Waldhof Mannheim are on the march

[DangerousSausage]

Time for another German football update from the depths of the Regionalliga Südwest. SV Waldhof returned from the winter break early for their rearranged game with Stuttgarter Kickers. The 3-2 win took them within a point of the leaders and six points clear of third place having played a game more. Next weekend TSV Steinbach are the visitors, who are third. A home win and we can dare to dream of the play-offs and promotion again... (the top two qualify for the play-offs)

On Saturday's match: good entertainment, lots of chances and, in the first half, a Stuttgart team that is better than it's league position would suggest. Waldhof played them to death in the second half and the 3-2 scoreline was very flattering on the visitors. All the goals fell in the second half, which begins after 7 minutes on the video.

 

 

[ivansneck]

Well done Waldhof, but it does make me sad to see Kickers fallen so low.

[DangerousSausage]

Maradona eat your heart out! Goal of the season contender in Saturday's win...

 

 

[DangerousSausage]

Waldhof clinched a play-off spot last weekend with a win over the exotically named Teutonia Watzenborn-Steinberg and can now take it easy in their last two matches. A two legged promotion play-off against SV Meppen (champions of the Regionalliga Nord) or SpVgg Unterhaching (Bavaria) awaits at the end of the month. I shall be buying my tickets at the weekend.

I'm feeling a bit giddy but I'm starting to get a nasty feeling of deja vu after last year. It's 50-50 really. There's quality and goals all the way through the team, but they've also developed a nasty habit of granting the opposition too many chances and shipping the odd goal. And if you concede at home you've got a mountain to climb. Still, fingers crossed that they make it into the third tier for the first time in 14 years. It's the hope that drives you mad.

[DangerousSausage]

The season might be over for you lot, but not for me.

So, the play-offs are on 28 May (home) and 31 May (away), the opponents are SV Meppen from near the Dutch border. Meppen are about as far away as it's possible to be, but oddly they have two ex-Waldhof players in their ranks. I'm counting down the days with a mixture of excitement and dread. Over 20,000 tickets have been sold for the home leg, excluding away fans.

I know you like videos, so here's one the club put on its YouTube channel yesterday:

 

[DangerousSausage]

I've been quiet recently because I've been utterly focused on my German football. Waldhof played the first leg of their promotion play-off yesterday. Meppen were the tough opponent we expected. It finished 0-0 in melting heat with lots of chances, some heart-stopping moments, two red cards and a crowd of over 24,000. And a pretty amazing choreo by the ultras at the start of this video. My nerves are completely shot and there's the away leg to go on Wednesday night.

So the away leg is on Wednesday. Surely it's finally time to leave this tinpot league? 0-0 is dangerous for Meppen as they're vulnerable to an away goal. A win or a score draw for Waldhof and we're through.

Elsewhere, Elversberg melted under the pressure and lost 3-0 to Bavarian champions Unterhaching. Carl Zeiss Jena won 3-2 at Viktoria Köln, where the crowd of around 6000 included 5000 away fans!

 

 

[ivansneck]

There were a lot of Gladbach supporters there in the Jena section. The legacy of Hans Meyer.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

@DangerousSausage Sorry to see a 4-3 defeat at SV Meppen

[DangerousSausage]

On 3.6.2017 at 09:51, Piethagoram said:

@DangerousSausage Sorry to see a 4-3 defeat at SV Meppen

It was 3-4 on penalties after a 0-0 draw. Gutted.