Relax, catch up on TV series you rarely get an opportunity and have been meaning to watch? Take your other half for stress-relieving break in the Lake District? Start constructing that erotic love novel you've been intending to compose which centres on the character of a flawed but well-meaning middle-aged mechanic and EDL supporter named Bruce, who's attempting to rekindle the flailing romance with his grossly overweight wife Sharon? Or simply just enjoy being able to regain your sanity for a whole week without any idle housewife glaring at you like you've informed her you have just murdered her children, all because you've had the audacity to notify her that the honey & mustard homepride cooking sauce she so badly craves is currently out of stock?
No, none of the above. What you do is scour Ryanair and Easyjet for their dirt-cheap flight offerings and start planning your next continental football trip in the arse end of nowhere.
Well, not quite the arse end of nowhere in this case. My bandwagonization of German football has meant I have developed a serious thirst for watching football in the country I have developed a warmly affection towards. This would not be my first trip of the season out there - like a true societal outcast, back in September I spent my 23rd birthday in swashbuckling style; in my own solitude, taking in the awe-inspiring delights of fourth division football at KFC Uerdingen 05 at their wonderful behemoth relic of a stadium. A member of the Bundesliga until as recently as the mid nineties, their plight and plummet into regional football, now regularly pitting themselves in fixtures against reserve clubs that they used to face, is pretty much unparalleled to anything you'd find in the English pyramid.
Even Portsmouth, who have flirted with relegation from the football league in the past two seasons have not suffered such a fall from grace. Uerdingen, who overcame Bayern Munich to be crowned the country's cup final winners in 1985, had less than 2,000 supporters rattling around in their 34,000 capacity home on the evening I attended. Yet there was something so wonderfully romantic about the unfulfilled potential at their monstrous home, which really did resemble something from a bygone era that is usually extinct to chaps of my tender years.
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| Grotenberg-Stadion: the splendid home of KFC Uerdingen 05. |
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| A privilege to visit such an imposing terrace; one's that are becoming extinct in our country. |
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| Gladbach 1-0 Hamburg, my view at Borussia Park on 24/09/2014. |
I'm not going to go on to claim that German football is total rainbows and butterflies and that everything about UK football is totally shit as this isn't the case, I will weigh up some discrepancies later on in this blog. But neither will I continue to give a fuck to those who will belittle me as some sort of hipster wankstain that doesn't know his arse from his elbow. If enjoying something which I deem to be a thoroughly enjoyable environment to watch football, the sport that consumes me, is something to be ashamed of, then more fool them.
Once again I'm really extending out this prologue in my archetypal monotonous fashion so I will proceed with the details of what I'm actually meant to be talking about.
Scouring the list of midweek fixtures, I tried to connect games that would both appeal and would also be able to connect geographically to another one, as Bundesliga midweek rounds (which are rare) are split equally over Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And fortunately enough the announcement of exact dates fell immaculately to what I was hoping - Eintracht Frankfurt's bout against Wolfsburg would commence on the Tuesday night, thus enabling me to also attend FC Koln's fixture against well-supported VFB Stuttgart on Wednesday.
The initial planned two night trip would soon extend into a quad; a preluding visit to the highly rated Heidelberg would be added, while Ajax's hosting of AZ Alkmaar provided too much temptation for an inaugural visit to the seedy city of Amsterdam (and Netherlands itself), having discovered that advance intercity rail trains can actually be affordable when booked in groups. Just a €24 subtraction from my bank account for the 2hr 50m journey from Cologne, while none of the other cross-city trips would amount to anything upwards of €13, such was the savings when booking in groups of three.
Furthermore, in what is a rather large two fingers up to those of you who deem yourselves too cool or too beyond obtaining a nectar card, my flight from Amsterdam to Luton would total the princely sum of £6.08 after deducting £25 worth of points. It truly is a case of something for nothing, so please make sure to sign up to www.nectar.com if you're arrogant enough to not have already done so. Thanks.
My Dover-supporting accomplices on this trip would comprise of the two customary faces on my European joints; Kieran Dodd and the much-maligned Martyn McGarrigle. The latter himself a regular Rhine-Westphalia visitor at MSV Duisburg, his father's adopted hometown, when he remembers to bring his passport for making such excursions.
The final addition to our circus troupe would be in the form of everybody's favourite Barrovian, the much adored Stuart Nichols. He is the catalyst behind the 1.FC Koln UK Fan Club, which he co-founded, after becoming infatuated with the club on his first visit in 2008. I'd been conversing with Stuey for an extended period of time trying to sort out a meet out there and fortunately this one fitted like a jigsaw. He was already planning on going to Koln's away game at Hamburg on the Saturday so thus I coaxed him into lengthening his trip into a six night one, also immersing Preussen Munster v Dynamo Dresden prior to joining us in Heidelberg on the Monday evening.
People have often enquired why several Dover supporters have such close friendship ties to several of the Barrow lot. The explanation is a fairly amusing one.
Nearly five years ago, five of us travelled on the train to Bishop's Stortford for our game there only to suffer the annoyance of having our game postponed with fewer than a couple of hours until kick off. Travelling back into Kent, we hopped off at Gravesend and made our way to Stonebridge Road for Ebbsfleet United versus Barrow. Phil Smith, ever being the crafty, penny-pinching sod that he is, managed to persuade the poor lass operating the turnstile that five Dover fans had been allowed free entrance into the match, following our misfortunate situation in Hertfordshire, as agreed by their chairman in a fictional phone call made by ours. Completely oblivious to Phil's mischief, she permitting us through, only to realise the stupidity of her kind-heartedness when mentioning it to her high orders.
Anyway, come the end of the first half we'd received word that the stewards were on the hound for us, with two members of our party having been chucked out after failing to disguise the colours of their DAFC tops, so we had the option to either go incognito or face a severe bollocking from the EUFC orders.
We chose the former. Extremely impressed by the Cumbrians following in numerical and vocal aspects for such a lengthy trip to a filthy footballing backwater, we coerced amongst their supporters, who provided a few of us with blue and white scarves to complete our transformation. We returned the favour by joining in with their songs, well, what lyrics we could successfully make out from their northern monkey accents.
Thereby we engaged in a sickening love-in during and following the match, thus remaining in contact with several and solidifying status as #footballfwends ever since.
And now I can technically claim that I've been on holiday with one of them too.
Heidelberg
Lenny's enthusiasm and endorsement promoted me to educate myself on the history and intel of the town, which I have to be honest I was completely oblivious towards before. This probably entirely due to its lack of footballing heritage; despite the 150,000 inhabitants it currently fails to play host to single professional club, nor even anything in the regionalliga or oberliga.
Instead it is renowned for its prestigious university, picturesque surroundings and magnificent castle. I would liken it to cities like York, Cambridge (coincidentally has a twin-partnership) and Oxford in paralleling similarities; places where the grandeur doesn't need to conveyed by the success of a sporting team.
Nonetheless this doesn't mean it should be ruled out on the basis of being a footballing destination; indeed, there are several big clubs clustered in the Baden-Württemberg state and surrounding areas. Karlsruhe, Kaiserslautern, Frankfurt (x2), Stuttgart, Hoffenheim, Mainz, Darmstadt and Sandhausen ALL play host to either top flight or second tier football and can be reached within 30-90 minutes directly by train. And of course there are several other gems to be found in the divisions beneath that. So if like Lenny your goal is to achieve the not-so-mythical three game trip, you can book flights and hotels prematurely and still be guaranteed at least a couple of belting fixtures to take in.
If you do intend to go to Heidelberg though just make sure you don't repeat the same mistake as I did. That would be having the naiveity to assume that Ryanair's dirt cheap flights to Frankfurt Hahn airport would take you anywhere near to the centre of Frankfurt. It's actually a whole 80 miles westwards and it is actually situated closer to fucking Luxembourg! And not only that, shuttle buses are really infrequent and there are no reliable transport links anywhere nearby. It's a desolate airport situated in the middle of nowhere.
For some reason it didn't clock onto me that such big city as Frankfurt would have more than one airport but even so, claiming this as one serving the city is bordering on fraudulent.
I was on the verge of booking train tickets from Frankfurt Airport (the real one) to Heidelberg until Stuart alerted me that I wouldn't actually be heading there. And it's a good job he did otherwise I could have had a serious cock-up someway up on the embarrassment richter scale.
Instead with the bus infrequencies it was quicker and more viable to get a shuttle bus into Mainz and then catch a train onto Heidelberg, which would give us the best of both worlds. Some beautiful scenery from the snow-clad valleys on the long winding motorway, while getting the opportunity to neck a pint in a city none of us had visited previously. We also surpassed FSV Mainz's Coface Arena home en route to the city, which was well out of the centre, like most German football (and new build) football grounds, this one built in 2011.
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| Snow. It makes landscapes just that little bit prettier, dunnit? |
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| Hunsruckstadion, a quaint little ground in a town called Simmern. |
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| It can be quite blurry trying to take pics on a moving bus.... |
Like most of the grandest towns and cities, it lies on the banks of a river, in this case the Neckar. A lot of its appeal is drawn in from its picturesque cobbled streets crammed with traditional restaurants and pubs. There are majestic buildings at every corner you turn, but the real centrepiece of the town is the Schloss, its castle. To enter the castle you have to pay €6 to get take a cable car up to it's entrance, such is its steepness, which also enables admission inside. And my word, the view that overhangs the rest of the city is absolutely breathtaking, I can't succinctly sum just how stunning it is so I'll have to allow the photos to do the talking instead.
The castle itself renders Dover one into resembling the rusty wooden shed in my garden. Complete with a moat and collapsed ruins that are still in tact, I think it would fair to say it's more factual than opinion when I state it is 'aesthetically pleasing on the eye'.
In addition to the castle we also cast aside enough time to squeeze in a visit to the town's zoo. I know, working-class blokes on a football, beer and bratwurst trip deep down unzipping their true softy colours by wanting to see all the cute fluffy animals. Despite the tough guy exterior we all present to the wider world, deep down we're just good honest chaps who feel at ease with mother nature.
At €7.80 for admission in the off-season it was worth venturing into. I have to say though the depth of animals was nowhere near as interesting as the other ones I have been to in the previous year. With the size of Vienna's that is to be expected, but even then it fell shy of the standards of Krefeld's, a city far less spectacular in stature.
It was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours, however, and funnily enough of all the wildlife it would be the goats that would throw up the most entertainment. They have the unhindered access of fraternizing amongst the humans and thus took a particular shining to Stuey, unsurprisingly. Daft, stupid but harmless creatures. They taste bloody nice, too. The goats that is.
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| I like owls. For some reason I have one tattooed on my leg. This legend right here swallowed a dead mouse in a singular gulp. |
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| Decent choreo from the Heidelberg Flamingo ultras. |
Unfortunately our evening out the previous day hadn't amounted to anything too exciting. My assumption that being a big university hub, the nightlife would remain thriving and boisterous all week round would turn out to be a misguided one. It was eerily quiet in the lovely Altstadt, which would later prove unsurprising given the circumstances. Not only being that the temperatures were sub zero, I later found via the hostel staff in Frankfurt the following day that it was the exam season out there. D'oh!
Regardless, we had a #lovelytime catching up with Stuart in some of the bars we ventured into, out of which I would most recommend the Brauhaus Vetter for any fellow beer connoisseurs out there. It produces its own beers on site (I can confirm that their schwarzbier effort ist fantastisch) while also serving a wide menu of authentic local and national cuisine. I opted for something called 'Schupfnudeln', not having the foggiest clue what the dish entailed, such is the diversity of my taste buds that I feel capable of taking on anything. And it turned out to be quite the most quintessential German food imaginable; 'potato noodles', pan fried with sauerkraut and bacon lardons. 'Reet bloody nice it were too, even if my northern accomplice Stuart was aghast to its lack of gravy!
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| Ben Mitchell and Ian Huntley enjoy their whole litre each of the good stuff. |
With regards to Heidelberg it definitely wasn't the ideal time to go to enjoy bustling nightlife but I can only envisage how much it thrives in the spring and summer season. I reckon that the best possible time to soak up its unquestionable delights would thus be at the very start or end of the football season. It is somewhere I would no doubt wish to return to in the future to squeeze out the best the town has to offer, even though the expeditionist in me rarely feels compelled to return to an overseas city, such is the extent of the world I still yet want to see.
Frankfurt
The main thing eludes you when you're travelling is the most invaluable aspect of all; time. Prioritizing a greater length of stay in Heidelberg, when we arrived in Frankfurt at 16:30 on Tuesday afternoon we were designated with little over half a day to spend in Germany's main financial city. And such scant time would be made even sparser when you factored in we had the small matter of attending our first football match of the trip in that evening.
Thus we were unable to get a real good feel of the city which left me harbouring feelings of unfulfillment, as the vibes I had gained out of it were very positive.
Arriving into Frankfurt's Hauptbahnhof is quite something - especially for those of you amongst us are a bit nerdy when it comes to trains and the rail industry. The sheer scale of the building is astronomical with commuters flying left, right and centre. It is one of the biggest terminal stations in Europe, boasting 26 different platforms and a daily passenger turnout of 450,000 people. Its central location in Germany explains why it is such a hub and the sheer depth of possible destinations you can reach from there would make the Josh Watkins in all of us dribbling like a.... er, you can finish off that simile.
Josh Watkins for the record is a Dover Athletic supporter with a deep lying passion for all things railway; he's a genuine trainspotter and we all love and respect him for it.
Exiting the hauptbahnhof you're left with an impression that immediately reinforces the perception of it being a prosperous business city. There are skyscrapers galore and various other high-rise buildings all of which form the so-called 'Frankfurt-Skyline'.
Our hostel was immediately visible from leaving the station, literally directly over the street; the swankily named 'Frankfurt Hostel'. This turned out to be both positive and detrimental. The brighter aspect being that between us we are all utterly useless at navigating maps and following directions, regardless of meticulously I plan things. But the real negative was that it meant we needn't venture off and explore deeper into the city. By hostel standards this was a real decent one - possessing a decent 24hr bar serving a varied range of all the well-regarded pilseners and weissbiers at sound prices.
Thus when we returned from the soccer game, we needn't felt much desire to move away from our comforts - what with it already being late, tiring out from a long day and memories lingering of the calmness in Heidelberg's town centre the previous evening. Oh, and an early(ish) train to Cologne to look forward to the following morning.
I regret that, I do, as I know that beyond the ultra-modern, stylish buildings there is meant to be an interesting Aldstadt entrenched in traditional character, but I know it is currently undergoing rebuilding to restore some of it's old famous buildings, reduced to rubble by our very own RAF some time ago over some war or something.
But you can't have it all unfortunately. I awoke far later than expected (my body clock seldom allows me to awaken later than 6am on days off of work) on Wednesday morning so I was denied my chance of exploration, but I did have just enough time to wander down to take a peek of the city from the banks of the River Main, which runs through the city.
But I while I may carry that sense of a squandered opportunity, the real raison d'etre of arriving in Frankfurt was of a footballing nature......
Our hostel was immediately visible from leaving the station, literally directly over the street; the swankily named 'Frankfurt Hostel'. This turned out to be both positive and detrimental. The brighter aspect being that between us we are all utterly useless at navigating maps and following directions, regardless of meticulously I plan things. But the real negative was that it meant we needn't venture off and explore deeper into the city. By hostel standards this was a real decent one - possessing a decent 24hr bar serving a varied range of all the well-regarded pilseners and weissbiers at sound prices.
Thus when we returned from the soccer game, we needn't felt much desire to move away from our comforts - what with it already being late, tiring out from a long day and memories lingering of the calmness in Heidelberg's town centre the previous evening. Oh, and an early(ish) train to Cologne to look forward to the following morning.
I regret that, I do, as I know that beyond the ultra-modern, stylish buildings there is meant to be an interesting Aldstadt entrenched in traditional character, but I know it is currently undergoing rebuilding to restore some of it's old famous buildings, reduced to rubble by our very own RAF some time ago over some war or something.
But you can't have it all unfortunately. I awoke far later than expected (my body clock seldom allows me to awaken later than 6am on days off of work) on Wednesday morning so I was denied my chance of exploration, but I did have just enough time to wander down to take a peek of the city from the banks of the River Main, which runs through the city.
But I while I may carry that sense of a squandered opportunity, the real raison d'etre of arriving in Frankfurt was of a footballing nature......
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 VfL Wolfsburg
Attendance: 34,400 (approx 200 away)
The Commerzbank Arena
Ticket Price: €25 (seating)
Leading into this game I had very high hopes of this providing a real cracker for what would become my milestone 150th football ground visited; a journey which has encompassed some of the rustiest, backwards, filthiest and downright disgusting backwaters across the south of England. Really, given the nature of my journey, it would have been fitting to hit such a 'feat' at some completely irrelevant outpost such as Hemel Hempstead Town.
Instead I'd be watching football in the best attended league in the world, featuring some of the game's greatest playersalbeit most of them play for Bayern. But fuck my roots. I want entertainment. And the two of these would surely throw up a thriller between them, right?
Going into this fixture, Wolfsburg (37) and Frankfurt (35) were by far the division's most prolific goal-getters, if you ignore the abnormality that is Bayern Munich. Speaking of whom, the visitors would be going into this game on the back of an astonishing 4-1 win against the Bavarians, solidifying their positions as the division's leading also-rans.
Eintracht aren't only great at scoring them though, they're also generous in leaking them in; their tally of 38 at this point registering as the division's second highest 'against' column. Such a gung-ho reputation had been compounded by a couple of extraordinary results - a 5-4 loss to the goal-shy Stuttgart side and a 4-4 draw to another struggler in Hertha Berlin. Both of which came at their Commerzbank Arena home.
Thus this game had all the makings of a classic - which therefore had me convinced that we would have the biggest dud in store for us imaginable. As it turned out, the truth would lay somewhere at neither end of those expectations - a 90 minutes of football which I could most eloquently explain as 'alright'.
I had more reasons than football itself to anticipate the encounter, however. I had became increasingly aware of Eintracht's reputation as one of the most passionate and loudest supports in the country, signified in particular by their recent Europa League exploits. Their 12,000 strong following at Bordeaux last season conjured up a rather spectacular pyroshow in France, thus leaving the hipsters amongst at home creaming over their fanatical support on youtube videos.
While that was a rare cross-continental excursion for them, I had grown knowledge of their favourable reputation domestically too, thanks to a chap called Mir Ko supplying me with videos of their ultras best moments via facebook. Mir Ko is one of the chaps I met at Duisburg back in May 2013 and is a friend of Martyn. An MSV supporter, he harbours a strong liking for Eintracht too, somewhat enhanced by the *supposed fanfreundschaft between the two clubs.
*Martyn claims this, though a consequent search has led me to discover little to reinforce this is the case.
The Commerzbank Arena, still commonly known as Waldstadion to the Eintracht faithful, is easily accessible from the hauptbahnhof, with several S-Bahn and tram services running to the complex - situated 5KM south of the city centre. The stadium is another contemporary one having been completely rebuilt on the site of the old one in preparation of the 2006 World Cup.
On this bitterly cold evening the first course of action for us (bar Stuey) was to purchase a scarf each from one of the various merchandise sellers such was the severity of the cold. Well, that's my excuse anyway. Add to that, I've long been a fan of Alexander Meier before it became the fashionable in-thing.
One thing that struck me from surveying these stalls were the presence of anti-Bayern Munich and Kickers Offenbach scarves. The former I just assumed as standard petty-minded jealousy but the latter I was more dumbstruck by. I was aware of Offenbach's existence, had heard of the name and knew they were a well-supported club floundering in the Regionalliga, but I had no idea that the town was essentially a suburb of Frankfurt. And having subsequently read the fascinating Tor! book, I now know that the rivalry has rich context behind it rather than just pure local jingoism. Eintracht defeated Offenbach 5-3 for their first and only national championship title to date (when the league was still decided by a knockout format) in the final of 1959.
In the lead up to the game Martyn had been rabbiting onto us about a legendary food stall near Frankfurt's ground that sold 15 inch bratwurst hot dogs and had insisted that we tracked it down. Naturally though, like all obese people, he caved into ordering food from the first food and beer stool we encountered. Which wasn't a bad thing in my case; I ordered a sausage called a rindswurst, which I was aware of being a special delicacy to Frankfurt. Made out of pure beef, it was incredible. So succulent and so much flavour.
I didn't quite fancy trying the other local recommendation, apfelwein, an acidic-like cider which is very popular within the city. Unusual that, I've rarely ever seen cider available in mainland Europe.
Of course, walking about 15 metres onwards we went underneath a bridge and duly encountered these infamous mammoth sausages, being freshly grilled in this passage decorated with Eintracht graffitied fan art. Complete with full rib-steaks as well, this truly was the carnivore's dream, even though we'd just have to make-do with beautiful waft lingering in the air. If you go there you have to try it on behalf of myself; too lazy to bother to join the lengthy queue to be even more greedy.
The layout of entering the ground is unconventional. The turnstiles are located a few hundred metres away from where the ground actually is, you're essentially entering a complex. You walk past a couple of training pitches and then you're just free to mingle about (away fans are also integrated amongst in this layout), visit the memorabilia and refreshment stalls, and then just wander off to whatever part of the ground you're ticket is meant to be validated for. Only there didn't appear to be any strict examination from the security team - I do not recall ever having ours looked at any given point. Then again, we were in the cheap seats north of the away fans, in a sparser populated area of the ground. I'd imagine there's more scrutiny for the terracing, though none of us felt particularly compelled enough to challenge the security measures of this evening.
Many English football fans will know of this venue as the scene of where England commenced their world cup campaign against Paraguay, won in the opening minutes when David Beckham's free-kick was graciously diverted into the goal via a South American bonce.
I had read mixed reviews from those who have previously been, some praising it for its great range of facilities and fine acoustics, while others labeled it as a bit bland and boring by Germany's high standards of stadium production.
For me, I really liked it. I think bowl shaped grounds automatically get a raw deal from the football conservatists who will regard them as identikit regardless of their unique features. This isn't a St Mary's, a Pride Park or a King Power stadium. Granted, the 51,000 capacity means its probably unfair to compare against those but this is an excellent stadium in its own right.
It's three-tiered, though the middle corporate section is minimal compared to the obscene proportion you would find at somewhere like Wembley. The upper and lower tiers possess plentiful space, further benefitted of course by the existence of terracing in the lower tier of each goal, albeit only a cornered section for the away fans.
The roof in particular is idiosyncratic. It entails a spiderweb style structure that holds a block of four TV screens , thus enabling a good view from any end of the stadium.
Furthermore, the stands are unusually well spaced away from the pitch despite the absence of a running track; this isn't necessarily a bonus, but either way the noise contains excellently and it gives the ground a unique feel.
My main real qualm, as often is an occurrence in European football these days, was the policy infiltrated of only being able to pay for food & beverages on a topped-up fan card (usually with a minimum deposit of €10), rather than cash. I can see why they're implemented; if you're a regular then they are super quick and EFFICIENT, and you don't have to worry about losing out on your money as you can just use it next time anyway, or possibly at other grounds as many use the same system - we jointly topped up on Stuart's old FC Koln one for a whipround. However, really you should be given a choice. The games I've been to at Duisburg, Monchengladbach and Koln (who have since abandoned it) have demonstrated that the key to dealing with hefty queuing is just to be well staffed, well stocked and well prepared. All traits which are naturally inherent to the super EFFICIENT Germans.
The other disappointment on this evening was the absence of people. It became apparent in the build up to kick off that this crowd would fall significantly short of Eintracht's average of around 48,000 but this even fell well short of the season's previous smallest of 40,500. Just 34,400 ventured out for this Category D fixture in the sub-zero temperatures, not aided by a somewhat pitiful following from Bayern's closest challengers.
I know slagging off pitiful away followings has become a tedious past-time to the modern internet fan these days (usually by people sat behind a keyboard who would never make the same journey in similar circumstances for their team) and I myself am a fan of one of the most modestly supported clubs in my team's division - I have been a part of many a double-figure away following this season, so am able to sympathise with lesser supported clubs. Even so, Wolfburg's following on this night, one that couldn't have been much upwards of 200, was absolutely woeful by Bundesliga standards. Yes, it's a quite a trek for such a midweek game but this is a club who are enjoying a fine season with some excellent attacking players in their ranks - who also went into this game having just further bolstered that with the addition of Andre Schurrle.
Having said that, those who did show up did make a decent effort throughout the game and I will commend them for that, even in spite of their efforts being mostly drowned out by the vociferous Frankfurt ultras.
Schurrle wouldn't be making his debut on this evening though, with manager Dieter Hecking feeling little obligation to tinker with a side that had so convincingly seen off Bayern Munich three days previously. Particularly as their opponents here had been gubbed 4-1 by strugglers Freiburg on their weekend outing.
Au contraire to expectations though it was Eintracht who made the livelier start. Alexander Meier gave the visitors an early warning by cushioning a header into the path of the diminutive Japenese midfielder Takishi Inui, but the ball just evaded him when time came to strike the shot.
As expected though, Wolfsburg started to grow into the game and created two golden chances to break the deadlock, both of which they squandered. Firstly, in-form Dutch striker Bas Dost volleyed wide from a cross having been presented with a glorious amount of space to connect with it. Then it was Ivan Perisic who was guilty of missing a glitz-edged chance, having seen his soft shot blocked by Eintracht defender Carlos Zambrano after a quickly taken free-kick allowed Kevin De Bruyne to advance down the wing and play in a perfect cut-back.
In an otherwise fairly laboured and disjointed opening half of football, Eintracht did manage to produce another opportunity of their own, with both Inui and Meier combining again. The former collected the ball and waited for Meier to spring the high defensive Wolfsburg line, before threading through a divine through ball with the outside of his boot. Meier, while majestic but not blessed with pace, had to strike the ball early with the advancing Naldo covering back, but his fierce drive was well palmed away by Swiss international Diego Benaglio.
I love Meier, I do. He sort of reminds me of a fusion of Matt Le Tissier and Teddy Sheringham. While not even an out-and-out forward, more usually operating in between the lines, he often defies his hefty 6ft 5 frame. Indeed, he's undeniably an asset in the air but the majority of his good work is performed with his feet. He's intelligent with his movement and is capable of the spectacular. And he's quintessentially Eintracht too - now in his tenth year with the club having remained with the Eagles even in spite of relegations.
He wasn't the most technically gifted player on the field though, that would be Kevin De Bruyne, whom everything good Wolfsburg did he was at the centre of. He combined well with Vieirinha just before the half drew to a close but from the return pass only managed to fire straight at Kevin Trapp in the home goal.
The second half commenced with precious little action being threatened to occur at either end before suddenly bursting into life out of nowhere with a magical goal conjured up around 15 minutes into the re-start. Takishi Inui, circled on the byline with little space for maneuver, somehow managed to squeeze himself around two opposition bodies, before drawing Luis Gustavo out of position, drifted past his challenge before squaring off the ball of a plate for Simon Aigner, who gratefully finished with a precisioned shot into the corner. A goal of real quality.; Inui really does seem to be a real creative grafter, typical of the high technical ability that the Japanese imports bring to the Bundesliga.
Eintracht clearly developed a taste for it and really ought to have doubled their lead soon after. A fluid counter attack through the efforts of defender Marco Russ and forward Haris Seferovic saw the latter tee up the former but his shot was acrobatically cleared off the line in some last gasp defending from Ricardo Rodriguez.
Wolsburg began to mount a recovery from here onwards though and eagerly sought to recoup something from the match; a golden opportunity with Bayern dropping points at home to Schalke on the evening. They should have levelled when a De Bruyne inspired move saw him square on a plate for Bas Dost, but his open goal tap-in was wrongly ruled off for offside in what was a very tight call.
They further pressed, Dost again missing a golden chance when Rodriguez floated in an inviting cross from the left channel but the Dutchman glanced the ball over the bar.
But just when it looked like it wasn't to be their evening, they tied the scores with less than a couple of minutes remaining. The Swiss international Rodgriguez, who had provided overlapping support on the left flank all evening, this time wouldn't see his cross be unfruitful. After a well-worked move, Aaron Hunt released him on the overlap and this time his low cut-back was swept in from close-range by who else other than the key man on the night.........Nicklas Bendtner(!)
Not really, it was actually De Bruyne. But I left the Commerzbank Arena that night eager to tell all my adoring fans back at home that I had seen the mercurial Dane rescue a point after arriving late to the game as a supersub. Why? The screens displaying the goalscorer attributed it to the enigmatic ex-Arsenal striker, and from a distance a gifted Belgian talisman doesn't look too dissimilar to such a player.
That's the way the score-line remained. Probably a fair result given the respective balance of play though both would have felt aggrieved for not maximising the points. As someone who harbours little interest in the very faint idea of Wolfsburg breaking Bayern's stranglehold, I felt a little aggrieved that Frankfurt failed to hold out, as I had developed an affinity towards them throughout the game.
Their Ultras, as expected, were excellent value throughout the game. Non-stop from start to finish, and when they all bounced together in unity, it was a tremendous sight. Stuey was less impressed than us, perhaps justifiably so, as more of a veteran in attending Bundesliga matches than us. He thought they were good but "it was pretty standard fare for German atmosphere". I disagreed. I think that given the context of what it was, a poorly-attended, less glamorous home game against unfavourable opposition who they were expected to lose against, it was pretty damn decent. When you can create a good atmosphere in the lesser important fixtures, that's the real sign of an excellent fanbase IMO.
I think it does represent somewhat of a contradiction of the values in German football though when clubs like Wolfsburg and Leverkusen are amongst those who pose the biggest threat to breaking Bayern's monopoly. I'm all for smaller clubs defying the odds to overachieve, but even with the 50+1 rule in place there still seems to be a market for clubs to be bankrolled to a certain degree and punch above their weight. I do understand that Volkswagen and Bayer are critical to the local communities of each club and are closely intraciated to their respective identities, but even so, without the financial input from these companies there would be greater supported clubs ahead of them in the hierarchy. It's not just those two either; look at the success of Hoffenheim, Red Bull Leipzig and now Audi-funded FC Ingolstadt running away with the 2nd.Bundesliga; it does somewhat make a mockery of the notion of German football being a perfect model run on socialist principles.
Regardless of that though, and the rancid, frostbite-inducing weather we'd have to endure, it was another thoroughly enjoyable night of German football.
Instead I'd be watching football in the best attended league in the world, featuring some of the game's greatest players
Going into this fixture, Wolfsburg (37) and Frankfurt (35) were by far the division's most prolific goal-getters, if you ignore the abnormality that is Bayern Munich. Speaking of whom, the visitors would be going into this game on the back of an astonishing 4-1 win against the Bavarians, solidifying their positions as the division's leading also-rans.
Eintracht aren't only great at scoring them though, they're also generous in leaking them in; their tally of 38 at this point registering as the division's second highest 'against' column. Such a gung-ho reputation had been compounded by a couple of extraordinary results - a 5-4 loss to the goal-shy Stuttgart side and a 4-4 draw to another struggler in Hertha Berlin. Both of which came at their Commerzbank Arena home.
Thus this game had all the makings of a classic - which therefore had me convinced that we would have the biggest dud in store for us imaginable. As it turned out, the truth would lay somewhere at neither end of those expectations - a 90 minutes of football which I could most eloquently explain as 'alright'.
I had more reasons than football itself to anticipate the encounter, however. I had became increasingly aware of Eintracht's reputation as one of the most passionate and loudest supports in the country, signified in particular by their recent Europa League exploits. Their 12,000 strong following at Bordeaux last season conjured up a rather spectacular pyroshow in France, thus leaving the hipsters amongst at home creaming over their fanatical support on youtube videos.
While that was a rare cross-continental excursion for them, I had grown knowledge of their favourable reputation domestically too, thanks to a chap called Mir Ko supplying me with videos of their ultras best moments via facebook. Mir Ko is one of the chaps I met at Duisburg back in May 2013 and is a friend of Martyn. An MSV supporter, he harbours a strong liking for Eintracht too, somewhat enhanced by the *supposed fanfreundschaft between the two clubs.
*Martyn claims this, though a consequent search has led me to discover little to reinforce this is the case.
The Commerzbank Arena, still commonly known as Waldstadion to the Eintracht faithful, is easily accessible from the hauptbahnhof, with several S-Bahn and tram services running to the complex - situated 5KM south of the city centre. The stadium is another contemporary one having been completely rebuilt on the site of the old one in preparation of the 2006 World Cup.
On this bitterly cold evening the first course of action for us (bar Stuey) was to purchase a scarf each from one of the various merchandise sellers such was the severity of the cold. Well, that's my excuse anyway. Add to that, I've long been a fan of Alexander Meier before it became the fashionable in-thing.
One thing that struck me from surveying these stalls were the presence of anti-Bayern Munich and Kickers Offenbach scarves. The former I just assumed as standard petty-minded jealousy but the latter I was more dumbstruck by. I was aware of Offenbach's existence, had heard of the name and knew they were a well-supported club floundering in the Regionalliga, but I had no idea that the town was essentially a suburb of Frankfurt. And having subsequently read the fascinating Tor! book, I now know that the rivalry has rich context behind it rather than just pure local jingoism. Eintracht defeated Offenbach 5-3 for their first and only national championship title to date (when the league was still decided by a knockout format) in the final of 1959.
I didn't quite fancy trying the other local recommendation, apfelwein, an acidic-like cider which is very popular within the city. Unusual that, I've rarely ever seen cider available in mainland Europe.
Of course, walking about 15 metres onwards we went underneath a bridge and duly encountered these infamous mammoth sausages, being freshly grilled in this passage decorated with Eintracht graffitied fan art. Complete with full rib-steaks as well, this truly was the carnivore's dream, even though we'd just have to make-do with beautiful waft lingering in the air. If you go there you have to try it on behalf of myself; too lazy to bother to join the lengthy queue to be even more greedy.
The layout of entering the ground is unconventional. The turnstiles are located a few hundred metres away from where the ground actually is, you're essentially entering a complex. You walk past a couple of training pitches and then you're just free to mingle about (away fans are also integrated amongst in this layout), visit the memorabilia and refreshment stalls, and then just wander off to whatever part of the ground you're ticket is meant to be validated for. Only there didn't appear to be any strict examination from the security team - I do not recall ever having ours looked at any given point. Then again, we were in the cheap seats north of the away fans, in a sparser populated area of the ground. I'd imagine there's more scrutiny for the terracing, though none of us felt particularly compelled enough to challenge the security measures of this evening.
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| With the ground named after a bank and the placing of glass preserved Alfa Romeo's, it did have somewhat of a corporate feel to it. |
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| Memorabilia wankers. |
I had read mixed reviews from those who have previously been, some praising it for its great range of facilities and fine acoustics, while others labeled it as a bit bland and boring by Germany's high standards of stadium production.
For me, I really liked it. I think bowl shaped grounds automatically get a raw deal from the football conservatists who will regard them as identikit regardless of their unique features. This isn't a St Mary's, a Pride Park or a King Power stadium. Granted, the 51,000 capacity means its probably unfair to compare against those but this is an excellent stadium in its own right.
It's three-tiered, though the middle corporate section is minimal compared to the obscene proportion you would find at somewhere like Wembley. The upper and lower tiers possess plentiful space, further benefitted of course by the existence of terracing in the lower tier of each goal, albeit only a cornered section for the away fans.
The roof in particular is idiosyncratic. It entails a spiderweb style structure that holds a block of four TV screens , thus enabling a good view from any end of the stadium.
Furthermore, the stands are unusually well spaced away from the pitch despite the absence of a running track; this isn't necessarily a bonus, but either way the noise contains excellently and it gives the ground a unique feel.
My main real qualm, as often is an occurrence in European football these days, was the policy infiltrated of only being able to pay for food & beverages on a topped-up fan card (usually with a minimum deposit of €10), rather than cash. I can see why they're implemented; if you're a regular then they are super quick and EFFICIENT, and you don't have to worry about losing out on your money as you can just use it next time anyway, or possibly at other grounds as many use the same system - we jointly topped up on Stuart's old FC Koln one for a whipround. However, really you should be given a choice. The games I've been to at Duisburg, Monchengladbach and Koln (who have since abandoned it) have demonstrated that the key to dealing with hefty queuing is just to be well staffed, well stocked and well prepared. All traits which are naturally inherent to the super EFFICIENT Germans.
The other disappointment on this evening was the absence of people. It became apparent in the build up to kick off that this crowd would fall significantly short of Eintracht's average of around 48,000 but this even fell well short of the season's previous smallest of 40,500. Just 34,400 ventured out for this Category D fixture in the sub-zero temperatures, not aided by a somewhat pitiful following from Bayern's closest challengers.
I know slagging off pitiful away followings has become a tedious past-time to the modern internet fan these days (usually by people sat behind a keyboard who would never make the same journey in similar circumstances for their team) and I myself am a fan of one of the most modestly supported clubs in my team's division - I have been a part of many a double-figure away following this season, so am able to sympathise with lesser supported clubs. Even so, Wolfburg's following on this night, one that couldn't have been much upwards of 200, was absolutely woeful by Bundesliga standards. Yes, it's a quite a trek for such a midweek game but this is a club who are enjoying a fine season with some excellent attacking players in their ranks - who also went into this game having just further bolstered that with the addition of Andre Schurrle.
Having said that, those who did show up did make a decent effort throughout the game and I will commend them for that, even in spite of their efforts being mostly drowned out by the vociferous Frankfurt ultras.
Schurrle wouldn't be making his debut on this evening though, with manager Dieter Hecking feeling little obligation to tinker with a side that had so convincingly seen off Bayern Munich three days previously. Particularly as their opponents here had been gubbed 4-1 by strugglers Freiburg on their weekend outing.
Au contraire to expectations though it was Eintracht who made the livelier start. Alexander Meier gave the visitors an early warning by cushioning a header into the path of the diminutive Japenese midfielder Takishi Inui, but the ball just evaded him when time came to strike the shot.
As expected though, Wolfsburg started to grow into the game and created two golden chances to break the deadlock, both of which they squandered. Firstly, in-form Dutch striker Bas Dost volleyed wide from a cross having been presented with a glorious amount of space to connect with it. Then it was Ivan Perisic who was guilty of missing a glitz-edged chance, having seen his soft shot blocked by Eintracht defender Carlos Zambrano after a quickly taken free-kick allowed Kevin De Bruyne to advance down the wing and play in a perfect cut-back.
In an otherwise fairly laboured and disjointed opening half of football, Eintracht did manage to produce another opportunity of their own, with both Inui and Meier combining again. The former collected the ball and waited for Meier to spring the high defensive Wolfsburg line, before threading through a divine through ball with the outside of his boot. Meier, while majestic but not blessed with pace, had to strike the ball early with the advancing Naldo covering back, but his fierce drive was well palmed away by Swiss international Diego Benaglio.
I love Meier, I do. He sort of reminds me of a fusion of Matt Le Tissier and Teddy Sheringham. While not even an out-and-out forward, more usually operating in between the lines, he often defies his hefty 6ft 5 frame. Indeed, he's undeniably an asset in the air but the majority of his good work is performed with his feet. He's intelligent with his movement and is capable of the spectacular. And he's quintessentially Eintracht too - now in his tenth year with the club having remained with the Eagles even in spite of relegations.
He wasn't the most technically gifted player on the field though, that would be Kevin De Bruyne, whom everything good Wolfsburg did he was at the centre of. He combined well with Vieirinha just before the half drew to a close but from the return pass only managed to fire straight at Kevin Trapp in the home goal.
The second half commenced with precious little action being threatened to occur at either end before suddenly bursting into life out of nowhere with a magical goal conjured up around 15 minutes into the re-start. Takishi Inui, circled on the byline with little space for maneuver, somehow managed to squeeze himself around two opposition bodies, before drawing Luis Gustavo out of position, drifted past his challenge before squaring off the ball of a plate for Simon Aigner, who gratefully finished with a precisioned shot into the corner. A goal of real quality.; Inui really does seem to be a real creative grafter, typical of the high technical ability that the Japanese imports bring to the Bundesliga.
Eintracht clearly developed a taste for it and really ought to have doubled their lead soon after. A fluid counter attack through the efforts of defender Marco Russ and forward Haris Seferovic saw the latter tee up the former but his shot was acrobatically cleared off the line in some last gasp defending from Ricardo Rodriguez.
Wolsburg began to mount a recovery from here onwards though and eagerly sought to recoup something from the match; a golden opportunity with Bayern dropping points at home to Schalke on the evening. They should have levelled when a De Bruyne inspired move saw him square on a plate for Bas Dost, but his open goal tap-in was wrongly ruled off for offside in what was a very tight call.
They further pressed, Dost again missing a golden chance when Rodriguez floated in an inviting cross from the left channel but the Dutchman glanced the ball over the bar.
But just when it looked like it wasn't to be their evening, they tied the scores with less than a couple of minutes remaining. The Swiss international Rodgriguez, who had provided overlapping support on the left flank all evening, this time wouldn't see his cross be unfruitful. After a well-worked move, Aaron Hunt released him on the overlap and this time his low cut-back was swept in from close-range by who else other than the key man on the night.........Nicklas Bendtner(!)
Not really, it was actually De Bruyne. But I left the Commerzbank Arena that night eager to tell all my adoring fans back at home that I had seen the mercurial Dane rescue a point after arriving late to the game as a supersub. Why? The screens displaying the goalscorer attributed it to the enigmatic ex-Arsenal striker, and from a distance a gifted Belgian talisman doesn't look too dissimilar to such a player.
That's the way the score-line remained. Probably a fair result given the respective balance of play though both would have felt aggrieved for not maximising the points. As someone who harbours little interest in the very faint idea of Wolfsburg breaking Bayern's stranglehold, I felt a little aggrieved that Frankfurt failed to hold out, as I had developed an affinity towards them throughout the game.
Their Ultras, as expected, were excellent value throughout the game. Non-stop from start to finish, and when they all bounced together in unity, it was a tremendous sight. Stuey was less impressed than us, perhaps justifiably so, as more of a veteran in attending Bundesliga matches than us. He thought they were good but "it was pretty standard fare for German atmosphere". I disagreed. I think that given the context of what it was, a poorly-attended, less glamorous home game against unfavourable opposition who they were expected to lose against, it was pretty damn decent. When you can create a good atmosphere in the lesser important fixtures, that's the real sign of an excellent fanbase IMO.
I think it does represent somewhat of a contradiction of the values in German football though when clubs like Wolfsburg and Leverkusen are amongst those who pose the biggest threat to breaking Bayern's monopoly. I'm all for smaller clubs defying the odds to overachieve, but even with the 50+1 rule in place there still seems to be a market for clubs to be bankrolled to a certain degree and punch above their weight. I do understand that Volkswagen and Bayer are critical to the local communities of each club and are closely intraciated to their respective identities, but even so, without the financial input from these companies there would be greater supported clubs ahead of them in the hierarchy. It's not just those two either; look at the success of Hoffenheim, Red Bull Leipzig and now Audi-funded FC Ingolstadt running away with the 2nd.Bundesliga; it does somewhat make a mockery of the notion of German football being a perfect model run on socialist principles.
Regardless of that though, and the rancid, frostbite-inducing weather we'd have to endure, it was another thoroughly enjoyable night of German football.
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| The Wolfsburg masses. |
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| Bloody tourists at football, for christ sake. Makes you sick. AMF. |
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| One thing I do adore; glasses. |
Cologne
To be continued......
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