If You Survive Me

By: Abby | August 31st, 2009

In April, last season, the come-from-behind 2-1 win against Werder Bremen caused a lot of us to believe that we were really going to do something. True, it was late in a disappointing season for the northerners, and even truer, we’d been pounded on earlier in the season for the away game, but it was still a game worth remembering.

But that was last season, and this is now, and we haven’t quite got back that mentality that made us so difficult to actually defeat. Still, though, this was an improved performance from the prior two games. Not that that’s saying much. And now it’s been 3 in a row in the Bundesliga without a win.

The first half was fast-paced, if not always noteable. We actually had the first good chance, with Tim Wiese in the Bremen goal saving well from Max Nicu. Our own Jaroslav Drobny got his own chances to shine, saving well from my favorite name on the pitch Philipp Bargfrede and Werder’s new signing, the elf Marko Marin. But the teams were level going into the half.

Emboldened, we came out strong in the second, certainly the better of the two teams. The most noteable moment of the opening bits was the non-call for the ever-unlucky Artur Wichniarek. The Pole looked to be racing through on goal when he was felled by Wiese, but no whistle was given. Watching it from where I was, and the replays, it looked like a clear penalty, and the Spanish commentators on ESPN 360 seemed to agree (although I haven’t taken Spanish since high school, and never learned any football commentary words). But the Pole’s bad luck continued. Another good spell from us ended in a goal from Bremen.

It was a sucker-punch, to be sure, a quick counter-attack resulting in a goal for another one of German football’s great young hopes, Mesut Özil. It threw us for a loop and we didn’t quite recover until after the returned Tim Borowski doubled the lead. Then we seemed to remember that we, too, could once make things happen, and Lukasz Piszczek – helped by excellent work from Gojko Kacar – made it a game again. 2-1 and we looked like we might still get something out of it, only for Naldo to pop up with a goal quite similar to the first one.

There was just enough time for Patrick Ebert to score a fantastic goal with the last kick of the game, but that wasn’t enough for any points and the game ended 2-3. Sigh.

In general, I thought we were better, more lively, but it’s still the same in the end. To me, the most positive thing was that we didn’t give up- up until the very end, we were fighting back. Against a less-strong team, we could have gotten something. We’re still not where we should be, and we are giving away somewhat-soft goals (watching Mesut Özil slice through our defense was depressing), but there’s the slightest cause for hope, right? Right?

Other thoughts: ESPN 360 is amazing. Thank you, Comcast, for adding it. Even though the game was delayed and in Spanish, it was still awesome. Leagues, take note- this is how things should be done. I would also very much like Artur Wichniarek to score a goal. Even though attacks kept breaking down when they got to him, which was frustrating, I kept feeling for him. The more things didn’t go his way the more I wanted them to. I’m softhearted, I guess, but I think a goal for König Artur would be not only good for him, but good for the team. They need that self-confidence.

But that was yesterday. Today, it’s all about the closing of the summer transfer window, with the big Hertha news being that we signed not one, but three new players.

First, there’s the versatile midfielder Florian Kringe, of Borussia Dortmund. The 27-year-old was finding his playing time on the Ruhr restricted, so he’s now to Hertha for a year on loan. He has a website with fabulous pictures.

Next, there’s the striker that we so need, Columbian international Adrian Ramos. The 23-year-old has scored loads upon loads of goals at America de Cali, but of course there are question marks as to how he’ll do in a higher-level league. (And we’re losing him for the international break.)

The third newbie seemed to come out of nowhere. Brazilian midfielder Cesar (the history geek makes me giggle at us now having a Cesar and a Cicero) joins us on a free from Al Ahli. He’s 30 years old, and not quite entirely matchfit, but he was part of Lulu’s title-winning crew at FC Zürich and seems like he could possibly be a useful squad player.

Whew.

Not to mention that we’ve been drawn into our Europa League qualifying group. It could definitely have been harder. Could it have been easier? Hard to say, really- none of the other groups look like it would be better for us. Our opponents are SC Heerenveen of the Dutch league, Sporting CP of Portugal, and the Latvians FK Ventspils. Doable, certainly, if we step it up a notch from, well, now. We begin against Ventspils on September 17, in the Olympiastadion.

And Ajax is the newest club to be linked to Marko Pantelic.