Another away win for the 1955 Champions

After a dire loss at home to bottom-placed Cottbus II (couldn't bring myself to blog about it), Rot Weiss recorded a splendid 3-0 away victory against Hamburg II to maintain their position in the top half of the table and are not too many points behind the surprise leaders Emden

"The team has returned impressively," said RWE-Trainer Heiko Bonan with his Google translate English improving slightly: "The boys have shown that the defeat against Cottbus is a setback, but not a total knockdown. We are now back in the right lane."

Just over 80 watched the game which is fairly sad and is another reasdon why these reserve teams should not be playing in this league at all. The picture tells its own story and after watching RWE play against Dusseldorf and Dortmund in souless big stadiums, I'll make a point of not doing it again despite both those games being well attended.

Liverpool or Red White

I'm actually thinking about giving Rot Weiss Essen a miss on Saturday and watching Liverpool - a big club against Everton in the Merseyside derby. Alan Stubbs' comments were quite pathetically picked up by the newspapers in an attempt to stoke things up but it's the derby so things like this aren't needed.

So Essen are playing Cottbus reserves. OK, a win would be great to maintain the promotion bid but it's hard to get worked up for these sort of games and with it clashing with the game at Anfield. I know what I will be doing. Just hope there are no bluenoses in the pub. Last season I had to watch the game with some horrible Everton fans (I don't mind good ones) and that was in Manchester.

Not sure about watching Johnny Wilkinson and the Rugby World Cup Final. We shall see.

Lorenz out for season

RWE did not escape relegation last season but the following clip is of one team who does and the reaction of one fan watching at home on TV. If you have five minutes to spare it s worth a watch and anyone whose team has been close to relegation may understand the mentalism of it all.



Found the clip on the US soccer website so can't claim it as a great find of my own.

Bad news for Essen this week was reports that club captain (and the slightly balding) Stefan Lorenz will be out for the season with cruciate knee damage. Got a text message while at the language course which just said "S.Lorenz mit Kreuzbandriss". I didn't know what it meant but feared the worst.

I thought he was one of the most consistent players last season and it could spell the end of any promotion thoughts.

The next game is on October 20 against FC Energie Cottbus II whose first eleven we beat to reach the second round of the German Cup. The date has been announced for that second round match and we will play FC Kaiserslautern on October 31 (kick off at 7:00pm).

Werder best

While the fortunes of Liverpool continue to stutter the mighty Rot Weiss Essen have gone from strength to strength winning their latest game 4-0 away to Werder Bremen.

OK, it was only their reserve side but a clean clinical 4-0 victory is nothing to be sniffed at and Rot Weiss now lie in sixth place with their eyes on an automatic relegation spot.

"That was a strong appearance of the entire crew", coach Heiko Bonan said after the game in Google translate English - and announced confidently: "We will work in the next weeks and months to climb in the table still further upward."

The man's a genius.

The team still lies in only third place, however, in my fictitious RED WHITE league behind Rot Weiss Erfurt and Rot Weiss Oberhausen but above Rot Weiss Ahlen.

With the next two games against reserve sides Cottbus on October 20 and Hamburg the following week there is every chance of Essen being in a challenging position for the top two places when Dynamo Dresden visit on November 3 -which promises to be one of the best games of the season.

Spent a few days in Berlin (the Stasi Museum is worth a thought provoking visit) last week as K had a job interview. It's entirely possible we could be moving there as soon as early November and could see me spending my Saturday afternoons at Union Berlin.

Not good really.

Marseilles Liverpool games was fixed?

I love conspiracy theories and was interested by the following Marseilles betting thread about the game on Wednesday evening. I love stuff like this because it totally negates the fact that Liverpool were atrocious against the French side.

Although I missed the game I'm looking forward to seeing just how the referee influenced proceedings. However, I doubt it is right to trust an official who has created his own website for himself.

I'm beginning to get suspicious about all those bad results for Rot Weiss Essen both last season and this.

Hair we go again, Darrell

It's great fun making headlines when the star of a particular news story such as Umpire Darrell Hair has a great name and although this has nothing to do with my usual posts I'll add it anyway.

Umpire Hair is suing the ICC for unfair dismissal and is claiming racist discrimination after being relieved of his umpiring duties after his role in the infamous 4th Test Match at the Oval in 2006 when declaring England the winners after the Pakistan players refused to take the pitch in protest at being accused of ball tampering.

It is alleged that there is an Asian plot against the Australian and his case rests with the fact that his co-umpire Billy Doctrove was not suspended.

He then allegedly wrote an e-mail to the cricket authorities demanding money for basically keeping quiet.

It's all come to a head and I await the decision from the court with interest. Most of the blog commentary seem to suggest that the Asians have too much influence in world cricket.

UPDATE

Well, the ICC must have bottled out because Darrell Hair dropped the case and an out of court settlement has been reached. The best opinion about the Hair story is here and it makes sensible reading.

A proper game of football - at last!

I always like watching football when there is a light drizzle and when your team plays well, wins and the referee has a good game then it is almost the perfect day. Rot Weiss Essen 1 Wuppertaler 0.

This is possibly the first match of the season I have really enjoyed with good football being played throughout, both teams trying to win and the fans in good voice. A few beers and the right to smoke on the terraces helps as well.

There was a decent size crowd (probably smaller because of the rain) and plenty of away supporters though that is not surprising seeing as the opponents were top of the league.

Strange scenes after the game with the players celebrating as though they had won the league. Lining up hand in hand in front of the north stand they received the applause of the crowd before going down to the Kop equivalent and all sitting down.

Seated patiently, they was some sort of strange ritual shouting performed by the crowd then the players left the pitch. Quite strange but Germany is a strange place at times.