01.09.2009
Club news English August 2009
August and the start of the 2009-10 football season saw a mixed bag of results for Der Club, reports Jon Goulding. An easy away victory in the cup was followed by just two points from the opening four Bundesliga games.
3:0 win and into the second round
A visit to Dynamo Dresden for the first round of the DFB Pokal on 1st August gave 1.FCN a morale-boosting 3:0 victory.
After a rather brash start from both sides, it was Peer Kluge who dealt the hosts an early blow, making it 1:0 in the twelfth minute. It was good work by Dennis Diekmeier and Marek Mintal to create the opening and Kluge did not need asking twice when receiving the ball in the penalty area.
It was Mintal himself who doubled the lead in the 25th minute, pouncing on a loose ball and making no mistake as he steered the ball into the Dresden net.
The many Clubberer were in good voice and 1.FCN were worthy of their 2-0 lead at half-time.
Eight minutes after the restart, Ilkay Gündogan, making his first start for Der Club, latched onto the ball after some confusion in the penalty area. The 18-year-old gave the goalkeeper no chance as he made the scoreline read 3:0.
Other chances were created, notably for Charisteas, Broich and Eigler but no further goals were added to the tally.
1.FCN play Hoffenheim in the second round of the Pokal in September.
1:2 defeat to start the Bundesliga campaign
The atmosphere was electric in the easyCredit Stadion for the visit of Schalke 04 for the start of the Bundesliga campaign on 8th August.
The fans were treated to a very good game in which 1.FCN matched their guests and will have felt unlucky to have trailed at half time courtesy of a 36th minute Kevin Kuranyi shot after Farfan had pulled the ball back from the byline.
In the second half, before Der Club had a chance to respond, Kuranyi doubled the S04 lead in the 50th minute. The introduction of Marcel Risse and Mike Frantz provided the hosts with more attacking options but the ball would just not find the Schalke net until the 88th minute when Mintal pulled a goal back. Unfortunately it was too little too late for Der Club.
"We played well, though not particularly clever,” summed up Michael Oenning after the final whistle.
Club score draw in Frankfurt
A 1:1 draw after 90 minutes gave 1.FCN their first points of the season in Frankfurt’s Commerzbank Arena.
The game began promisingly. Dennis Diekmeier opened the game with a solo run of about 40 metres only to be foiled by goalkeeper Oka Nikolov in the second minute. Ioannis Amanatidis was then denied by Raphael Schaefer. In the 17th minute, Caio headed the hosts in front.
"Let's go Nuremberg" sang the club fans who drove their team further forward. The eleven, captained by Andreas Wolf, did their best - but despite some opportunities (Mintal 25, Gündogan 28 and Kluge 35)they remained goalless.
Both teams came back after the break looking for goals. Fantastic goalkeeping from Schaefer denied Amanatidis in the 53rd minute. Immediately afterwards Christian Eigler just failed to score from 1.FCN’s best chance so far.
Coach Michael Oenning made changes in the 56th Minute, replacing Christian Eigler and Isaac Boakye with Albert Bunjaku and Angelos Charisteas. The two fresh strikers thanked him with a co-production in the 65th Minute: Charisteas had a sharp shot from the left side of keeper Nikolov who could not prevent the ball falling to Bunjaku who made no mistake and drew Der Club level.
Both sides created chances in the closing phase of the game but the score remained 1-1 and, though 1.FCN will feel that they could have taken all three points, they at least had their first point of the season.
Nothing to be positive about against Hannover
A 0:2 defeat at home to Hannover 96 left fans and players with a game to quickly forget. Not that it should have been that way. Before kick-off, flowers and applause were provided for former player and member of the coaching staff Dieter Nüssing who celebrated his 60th Birthday, Captain Andy Wolf who was appearing in his 300th game, and Raphael Schaefer marking his 100th Bundesliga appearance.
There was little else to applaud. Although the statistics show that Der Club had a good amount of possession, the only statistic that really counts is that Jiri Stajner scored twice for the Hannoverians.
Havard Nordveit and Thomas Broich both made their debuts for 1.FCN but like their team mates they were unable to produce any response to Stajner’s goals. It could have been worst had Raphael Schaefer not saved a Hannover penalty.
"We have built up the opponent with bad passes,” complained Schaefer after the game.
Goalless draw in Stuttgart following strong performance from 1.FCN
Der Club put in a disciplined and strong performance against Champion’s League side VfB Stuttgart and can feel a little unlucky to have only come away with a single point.
Havard Nordtveit, Marcel Risse and Dario Vidosic were in the starting lineup. Angelos Charisteas was given the role of lone striker. For once, the club took over the control: the first shot on the goal of Jens Lehmann was from Dario Vidosic (12th minute), and the work of Chariteas and co, plus the powerful running forward of Dennis Diekmeier kept 1.FCN in the ascendency throughout the first half. Charisteas and Mintal can both feel unlucky not to have got on the score sheet.
Of course, the quality of the defensive performance should not be understated either.
The best chance after the break fell to Marcel Risse after a run down the right. He powered his ball towards the far corner of the Stuttgart goal, beating Lehmann but unfortunately striking the post.
Raphael Schäfer made good saves to twice deny Pavel Pogrebnyak and Khedira tried an 84th Minute desperation shot from a distance.
Javier Pinola went very close in the 90th minute for 1.FCN but the score remained 0-0 and for the hosts that was flattering, especially when both Charisteas and Pinola were denied goals by extremely harsh offside decisions from the officials.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting signs
On the last day of August Michael Oenning captured the signing of the Hamburg forward Choupo-Moting, a player he says he has pursued for some time. Choupo-Moting, 20, has initially signed until the end of the season.
"We are delighted to have won his signature and this will help us to reach our target of staying in the Bundesliga,” said Oenning. Welcome Eric.
And finally…
The end of August saw the publication of Jon Goulding’s book For Better Or For Wurst which not only tells of the adventures of the British fan-club of 1.FCN but provides background history about Der Club and tells the story of the seasons from 2005-2008. Visit Jon’s website www.jongoulding.com for further details.
www.fcn.de/en/club-news/august-2009/