we almost robbed the house in the end. Once more undefeated, once more clean sheet at Volksparkstadion, now you big (Dino) birds come over to Millerntor ^^

 

Friday

Having already been slightly fucked, courtesy of a fucker gone crazy in the previous flight of the plane, resulting to multiple departure time changes, finally in St. Pauli around 22:30 and…what the Hell… Cops outside SheBeen, cops outside Kleine Pause, cops all over the fuckin’ place. Of course this wasn’t out of the blue. A series of H$V provocations, that seems that they haven’t been remained unanswered, had led to an escalation all along the season, reaching dangerous peak at the start of the week before the Derby. Of course, cops were not the only ones around, BIG numbers of Brown White boys (and girls) had flooded both the entrance of the Jolly and Paulinenplatz, having a good time with each other and waiting in case the neighborhood has to be defended against malicious visitors, something practically impossible with all this police force and intelligence deployed all around.

To be honest, I personally feel quite happy with the fact that no violence eventually took place. I will not start discussing cliches like “football is just a game” and blah blah. I can understand testosterone, I can understand passion, I can understand that things can get occasionally slightly out of hand and punches and kicks can be exchanged. There is a huge distance between this and people get stabbed or beaten without limits. Yeah, some cliches are true, we’re not fighting a class war or something here, this is primarily a football rivalry and, yes, in the end it’s a fuckin’ game, not worthing people losing their lives at some point because of it. Had the pleasure having a chat with my man Rafa from Piratas Del Sur on it the next day. We’re both coming from places where people die at football for years and we both have seen some really worrying signs about the future…

All you Ultras and allied forces up there maybe you should stop for a moment and try to think plain logic. You have the best football around as we speak. While in places like the UK the plot has been completely lost and high level football has been off limits for the masses, while in places like the Balkans football has been depreciated at the level of humiliation, you enjoy full stadiums, terrific atmosphere and a football still approachable to the masses. When (hopefully never) the first dead appears, things can change really rapidly and maybe not take long before you start wondering where the fuck the football you love has gone. With the unfortunate turn of society in Europe towards conservatism in general, you can have a mass fan criminalization Thatcher-style with all the obvious consequences before you even figure out what has happened and from this point is really difficult to return…

Fortunately nothing happened, Friday turned to be about meeting friends (EVERYBODY was there 😆), ended up going to sleep almost wasted (believe it or not this happens in really rare occasions), shortly before 6 😇

Saturday

Up late, out (still wasted) around 3 (ffs Greg) with the U23 possibility having gone down the drain due to a) my early morning condition, b) no one coming along and c) the fact that I haven’t been at the Nordstedt pitch before and I wasn’t in the mood for a treasure hunt 😆. Then, at the corner of the Jolly fell on something that I had completely forgotten about.

Remembering that Kleiner Tod (who told me about it) will be there and having no idea at what the point the march is, stood there trying to locate him passing, it’s not so tough to spot REALLY tall guys in the crowd 😉 Stayed there until the end of the march, I was unable to locate him, afterwards I found out why. this march was passing by Budapesterstraße for almost 2 hours, I just met the end of it! And it was not only huge, it was a beauty to watch. Incredible participation by people of all ages and a tremendous amount of positive energy. March full of vehicles with various things performed, speeches, performers, DJs, live bands, in a few words an incredibly colorful and cheerful caravan. The temptation to shoot some video or take some photos to capture this was huge but, knowing that a mass police data collection is taking place on the occasion of the derby and there are lots of people without papers in the march, ended up considering it not a good idea, pity 🙂

Estimation of participation says around 30.000, a number that looks like making perfect sense. This city must be really proud. In dark times like these with racism, xenophobia and all the other phobias going along gaining ground day by day all around, leading us slowly back to the middle ages, the example that this place sets is a true ray of light. Sure, Hamburg is not the only one but we need more, many more Hamburgs in order to start really reversing the current negative momentum. OK, this wasn’t expected, this was a trip bonus 🙂

Another trip pleasant surprise in the evening, the, after 6-7 years, visit to the Secret Kiosk of crazy motherfucker Max (of course Max is not the real name, changed for privacy protection)!!! A small apartment with the living room having been converted to a proper indoor pub (OK, only one kind of beer and a couple of shots, don’t go crazy here 😆) with a proper kiosk, open for a couple of hours every two weeks to everyone. Didn’t think that this place would be still open, was really something to see it again. Not only alive and kicking, doing it consistently for 11 years. Unique guy, unique place, unique atmosphere, now I know he’s still around, will not take me 6-7 years until the next visit 😉

Also, really good the stop by the Museum Bar (before the Kiosk), always good seeing the Master of Malt Sönke, for the whisky lovers by the way, there are always a couple of bloody good drams available 😉 Night evolved to a repetition of Friday with more people involved and finally, together since afternoon with the South End Scum comrade Ernesto who brought a scent of home, where I haven’t been for some 10 months (Awww Greg 😆, not for long though, 3-4 FCSP matches scheduled for Soridon at the end of the 1st round ^^). As already told, an amazing gathering of people, H$V brings us closer 😆 Only difference the earlier dismissal for everybody, in view of the early bird, Derby wake up call.

Sunday

9:00 AM outside Millerntor and the vast majority of the around 5.000 (not aware of the exact numbers) Vorstadt visitors already gathered for the looong trip to the Volksparkstadion. Special for the occasion white FCSP t-shirts given to everybody (✊🏿) and off to Landungsbrücken for the special trains to Bahrenfeld (anybody having any idea what the fuck was this smell inside the station???) and from there the around 5Km march to Volksparkstadion where the last big group arrived shortly before 12:00. 70-80′ in the queue outside the stadium (ffs!) and finally in position about 15′ before the game.

Game on, with H$V in control from the beginning. However the first opportunity (there weren’t really many of them) belonged to FCSP, with a Flum header from the heart of the box that Pollersbeck had no problem to block. H$V still in control but the clock had to show 25′ in order to see something from them. When it happened though, it was quite dangerous, a Bates dangerous header from the first post that took a really stressful orbit before it ends up, after a bounce, a couple of meters by the rear post. Continuous “superiority” for H$V, with only prize an Arp header, ending up some 3-4m over our crossbar on 39’… In fact the most dangerous moment of the 1st half happened on 44′ and belonged to FCSP, with a very dangerous Möller Daehli shot from 6-7m, to the left, tackled to safety by an unidentified H$V leg. HT 0-0, after a nervous by them and overall solid by us (with the exceptions of some small moments of defensive chaos that we could avoid and fortunately didn’t cost) game.

source: http://www.headtopics.com

Same story at the beginning of the 2nd half, which had as its first moment a Douglas Santos distant free kick (51′) that took a really tricky orbit, ending up sidenetting on the upper side of the posts but Himmelmann was in charge all along. FCSP header on 59′ but unlike Asamoah’s header on the same minute on 2011 this one ended up, getting easily blocked by Pollersbeck 🙂 A really good H$V chance on 60′, with some really fast deployment and ball to Hwang, storming towards the box and looking really dangerous. Ziereis stopped him from doing the decisive shot, the really tricky attempt of Hwang immediately afterwards ended up JUST by Himmelmann‘s left post. Lots of tension but no so much thrill. No one (especially H$V) having the way to penetrate and after a certain point it became all about shots. A long Sahin shot on 71′ that barely made it to Pollersbeck for FCSP, a much more ambitious 18-19m but still well over the crossbar Buchtmann shot on 77′, again for us while H$V was trying to push harder and a Mangala shot from outter space on 78′ that ended up to outter space for H$V. Mangala dived for penalty on 81, with the H$V terrace mob screaming for a penalty but the ref didn’t bite the bait, the same way he didn’t bite it a couple of times earlier 👍🏿 From this point onwards and until the end? First a quite clever Veerman attempt on 86′ but Pollersbeck was in place and blocked the ball, a Knoll direct run-and-gun 20m shot a couple of meters by Pollersbeck‘s left post on 90′ and ALMOST HELL on 92’ with Sahin almost executing Pollersbeck from 50m (!!!) on the counter attack but H$V keeper retreating in time and saving Dino with a big stretch on the last moment! And yes, there was still an Avevor header over their crossbar on 9′. In a few words? FCSP 😉

source: http://www.mopo.de

Simply well done to all! Moments of momentary blackouts may existed but they were too few, overall we performed the way we should, just at the right time, against a theoretically superior opponent, in a game with an invaluable significance in terms of prestige. Thank you all for allowing us for leaving Volksparkstadion with the heads high, thank you for their whistles towards their squad and the look on their faces at the end of the match 😆

Just a note: have a look at the last 3 games. After a long time, the same 11 and the same 3 substitutions in all 3. Looks like Kauczinski, after some experimenting, has finally ended up with a clear idea on how this team should look like and I have to admit that 7 points in 3 games, with one of them being the Derby, is something that I personally have nothing against 😉 Aye, makes also things much easier when copying last match report 🤣

Now, it’s back to work. We’re on the good path, only 27pts left to reach the magic number of 40 😇 Sandhausen comes in town and, regardless their current situation (16th), they are no joke. If some looks at recent history, he will directly figure out that we have a really hard time with them, every time we meet. We, as South End Scum, especially have a really intense experience back in October 2015 when an, otherwise excellent, weekend was combined with a first class burial in Millerntor, with Sandhausen having the role of the undertaker ^^ So, let’s get serious, let’s not get over our heads, let’s play serious football and get what we deserve, FORZA SANKT PAULI!!! ☠️☠️☠️

Line Up:

Himmelmann

Buballa    Avevor    Ziereis    Dudziak

  Flum (Zehir 83′)   Knoll  

           Sahin    Buchtmann   Möller Daehli (Neudecker 76′)

Diamantakos (Veerman 73′)

  

Match goals:

N/A

Spectators:  57000 (sold out)

Sankt Pauli cards: Sahin(2), Flum(4), Buchtmann(3)

End of match (there was also a “Gehst du durchs Viertel” afterwards but phone died 😉)

Match highlights here

 

Further reading:

• Kicker (German)
• Official website
• Magischer FC (German)
• Millernton (German, inside you will find the answer to the smell thing, H$V pricks…)
• Der Übersteiger (German, they are back after a short period of transformation 😉)
• Kleiner Tod (German)
• Yorkshire St. Pauli
• USP Photo Gallery

 

Same long way back, the very same putrid smell at Bahrenfeld station, finally exhausted but happy around 6 at the neighborhood. A typical international happy Sunday evening at Jolly (no we don’t get bananas just because we got a lousy 0-0 at Volksparkstadion 😆), and lots of goodbyes with very first in line my Scum man Ernesto who, as these lines are written, enjoys the experience of Oktoberfest in Munich, to land in Greece tomorrow at 17:00 and get directly to work at Soridon…17:30 😆 (?!?) Simply too many to mention this time, as written in the beginning, EVERYBODY was there, so thanks everybody, till next time boys and girls 😎👊🏿☠️

Monday

Started 7AM in Hamburg with me unable to say even my name, ending in Leeds with the Monday game and me, still with a flood of memories and a shaken head, trying to stay in character and finish this, we’re good 😉