AndyChristos
evoulino
FCSP Athens South End Scum
sidkaya
St. John
ZouzGoal galore
With the league being at its penultimate turn and the two squads not really after anything (sporting wise of course, a higher spot in the table always brings some extra cash) no one was really expecting a 0-0. 7 goals, a quite entertaining game and a victory for FCSP in the end, the perfect recipe for a nice Friday evening in Athens, must have been even better for everyone that took the (short) trip to Kiel 😎✊🏾🏴☠️
Quite an open game from the start, with Bartels (more about him towards the end) losing the first big chance of the game already on 3′ by missing Reese‘s assist for a frame of a second, all alone in front of Vasilj. A good pace, both teams quite active with hosts being maybe a little more dominant than us but without big occasions like the opening one. A Saliakas free kick wide on 10′, a small mess in our box on 14′, with Reese in a one-to-one vs Vasilj, a few things here and there…until 27′ when Kiel was awarded a penalty, following a duel between Vasilj and Bartels outside the keeper’s box, penalty was converted to goal by Skrzybski for the 1-0 on 28′. Didn’t take long for FCSP to answer though, with Afolayan being the perpetrator. Dapo, after having being injured earlier, following a foul that wasn’t awarded, came back in the pitch, took advantage of a mess in the Kiel box, executed from some 13m Dähne for the equalizer, with a crawling poison shot between many legs and silenced the stadium on 39′. Game again on equal terms, both squads going after it, still a good pace but nothing really big until the end of the half.
Kiel had against the first word in the 2nd half (47′), a magic Bartels assist to Reese, who marched all alone towards our net but was brilliantly stopped by Vasilj, who kept the 1-1, allowing the subsequent magic to happen. GOAL for FCSP on 53′, Medic was quick to celebrate but the replay immediately revealed that 1-2 was an own goal, courtesy of Wahl 😎 Shock for Kiel and, before even digesting it, things became worse for them – FANTASTIC one-touch finish by Daschner from the edge of the box, taking advantage of a brilliant diagonal gift by Afolayan, 1-3 for FCSP 61′! Kiel tried to put some extra pressure, something that didn’t pay up, luck also wasn’t on their side, as the 74′ incident suggests. Signs of disintegration in their defense, excellent cooperation between Saad and Paqarada, with the latter trying the finish in front of Dähne – watching the replay looks like ball was going just out of bounds but Kirkeskov was there to make it 1-4 for FCSP with the 2nd Kiel own goal of the evening. Eventually goal was credited to Paqarada, no problem, one more for Leart, less embarrassment for the hosts. With 1-4 and around 15′ to go, things should be easy for us but you’re never safe with FCSP, “loose” character of the match may also helped a little here 😅 Bad clearance in our box, ball eventually to unguarded Komenda, inside our box and a little to the left, and a quite collected finish into Vasilj’s left corner for the 2-4 on 78′. Things became suddenly adventurous, brilliant Vasilj fuck up on 80′ who immediately made up for the error by deflecting Pichler‘s attempt to pass the ball over him. More adventure on 87’ when FCSP was left down to 10 men, following a 2nd yellow to Afolayan, who was too fast to return in the pitch after injury treatment and was punished (a little harsh but fair) by the ref, there was also a yellow for Hürzeler there. Biggest moment of the game immediately afterwards
6′ injury time, Kiel installed in our half, suspense with Vasilj saving us from the 3rd goal with a brilliant save on 91′ and again a real game in our hands with 3-4 on 93′ – Reese the scorer, with a powerful shot from the right edge of the box that was proven too strong for Vasilj. Agony in the closing stage (match ended on 99′ but it’s OK when your ass is not on the line at the bottom of the table 😇) but no more goals to be found for Kiel, FT 3-4 🏴☠️
Won’t go over again the same stuff, using “what if we had won EBS” logic, what’s done is done, yesterday was positive vibes. To me yesterday looked like a classic end-of-season Liga 2 match between two squads that are not really going after anything, in Greece it would probably be a safe 0-0, in Germany can reach low water polo scores 😅 We were good, we were overall (there was a slight panic in the end) more collected than them defensive wise, we were a little luckier too, well deserved. It’s not news anymore, however really impressed by Dapo Afolayan yesterday (I believe it wasn’t the booze), this was a big promise in view of the new season, too bad he will miss the last one at home.
Which brings us to next week and the farewell game of the season, at home vs KSC. It’s going to be a packed Millerntor, celebrating the end of another rollercoaster season and thanking the squad for all the efforts, regardless of the outcome and the score of the match. We’re expected to win of course and give an even more festive character to the celebration. We may not celebrate promotion but we will certainly celebrate what we usually do, football and all the things that bring us together, Forza Sankt Pauli ☠️☠️☠️
Match data (people): https://www.kicker.de/kiel-gegen-st-pauli-2023-bundesliga-4782031/aufstellung
Match data (stats): https://www.kicker.de/kiel-gegen-st-pauli-2023-bundesliga-4782031/spieldaten
Further reading:
- Kicker (German)
- Official website
- Millernton (German, translator)
- USP Photo Gallery
A few words about Fin Bartels
When I first watched this guy playing (had back then no fuckin’ clue who is he) he was still playing for…Hansa Rostock and he actually scored a goal against us in that legendary match that we found ourselves trailing 0-2 on 5′ but we eventually won the match 3-2 in the 2nd half, my very first Millerntor experience… Spent four years with us at a time that looks so distant now, some of the youngers have never seen him playing for FCSP. Still he managed to leave his indelible mark and this mark couldn’t even fade when he decided to rejoin Kiel instead of us. A guy that gave everything he had, wherever he served, and made no enemies at the same time, he retired yesterday, at the age of 35, while still being a real footballer, showing his football class at a competitive level, even in his very last game, instead of becoming a shadow of what he used to be in a few years. One of the last connections with my early (more romantic and less cynical) Brown White era, good luck Fin Bartels to whatever you do from now on, you’ll never walk alone, at least in the Scum neighborhood 🤎🤎🤎
FCSP Athens South End Scum 