Robbery in Ausburg
By: Mike |
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Unfortunately for St Pauli, the referee and FC Ausburg conspired this past Sunday to steal a share of the points from St Pauli.
It all started so well for the boys in brown. Early play saw possession shared equally, until the 29th minute, when the workmanlike Ebbers finished excellently from a challenging angle for his 8th goal in the season.
The shocking decision to send off Florian Lechner occurred in the 34th minute, and is shown in the video below at the 6:50 mark. While certainly a firm challenge, Lechner intended to play the ball, and did make contact with the ball… In my biased view, not a red card. After a week full of very public arrests regarding match fixing, one has to wonder…
Ten men St Pauli fought valiantly into the second half, but it was not to be. After conceding two goals, St Pauli battled back through a Rouwen Hennings pass to Ebbers, who finished well for his 2nd goal on the day. Hennings came on as a sub in the second half and did well in his role as a second forward.
However, in the 3rd of 3 minutes of stoppage time, Ausburg found the winner through Sinkala. The tired St Pauli defense simply could not keep up. A sad ending to a valiant effort from St Pauli. A draw was certainly deserved, even after the terrible red card. Manager Holger Stanislawski commented after the match “The referee team here has made a very unfortunate figure. My team has sold both before and after the red card after all very good. The defeat so soon before the full time is simply very annoying!”
Well said, coach.
Category: Team News
The story of the best ball-kid in the world
By: Mike | 3 Comments
Once upon a cold, rainy Hamburg night…
Okay, so there is no need to be that dramatic. But, really, this ball boy on the second goal for St Pauli, which proved to be the one that won the game, is something else. The form is excellent, not a zipped basketball pass, just a little loft on it that made the catch and throw easy.
Which got me thinking: Why don’t we start training ball boys on the perfect throw technique? Ball boys are all a part of home field advantage, after all. Sometimes they “lose” a ball when the home team is winning in the final minutes, but rarely do you see the ball boy play a role in helping a team score.
Whatever you do, St Pauli, don’t let the Man Us and Madrids see this kid in action…
The sequence starts around 2:30
Category: Team NewsPreview: St Pauli @ Oberhausen
By: Mike | 3 Comments
St Pauli faces a 6 point affair in the Ruhr valley Friday, going up against Rot-Wiess Oberhausen.
RWO has been off to a good start this season, and sit one place behind St Pauli on goal differential. They have been relatively sound on defense, save for a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Union Berlin.
What does Stani think of that? “They (RWO) are one of the more unpleasant teams to play against in the league.” They’ve noted that RWO has scored 6 of their 9 goals from set pieces, with Holdger saying, simply “We’ll have to be careful as hell.” His choices of players are a bit limited. Drobo-Ampen (knee), Eger (hip), Boll (hamstring), Thorandt (achillies), and Goufan(knee) are set to miss the game through their injuries.
I will remind you, we’re decent on the road this year, however, I see this game as a tough battle. I say a draw, 2-2.
What do you think?
Category: Team NewsSt Pauli Cruise Past 1860
By: Mike | 1 Comment
A little nerves aside, St Pauli topped 1860 Munich by the score of 3-1 in Hamburg.
The first 15 minutes weren’t a little nervous, it seemed. St Pauli was repeatedly pushed back into our own half, and 1860 had plenty of chances, particularly from corner kicks, which were taken almost exclusively by former St Pauli player Alex Ludwig. St Pauli’s back line weathered the proverbial storm, and was rewarded in the 28th minute. Florian Bruns swung a cross to Carsten Rothenbach, who scored from close range for his first goal of the year. After the goal, a less proverbial storm rained down torrents on the pitch, slowing the game until the halftime break.
The second half started out with much improvement. St Pauli looked like the team that started the season and grabbed a hold of the game. This control lead to Ebbers scoring yet another goal from close range, giving St Pauli a comfortable 2-0 lead. Munich scored in the 88th minute from a corner kick to make the game seem uncomfortable, but Deniz Naki scored in the 90th from a breakaway to give St Pauli a firm 3-1 win, to the enjoyment of all:
Category: Team NewsPreview: St Pauli vs 1860 Munich
By: Mike | Add Comments
St Pauli plays Sunday, home against 1860 Munich.
This game is the proverbial fork in the road. We’ve lost our last 3, counting a 2-1 defeat in the cup against Werder Bremen. The two teams that beat us, FCK and Beilefeld, now sit in 1st and 3rd, St Pauli behind in 4th. A win on Sunday could breathe new life into the season and put us back on track for the top of the table. A loss could be the start of a downward trend toward mediocrity or worse. St Pauli should beat Kenny Cooper and 1860, who haven’t been in top form at the start of the season. Still, they’re very talented, and it shouldn’t be easy.
In other news, St Pauli welcomed the traveling fans of Hapoel Tel Aviv, who were in town as their team faced off against HSV in Europa League action. The friendship with Hapoel dates back around 5 years, when the fan group Ultras Hapoel participated in an anti-racism tournament in St Pauli. The traveling fans were welcomed at the Jolly Roger with a breakfast before hand, and accompanied by a number of St Pauli fans in the guest block.
HSV had this to say when asked if they objected to St Pauli fans coming into the grounds – “I see this as not a provocation,” he says. “We would also friendly to the fans accompany Millerntor if their clubs compete there, such as Glasgow Rangers.”
Well, maybe not such the best response. Particularly when you’ve got thousands of rabid Celtic fans marching into Hamburg in a few weeks time…
Still, a tip of the hat to Hapoel, even if they didn’t win, for holding anti-racist and anti-nationalistic views when it’s not so popular.
Category: Team NewsSt Pauli fall short at Bremen
By: Mike | Add Comments
Manager Stanislawski says it best “It was an interesting game, in that we earned our goal to come back, but it was not to be.”
St Pauli again fell by the score of 2-1 in the German cup on Wednesday in Bremen, although this result, unlike the weekend’s is much easier to handle.
The first half started about as you’d expect. The quality of Bremen showed, and St Pauli was left looking like a youth squad as they tried to solve the Bremen defense. Bremen started this match without strikers Marco Marin and Claudio Pizzaro, and it seems they could have been useful, as Bremen wasted a few chances to score. Aaron Hunt solved that problem in the 29th minute when he found a goal from a poorly defended corner kick. It proved to be the the only goal of the first half.
St Pauli came out in the second half with much more life. They immediately started taking more chances and looking to score. Ultimately, the dream started in the 75th minute, when Charles Tayki found the equalizer. It was a very nice play if I do say so. Tayki did well to run onto a through pass on the right side of the box, and did better to deliver a chipped cross to Ebbers. Ebbers controlled off his chest and hit an excellent bicycle kick that bounced off the post, though went right to Tayki who made no mistake. The dream was alive, perhaps another miracle was on it’s way.
But, as mentioned, it was not to be. Another poorly defended corner kick later, and Naldo had put Bremen ahead in the 82nd minute. From there, St Pauli were up against it, and another goal couldn’t be found.
There’s no shame in losing to a team as powerful as Bremen. Particularly when Bremen seems to be very good at beating teams from Hamburg. Going forward into the weekend, St Pauli should hope to turn this week around with a result on the road, a tough match against Biefeld. We’re still 3-0-0 on the road, in the league, anyway…
Keep dreaming, St Pauli.
Category: Team NewsSt Pauli ready for Werder Bremen
By: Mike | Add Comments
Well, we lost 2-1 at home to FCK this weekend. And a deserved loss as well.
And Werder Bremen is quite good, I’m told, if you haven’t heard. Although, it seems as if they’re having trouble scoring goals.
Don’t fret, Werder fans, for some reason I have the feeling that the infamous St Pauli defending can help with that problem.
The good news is that their young star Mesut Ozil will miss the match through injury. Which means that we’ll instead be looking to go up against a front line consisting of Claudio Pizzaro and Marko Marin. Esh, are you sure we can’t play Werder Bremen II instead?
Maybe history will be on our side, however. In St Pauli’s famous cup run in 2006, St Pauli defeated Werder Bremen in the quarter finals by the score of 3-1, a match remembered mainly due the snowy conditions of the game. For you who wish to relive one of the better moments in recent St Pauli history, here are the highlights of that game:
Unfortunately for us, it does not look like snow is in the forecast. However, maybe there will be another source of a miracle this year.
Category: Team NewsFormer player to be honored for charity work
By: Mike | 1 Comment
When FC St Pauli made a preseason trip to Cuba, one would think that they’d enjoy the cigars, rum, and the better parts of the historical island nation.
One player, Benny Adrion, instead noticed the lack of access to clean drinking water for some of the poorer Cubans. After his playing days were over, he founded Viva con Aqua de St Pauli, a charity organization that now assists people from many different regions in the world.
For his work, the German president has announced that he will receive the “Bundesverdienstkreuz”, (yes, that is a word) or federal cross of merit, for his efforts. I, for one, think it is absolutely deserved.
They do have a paypal account set up for donations, accessible from their website. Just sayin’.
Category: Team NewsSt Pauli look to sieze chance to go solo on top
By: Mike | 1 Comment
Today’s result in Union Berlin’s game against TUS Koblenz, a 1-1 draw, gives St Pauli the chance to be alone at the top of the table with a win at home against Kaiserlautern this Sunday.
Head Coach Holdger Stanislawski told kicker.de that “”A victory would be once again a gigantic step in our development. We must show now that we can bring all the positive things of the past weeks against a Top team. That becomes a real Big-Point-Game for us.”
It’s true that you could make the argument that St Pauli have yet to face a stern test, with most teams we’ve defeated rest in or near the bottom portion of the table. Kaiserlautern comes into Sunday’s game unbeaten as well, sitting in 3rd place. Reading between the lines, you can tell that the priority in this case is the league, with Stani going on to describe the cup game away to Werder Bremen as a “bonus”.
So we can expect to see the full St Pauli squad go out against Kaiserlautern, for what could be a very defining game in the course of the season.
Category: Team NewsBremen: You’re next!
By: Mike | 4 Comments
Ok, so next week, our St Pauli play the much heralded Werder Bremen in a German Cup game. It’s not too often St Pauli plays opponents that are terribly popular, so I’d figured it’d be a perfect time to start talking some trash with my fellow offside bloggers.
It’s my opinion that Bremen are trying to steal our thunder. Why, might you ask?
For starters, there is the widely enjoyed beer named after the district of our team – St Pauli Girl
. Sounds like a great beer brewed in the red light district of Hamburg? No… It’s brewed where else, but Bremen. I suppose Bremen just isn’t cool enough to have a beer named after them. As they say though, immitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
They also have taken up one of our favorite past times – beating HSV. Last year, you’ll remember, Bremen absolutely rained on the parade of HSV, beating them in the semifinals of both the German Cup and the UEFA cup.
So, I guess as far as draws go, there are much worse teams we could have drawn. (I’m looking at you, Rostock…)
But Bremen, you’re still going down.
Category: Team News
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