VfL Bochum

By: jhb | 2 Comments

So the 6th year in second tier has kicked off. First off was at home to 1860 München, which in my memory has usually been a classic 2. Bundesliga tie with lots of mutual respect, and often physical strength replacing tactical finesse. From what I’ve seen (about the last hour of the match), it was all that and less: both teams rather big in the error department, but still providing a lot of excitement and even some rather beautiful goals. Most importantly, north-korean surprise package Jong Tae-Se scored twice, one of which a diving header just after half-time:

The rest of the goals follow:

Crappy defence on our part in the next scene:

Is it me, or does he float there for about a second before falling again:

Well, the match ended Bochum 3 1860 2, but the last goal cannot be found apparently. I can’t find it, at least.

Last, new coach Funkel gave us this gem in the post-match interview:
“I’m not going to watch the game again tonight, I’m gonna watch the highlights tomorrow on, what’s that nowadays, erm, DVD I think.”

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Don’t know if this was already on the offside:

Amateurs, eh? Apparently this was in the 91st minute of the game. Legen.. dary!

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I can’t believe it: 4 games and still not defeated. Read the rest of this entry »

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I only got the last 20 minutes of the match, but those were worth more than the 70 min before that. 2-0 down at half-time and still when I switched on.. apparently it had been a match on equal terms, with a home team that got few chances and unlucky at least once (Prokoph hitting the post). During the second half, Schalke went to simply managing the game instead of dominating it, giving us plenty of space. Come time, come chances, and with 15 minutes left we seriously started creating some chances. Neuer deflected an almost own goal by Bordon, and soon after that Hashemian of all people scored a first to ensure drama in the final minutes. A beautiful finish after a corner.

With two minutes into injury time, Hashemian (again! was he drugged or anything?) ran half the pitch to cross for Sestak who headed home the equalizer. His first contact on the counter-attack was simply great, see the video below. Looks like he’s finally returning to the form we remember before he left a couple of years ago.

Next up is Hertha on Saturday, let’s see if we can break their amazing 2-games-unbeaten streak.

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Found a compilation of Fuchs’ three goals in three matches. Quelle beauties!

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Some sort of review on the first half of the season, which ended just as it had begun, though everything in between was completely different.
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My oh my, why don’t they manage this back home, err, in their club? See below for the video evidence that both striker Zlatko Dedic and defender Antar Yahia (which in english commentary seems to sound like Yaya, in german more like Yaheeya, and in the video below I can’t even make out whether he is mentioned at all) still know how to score, and not too shabby at that:

Dedic for Slovenia:

Yahia for Algeria in a match of exceptional and altogether ugly circumstances:

The same in slightly better video quality here.

Add to this Stanislaw Sestak who qualified with Slovakia, and we have three players who regularly feature for their national team at the World Cup. Might be good news for us, might very well be bad news for their countries..

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.. but the VfL has eventually announced a new coach. (or was it “..but the Bochum offside is posting again”). Today, Heiko Herrlich has been appointed as new head coach, coming along is his assistant Iraklis Metaxas (who is already causing my keyboard some headache).
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Nürnberg 0-1 Bochum! Against all odds, we go home with all points and without conceding a goal. I haven’t seen the match, but apparently Nürnberg refused to play football, which might have helped us a lot. It doen’t lessen the sweet taste of victory, though, and in particular the timing is perfect. The first proper Bundesliga match of interim coach Heinemann, coming from a 0-3 home bashing by Schalke 04 in the Cup, and with two key players still injured (Sestak with a broken hand, goalie Heerwagen with a broken jaw), the best we could hope for was to see a good fight. Turns out, Nürnberg was exactly the right away trip at the right time.

And most of all, in the past two matches, the utter unknown that is Andreas Luthe (the replacement keeper for Heerwagen from our reserves) looks a very promising candidate! Though at their age, he might not exactly be a Neuer or Adler – but given that he used to be n-th choice after any number of less-than-average keepers before, I expected someone like blunder-Vander. Quite the opposite! He was really good against Schalke (which might sound weird, but the goals were really due to terrible defensive work), and though I haven’t seen today’s match, the reports seem to indicate that a) he wasn’t hard pressed to perform by Nürnberg, b) the one time he was tested seriously he was there, and most importantly c) he didn’t produce any howlers, something any recent Bochum keeper was known to be capable of in games that even remotely looked like must-win. (and d): doesn’t he just look like the keen kid from the youth teams eager to move to the big stage and therefore deserving a chance ?)

By: jhb | 1 Comment

Two more names I’ve heard linked to the VfL on some forum or other: Jörn Andersen and Wolfgang Wolf. Both are a) mostly unknown and b) mostly unsuccessful. (and c) mostly harmless). Maybe we’re indeed looking toward Heinemann as permanent solution? I doubt it, let’s see what the week will tell.