Ratinger Spvg Germania 3 VfL Rhede 0

Sunday 11th August 2013
Ratinger Spvg Germania 3 VfL Rhede 0
Oberliga Niederrhein
At: Stadion Ratingen, Am Stadion, Ratingen
Kick-off: 3-00 pm
Admission: 8 euro; Programme: free (4 pages)
Weather: sunny spells

The delightful town of Ratingen, a few miles north-east of Düsseldorf, provided the setting for the third and final football leg of my German break. ‘Delightful’ because of the pleasant Marktplatz area I spent time in before heading back to Cologne and ‘delightful’ because of a warm friendly club who ticked all the boxes [apart from one]. Oberliga Niederrhein sits at the fifth tier of German football and today a hat-trick from summer signing Chamdin Said gave homesters (also known as Ratingen 04/19) a comfortable 3-0 victory over struggling VfL Rhede. At half-time, the tea bar provided a real treat of mandarin gateaux complete with cake fork and the only box not ticked during the whole day was most of the ground out of bounds to spectators apart from the large main stand.

Ratinger Spvg Germania (yellow/yellow/yellow): 1. Marcel Grote, 6. Patrick Fiedorra (capt), 7. Sascha Meier, 8. Yannic Melis, 9. Pier Schulz, 10. Daniel Rehag, 11. Chamdin Said, 12. Stefan Prengel, 13. Dennis Ter Haar, 14. Lukas Fedler, 17, Ali Can Ilbay. Subs: 25gk Alexander Pleß (not used), 2. Christoph Hub (not used), 3. Stefan Rott (for Ilbay, 78), 4. Björn Rohpeter (for Fiedorra, 82) 15. José Cervino Panero (not used), 20. Yusuf Keser (for Meier 78), 21. Kris Leipzig (not used). Coach: Alfonso del Cueto.

VfL Rhede (black/black/black): 23. Marc Tebroke, 3. Benedikt Spieker (capt), 6. Christopher Wilting, 8. Bodo Seeger, 10. Martin Schüring, 11. Simon Lechtenberg, 15. Raphael Bauer, 18. Frederik Arnold-Hallbauer, 20. Christopher Refke, 24. Florian Girnth. Subs: 1gk. Marvin Radüchel (not used), 2. Tobias Keil (not used), 13. Nico Frömmgen (for Refke, 61), 17. Felix Amler (for Girnth, 81), 19. Florian Hahm (for Schüring, ht). Coach: Javier Garcia Dinis.

Referee: Alexander Schuh.
Assistants: René Donné and Axel Böhme.

Attendance: 300
Duration: first-half: 45:06; second-half: 45:00

Goals:
1-0 Chamdin Said (23)
2-0 Chamdin Said (57)
3-0 Chamdin Said (68)

Cards:
Ratinger Spvg Germania: none
VfL Rhede: Simon Lechtenberg (YC, 66)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 3 SC Freiburg 1

Saturday 10th August 2013

Once I’d established a few days ago that tickets were available for this top-flight game, there was really no need to look elsewhere for a Saturday afternoon fixture. It was certainly worth the effort to once again sample the unique atmosphere of a top-flight Bundesliga game inside a modern stadium with what I consider a rather impressive roof. My ticket in block F4, booked online with print@home, put me among a group of predominantly Freiburg fans who ultimately went home despondent after their side lost 3-1 to an impressive Leverkusen side. Managed by ex-Liverpool defender Sami Hyypiä, the home side took the lead through a looping Stefan Kießling header but Mike Hanke levelled for Freiburg shortly before the interval. By the time the second half was nine minutes old, Leverkusen had scored twice through Korean Heung-Min Son and Sidney Sam. The visitors had a penalty saved and this ended their hopes of salvaging a point. 

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 3 SC Freiburg 1
1. Bundesliga
At: Bay Arena
Kick-off: 3-30 pm
Admission: 23 euro seat; Programme: free (84 A4 pages)
Weather: warm and sunny 

Bayer 04 Leverkusen(red/red/red): 1. Bernd Leno, 21. Ömer Toprak, 5. Emir Spahić, 26. Giulio Donati, 17. Sebastian Boenisch, 18. Sidney Sam, 8. Lars Bender (capt), 3. Stefan Reinartz, 27. Gonzalo Castro, 11. Stefan Kießling, 7. Heung-Min Son. Subs: 25gk. Palop (not used), 4. Phillip Wollscheid (not used), 6. Simon Rolfes (for Son, 70), 13. Jens Hegeler (for Sam, 80), 14. Roberto Hilbert (not used), 15. Levin Öztunali (for Castro, 87), 23. Robbie Kruse (not used). Coach: Sami Hyypiä. 

SC Freiburg (white/white/white): 1. Oliver Baumann, 3. Fallou Diagne, 25. Oliver Sorg, 28. Matthias Ginter, 17. Jonathan Schmid, 23. Julian Schuster (capt), 4. Gelson Fernandes, 11. Hendrick Zuck, 20. Francis Coquelin, 14. Admir Mehmedi, 9. Mike Hanke. Subs: 21gk. Alexander Schwolow (not used), 27. Nicolas Höfler (not used), 30. Christian Günter (for Zuck, 68), 31. K. Guédé (not used), 35. Sebastian Freis (for Mehmedi, 76), 37. Sebastian Kerk (for Coquelin, ht), 41. Immanuel Höhn (not used). 

Referee: Gunter Perl.
Assistants: Georg Schalk and Michael Emmer.
Fourth Official: Bibiana Steinhaus. 

Attendance: 27136
Duration: first half: 47:00; second-half: 47:58 

Goals:
1-0 Stefan Kießling (21)
1-1 Mike Hanke (40)
2-1 Heung-Min Son (47)
3-1 Sidney Sam (52) 

Cards:
Leverkusen: Stefan Reinartz (YC, 83), Emir Spahić (YC, 88)
Freiburg: Fallou Diagne (YC, 35), Mike Hanke (YC, 55)

1FC Köln U21 1 Fortuna Düsseldorf U23 4

Friday 9th August 2013

1FC Köln U21 1 Fortuna Düsseldorf U23 4
Regionalliga West
At: Franz Kremer Stadion
Kick-off: 7-30 pm
Admission: 10 euro (seat) or 5 euro (standing); Programme: free (4 pages)
Weather: sunny spells and showers

Back in Cologne for the first time since 2011 and, after finally conquering my nemesis the Cologne Dom tower, tonight my shortlist of games consisted of either Fortuna Düsseldorf v TSV 1860 München in 2. Bundesliga or this game just seven stops from my hotel on line 18. Choosing the easy option, the Franz Kremer Stadion is located in the middle of a large wood and includes a stand down one touchline and open terracing around the other three sides. Early table toppers Köln went into this game with a 100% record of two wins but proved no match for a skilful and hungry Düsseldorf side who put the outcome beyond doubt with four unanswered first-half goals. Tuğrul Erat and Tom Golley both scored twice with Köln’s second-half consolation coming from Jannis Nikolaou.

1FC Köln U21 (white/white/white): 1. Marcel Schuhen, 2. Koray Kacinoglu, 4. Jannik Müller, 5. Stefan Schwellenbach (capt), 6. Danilo Wiebe, 8. Mario Engles, 9. Marco Ban, 11. Marius Laux, 18. Vojno Jesic, 21. Fabian Schnellhardt, 23. Jannis Nikolaou. Subs: 20gk. Sven Bacher (not used), 7. Fabio La Monica (for Jesic, 80), 10. Robin Hömig (not used), 15. Sven Engelke (for Müller, ht), 16. Lukas Scepanik (not used), 17. Fabian Poß (not used), 19. Steffen Schäfer (for Schwellenbach, 42). Coach: Stephan Engels.

Fortuna Düsseldorf U23 (red/red/red): 22. Robin Heller, 6. Jens Langeneke, 7. Tuğrul Erat, 8. Christian Weber (capt), 17. Eren Taskin, 18. Marcel Hofrath, 19. Tim Golley, 26. Muhammet Karpuz, 28. Christian Gartner, 29. Ben Halloran, 30. Juanan. Subs: 1gk. Tim Boss (not used), 5. Robin Urban (not used), 13. Samuel Piette, (for Weber, 66) 14. Kaan Akca (for Golley, 80), 16. Aliosman Aydin (not used), 20. Megim Fejzullahu (for Taskin, 63), 23. Bastian Müller (not used). Coach: Taskin Aksoy.

Referee: Dominik Jolk
Assistants: Benjamin Bläser and Waldemar Ebel

Attendance: 750
Duration: first-half: 45:02; second-half: 45:07

Goals:
0-1 Tuğrul Erat (18)
0-2 Tim Golley (24)
0-3 Tuğrul Erat (34)
0-4 Tim Golley (38)
1-4 Jannis Nikolaou (85)Cards:
Köln: none
Düsseldorf: Eren Taskin (YC, 35)

1. FC Köln 3 SV Werder Bremen 0

1. FC Köln 3 SV Werder Bremen 0…If anyone compiled a bucket list of 100 grounds that must be visited, I would strongly argue that 1. FC Köln’s RheinEnergieStadion should be included. Pretty much a full house generated a terrific atmosphere, the pre-match anthem sung passionately by the Köln fans and a decent performance by the relegation-threatened home side. Lucas Podolski scored a goal in each half and Adam Matuschyk netted a vital second goal on the half-hour. Köln by the way is Cologne in English and Germany’s fourth-largest city, famous for its Dom.

Earlier I’d seen the 2. Bundesliga contest between Alemannia Aachen and Karlsruher SC which finished 4-2.

German efficiency got me from Aachen to the RheinEnergieStadion without a worry or a hitch: a train to Horren, then S-Bahn line S12 to Koln-Weiden West (a massive park-and-ride station, see photo) and finally an S-Bahn tram to the RheinEnergie-Stadion stop, a short walk from the stadium.

My first impression was ‘wow!’ – a huge stadium with a tall glass light tower in each corner. Outside the stadium, there was plenty of beer, currywurst and bratwurst for sale from numerous vans and stalls. Of course, the non-veggie currywurst and bratwurst were off the agenda for me so a mobile club, admittedly with non-edible produce, attracted my attention instead.

I picked up a club magazine from that club shop (at the north end) and also a glossy folded A3 programme, both given away free. Inside the stadium, my ticket was for the upper tier of the Osttribüne block O12. I think I made a good choice and enjoyed a decent view of the game sat next to two vociferous home supporters with some away fans close by. If Aachen was very ‘yellow’ then Köln was very ‘red’.

As part of the pre-match entertainment, a goat was paraded in front of the players tunnel – shown on the big screen – and also tee-shirts were catapulted into the crowd not by the goat! Before kick-off, fans sang their rousing hymn as they raised their scarfs above their heads – one of those ‘hairs standing up on the back of your neck’ moments!

At the start of the weekend, 1. FC Köln (16 points from 18 games) occupied 16th position in the 18-team division. They occupied the relegation play-off position, just one point and one position above the two-team automatic relegation zone. Visitors Werder Bremen (22 points from 18 games) were two places higher.

Teams were announced in the unique German style which involved the announcer shouting out the number and player’s Christian name for the fans to yell back the said player’s surname. There were a couple of familiar names – Koln’s Lucas Podolski the German international striker and Bremen’s former Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre.

After the teams changed ends after the toss, 1. FC Köln (in red) got this top-flight Bundesliga game underway attacking the Südtribüne where home fans were massed on the large terrace behind the goal.

And those vociferous home fans were soon celebrating an early 7th minute goal. Fabrice Ehret ran down the left and pulled the ball back for Lucas Podolski to hit an angled first-time left-foot shot into the far right corner of the net.

Köln doubled their lead just after the half hour mark with a flowing swift passing move. Andrezinho fed Adam Matuszczyk who, on the edge of the area, beat two defenders and rifled a low shot from 17 yards out past Tim Wiese into the bottom left corner.

As the interval approached Bremen replaced Felix Kroos with Marko Marin, a player who was seemingly subsequently booed and whistled every time he touched the ball. Why? [Back home, a quick look at the player’s Wikipedia page provided the answer – Marin is a former Borussia Mönchengladbach player]

The two goals were replayed on the big screen at half-time. Not having a stadium fan card to purchase anything with, I sat and thought about the occasion I was thoroughly enjoying.

Why was this different to an English Premier League game?

Fans were watching the game drinking beer and rarely standing up in the seats. I suppose the home fans who wanted to stand were massed on the Südtribüne terrace. Visiting Bremen fans has their own small terrace as well in the opposite corner. I liked the idea of safe standing but, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t enjoy my last experience of standing on a packed terrace at Middlesbrough’s old Ayresome Park in 1995 and wouldn’t want to do so again. There was also good friendly banter between the Köln fans and those from Bremen who chose to sit in the home areas.

The three fans sat to my left all disappeared only to return after half-time with a beer each in their hands – very un-English!

For the second half, Köln were now attacking the Nordtribüne, i.e. the goal nearest to my seat. Looking around, the stadium with an attendance of 45100 appeared to be sold out for home fans with spare seats in away area and spaces available on the small away terrace.

Werder Bremen created precious few chances and 1. FC Köln wrapped up an excellent win with a third goal scored in the 84th minute. Slawomir Peszko burst into the area on the right, rounded Wiese before pulled the ball back for Podolski to sweep home from 6 yards out.

After the match, I walked back to the RheinEnergie-Stadion S-Bahn station where, as no surprise, the platforms were packed. There was a choice of two routes: from Gleiss 1 to Dom, etc. and from Gleiss 2 to Haumarkt. I chose a Dom tram and got off at Friesenplatz and walked to the near-by Well Being vegetarian restaurant on Brabanter Str.

Saturday 22nd January 2011
1. FC Köln 3 SV Werder Bremen 0
At: RheinEnergieStadion
Kick-off: 6-30 pm
Admission: 39-00 euro; Programme: free (4 pages)
Weather: mild, dry

1. FC Köln (red/red/red): 1. Michael Rensing, 22. Fabrice Ehret, 4. Christian Eichner, 21. Pedro Geromel, 12. Andrezinho, 5. Martin Lanig, 15. Slawomir Peszko, 25. Adam Matuszczyk, 27. Christian Clemens, 10. Lucas Podolski (capt), 11. Milivoje Novakovič. Subs: 23. Kevin McKenna (for Peszko, 85), 37. Reinhold Yabo (for Clemens, 88), 6. Taner Yalcin (for Podolski, 88), 30. Simon Terodde (not used), 2. Miso Brečko (not used), 34gk. Miro Varvodić (not used), 32. Stephen Salger (not used).

SV Werder Bremen (white/green/white): 1. Tim Wiese. 29. Per Mertesacker, 16. Mikael Silvestre, 3. Petri Pasanen, 8. Clemens Fritz, 22. Torsten Frings (capt), 44. Philipp Bargfrede, 14. Aaron Hunt, 24. Claudio Pizarro, 7. Marko Arnautović, 18. Felix Kroos. Subs: 10. Marko Marin (for Kroos 39), 9. Denni Avdić (for Arnautović, 56), 19. Sandro Wagner (for Hunt 75), 17. Said Husejinovic (not used), 46. Onur Ayik (not used), 21gk. Sebastian Mielitz (not used), 37. Leon Balogun.

Referee: P. Sippel (Munich).
Assistants: M. Borsch and W. Hofmann.
Fourth official: T. Welz.

Attendance: 45100
Duration: first-half: 45:08; second-half: 45:12

Goals:
1-0 Lucas Podolski (7)
2-0 Adam Matuschyk (33)
3-0 Lucas Podolski (84)

Cards:
Köln: 1 Pedro Geromel (YC, 16), Martin Lanig (YC, 59), Adam Matuschyk (YC, 71)
Bremen: Marko Arnautovic (YC, 37), Tim Wiese (YC, 84)