Oh. My. Goodness.

What else is there to say?

Well, there is a lot to say, to be honest. When die Blauen Blog went into its own Winter Break I was chewing on the idea of the hiring of Michael Frontzeck as manager, as the last time we saw him in the Bundesliga his Allemania Aachen were packing their bags for the 2. Bundesliga after a memorable collapse saw them lose seven of their final eight matches to end the season. Despite this I was bullish on Arminia's chances as I would expect Frontzeck to splash some cash in the Transfer Window to repair the, er, nonexistant back line. Unfortunately, Arminia's transfers went as follows:

In: None

Out: Abdelaziz Ahanfouf (F) to SV Wehen

Granted, Ahanfouf was surplus to demands, but come on, it never came to Frontzeck's mind that perhaps a defender or twenty may help the worst defence in the Bundesliga?

Before I blow a gasket over that, let's move right along. Right before the Winter Break ended Arminia went to Jena to take on 2. Bundesliga Carl Zeiss Jena in a DFB-Pokal clash. The result was of course a 2-1 victory for the little guys in extra time, mainly because the defence coughed up a late goal (ugh) and a goal in extra time. Where have we seen that before? The league returned as Arminia lost 1-0 to Wolfsburg through a display of anemic offence and lost points because of a defencive lapse (Schuler). The same was in store as the Martin Fenin Show showed up and his carving up of the back line enabled the first goal, and he was unmarked for his second goal. At least Artur Wichniarek showed some bottle by putting away a chance to make it 2-1, albeit from an offside position. I'll be fair and state that the second half in the Frankfurt match Arminia came out looking to score, but were unlucky when Sibusiso Zuma's chance went just wide.

And this brings us to today, where Arminia went to eternally-middling Hertha Berlin, which, according to Wichniarek, middles because of their manager Dieter Hoeness. What can I say? I'll take Koenig Artur's word over almost anyone. After all, he was there and rotted for almost four years and not me. Apparently some other blogs digress, but given Hertha Berlin's history, who wouldn't complain about them?

Anyway, the match today started out as boring as Herr Frontzeck wanted, as both sides wandered about the pitch for the first half without much in the way of action. The second half was the same until Raffael put a shot on goal only to be saved by Mathias Hain. The pressure began to build, but the line held and the score remained at 0-0. In the 88th minute, Sibusiso Zuma came off for Tobias Rau in an obvious attempt to hold onto the precious point. I scribbled a note on my notepad "A Striker off for a Defender this late in the match? Why? Unless he wants to lose the game..."

Me and my mouth almost got away with it as in the dying seconds of the match Berlin had a throw-in deep in Arminia territory. The throw went into the box, above all Arminia defenders, and right to Raffael who won the game at the death to take all three points. I'm never one to shout or anything at the TV or computer (Complain? Definitely), but this instance got a "GOTT IN HIMMEL! YOU'RE A BLOODY IDIOT FRONTZECK!" out of me. About the only positive out of the match was that the three in the drop zone below Arminia are equally putrid, so Arminia remain two points clear, but it's far too close for my sake.

Going back to the sacking of Ernst Middendorp, the Germanocentric part of the Soccer-writing Anglosphere (How's that for some fancy wording?) did some writing to say the least. The best was the (always good) The Offside's take on the firing with the requisite comment about the club's love affair with Herr Middendorp (In their league table summary for last weekend, their comment about Bielefeld went to the tune of "At this point, I am starting to believe they only fired Ernst Middendorp so that they could rehire him for the umpteenth time to save them".) The best was from Ernst's old stomping grounds in South Africa where Johannesburg's Business Day tore Middendorp apart in a laughably-sad-but-true piece about the state of the club.

Finally,  World Soccer Daily interviewed Arminia Bielefeld's most famous support, journalist Johannes Berendt in the first hour of Thursday's show. When asked about Bielefeld, his response was that perhaps all of this was a bid to break the record for managers for a club in a single season in the Bundesliga (They've matched last year's total of three already) and finished the discussion with a quite funny comment of "So if you ever lose, you'll have a job in Bielefeld!" and guaranteed a loss against Berlin, leading up to a do-or-die match against Duisburg. Yikes. You can download the podcast off of iTunes by following this link.

I should be back into the swing of blogging things now, but I'm not sure about what. Fun times via Arminia aren't that plentiful here at die Blauen Blog HQ, as I'm having to resort to my PSV fandom to tide me over, which is helpful, though not a true fix. Here's to three points against Duisburg next Saturday!

Happy Boxing Day folks! The holidays means days where I have nothing to do but play FIFA 08, so the Virtual Season got some work put into it. Now, in our last episode,  Arminia had just lost a home match against Werder Bremen which denied them the top spot in the Bundesliga, going into a stretch of matches which could make or break their season: at Bayern, home to high-flying Hansa Rostock, at slumbering Schalke, and home against Hamburger SV. If they could survive this stretch, they could be heading into the transfer window looking to fill gaps for a title run; if not, they could be drug into a dogfight for a UEFA Cup. Sure, it would be a remarkable season nonetheless, but a title would sure look nice in the trophy room.

Match #11: Bayern Munich 6-6 Arminia Bielefeld 

Scoring: Bayern Munich: Altintop (12'), Toni (44'), Ribery (60'), Klose (63'), Schlaudraff (72'), Schweinsteiger (78'); Arminia Bielefeld: Masmandis (20'), Zuma (48'), Marx (56'), Eigler (66', 90' [Penalty]), Leonidas (84') 

What Happened: Simply the best Bundesliga match of the season, and perhaps in the past several seasons. Arminia came out with all guns blazing, putting Bayern under serious pressure until Bayern finally got a break, which they capitalized on with a goal by Hamit Altintop. Undeterred, Arminia struck back on a great volley by Ioannis Masmandis in the 20th minute. Right before injury time Luca Toni ran right through the Arminia back line to give the German Giants a 2-1 lead at the half. On the opening kick off of the second half, Sibusiso Zuma went right through the Bayern defence himself and drew level at 2-2. Thorben Marx then gave them the lead with a fantastic volley that Oliver Kahn could merely wave at as it passed him by. Almost immediately after Bayern struck twice with Franck Ribery and Miroslav Klose giving them the lead. Substitute Christian Eigler drew Arminia level at 4-4 immediately after with a wonder goal of his own after stealing a poor pass by the Bayern back line. The scoreline once again proved to be short lived as Jan Schaudraff did his own fly-by of the Arminia back four, followed 6 minutes later by a free kick by Bastian Schweinsteiger. In an act of desperation the Arminia manager brought on Leonidas and changed formations to a 4-2-4, which put Bayern right back on the back foot. Despite this Bayern almost made it 7-4 when a poor clearance by goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez found Klose, who easily rounded Fernandez. However his shot flew high to the chagrin of over 70,000 supporters at the Allianz. On the ensuing Goal kick Fernandez found a wide open Leonidas Kampantis, who went in one-on-one and made it a single goal deficit. Arminia almost drew level twice after hitting the post, but their opportunity came in injury time when Christian Eigler was brought down in the area by Lucio, who was not amused by the decision. Eigler slotted home the penalty to put both sides level to end the match.

*phew*

Match #12: Arminia Bielefeld 3-2 Hansa Rostock

Scoring: Arminia Bielefeld: Leonidas (8', 16'), Eigler (64'); Hansa Rostock: Kern (45', 70')

Sendings off: Arminia Bielefeld: None; Hansa Rostock: Orestes (68' [Professional Foul])

What happened: Arminia started right where they left off with a quick goal by Leonidas Kampantis in the 8th minute, and a backs-to-the-wall defencive stand 7 minutes later where Jonas Kamper cleared the ball off of the line. Two quick passes later Leonidas made it 2-0 with a nice shot. Hansa tried to match blow for blow with Arminia, but couldn't match their pace. Kern made it 2-1 right before halftime to make the match interesting. Christian Eigler made it 3-1 in the 64th minute, and almost made it 4-1 whenOrestes Alves brought him down on the edge of the penalty area, earning him a straight red card. Siyabonga Nkosi hit the post with the resulting free kick, and Kern took the rebound all the way down the pitch to make it 3-2. Despite this Rostock did not threaten again as the woodwork proved to be Arminia's toughest opponent.

Match #13: Schalke 04 2-2 Arminia Bielefeld

Scoring: Schalke 04: Kuryani (55'), Altintop (76'); Arminia Bielefeld: Nkosi (45', 81')

What happened: Unlike other previous matches, Schalke kept Arminia on the back foot for most of the first half, but despite this could not get more than 2 shots on goal. Arminia struggled to get forward from midfield, and finally succeeded in injury time, where they forced a corner which resulted in Siyabonga Nkosi heading in the kick from Artur Wichniarek to give Arminia the 0-1 lead at the half. Schalke drew level in the 55th minute and then took a 2-1 lead in the 76th minute, putting Arminia's back to the wall like at Bayern. Nkosi responded with an incredible free kick goal in the 81st minute to draw level, but Schalke held the midfield to hold onto the draw.

Match #14: Arminia Bielefeld 2-1 Hamburger SV

Scoring: Arminia Bielefeld: Zuma (29', 44'); Hamburger SV: Chopu-Moting (57')

What happened:  It is becoming apparent that, despite Arminia's goal scoring pace for this season that they are in dire need of a clinical finisher up front, along with three new defenders. Arminia could have easily won the match 4-1 or 5-1 if not for poor final moves and shooting  on the strikers' part. Sibusiso Zuma scored both of Arminia's goals in the first half with great individual efforts, but Hamburg stayed in the match mainly because of shocking misses by the Arminia strikers. HSV pulled a goal back in the 57th minute but rarely threatened after that.

With the win Arminia moved 5 points clear at the top going into their DFB-Pokal match at Erzgebirge Aue. Here's what the table looks like:

For the stats geeks, here's the Top 10 for goal scorers, assistmen, and clean sheets for goalkeepers 

Top goal scorers:

Top Assistmen:

Top Clean Sheets for Goalkeepers:

One last thing, check out the English page for Arminia on the Bundesliga's website for a review of the first half of the season, both good and bad. See you on Saturday! 

After Friday's debacle, I waited to post about the match as I knew something had to give after Dortmund took Arminia to the woodshed. An exhilarating start to the season has turned into a complete nightmare, and I knew heads were going to roll. In class this morning the seniors were rather subdued in their football talk, except for the Manchester United bandwagoner, who crowed about United's 4-1 win over Derby County. I ended said crowing by mentioning United were the first club all season to allow an away goal by Derby. Class went on as usual after that, albeit on a more sombre tone.

A dejected Ernst Middendorp during Arminia Bielefeld's 6-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Friday (Image: GettyImages)

I was sitting down for lunch in the cafeteria when the school secretary came up and told me that my mother had called saying that my uncle from Bremen had called and all he said was " 'Allo. Middendorp aus! Tschuss!" and hung up. The secretary thought that this was an important enough emergency ("A family crisis is something that should be handled immediately!" She lectured. If only she knew my uncle was a Werder supporter...) that I called my uncle directly from school, and he gave me the news that Ernst Middendorp had been sacked as manager and Reserves manager Detlef Dammeier would coach the team against VfB Stuttgart, and would search for a permanent manager during the Winter Break.

Ernst, it's enough! says Bielefeld supporters. Apparently, the Arminia board got the message. (Image: Kicker.de)

I tried to make the call sound important enough that no one would think that I was calling Germany during school hours simply because the club I support sacked its manager. It worked, as I was even told that if I needed to I could go home if I needed to travel over there to take care of things. I shrugged them off and said "Eh, things won't get much better if I'm there." Which is true, when you think about it.

When I got home, the Inbox was full of links to the Soccernet, Kicker (link auf Deutsch), der Spiegel (link auf Deutsch) and the Club's official website (link auf Deutsch) articles with what has proven to be the reaction to the sacking: We love Ernst and tank him for all he's done, but we seem to need a change, and unfortunately he had to be the one to go.

Interim manager Detelf Dammeier (Image: der Spiegel)

My initial thoughts on the whole thing? Well, as much as I like Ernst, something had to happen, as Arminia are on the verge of a complete collapse and subsequent relegation. The club has a Bundesliga-worst (-21) goal differential and only a single road win, which was on the season opener at Wolfsburg. As director Reinhard Saftig stated in the press conference, "The facts don't lie - we have only five points from the last 11 matches... I don't even want to start counting up the goals we've allowed."

Despite the doom and gloom, there is a silver lining. If the season ended today (Ah, the wonderful Americanism), Arminia would survive, albeit barely. With a game to go until the Winter Break, the club will have six weeks to find a manager to keep the club afloat, as well as bring in players during the transfer window to reform the back four, who have been the weak link for the club all season, as well as perhaps jump-start the lethargic attack.

I'll keep everyone updated on the situation, as well as try to get some perspective from some local journalists. Of course, if you want to share your thoughts on the matter, E-mail the blog at dieblauenblog@gmail.com with "Ernst Middendorp Sacking" in the Subject Line. Catch you tomorrow for the beginning of your Winter Break entertainment (aside from the manager search, that is...)

Well, things don’t always go as they should. Of course, this should be a given, for yours truly this was the case this past five days or so.

First off, the midweek post was supposed to contain a special surprise, namely the first goal scored by myself in anger in a FIFA 08 match with Arminia Bielefeld. It’s a cracker of a shot from just outside the box by Sibusiso Zuma against Arsenal (!!!), and I wanted to use it as a teaser for something I have planned over the Winter Break (It doesn’t take much thinking for you to figure out what I have planned…). However, since the highlight was too large for OleOle’s video service, I went to upload it to YouTube. Two hours later the file was uploaded… except it wasn’t. All that work for naught. *sigh*. I’ll get it up sooner or later.

Up next was the fact I had a rather important teacher’s exam to take on Saturday, so I programmed my VCR (I’m not rich enough for one of those fancy DVR thingies just yet) to record the South Africa-USA match. I left for the exam, got in the room, was given the exam, started to work on it… then realized that I had registered for the wrong exam. So, instead of showing how much useless history and geography knowledge I have crammed in my brain, I was being asked how much sociological and psychological knowledge I have crammed in my brain. Yes folks, I signed up for the Social Science exam rather than the Social Studies exam. There was only about 6 seconds of panic until I decided to give it a go anyway. Besides, the bosses would get a kick out of the whole situation. I’ll find out how I did in a month, but from how things went I did really well on it. I guess this gets me on the hook for teaching a high school psychology class next time one rolls around…

Because the exam took so long, I got home after the match was over, and I rewound the tape to watch the match… and I got two hours of infomercials. Seems someone turned on the TV and changed the channel before the match started. Ugh. I guess in the grand scheme of things I didn’t miss much, as the game ended up 1-0 for the Americans, but by all accounts Rowan Fernandez acquitted himself well, and Zuma seemed to be MIA in terms of serious chances, yet impressed duNord with his movement and locks. Siyabonga Nkosi didn’t make the 16 man roster for the match, and won’t play against Canada on Wednesday. Why you ask? Well, in action tonight in a friendly, Nkosi netted the final goal in a 6-0 thumping of Bünder SV, an amateur club from nearby Bünde who sit atop the Fußball- und Leichtathletik-Verband Westfalen. (*phew*) 700 folks braved the cold to watch the friendly, which Middendorp used to blood some of the reserves as well as some of the younger first teamers, who were up 4-0 by halftime.

In other news, Bundesliga.de is reporting on the Bundesliga’s Asian Adventure, speaking for the most part about Cottbus and Borussia Dortmund’s shenanigans, but at the end of the article, we get some info on the Arminia Bielefeld friendlies:

Arminia Bielefeld too will play in China in December on their own initiative. Arminia will take on twin city Wuhan on December 18 and Shenhua Shanghai one day later.

I’m working on getting some more information about the friendlies, and I’ll pass it along when I get said info.

One more mention of Bielefeld on the Bundesliga’s website is an interview with defender Rudiger Kauf, who scored in the win against Nurnberg. A line that jumped out was when he stated:

But you always have to be aware that we're Arminia Bielefeld, not one of the teams aiming for Europe. Our budget is one of the smallest, so you have to be aware that we always fight against relegation.

He is correct, in a way, but I hope that he has more than surviving the Bundesliga as his goal for this season. In October’s edition of FourFourTwo, sports psychologist Martin Perry (His not-too-shabby blog can be read here) notes that teams who are either promoted or perennial relegation fodder need to look beyond surviving, and focus on attainable-with-effort goals like a mid-table finish. I, of course, have wildly unrealistic expectations and think Arminia can get to Europe, but we will see.

Here in the States, Thursday marks Thanksgiving, and as a result I’ll be desperately attempting to get away from family members that I really do not like, so as a result I’ll be hiding writing up an Arminiageschichte on the trusty laptop. I would share some turkey with you folks, but it’s likely to be sawdust-dry. Catch you then!

It was a beautiful autumn Saturday at my humble abode. I found the Bayer Leverkusen-Arminia Bielefeld match on TV, and was settling down for what I would assume to be a pretty cracking match. Both clubs were slumping in the Bundesliga, but unlike Bayer, Arminia was actually still in the DFB-Pokal... and won at TuS Koblenz. Christian Eigler, the hero, called the game a massive morale booster, so I was of the opinion that perhaps at least a point was in the cards, and if things fell favourably, perhaps three points. So, as the match was about to kick o...

*ring* *ring* *ring*

Hello?

Hi Mr. Jane! (Note: not my real name) Are you having a good morning?

Sure...

We're just calling to remind you that you've scheduled some volunteer time today.

I did? er... I did! Yeah. What time did I volunteer to be there today?

9:30AM!

*looks at clock, which says 9:03AM*

Of course! I'll be there!

Great! see you then! Bye!

*grits teeth* Bye!

So, I missed the match, though I did do my twice-monthly charity work (I volunteer at a food distribution program), but missed the match. I was so looking forward to this match and I was literally distracted the whole time. I tried to  get my laptop connected to the Internet (I record the orders), but to no avail. I was fit to be tied, and when my shift finished at noon, I sped home and fired up the computer to see the score. I got to kicker.de and saw the score... 

Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 Arminia Bielefeld

Then I went to read the story...

Bayer exposes Arminia's Weaknesses

*sigh*

I guess everything that can be said about the match has been said, especially the non-call for penalty for Zuma but I'd like to point out the debut of German U-19 International Daniel Halfar (who, according to his page on the club's site, prefers Forrest Gump to The Big Lebowski, and Jessica Biel to Paris Hilton. Good tastes indeed!), who should have a bright future with the club.

Speaking of the DFB-Pokal, the draw for the Third Round was held this week, and Arminia got a decent draw (why couldn't they get Werder Bremen II?) by picking up a matchup with struggling 2. Bundesliga side Carl Zeiss Jena on either 29-30 January (The date has not been set yet.). And yes, for the uninitiated, the club was founded by workers from the optics giant. And yes, Jena was the site of the massive defeat that doomed Prussia's fate during the War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806. If Arminia win, a quarterfinals berth would match their best-ever run in the DFB-Pokal. That would be swell.

In other Arminia News, Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger once again speaks of Arminia Bielefeld in his ESPNSoccernet column, but his mood was rather contrite, as he admitted since he showered the club and their manager with praise, they haven't won a match in the Bundesliga. He then drops in the fact that probably no Arminia supporter will have read his apology, so I fired off an e-mail that at least one Arminia supporter read the column. Now if only the Soccernet drones will pass along the message to Uli, whose day would probably be made by my comment. And before you ask me, I, of course, mentioned the blog!

So, we look forward to Sunday's match against struggling Nurnburg (who lost to Everton in the UEFA Cup 2-0 today) at the Alm in what folks are already calling a Relegation Six-pointer. I'm ever the optimist, so I refuse to admit that Arminia is only 3 points out of the drop zone, but rather look at the match as an opportunity to close the gap on the UEFA Cup spots. I'll be out of town, so watching the match isn't on the cards. of course, if it was on Saturday I wouldn't be able to watch either... I need to bring my younger brother to a dog care class where he will be making dog treats. 

Yes. Dog treats. Yum!

In an earlier post, I posted a column by Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger which sang the praises of manager Ernst Middendorp on ESPN Soccernet. Well, the lovefest for the mercurial manager continues on the official Bundesliga website with not just one, but two articles of our Fearless Leader.

Article number one is an article which shows the extent of Bielefeld's turnaround. Among the stats listed (Before Saturday's match against Schalke, of course)...

• Only Bayern München have scored more goals so far this season (12) than Arminia (11, like Dortmund)
  
• Bielefeld have a dangerous duo up front in Eigler/Wichniarek, with seven goals between them. That matches the other top pairings - Bayern's Klose/Toni, Hertha's Pantelic/Okoronkwo and Dortmund's Petric/Klimowicz.
  
• Arminia have committed less fouls (81) than any other side and received the fewest yellow cards (5).
• Seven goals from substitutes. The only coach who can match that over the last 15 games is Bremen's Thomas Schaaf.

Not too shabby if you ask me.

Article number two is an interview with Middendorp where he calls the Bundesliga "a special league," gives credit where credit is due for the remarkable start by Artur Wichniarek and Christian Eigler, as well as discussing the future of the club and its European ambitions. Despite being a short, by-the-numbers interview, it's a very good read.

Now, if we can only get an English interview where he calls a reporter a dolt for asking a dumb question or referring to a match as "not unlike a bad day in a trench in Flanders in 1915." like he's done in the past. Like the recently-departed Special One, an interview with Middendorp is never a dull one.

Bundesliga.de: A Remarkable Turnaround

Bundesliga.de: "The Bundesliga is a Special League" 

Despite my best efforts, mastery of the German language has eluded me. After all, it isn't the easiest language to learn, and as Mark Twain summed the experience up:

Whenever [a] German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth. (For the record, he had a lot more than that to say about the German language)

It's not for the faint of heart, especially if you're entering the world of football in Germany. 

So, there was great joy here at die Blauen Blog when on the club's new and improved website, a news story appeared today that went as such:

Dear Arminia-Fans,

We now offer a special section on arminia-bielefeld.de devoted to our English speaking supporters and guests. Here you will find basic information on ticketing and your way to the SchücoArena. We are planning on gradually expanding this section, so check back later for more on “Die Blauen”.

What can I say? I'm stoked, or rather Ich schürte... I think.

Link: Arminia Bielefeld's English page