Oh. My. Goodness.

What else is there to say?

Well, there is a lot to say, to be honest. When die Blauen Blog went into its own Winter Break I was chewing on the idea of the hiring of Michael Frontzeck as manager, as the last time we saw him in the Bundesliga his Allemania Aachen were packing their bags for the 2. Bundesliga after a memorable collapse saw them lose seven of their final eight matches to end the season. Despite this I was bullish on Arminia's chances as I would expect Frontzeck to splash some cash in the Transfer Window to repair the, er, nonexistant back line. Unfortunately, Arminia's transfers went as follows:

In: None

Out: Abdelaziz Ahanfouf (F) to SV Wehen

Granted, Ahanfouf was surplus to demands, but come on, it never came to Frontzeck's mind that perhaps a defender or twenty may help the worst defence in the Bundesliga?

Before I blow a gasket over that, let's move right along. Right before the Winter Break ended Arminia went to Jena to take on 2. Bundesliga Carl Zeiss Jena in a DFB-Pokal clash. The result was of course a 2-1 victory for the little guys in extra time, mainly because the defence coughed up a late goal (ugh) and a goal in extra time. Where have we seen that before? The league returned as Arminia lost 1-0 to Wolfsburg through a display of anemic offence and lost points because of a defencive lapse (Schuler). The same was in store as the Martin Fenin Show showed up and his carving up of the back line enabled the first goal, and he was unmarked for his second goal. At least Artur Wichniarek showed some bottle by putting away a chance to make it 2-1, albeit from an offside position. I'll be fair and state that the second half in the Frankfurt match Arminia came out looking to score, but were unlucky when Sibusiso Zuma's chance went just wide.

And this brings us to today, where Arminia went to eternally-middling Hertha Berlin, which, according to Wichniarek, middles because of their manager Dieter Hoeness. What can I say? I'll take Koenig Artur's word over almost anyone. After all, he was there and rotted for almost four years and not me. Apparently some other blogs digress, but given Hertha Berlin's history, who wouldn't complain about them?

Anyway, the match today started out as boring as Herr Frontzeck wanted, as both sides wandered about the pitch for the first half without much in the way of action. The second half was the same until Raffael put a shot on goal only to be saved by Mathias Hain. The pressure began to build, but the line held and the score remained at 0-0. In the 88th minute, Sibusiso Zuma came off for Tobias Rau in an obvious attempt to hold onto the precious point. I scribbled a note on my notepad "A Striker off for a Defender this late in the match? Why? Unless he wants to lose the game..."

Me and my mouth almost got away with it as in the dying seconds of the match Berlin had a throw-in deep in Arminia territory. The throw went into the box, above all Arminia defenders, and right to Raffael who won the game at the death to take all three points. I'm never one to shout or anything at the TV or computer (Complain? Definitely), but this instance got a "GOTT IN HIMMEL! YOU'RE A BLOODY IDIOT FRONTZECK!" out of me. About the only positive out of the match was that the three in the drop zone below Arminia are equally putrid, so Arminia remain two points clear, but it's far too close for my sake.

Going back to the sacking of Ernst Middendorp, the Germanocentric part of the Soccer-writing Anglosphere (How's that for some fancy wording?) did some writing to say the least. The best was the (always good) The Offside's take on the firing with the requisite comment about the club's love affair with Herr Middendorp (In their league table summary for last weekend, their comment about Bielefeld went to the tune of "At this point, I am starting to believe they only fired Ernst Middendorp so that they could rehire him for the umpteenth time to save them".) The best was from Ernst's old stomping grounds in South Africa where Johannesburg's Business Day tore Middendorp apart in a laughably-sad-but-true piece about the state of the club.

Finally,  World Soccer Daily interviewed Arminia Bielefeld's most famous support, journalist Johannes Berendt in the first hour of Thursday's show. When asked about Bielefeld, his response was that perhaps all of this was a bid to break the record for managers for a club in a single season in the Bundesliga (They've matched last year's total of three already) and finished the discussion with a quite funny comment of "So if you ever lose, you'll have a job in Bielefeld!" and guaranteed a loss against Berlin, leading up to a do-or-die match against Duisburg. Yikes. You can download the podcast off of iTunes by following this link.

I should be back into the swing of blogging things now, but I'm not sure about what. Fun times via Arminia aren't that plentiful here at die Blauen Blog HQ, as I'm having to resort to my PSV fandom to tide me over, which is helpful, though not a true fix. Here's to three points against Duisburg next Saturday!

In the last edition of the Virtual Season, the 3-5-2 formation instituted by the manager worked as he hoped, as Arminia went 2-1-0 with a +7 goal differential, allowing them to shoot up the table to fifth, only 2 points behind leaders and local rivals Borussia Dortmund.  We pick the season up there.

Match #7: VfL Wolfsburg 0-3 Arminia Bielefeld

Scoring: VfL Wolfsburg: None; Arminia Bielefeld: Eigler (54'), Leonidas (68', 75 [Pen. Miss]), Kauf (76')

What happened: Despite the manager putting in a second string squad against the struggling Niedersachsen side, Arminia destroyed Wolfsburg in an affair that was surprisingly scoreless at halftime, mainly because Arminia hit the post an incredible 4 times. The second half opened with yet another post shot, but Christian Eigler finally opened up the scoring with a nice shot form 10 yards in the 54th minute. Pressure continued to mount until Leonidas Kampantais was brought down in the penalty area. Leonidas' attempt was blocked (Sound familiar?), but the rebound came to the feet of Rudiger Kauf, who once again scored from a 20+ yard volley to finish up the scoring. Best part of the match? EA actually thinking that having the Wolfsburg crowd chanting "V!-F!-B!" would be authentic.

Match #8: Arminia Bielefeld 4-0 1. FC Nürnberg

Scoring: Arminia Bielefeld: Zuma (3' [Penalty], 7'), Böhme (57'), Wichniarek (88'); 1. FC Nürnberg: None

What Happened: Another match, another thumping by Bielefeld. Sibusiso Zuma took the opening kick off down the pitch and earned a penalty, which he coolly took to give Arminia a quick 1-0 lead. He did the same thing 4 minutes later, albeit from the edge of the penalty area that time. Jörg Böhme made the lead insurmountable with a fantastic volley from outside the area early in the second half, and Artur Wichniarek finished off the scoring with a slick move to put the ball past the goalkeeper. Kicker pronounced the match as a "Goal Festival," but der Club's manager was less impressed. "Call me when they beat a club in the top half of the table," he quipped, "They will be lucky to not lose by a couple of goals when they go to Dortmund." Luckily for him, that happened to be the next match.

Match #9: Borussia Dortmund 2-3 Arminia Bielefeld

Scoring: Borussia Dortmund: Frei (25', 89'); Arminia Bielefeld: Nkosi (14'), Kamper (61') Gabriel (88')

What Happened: After Nürnberg's latest loss, a reporter asked their manager if he saw the scoreline in the Westphalian Derby (Borussia is Arminia's derby club in FIFA 08), and after answering that he had not, was shocked to see Arminia's win. He refused to believe it until he saw the highlights himself, and what he saw was a giant step toward cementing themselves as a title contender at this point of the season. Arminia opened up the scoring with an incredible diving free kick from 35 yards by Siyabonga Nkosi, which completely baffled the Dortmund goalkeeper. Alexander Frei levelled the score shortly after, and both sides settled into an exchange of chances to be stopped by the opposing defences. The score remained the same until the 61st minute when Jonas Kamper took a pass from Artur Wichniarek, charged in on goal, and let loose an unstoppable shot from 25 yards that went in the top corner of the net. Dortmund picked up the pace even more, but it was Arminia who sealed the deal with a header from a corner by defender Petr Gabriel. Frei made it interesting a minute later with a fantastic goal of his own, but Arminia iced the match to put them atop the Bundesliga, facing Werder Bremen the next week at the Alm. A win would put some cushion between them and the rest of the pack going into a DFB-Pokal weekend...

Match #10: Arminia Bielefeld 1-2 Werder Bremen

Scoring: Arminia Bielefeld: Böhme (34'); Werder Bremen: Rosenberg (28'), Hugo Almedia (76')

What Happened: If Arminia loses out on the title by 2 points or less, they will point to this match as a lost opportinuty. They outshot Werder 21-3, with an incredible 12-3 advantage in shots on goal. Both Werder goals came against the run of play, as Rosenberg converted on a defencive error, as did Hugo Almedia. Jörg Böhme scored the only goal for Arminia on a good pass from Sibusiso Zuma that put him behind the Werder defence. Supporters criticized the manager for his switch from a 3-5-2 to a Diamond 4-4-2 formation for the match in an attempt to limit the Werder attack. By the end of the match, this was tossed in favour of a 4-2-4 formation which on several occasions very nearly scored an equalizer. The next league match isn't any easier as Arminia travels to face Bayern Munich at the Allianz.  But before that was a 2nd Round match in the DFB-Pokal

DFB-Pokal 2nd Round Match: Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-4 Arminia Bielefeld

Scoring: Borussia Mönchengladbach: Neuville (16', 42'); Arminia Bielefeld: Gohouri (23' [Own Goal]), Zuma (33', 56'), Wichniarek (79')

What Happened: The opening 25 minutes of the match were dominated by ghastly errors by defenders from both sides. Borussia opened up the scoring when Oliver Neuville took a poor clearance in the penalty area to score past a shocked Rowen Fernandez to give the home side a 1-0 lead, only to watch it evaporate when one of their defenders attempted to block a Jonas Kamper shot, only to watch it deflected into the net. It was all the break Arminia needed to take control with a Sibusiso Zuma goal 8 minutes later. Neuville drew Borussia level shortly before halftime, but on the other side of the break Zuma put Arminia up for good. Artur Wichniarek iced yet another match with a fantastic run in the 79th minute.

With the win, Arminia advanced to the 3rd Round to take on 2. Bundesliga side Erzgebirge Aue, who knocked off Bayern Munich 1-0 in a memorable win in Munich.

Going into the match against Bayern, Arminia sits in second, only a point behind leaders Werder Bremen.

Bundesliga League Table, after Matchweek 10

See you later this week! If there isn't a post before Tuesday, make  sure you folks have a Merry Christmas! 

I had this post ready to go on Saturday, but unfortunately family events got in the way of me posting it (Look Mom, die Blauen Blog > Christmas par.. *thwack* Ow! OK, OK, you're right... *sigh*)

Well, the Winter Break is upon us, and thankfully Bielefeld gave supporters a reason to cheer with a well-deserved 2-0 win over defending champions VfB Stuttgart on Saturday. Despite beginning the day in the relegation zone, the team came out flying for the first 20 minutes, leaving the Swabians dazed and confused. Jonas Kamper just missed the net in the 7th minute, and Sibusiso Zuma took a most clever pass in the 15th minute and promptly beat the keeper, only to be denied by the post. The breakfast I was eating (scrambled eggs and toast) promptly flew in the air as I was in a fit of premature celebration. I spent the next 10 minutes cleaning up the mess as well as cooking another batch of eggs, much to the pleasure of my two dogs. By that time Stuttgart finally got going got going, and the game tightened up considerably. Despite this, at halftime Arminia had the advantage in terms of shots despite only having about 36% of possession.

Raphael Schäfer waves in futility at the first goal of the match (Image: Bongarts/Getty Images)

Interim manager Detlef Dammeier evidently gave them the needed speech at halftime, as there was no faltering unlike against Bayern. The pressure continued to mount until it finally gave when Stuttgart lost midfielder Pavel Pardo for a second yellow card on what was really a dumb challenge, especially considering he had a yellow card. Stuttgart manager Armin Veh couldn't complain, as he was already sent to the stands for arguing with the officials. Jonas Kamper broke the deadlock with a stupendous shot 6 minutes later that completely surprised Stuttgart goalkeeper Raphael Schäfer, sending the Alm into a frenzy. Stuttgart tried to get back into it, but 5 minutes later defender Ricardo Osorio was sent off for a straight red for a pretty bad tackle on Artur Wichniarek, leaving Stuttgart with 9 men for the final 4 minutes, and holding on for dear life. It looked to end 1-0 until Wichniarek (who else?) put the icing on the cake with a nice goal from an even better pass from Zuma. It proved to be the last kick of the match, and Arminia walked away 2-0 winners.

Jonas Kamper celebrates with the Arminia faithful after the match (Image: Bongarts/Getty Images)

With the win, Arminia climbed out of the relegation zone, and sit 3 points clear of the drop zone. The Bundesliga table looks like this when looking at Arminia and its neighbours (Relegation Zone in red):

Place	Club	GP	W	D	L	GD	Pts
10	Borussia Dortmund	17	6	3	8	-4	21
11	VfL Wolfsburg	17	5	5	7	0	20
12	Hertha Berlin	17	6	2	9	-5	20
13	VfL Bochum	17	5	4	8	-2	19
14	Arminia Bielefeld	17	5	3	9	-19	18
15	Hansa Rostock	17	5	2	10	-10	17
16	1. FC Nurnberg	17	4	3	10	-7	15
17	Energie Cottbus	17	3	6	8	-10	15
18	MSV Duisburg	17	4	1	12	-12	13

Arminia was in a similar situation last season, but unlike last season they have actually won a match after November, and are outside the relegation zone, though only by three points. It's a tricky situation, but it doesn't quite have the hopeless feel that last year had. Shoring up the back line in January will go a long way to keeping Arminia up, as if they can get off to a start similar to the one at the beginning of the season, safety will be achieved pretty early, especially they can pick up points they dropped against Frankfurt and Duisburg, which should have both been three points in the bag. Add the five points dropped in those two matches and Arminia sits in 10th position. If there isn't a better example of the impact of fifteen minutes of lack of concentration in football, let me know.

Speaking of the second half of the season, much of it will ride on how well new manager Michael Frontzeck can keep the club going. I'll be frank and say that I really didn't pay attention to how well he did last season with Alemania Aachen other than the fact that in their final 8 matches they went 0-1-7 with a -20 goal differential. Not exactly the most comforting of statistics, but perhaps with some cash and a pretty experienced and motivated roster, we won't see a similar swoon.

We have about 6 weeks to discuss all of this, along with a lot of other goings on, especially the Virtual Season, as well as the trip to China (Arminia plays Wuhan FC on Tuesday and Shanghai Shenhua on Wednesday) and the DFB-Pokal match at Carl Zeiss Jena at the end of January.

See you on Wednesday after the match!

After Friday's debacle, I waited to post about the match as I knew something had to give after Dortmund took Arminia to the woodshed. An exhilarating start to the season has turned into a complete nightmare, and I knew heads were going to roll. In class this morning the seniors were rather subdued in their football talk, except for the Manchester United bandwagoner, who crowed about United's 4-1 win over Derby County. I ended said crowing by mentioning United were the first club all season to allow an away goal by Derby. Class went on as usual after that, albeit on a more sombre tone.

A dejected Ernst Middendorp during Arminia Bielefeld's 6-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Friday (Image: GettyImages)

I was sitting down for lunch in the cafeteria when the school secretary came up and told me that my mother had called saying that my uncle from Bremen had called and all he said was " 'Allo. Middendorp aus! Tschuss!" and hung up. The secretary thought that this was an important enough emergency ("A family crisis is something that should be handled immediately!" She lectured. If only she knew my uncle was a Werder supporter...) that I called my uncle directly from school, and he gave me the news that Ernst Middendorp had been sacked as manager and Reserves manager Detlef Dammeier would coach the team against VfB Stuttgart, and would search for a permanent manager during the Winter Break.

Ernst, it's enough! says Bielefeld supporters. Apparently, the Arminia board got the message. (Image: Kicker.de)

I tried to make the call sound important enough that no one would think that I was calling Germany during school hours simply because the club I support sacked its manager. It worked, as I was even told that if I needed to I could go home if I needed to travel over there to take care of things. I shrugged them off and said "Eh, things won't get much better if I'm there." Which is true, when you think about it.

When I got home, the Inbox was full of links to the Soccernet, Kicker (link auf Deutsch), der Spiegel (link auf Deutsch) and the Club's official website (link auf Deutsch) articles with what has proven to be the reaction to the sacking: We love Ernst and tank him for all he's done, but we seem to need a change, and unfortunately he had to be the one to go.

Interim manager Detelf Dammeier (Image: der Spiegel)

My initial thoughts on the whole thing? Well, as much as I like Ernst, something had to happen, as Arminia are on the verge of a complete collapse and subsequent relegation. The club has a Bundesliga-worst (-21) goal differential and only a single road win, which was on the season opener at Wolfsburg. As director Reinhard Saftig stated in the press conference, "The facts don't lie - we have only five points from the last 11 matches... I don't even want to start counting up the goals we've allowed."

Despite the doom and gloom, there is a silver lining. If the season ended today (Ah, the wonderful Americanism), Arminia would survive, albeit barely. With a game to go until the Winter Break, the club will have six weeks to find a manager to keep the club afloat, as well as bring in players during the transfer window to reform the back four, who have been the weak link for the club all season, as well as perhaps jump-start the lethargic attack.

I'll keep everyone updated on the situation, as well as try to get some perspective from some local journalists. Of course, if you want to share your thoughts on the matter, E-mail the blog at dieblauenblog@gmail.com with "Ernst Middendorp Sacking" in the Subject Line. Catch you tomorrow for the beginning of your Winter Break entertainment (aside from the manager search, that is...)

Technology is a grand thing...

Almost 2 weeks, hands cut from handling delicate electronic parts with sharp edges in confined spaces, and some elbow grease later, I'm finally connected to the world again. It was rather boring, if I must admit. You can only drag out grading tests and watching boring TV shows for so long. I even tore through the 4 books on my reading stack in the mean time. 

The highlight of the down time was the Arminia-Bayern Munich match, which I actually accidentally found on TV on Sunday afternoon. I had unfortunately missed the game live, but a Spanish station had the match on tape delay. I must say there is nothing like an Anglophone watching German football with Spanish commentary.

With that said, I must say it was a match that was one for Arminia supporters to be proud of, and, one which in all honesty Arminia should have gotten a point out of. With they way they played up to the Ribery goal, it should have been at least 1-0 Arminia if not 2-0 if Jonas Kamper and Sibisuso Zuma's chanced had been slotted home. As Middendorp eluded to, in the city centre, the advantage can easily to the Beetle, if the Porsche is not careful, and the opening play proved it. Unfortunately, the Porsche got going in a hurry, and Franck Ribery's goal was simply sublime, and it put Arminia on the back foot for virtually the rest of the game. Hain's injury just before halftime was rather disconcerting, though Rowen Fernandez's emergency relief work was commendable, despite him almost letting in a goal by Luca Toni on his first shot. Hain is all but out for Friday's match at Borussia Dortmund, so it's up to Fernandez to 

Despite the play, Arminia sit three points above the drop zone, and have the worst goal differential to boot. To add to the cheery news, Arminia only have a single win away from the Alm, and that was against Wolfsburg in the season opener. Of course, us Arminia supporters are used to such grim news, so it's not as frightening as to an outsider. With two more matches to go at Dortmund and home to Stuttgart, inspired play like in the first 20 minutes against Bayern would go well. Here's to that.

Catch you folks on the other side of the Dortmund game. 

I had this post ready to go on Thanksgiving, but apparently on Turkey Day, I had the Kiss of Death for Computers, as I killed all three of my computers in a 24 hour span. I won't be back online until at least Wednesday, so you won't hear from me then. As I type this, Arminia is down 0-3 to Bochum. Not good at all. But enjoy this in the mean time. 

In Tuesday's post, I mentioned I would be holed up in my room on my laptop making a post, and, well, here I am. The house is crawling relatives which I only see twice a year at the most, and all of whom I frankly would do anything to hot have to talk to. But it hasn't been all bad, after all. Dinner was great as for one the turkey didn't end up sawdust-dry, and the sides were all delicious. I got the television all to myself since the women of the family were busy gossiping in the kitchen, the children were running about wrecking the house playing tack with broomsticks, and the men, of which I am the only one who follows sports with any sort of seriousness, huddled in the cold carport to talk about God-knows-what.

Apart from the traditional American football games today, there wasn't much else on TV. This development has befuddled me for years because I know there are millions of Americans like me who would love nothing better to dive into some good TV, and what do we get? Infomercials, dumb pseudo-documentaries about Thanksgiving dinners, and horrible movies which never should have seen the light of day! I popped in 49: The Complete Unbeaten Record and hopped online to check out the aftermath of the completion of the Euro 2008 qualifiers, especially England bowing out for the first time in fourteen years in a major competition.

The English press is, of course, in full knee-jerking mode, calling for everyone's head from Queen Elizabeth all the way down to poor old Bill Walters, who sits at the end of a pub in Blackpool and mutters to himself how Soviet agents injured Jimmy Armfield before the 1966 World Cup in order for the Soviets to have a better chance at winning. The FA acted by (rightly) sacking Steve McClaren, who summed up the level of the disaster that was his reign at the top when he stated that him being sacked "...[was] the saddest day of his career." I assume England's passive performance in the first half against Croatia wasn't? Of course, now that their latest pinata is out of a job, the hyperbole is turning on the subject of quotas for foreign players for clubs in the Barclays Premier League.

For those of you hiding under a rock, there have been clamorings for the Premier League to adopt a ceiling on the number of foreign players on a club's roster, pointing specifically to Arsenal and their completely-foreign Starting XI. Proponents of this state that since the number of foreigners in the Premier League are now over 70% of the total playership, talented English players can not find a place in Premier League rosters, and as a result the English national team has suffered. They would also point to nations like Spain, with a quota on non-EU players, have a strong international team based in their domestic league (Speaking of which, Spanish courts ruled that African, Caribbean, and South American players could not count as non-EU players because of existing labour agreements.)

Unfortunately, from this small bedroom, the idea is simply a non-starter. First off, any quota system could only limit non-EU players because of the European Union's anti-discrimination legislation for workers (despite what Sepp Blatter says about the working status of football players). Considering that the majority of Premier League foreigners are from EU nations, quotas wouldn't do anything. After all, from everyone's favourite whipping boy Arsenal's starting XI, a quota like Spain's would eliminate, well, six of their players at the most... that is if you count Philippe Senderos, Eduardo da Silva, and Aleksandr Hleb, all Europeans from non-EU nations for the list. I'm sure Arsene Wenger would enjoy telling these players that they have to be sold because their nations, despite being European in culture and geography, aren't European enough for the whims of the Barclays Premier League.

I could go on from here, but a turkey sandwich is calling. See you guys later in the week! 

Well, things don’t always go as they should. Of course, this should be a given, for yours truly this was the case this past five days or so.

First off, the midweek post was supposed to contain a special surprise, namely the first goal scored by myself in anger in a FIFA 08 match with Arminia Bielefeld. It’s a cracker of a shot from just outside the box by Sibusiso Zuma against Arsenal (!!!), and I wanted to use it as a teaser for something I have planned over the Winter Break (It doesn’t take much thinking for you to figure out what I have planned…). However, since the highlight was too large for OleOle’s video service, I went to upload it to YouTube. Two hours later the file was uploaded… except it wasn’t. All that work for naught. *sigh*. I’ll get it up sooner or later.

Up next was the fact I had a rather important teacher’s exam to take on Saturday, so I programmed my VCR (I’m not rich enough for one of those fancy DVR thingies just yet) to record the South Africa-USA match. I left for the exam, got in the room, was given the exam, started to work on it… then realized that I had registered for the wrong exam. So, instead of showing how much useless history and geography knowledge I have crammed in my brain, I was being asked how much sociological and psychological knowledge I have crammed in my brain. Yes folks, I signed up for the Social Science exam rather than the Social Studies exam. There was only about 6 seconds of panic until I decided to give it a go anyway. Besides, the bosses would get a kick out of the whole situation. I’ll find out how I did in a month, but from how things went I did really well on it. I guess this gets me on the hook for teaching a high school psychology class next time one rolls around…

Because the exam took so long, I got home after the match was over, and I rewound the tape to watch the match… and I got two hours of infomercials. Seems someone turned on the TV and changed the channel before the match started. Ugh. I guess in the grand scheme of things I didn’t miss much, as the game ended up 1-0 for the Americans, but by all accounts Rowan Fernandez acquitted himself well, and Zuma seemed to be MIA in terms of serious chances, yet impressed duNord with his movement and locks. Siyabonga Nkosi didn’t make the 16 man roster for the match, and won’t play against Canada on Wednesday. Why you ask? Well, in action tonight in a friendly, Nkosi netted the final goal in a 6-0 thumping of Bünder SV, an amateur club from nearby Bünde who sit atop the Fußball- und Leichtathletik-Verband Westfalen. (*phew*) 700 folks braved the cold to watch the friendly, which Middendorp used to blood some of the reserves as well as some of the younger first teamers, who were up 4-0 by halftime.

In other news, Bundesliga.de is reporting on the Bundesliga’s Asian Adventure, speaking for the most part about Cottbus and Borussia Dortmund’s shenanigans, but at the end of the article, we get some info on the Arminia Bielefeld friendlies:

Arminia Bielefeld too will play in China in December on their own initiative. Arminia will take on twin city Wuhan on December 18 and Shenhua Shanghai one day later.

I’m working on getting some more information about the friendlies, and I’ll pass it along when I get said info.

One more mention of Bielefeld on the Bundesliga’s website is an interview with defender Rudiger Kauf, who scored in the win against Nurnberg. A line that jumped out was when he stated:

But you always have to be aware that we're Arminia Bielefeld, not one of the teams aiming for Europe. Our budget is one of the smallest, so you have to be aware that we always fight against relegation.

He is correct, in a way, but I hope that he has more than surviving the Bundesliga as his goal for this season. In October’s edition of FourFourTwo, sports psychologist Martin Perry (His not-too-shabby blog can be read here) notes that teams who are either promoted or perennial relegation fodder need to look beyond surviving, and focus on attainable-with-effort goals like a mid-table finish. I, of course, have wildly unrealistic expectations and think Arminia can get to Europe, but we will see.

Here in the States, Thursday marks Thanksgiving, and as a result I’ll be desperately attempting to get away from family members that I really do not like, so as a result I’ll be hiding writing up an Arminiageschichte on the trusty laptop. I would share some turkey with you folks, but it’s likely to be sawdust-dry. Catch you then!

Hmm... Perhaps I should miss watching Arminia matches more often?

Of course, from the looks of the first half, it seems Arminia did not show up either... but then again, neither did Nürnberg apart from a short stretch in the first ten minutes when der Club (*chortle*) fired off four shots, including a header by Andreas Wolf that hit the post. Nürnberg controlled possession for most of the half after that, but didn't bother taking a shot until the 43rd minute, when Wolf got Nürnberg on the board with another header from a corner.

I don't know what Middendorp told the players at halftime, but it definitely worked, as Arminia came out with a renewed purpose, and Daniel Halfar let loose a volley that went wide in the 49th minute. Arminia drew level in the 63rd minute when Rüdiger Kauf scored on a header off of a corner. Arminia was in business after that (Don't look at me! The highlights from tonight's Deutsche Welle broadcast said so!), and Artur Wichniarek grabbed the lead in the 75th minute with a nice close-ranged shot off of a cross from substitute Sibusiso Zuma. It wasn't as though der Club laid down though, as Marek Mintal twice took advantage of gaffes in the 82nd and 83rd minutes, but lacked poise as he pushed both shots wide. Zuma nearly got a goal at the start of stoppage time from a good cross from Wichniarek, but as stoppage time was running out, he got his goal with a nice shot outside the box.

Getting the three points was a massive boost to the club, of course, but I was pleased with how the club seemed to have reacted in the 2nd half after going down 0-1. In previous matches they sort of buckled under pressure, but this time they held up, and fought back bravely. How much of that was attributed to Nürnberg's poor attack can be debated (Arminia put 4 more shots on goal than der Club), but you take what's in front of you. It was also great to see Wichniarek back on track after his injuries slowed him down the past couple of weeks, so a goal and an assist for him is great.

In the grander scheme of things the win in this "six point relegation battle!" (as one e-mailer quipped to me) was great for Arminia, as a Nürnberg win would have put Arminia in the relegation zone. However, the win puts Arminia six points clear of the drop zone, and more positively 6 points from an automatic UEFA Cup spot, but only four from an Intertoto Cup spot (given the DFB-Pokal winner is in the top 5). However there's six clubs ahead of them, so it's imperative that Arminia begin to pick up points in threes, especially against the clubs that are in front of them. Exactly one year ago today Arminia sat in 8th after defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 0-3. They wouldn't win another match until March in the dramatic win against...yes... der Club.

No matches next week because of the International Break, but not everyone will be taking it easy as at least three players have gotten call ups for international duty (all from South Africa) who will face the US on Saturday and Canada on 20 November. According to the South African FA's website, goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez, midfielder Siyabonga Nkosi, and forward Sibusiso Zuma get call ups for the US match, and Fernandez is on the roster for the Canada match. Of course, the US match has to take place in the morning here in the States, which means I won't catch the entire match (Charity work, why do you frustrate me so!), but the start time (8:00AM here) should mean that I'll get most of it. I'll let you folks know how they do, since it's entirely possible that all three will start for the Bafana Bafana.

One last thing: If you haven't already, take a minute to remember those who have served, as it is Veterans Day here in the US and Rememberance Day/Armistice Day in the rest of the world. It's the least we could do.

Catch you during the week for an Arminiageschichte as well as a special surprise!

After patting myself on the back for a Blog well done, I was surfing around on the kicker.de site, and on the Arminia Bielefeld page, there is the following story (If you're a native German speaker, forgive any translation errors. My German is, well, nonexistent):

The Big World Tour

The Bundesliga has started a new offencive: During the week of Christmas more Bundesliga clubs will travel to the Far East, where there they will try to start marketing the league in Asian markets again. Currently Borussia Dortmund will travel to Indonesia, Arminia Bielefeld and Energie Cottbus to China, and a trip to Vietnam for Eintracht Frankfurt is also planned.

You can read the rest of the article here (link auf Deutsch)

The article goes from there to discuss the Bundesliga's thinking behind sending clubs to football-mad Asia during the Winter Break, as well as trips to the US to play MLS sides during the MLS offseason. Frankly, the prospect of 1 billion-plus Chinese folks becoming Arminia supporters via the charm of Ernst Middendrop and Artur Wichniarek is tempting, but I'd prefer them to come Stateside to play the Houston Dynamo. That way I could go see them and cheer them on by myself in the visitors' section. At the very least, it would be a great chance to improve Arminia's record in the US...