Herr Mike in Deutschland

It was crucial for FCN to take three points from today's clash with Hertha Berlin if they were to keep their dreams of achieving a UEFA cup place alive. There is a real battle for the elusive fifth position and with both these teams vying for it the pressure on today's result was huge.

From the start the home team took the initiative and were ahead after only 5 minutes thanks to Thomas Galasek. A corner was played short to the Czech International who lashed the ball home from outside the penalty area. The perfect start.
Spurred on by the early goal and the chants of 'Europa Pokal' (UEFA cup) from the fans FCN bossed the game. Vratislav Gresko dictated the play in the middle of the park - I'm not sure how much German he knows but he was always screaming encouragement and instructions which seemed to be understood.
The teams went it at half time with Nuremberg much the happier side and Berlin offering very little. Unfortunately a slight dampener was put on the proceedings as right back Dominik Reinhardt had to be stretchered off with what looked like a serious injury just before the break.

FCN continued their domination as the second half got underway, Andreas Wolf and Michael Beauchamp both unfaultering at the centre of defence, breaking up any Hertha attack before it had a chance to develop. The Berlin fans were obviously frustrated as the police had to break up a brawl in the away enclosure, probably caused by a little too much 'liquid inspiration' on the long journey down.

FCN had been creating chances down the left all day with good link up play and overlapping from Javier Pinola and Ivan Saenko and on 60 minutes it beared fruit. A rapid dash from Saenko got the better of his marker and he squeezed in a pacey low cross. A defender got a touch on the ball but only managed to deflect it into the path of Marco Engelhardt (pictured) who slotted the ball home. The game looked to be won.

But this turned out to be the motivation that Berlin needed and they began to create more and more, Nuremberg keeper Raphael Schaefer forced to bravely dive between legs to punch a ball away as Kevin Prince Boateng (excellent name) threatened for the away side. Constant pressure on the FCN goal eventually paid off and some neat play from skilled turkish playmaker Yildiray Basturk allowed Gimenez to pull one back for the team from the capital.

Nuremberg held on by keeping possession and could have perhaps had another with Zorro lookalike Markus Schroth going close (he broke his nose in a recent game and so it wearing a protective mask - see pic) . But the 2 -1 turned out to be enough. Other competitors for the UEFA cup spots also won today which gave the three points from today's game particular value for Der Club who are still very much in the running for international competition next season.

Labels: FCN