I wonder a little why there is no thread at least for the D2 teams. St Pauli vs Mainz 1-4 Gibbs and Gibson injured, Duhaney DNP. Mainz now shares promotion spot 3 with Eintracht Trier Fürth vs Braunschweig 3-0 Thomas started, but was substituted after 11 minutes. Looks like injury once again. From RL only results until tomorrow: North: Babelsberg vs Osnabrück 0-1 Verl vs Hamburg Ama 2-0 Bremen Ama vs Uerdingen 2-1 South: Elversberg vs Pfullendorf 1-0 Hoffenheim vs Neunkirchen 1-1 Bayern Munich Ama vs Wehen 1-1 Saarbrücken's game in Darmstadt postponed Siegen has weekend off Elversberg plays postponed game in Regensburg on Wednesday.
Final word on St Pauli vs Mainz: Duhaney didn’t even make the bench. Gibbs should be a hot candidate for returning to St Pauli’s lineup when he’s recovered – they almost have a 4 goal against average. Thomas is injured again, torn muscle in this case. Score was still 0-0 when he had to be substituted. Very well possible that he’ll have a new coach when he’s recovered. Enochs went full 90 as central mid in Osnabrück’s 1-0 road victory in Babelsberg. Salyer DNP Maurer had his first game in Germany when he was substituted in the 75th at 1-0 to secure the victory. Payne had a shutout in Elversberg’s goal, Mason went 80 minutes on the right wing and Lawson had one minute as substitute player. Third victory in three games since President Frank Holzer is coaching his own team. Shoffner DNP for Neunkirchen. Matarazzo went full 90 as central defender for Wehen, while Phillips DNP. Rankings: BL2: Mainz 3 St Pauli 16 Braunschweig 17 RL Nord: Bremen Ama 3 Osnabrück 6 Verl 12 RL Süd: Siegen 6 Saarbrücken 9 Wehen 14 Elversberg 15 Neunkirchen 19
Luck for Salyer's Werder Ama: as Dortmund Ama used a pro goalie (Roman Weidenfeller) they did not enter on the official list for the game, their 4:0 victory against Babelsberg was turned into a 0:2 loss. Bremen Ama climbs to rank 2 without having played, but Dortmund can still protest against this judgement (though without chances to succeed). RL North perfectly demonstrates the stupidity of DFB to strengthen the reserves of pro teams - at the moment with Dynamo Dresden the 4th ranked would promote. Elversberg lost a postponed game in Regensburg 0-2. More info on the US performances later
Payne was of course dressed as goalie for full 90, Mason started as forward and was substituted in the 84th. Lawson started on the bench and was substituted in the 64th (already 0-2 at that time). Little outlook for this weekend: D2: Injury, injury, injury... Gibbs - muscular problems, Thomas - torn muscle, Gibson - (forgot the term, something with 'sac' I think) and Duhaney either bench or second team. Their teams: Braunschweig face Cologne and St Pauli travels to Mannheim, both games on Friday. Mainz has the Monday live game against first ranked Freiburg (bad omen: in all Monday live games this season the home teams didn't score a single goal) RL North: Enochs will probably be the only starter for Osnabrück as central mid against Dynamo Dresden. Salyer/Maurer start on the bench for Bremen in Paderborn/Verl in Kiel. All game Saturday. RL South: weekend off for Matarazzo and Phillips; Dooley's 1.FC Saarbrücken tries to end the crisis Friday night against Frankfurt Ama. Elversberg starts with Payne and Mason, while Lawson will probably stay on the bench, in Augsburg on Saturday. Shoffner has bench time on Sunday in Regensburg, while van Buskirk and Lukin will have to work against Darmstadt at the same day.
Am I right that both Phillips and Shoffner have yet to play a minute this year? While I am not necessarily surprised, it does seem odd that a team would bother to bring in/pay foreign players and then not give them at least substitute minutes. I'm also not surprised that Payne is doing fairly well in D3 given his experience at the MLS and A-League level.
No, Phillips had one or two substiutions and Shoffner three or four I think. Duhaney is the only one who didn't have playing time so far (or only D4). He was in MLS? I just saw him once and wasn't really convinced about his abilities. Elversberg also once checked whether the backup isn't better, but this was not the case and also the coach was fired after this game - lots of luck for Payne.
Payne was never a regular in MLS but he has logged some minutes. I'm not saying he will ever be a top US goalkeeper, but I would think anyone who can compete at the MLS/A-League level (especially at that position) should be able to hold their own in D3. I don't think either Phillips or Shoffner ever played in the A-League. I could be wrong.
To be precise, Payne played 8 minutes in his only MLS appearance. In that time, he conceded 2 goals. Yikes!
I had to look that one up. MLSnet said he played for the Metros, but he actually played 14 minutes for Colorado against the FIRE in '99. http://www.mlsnet.com/games/0808colchi.html I vividly remember this game. The FIRE were up 1-0 with 25 minutes gone in the first half when Ian Feuer tripped up Josh Wolff in the area right in front of Section 8. Should have been a PK & sendoff. Brian Hall waves play on (friggin idiot). At the next dead ball, FIRE players surround Hall. Jerzy Podbrozny grabs Hall by the arm, not threatening or anything, just to get his attention. Jerzy spoke hardly any English, but he must have known the magic word. Hall sends him off, along with Bob Bradley. Down a man, the FIRE add goals at 50 & 59 minutes. Payne replaces Feuer at 76 minutes, then trips up Wolff for a PK (jeez, thanks Hall you arsehole) at 79 minutes. The FIRE add another goal to win 5-0, the last 4 goals after a man down. BTW, Payne faced 5 shots in 14 minutes.
Believe it or not, he played for the Metros, too. http://www.coloradorapids.com/gamereports/2000/gr_082000.asp That makes 4 goals in 22 career minutes.
Which works out to a whopping Goals Against Average of 16.36 goals per game (90 minutes). Could that be the worst goalkeeping stat in MLS history?
Maybe. The FIRE have given up 4 goals in a game only 6 times in their history. Two of them were the first two matches of the 2000 season. They were Greg Sutton's only MLS starts and the goals WERE his fault. We blame Canada too.
As I didn't put a date in the thread title I'll continue to post the results without specific thread of D2 and D3 here. FRIDAY: 2.Bundesliga Teams of the injured US players in action: Mannheim vs St Pauli 2-5 Braunschweig vs Cologne 1-1 St Pauli now has the best offence and the worst defence of the league - seldom combined record I think. Regionalliga Süd Just passive action of GM Dooley: Saarbrücken vs Frankfurt Ama 2-0
Given the apparent lack of defense at St. Pauli this season, I wonder if Gibbs will get back in immediately after he's healed. To his advantage, Philipkowski was the assistant to Demuth and presumably understands that he is a good player (as based on his consistent starting last season). I'm not sure what is going on this season exactly, but some consistency in form would be nice (at least if they are consistently winning, that is...). Hau rein, Jungs! Forza St. Pauli!
Saturday: Regionalliga Nord Kiel vs Verl 1-1 - don't know about Maurer yet Paderborn vs Bremen Ama 0-2 - Don't know too much, but I saw game excerpts and it looked like Salyer started. He had an excellent cross from the right wing to Tjikuzu, who failed to score. Osnabrück vs Dynamo Dresden 0-0 - Enochs went full 90, was booked five minutes before the end and seemed to be quite active according to VfL's live ticker. Regionalliga Süd Augsburg vs Elversberg 2-0 - no idea about the individual stats
That might be more common than you think. In MLS, New England just pulled off the same feat. Thx again for the updates, BTW.
Sunday: Regionalliga Süd Siegen vs Darmstadt 2-1; Lukin was taken off at half-time - don't know whether performance was the reason or due to colliding with an opponent in the air; van Buskirk went full 90 and scored the game winner in the 73rd with a header Neunkirchen vs Regensburg 0-0; don't know yet, but I don't think Shoffner played. Rankings: 2.Bundesliga 7 Mainz 14 St Pauli 15 Braunschweig Mainz plays against Freiburg tomorrow. In case of a loss Mainz stays 7th, in case of a draw they are 5th - in case of a one goal win: less than 3-2 rank 3/4 with Freiburg, 3-2 rank 2-4 with Freiburg and Frankfurt, 4-3 or more goals rank 2/3 with Freiburg; in case of a higher victory rank 2 or rank 1 if better than 4-1 Regionalliga Nord 2 Bremen Ama 6 Osnabrück 12 Verl Regionalliga Süd 5 Siegen 7 Saarbrücken 14 Wehen 15 Elversberg 19 Neunkirchen
D2: St. Pauli: Gibbs resumes team training this week. Regionalliga; Individual performances, summary: Enochs: full 90, central mid, yellow Salyer: full 90, right backer Maurer: substituted in the 77th to secure the point Lukin: substituted at halftime, central mid, assisted the first goal with a free kick Van Buskirk: full 90, forward, scored the game winning goal in the 74th (6th goal this season) Shoffner: substituted in the 50th, probably right wing (at least replaced someone on the right wing) Payne: full 90 Mason: full 90, half-right mid Lawson DNP; Matarazzo, Phillips weekend off
Mainz vs Freiburg 0:0 - Duhaney DNP, Gibson injured. Mainz now is on rank 5. Next game: postponed one on Thursday - Darmstadt vs Saarbrücken
I was attended the Freiburg at Mainz match, and I was really hoping to see one of the American players on the field, oh well... Good game, but Mainz should have won. They missed a wide open goal in the second half. The player just had to touch it into the goal, but he knocked it wide. The entire match was intense, and it showed amongst the fans. The game was sold out, which doesnät happen often in Mainz. I was in the supporters section and there was no place left to stand on the terraces. Fans were in the aisles, it was just packed. Hopefully the American players can break into the lineup soon...
OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND: 2. Bundesliga: Looks bad. Today Braunschweig has a road game in Burghausen, but Thomas is still out with torn muscle. At 7 p.m. today St Pauli hosts Oberhausen – Gibbs is back in the squad for the first time since six weeks, but he won’t start. Mainz plays in Fürth on Sunday, but Gibson is still injured and Duhaney either bench or tribune. Regionalliga Nord: Maurer: Verl vs Dresdner SC, Saturday. Depending on the game situation he might see some time from the bench again to secure the result. Salyer: Köln Ama vs Bremen Ama, Saturday. Despite of his full game last week kicker expects him to be back on the bench. Enochs: Chemnitz vs Osnabrück, Sunday. Enochs will be central mid in this difficult road game. Regionalliga Süd: Dooley’s Saarbrücken improved to rank 3 with a 2-0 victory in a postponed game in Darmstadt. They are trailing two points behind a promotion spot. Matarazzo/Phillips: Wehen vs Offenbach, Saturday. Matarazzo probably starts as central defender while Phillips is on the bench. Lukin/van Buskirk: Frankfurt Ama vs Siegen, Saturday. Lukin might be back on his usual position on the left wing, van Buskirk forward. In a cup game against D6 team SpVgg Olpe during this week van Buskirk added one goal in a 4-0 victory. Payne/Lawson/Mason/Dooley: Elversberg vs Saarbrücken. Local derby between Dooley’s Saarbrücken and the “US team” Elversberg. Same situation as always: Payne starts and so does Mason on the right wing. Lawson waits for playing time on the bench. Shoffner: Kaiserslautern Ama vs Neunkirchen. Shoffner might have some playing time after his first game since weeks last weekend.
Friday, 2.Bundesliga: St Pauli vs Oberhausen 0:0. According to Aris' thread Gibbs played the last 15 minutes. Burghausen vs Braunschweig 4:2. Thomas injured and probably he will have a new coach when he's recovered. 1 pt in the last 7 games is hard to survive for a coach. After the game they wanted an interview with coach Vollmann - he refused and said "You only want to hear that I'll be fired - yes, that's what probably will happen".
Saturday results: Regionalliga Nord: Verl vs Dresdner SC 0-2; don't know about Maurer Köln Ama vs Bremen Ama 1-1; don't know about Salyer, but I assume that he played, at least no. 25 - his number in the pro roster - was on the pitch Regionalliga Süd: Wehen vs Offenbach 1-1; I saw Matarazzo play for the first time. He didn't have problems in the defence, but missed the giant chance to score the game winner: Offenbach's goalie allowed a rebound and Matarazzo succeeded in shooting over the bar from 5m distance with just one defender standing on the line. Don't know about Phillips. Frankfurt Ama vs Siegen 0-0; game on horrible level, at least van Buskirk played, had some good scenes including a header to the post. Don't know about Lukin.
Sunday. 2. Bundesliga: Fürth vs Mainz 2-0. Didn't check, but probably without US participation. Ranking 7 Mainz (8 if Union Berlin wins in Cologne tomorrow) 14 St Pauli 16 Braunschweig Regionalliga Nord: Chemnitz vs Osnabrück 0-2 Ranking 2 Bremen Ama 4 Osnabrück 15 Verl Regionalliga Süd: Elversberg vs Saarbrücken 0-1 Kaiserslautern Ama vs Neunkirchen 3-0 Ranking 3 Saarbrücken 5 Siegen 14 Wehen 17 Elversberg 19 Neunkirchen Details tomorrow