Of particular importance was the inclusion of Boris Vukčević, Isaac Vorsah and Pascal Groß in Herr Rangnick’s starting eleven. At the ages of 19, 20 and 17, each showed very well and promise to be a part of the clubs future. 1899 opened the scoring twenty-six minutes in as Carlos Eduardo flew down the left channel before crossing to Demba Ba to redirect in from the six-yard box. The match was evened only four minutes later as Ivan Rakitić’s corner from the right was headed in by Mladen Krstajić at the near post. Schalke took the lead at the thirty-fourth minute as Benedikt Höwedes came right side of the box and just before Isaac Vorsah could reach him he crossed to Jefferson Farfán to finish from five metres. After the break nineteen year-old Fabrício entered the match for Groß and did well for his claim for the club to seek out his contract from Flamengo. Four minutes into the half Carlos Eduardo evened up the match with a perfect free-kick over the wall and into the top left corner from (hmm) around twenty metres. With only a minute remaining Coritiba product Rafinha brought down his countryman Fabrício in the area with the spot pointed to. Carlos Eduardo stepped up and capped the end of the season perfectly driving the ball into the net.

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A capacity crowd at Rhein-Neckar-Arena witnessed a end-to-end match in which the visitors took the lead sixteen minutes in with Franck Ribéry netting Lukas Podolski’s provision. However only seven minutes later Demba Ba squared the match with a drive that took a strong deflection into the back of the net. The fast pace continued with Carlos Eduardo putting 1899 ahead two minutes before the half hour. Bayern raced back and after a number of close efforts Luca Toni leveled the match just before the whistle. After the restart Bayern was desperate to find the winning goal, given the draw would end their chances at the title but that is precisely what happened as 1899 held them back.

After the difficult slide in the Rückrunde, 1899 has quietly slipped into a three match unbeaten streak. Perfect to build on for next year as 1899 finishes the year next Saturday against Schalke!

Please drop by for full match details as we head to end of the year and for all the readers, thank you for visiting.

Bielefeld were clearly the leader of the match early but after coming up empty on a few good chances they allowed the opening goal as a long pass deflected off the chess of defender Andre Mijatović straight to Wellington who drove the ball to the opposite lower left corner. The home side came back but scoring chances gradually slowed. Finally with eight minutes left Mijatović was adjudged a penalty as he had contact with Demba Ba on the left side of the area. It was a highly controversial call as but but regardless, Sejad Salihović converted from the spot and 1899 had a 2-0 victory.

The match started highly defensive as Köln blanketed 1899’s advances and what chances occurred were via Sejad Salihović. Following a scoreless opening half, 1899 adjusted into a 4-2-2-2 and after coming close early, Salihović’s free-kick from twenty-five metres curled into the top right corner of the net to make it 1-0. Köln, who seem to be thinking more of next year when “their captain arrives from Bayern”, offered little going forward and with twenty-two minutes remaining Demba Ba drove the ball in from twenty-metres to make it 2-0. The lead could have been extended with eleven minutes left after the penalty was awarded for Ba being brought but Boubacar Sanogo couldn’t convert but regardless the match ended 2-0 in 1899’s favour.

After holding Wolfsburg scoreless in the opening half the walls came crashing down as Edin Džeko opened the scoring at the sixty-sixth minute and then added two more goals within the next twelve minutes. Once on a roll the combination of Džeko,Zvjezdan Misimović and Grafite tore apart 1899’s defenders. To add to 1899’s woes, Andreas Beck was shown a red-card late via a penalty call that Grafite converted to make it 4-0. With little positive to mention, it is clear as 1899 enters its final four matches of the year with Köln on Saturday they need to shore up tactical play more in-line to present talent.

Quite possibly the most difficult situation is Ralf Rangnick’s ultimatum to walk out unless signficant investment is made in the off-season. While that might be the truth, using the media to lobby for investment with threats to leave the club is no way to turn a losing streak around in the final month of the season.

After early threats by Christoph Janker and Carlos Eduardo came close, Bochum took the lead three minutes before the break as a corner was cleared out to Shinji Ono, with the Japanese internationals shot redirected in by Šesták to make it 1-0. VfL increased the lead ten minutes in the half as Philipp Bönig’s long throw in was brought down Šesták, who after juggling the ball free, volleyed into the net from sixteen metres. Down by two, 1899’s chances ended on the hour as Eduardo was shown a straight red-card for a errant swing of the arm and followed up with Daniel Haas’s exclusion a minute later. With a long ball sent Šesták, Haas raced out of the box and completely upended the striker with the referee having no choice. Austria’s Ramazan Özcan came in to mind the goal before Šesták adding his third with twenty-one minutes left as Paul Freier, after completely out-witting 1899 defenders, providing him the ball in the middle of the box for a perfect finish.

1899 now gets set for Baden-Württemberg rivals Karlsruher SC in need of a win.

With the return to health of Sejad Salihović, 1899 coach Ralf Rangnick was able to return to the 4-3-3 using the Bosnia international with Demba Ba and Chinedu Obasi. Attacking intent aside it was Andreas Beck who stole the show early on as he stole the ball from José Paolo Guerrero deep within the box with a perfect sliding tackle with other heroics to come later. Seventeen minutes in Marcell Jansen’s pinpoint cross found Jonathan Pitroipa in the close range but 1899 breathed a sigh of relief as his attempt glanced off the post. After Demba Ba’s close range attempt was denied, Pitroipa gave HSV the lead two minutes before the half-hour. On a near sixty metre run Piotr Trochowski split though the 1899 defenders before sending the ball through to the Pitroipa, who then rounded the Timo Hildebrand and sent the ball in. The goal highlighted a midfield that has not only been exposed for varied play making abilities and now relying upon long ball efforts but allowing Trochowski go through a training ground run without a single challenge. A fast counter attack nearly had HSV up 2-0 as Pitroipa sent the ball towards the goal but never giving up, Andreas Beck cleared it off the line. 1899 looked to have tied it at the seventy-fifth minute but HSV ‘keeper Frank Rost dove to save Ba’s close range header. In the final five minutes of the match David Jarolím was sent off with his second yellow but 1899 still couldn’t break through and lost 1-0.

The week of rest has done 1899 well as Sejad Salihović was rested from Bosnia and Herzegovina victories over Belgium and able to play along with Chinedu Obasi and Demba Ba. Long term absences Andreas Ibertsberger, Matthias Jaissle und Vedad Ibišević will be joined in the stands with Luiz Gustavo who is suspended.

HSV remembers the opening 3-0 defeat at the hands of 1899 and be looking to avenge the decision as per their coach, Martin Jol’s comments:

“We haven’t forgotten that match. That was a real collapse, and we want to make it better this time.”
Herr Rangnick further expressed Hamburg’s strength at home, yet as we have seen Wolfsburg exposed a cutting weakness and it is 1899’s task to exploit it with bloodied vengeance.