January 20, 2024
With the postponement of my local rugby and football matches today due to the freezing weather, there was little alternative other than to watch some on-line football, with Bundesliga 2 being the winning selection !
With three matches being played at noon UK time, the choice of game to watch was Nurnberg versus Hansa Rostock, given I had previously been to both sides’ grounds.
Personally, I think Bundesliga 2 to be a tough league, containing 10 clubs that were regularly playing in the Bundesliga when I used to follow the league in the early 1990s via my Astra satellite dish.
1. FC Nurnberg
I visited Nurnberg’s Frankenstadion ( or the Max Morlock stadium as it is now officially named ) in May 1995 when along with 14,400 others I watched the home side beat Homburg 3-0, which essentially secured Nurnberg’s survival in Bundesliga 2 for that season whilst confirming relegation for Homburg.
These diaries have twice reported on Nurnberg matches, but unfortunately for them, they had lost on both occasions, going down 1-4 to Schalke in December 2021 and 2-3 to St Pauli in July 2022.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2021/12/fc-schalke-04-4-1-fc-nurnberg-att-15000.html
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2022/07/preview-fc-st-pauli-vs-fc-nurnberg.html
Nurnberg have spent 9 of the past 10 seasons in Bundesliga 2, and finished 14th last season.
This season has been a little better and they started the day 11th place with a 7-3-7 record, and were 3-2-3 at home. They had lost 3 of their last 4 games before winter break though, going down to Hamburger SV ( H 0-2 ), Fortuna Dusseldorf ( H 0-5 ) and Karlsruher ( A 1-4 ) but managed to beat Elversberg ( A 1-0 ).
From the Nurnberg players that featured in the game against Schalke at the beginning of last season, nine are still with the club. However, the departures include centre-back Asger Sorensen to Sparta Prague, midfielder Lino Templemann to Schalke and midfielder Fabian Nurnberger to Darmstadt. Four strikers have also left, namely Christoph Daferner to Fortuna Dusseldorf, Kwadwo Duah to Bulgarian side Ludogorets, Eric Shuranov to Israeli side Maccabi Haifa and Manual Wintzheimer to Arminia Bielefeld.
Their replacements included 18 year old local product Can Unun who was their top scorer with 6 goals from 11 starts, ex Anderlecht and St Pauli Welsh centre-back James Lawrence ( 11 caps ), Japanese forward Daichi Hayshi, who is on loan from St Truiden, ex Gornik Zabrze Japanese winger Kanji Okunuki ( 1 cap ) and left-back Nathaniel Brown, who is on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Spanish journeyman centre-back Ivan Marquez played for Atletico Madrid B in his home land, but recently has played for Polish sides Korona Kielce and Cracoiva and NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and Swedish forward Sebastian Andersson ( 9 caps ) has seen service with Union Berlin, FC Koln and Kaiserslautern and was making his debut today.
FC Hansa Rostock
My one visit to Hansa Rostock’s Ostsee Stadium was on a Monday night in May 1995 on our way to the European Cup Final between Ajax and Milan in Vienna, after which we called in at Nurnburg on the way back.
Hansa beat Saarbrucken 3-2 that night in front of a crowd of 15,300. Two goals from Stefan Beinlich, who had briefly previously played for Aston Villa and went on to win 5 caps for Germany whilst at Bayer Leverkusen, helped Hansa into a 3-0 lead before Saarbrucken grabbed two late goals to make it a tense finish.
Matthias Breitkreutz, who was also at Villa at the same time as Beinlich, came on as a substitute for Hansa, whilst one of Saarbrucken’s consolation goals was scored by midfielder Thomas Stickroth, who had previously been playing for St Mirren and went on to have a long career with VFL Bochum. Hansa went onto win the Bundesliga 2 title that season.
When the Bundesliga incorporated East German sides for 1991/92 season after re-unification, Hansa caused a sensation by winning their first three games, but couldn’t maintain that form and were eventually relegated at the end of the season. They won promotion back to the Bundesliga for 1995/96 and spent 10 seasons at the highest level before being relegated again. Since then Hansa have fluctuated between Bundesliga 2 and 3, and in the last two seasons have finished 13th in Bundesliga 2.
Going into today’s match, Hansa were in 16th position, third from bottom, with a 5-2-10 record, and 2-1-5 away from home. Like Nurnburg, they were on a poor run, with just one point in their last 4 matches, with their results being Paderborn ( A 0-3 ), Schalke ( H 0-2 ), Karlsruhe ( A 2-2 ) and St Pauli ( H 2-3 )
Brazilian forward Junior Brumado, on loan from Danish side Midtjylland, was their top scorer with 4 goals but was missing today. Swiss centre-back Jasper van der Werff is on loan from Paderborn, New Zealand winger Sarpreet Singh ( 9 caps ) has played for Bayern Munich and Nurnberg, and Swedish attacking midfielder Svante Ingelsson is ex-Udinese.
Other foreigners in the Hansa squad included Swedish midfielder Nils Frohling, ex-Panathinaikos & VFB Stuttgart Colombian forward Juan Jose Perea, whilst central defender Oliver Husing had a short spell at Ferencvaros. Right-back John-Patrick Strauss has 17 caps for the Philippines.
Matchday Information
Nurnberg’s average home crowd this season was 37,290, compared to 25,894 at Hansa Rostock. The only tickets available online a day before the game were priced at €35.70, which seemed pricey by German standards.
When the two sides met on the opening day of the season, Hansa were 2-0 winners with goals from Strauss and Froling.
The weather at the 13.00 local time kick-off ( 12.00 UK ) was sunny and clear blue skies, but the temperature was zero degrees.
The match was streamed live by Bet365.com, who made Nurnberg 19/20 favourites, with Hansa at 14/5 and the draw at 13/5.
Nurnberg were playing in red and black stripes with black shorts, whilst Rostock were in their all-white away kit.
The journey from Rostock to Nuremberg is about 640km, which should typically take 6 hours by road, and a good number of Hansa fans had made the trip and were packed in the lower tier behind one goal.
Match Report
The visitors started brightly and with less than 30 seconds played Singh saw a shot blocked, but Proger’s left-footed follow-up from the edge of the area lacked power and was comfortably saved at his near post by keeper Klaus. A few moments later a left-wing cross was headed away for a throw-in to Rostock near the corner flag.
In a lively start to the match, Hansa keeper Korber had to come outside his area to deal with a long ball from Nurnberg and in the third minute Nurnberg won the first corner of the match, but after it was played short, a Nurnberg attacker had strayed offside when the cross was finally played into the 6 yard box.
Three minutes later Hansa’s Singh fell to the floor after a challenge with Marquez, but the referee was not interested in the appeals for a penalty.
The game continued to be end-to-end, and after 9 minutes Andersson received the ball inside the Rostock area, but after turning he was crowded out by two Hansa defenders and the ball rolled gently to keeper Korber.
The opening goal arrived in the 14th minute. A Nurnberg long throw was cleared at the second attempt. There didn’t appear to be any danger as Brown played the ball to Uzun on the left-hand angle of the penalty area. However, the 18 year old took one touch and then placed his shot into the top far hand corner for a remarkable goal. 1-0 to Nurnberg
Rostock looked to immediately hit back and enjoyed a good spell of possession, and forced a corner, but the Nurnberg defence held firm, and then created a chance to double their lead. Okunuki was in space down the left and his cross to the back post was met by Andersson 6 yards out, but his header towards to the top corner was kept out by the diving keeper at the expense of a corner.
Nurnberg were starting to gain the upper hand, and Okunuki was enjoying a lot of the ball on the left wing. A threatening low cross needed an outstretched foot from a defender to prevent the ball reaching Andersson, then Okunuki played in Uzun, whose ball from close to the by-line found Andersson. With his back to the goal, the Swedish forward teed up Brown, whose right-footed shot from the edge of the area went inches wide of the post. A dangerous cross from the right also needed a last-ditch clearance by the Hansa defence.
Rostock then shot themselves in the foot to concede a second goal. Rossipal’s throw-in was intended for Bachmann, but a combination of the throw being short and Bachmann dithering allowed Uzun to nip in to win the ball, stride into the penalty area, and finish comfortably past Korber from 12 yards. 2-0 to Nurnberg after 36 minutes.
Rossipal tried to make amends by going on an overlapping run down the left wing, but his cross was a fraction too high for Proger, who could only head miles over the bar. Marquez then need to be in the right position to head away another cross into the mixer, but it was the home side who had the final chance of the half. Castrop crossed from the right towards Andersson at the far post, but under pressure he headed just over. He looked to have pushed Neidhart to get to the ball but as the referee immediately blew for half-time we would never know if the goal would have stood had it hit the back of the net.
Despite Rostock having more possession, Nurnberg deserved their half time lead due the two top finishes from Uzun, who together with Okunuki looked a handful for the Hansa backline, who were receiving little defensive support from their midfield.
Rostock also started the second half strongly, with Brown forced to concede two corners and a free-kick, then Proger’s shot was deflected for another corner, from which Kinsombi sent a curling shot just wide.
However, the pressure didn’t last, and the visitors fell further behind in the 51st minute. Van der Werff fouled Andersson midway inside the Rostock half. The free-kick into the area was poorly dealt with and the ball fell to Flick, who turned and shot. The effort was going well wide but Castrop stuck out a leg to divert the ball home from 6 yards. 3-0 to Nurnberg.
Rostock were struggling to make any impact, although Bachmann did send a low 25 yard left-footed attempt a foot or so wide with the keeper beaten. However, it was the home side who looked more likely to score the next goal, and after Uzun was brought down a couple of yards outside the penalty area, the youngster got up to take the free-kick himself, only to send the set-piece a few feet over the bar.
With 62 minutes played, Marquez bravely bent to make a header as Proger raised his foot to try and control the ball. A temporary flame-up ensued, although calm, sensible refereeing soon restored order without any further sanctions other than a free-kick.
Rostock were having most of the ball but made little impression on the organised Nurnberg defence. Perea did get to the by-line but his low ball into the 6 yard area was cleared.
One possible funny moment occurred in the 72th minute. Nurnberg keeper Klaus appeared to take a short goal-kick to Marquez, who bent down and stopped the ball with his hand and then prepared to take the goal-kick himself. The Hansa players appealed for a penalty, but the referee let play continue.
Another Hansa cross needed good defending by Valentini to concede another corner, which was played long to Singh, but his chip-cum shot lacked power and was easily saved. Keeper Klaus was continuing to have a quiet afternoon.
As the game drifted to its conclusion with no sign of a rally by Rostock, Lang brought down Schleimer in the final minute of normal time, but referee Tom Bauer kept his cards in his pocket to ensure this was a game where no yellow card was shown.
At the final whistle, Nurnberg had deservedly taken the three points to move up to 7th in the table and in 18 year old Can Uzun they appear to have a star of the future. On the other hand, Rostock dropped to 17th and into one of the automatic relegation places.
For the neutral this was an enjoyable game to watch. No yellow or red cards, very little cynical play or attempts to cheat or rolling on the floor to win free-kick or get opponents booked, no VAR controversy, and an excellent display from the referee.
FC Nurnberg : Klaus – Valentini, Marquez, Horn, Brown – Castrop ( Geis ), Flick, Uzun ( Schleimer ) – Goller, Andersson ( Hayashi ), Okunuki
Hansa Rostock FC : Korber – Neidhart ( Lang ), van der Werff, Rossbach, Rossipal – Singh ( Froling ), Bachmann, Rhein ( Schumacher ), Kinsombi ( Dressel ) – Proger, Ingelsson ( Perea )
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