MSV Duisburg 0-2 St. Pauli, Sunday 28th February 2016

MSV Duisburg 0-2 St. Pauli, Bundesliga 2 (att. 20,790)

Welcome to ....

Having a weekend away for some Bundesliga action (Werder Bremen yesterday) I thought 'why not pop in and see St. Pauli?'  After all, Dusseldorf Airport is closeby Duisburg, allowing for a quick and easy exit back to Londontown.  Yes, it meant an earlyish start...the train was about 9ish...but as I was staying near the railway station in Bremen, it was easy enough.  I'd also contacted St. Pauli's fanladen for a ticket in the away end, so had to make sure I was at the stadium early to pick up my ticket.  

Will they do the reverse for the journey back to 3.liga?

I already knew where the MSV Arena was, due to previous visits.  If you come out of the correct side of the station, go straight ahead where buses will take you directly there.  (Stand H1?)  It's easy to spot...if you're playing St. Pauli, cos there's big away support and you can't miss them.  As you leave the station, there's even a little bottle shop where everyone tops up their account.  (Don't worry, the shopkeeper has a bottle opener on hand. Drinking in the street is to be encouraged in Duisburg.)

Erdinger...the amber cloudyish nectar!

Arriving at the ground, there were quite a few St. Pauli milling around, having a drink.  One enterprising soul even had Jagermeister on his drinks' stall.  Not your normal pre-match tipple but it was chilly and perhaps folk could do with a warmer-upper.  It looked like all the St. Pauli buses had arrived, including a 'femalebus'.  I asked if anyone knew where the fanladen guys were and I was directed in no time to Sven, who was handling multiple tickets along with a Dutch bloke.  I didn't expect a Dutchman to be involved with the fanladen, but I guess it shows their appeal.  After a little chat, I headed in.

Very slick...personalised for the trip to MSV.

I was in the seats this time, right behind the goal.  My seat was in row 7, lower than I'd like, but it didn't matter; everyone was standing anyway.  I headed further back.  And what a festival of football it was.  Actually, best not to mention the football, it was terrible.  A heading-for-relegation MSV looked it and St. P comfortably won 2-0, a low shot from the edge of the box being matched in injury time with a second.  MSV were hit on the break and as the forward rounded the keeper he hit a shot that I swear was missing the net, but it hit a defender and went in.  All in keeping with the standard of the match.  Despite the result, on this evidence, St. Pauli will struggle to gain the top 3 berth needed for a crack at promotion.

The teams come out.

I also snuck upstairs for the 2nd half; cracking view, though largely empty.  So, after a toilet trip, I went back downstairs to be surrounded by a CROWD.  Warmest I'd been all day.  Then it was back on the (free) bus to the station and a 20 minute journey to the airport.  Job's a good un.

The Damage:
€22 ent

€3.50 beer (x2)

€2.20 bratwurst (x2)

€19 train from Bremen (advance fare)

€5.70 train to Dusseldorf airport

= €58.10

...plus the flight back (£31)

The Tunes:
Plumb (Field Music)

Screamadelica (Primal Scream)

'ello 'ello, what 'ave we got 'ere then?

Are you a 'zebrafreunde'?

Supporters club hut.  Beer in sale here.

Mobile cub shop.  Still no badges (3rd time trying).

The drummers arrive.

Outside the home end.

I've located where all the badges are.

MSV Arena

I love the angles.

stadium plan

Beer seller in ground.

Cushiest jobs in the world #346: policing MSV (see right).

Match action.

We heart St. Pauli!

Full time, 0-2.

The entrance to the home end.

Ticket office after the match.

Duisburg-St. Pauli panorama

Mainz 05 II 3-4 MSV Duisburg, Wednesday 6th August 2014

Mainz 05 II 3-4 MSV Duisburg, 3.liga, att. 2,230

Outside Mainz Hbf

Since they'd gained promotion to 3.liga, I'd been even more determined to go and see Mainz's U23 team, if only cos they played at Mainz's 1st team's old ground, Stadion am Bruchweg.  But it promised to be one of those strange atmospheres which German football brings on itself by letting under 23/reserve sides enter the footballing pyramid, namely limited passion and numbers on one side against the relative might (for 3.liga) of MSV Duisburg, perennial mainstays of Bundesliga 1 and 2, relegated for financial reasons.

Not sure they need this anymore...

With a ten minute walk from the train station, I made it in good time - about five minutes before kick off.  I'd been in my Mainz 'local' (the tapas bar opposite the station) enjoying  couple of Schofferhofer Weizen.

Before I entered the Bruchweg, I could hear fans chanting - away fans.  I bought my ticket, a very reasonable €9, and took my sausage and beer to the stand. I was pleased to see the steward insist on seeing my ticket (!), given you needed one to actually get through the turnstile and the only sektors open in the home end were P and Q...of which you could happily walk through, say, P's entrance then go stand in sektor Q.

Sitting on the terrace, having a beer...

Naturally, there weren't many home fans (though they;d had a crowd of 3,000 in their opener). Duisburg brought tremendous support for a Wednesday night, easily 2/3 of the attendance.  Even their seats were relatively full, presumably cos their terrace space had sold out.  Of course, there was probably another 15,000 terrace spaces - if they'd opened more than one small end of a side stand.

The teams come out

MSV looked slick, too.  With one point from two games I thought they must be bedding in.  Mainz meantime looked like what they were; young, inexperienced and too eager to go forward, leaving giant holes behind. MSV were two up inside 5 minutes.  The first came from the striker being played through wide right before hitting it across the keeper high into the net.  The second...I don't remember.  Problies a blinder.

Packed terrace over there...room for a few little uns over here

More and more I became aware of the time.  Through every fault of my own, I'd have to miss a considerable amount of the second half.  I had to catch a train to Koln to make an overnight train to Decin in the Czech Republic. Still, I was unlikely to miss much, Mainz hadn't a hope.

As I left, I'm sure I heard the cheers of a 3rd goal for MSV (turns out I had).  On checking the score later, I was surprised to find the final score 3-4.  Had I missed a cracker?  Dunno. 0-3,1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 3-4.  Oh well - I made my trains.

The away fans and their chaperones

The Damage:
€9 ent
€??? sausage and beer.  Can't remember.

The tunes:
Mezzanine (Massive Attack)
Radiolina (Manu Chau)
La Revancha Del Tango (Gotan Project)

Main Stand

Pre-match (non) action

Scoreboard corner

Those away fans again

Time to leave.  Shouldn't be any more goals...

To tie your dog onto?

Away fans salute a goal

Gotta stop folk watching Mainz reserves for free...

RB Leipzig 1-1 MSV Duisburg, Sunday 18th August 2013

Raisonballsport Leizig 1-1 MSV Duisburg, att. 13,758 (3.liga)

Outside the Main Stand.

A fortnight after seeing RB lose a DFB Pokal game in front of 30,000, it's back to the 3.liga.  3 games in and both teams have had promising starts, two wins.  It's a chance to cement a leading berth

Getting to the stadium half an hour before kick-off, the queues were horrendous (on the main stand side).  Still, there were ticket booths on the opposite side so I headed there.  I knew there was a rabbit off though when the number of pedestrians dried up around the tower above the ‘Festwiese’ (the field next to the stadium).  The booths I had in mind were shut (the entire upper tier on that side was closed).  So they weren't expecting a big crowd.  As it was, 13,000 odd turned up.

The RB ultras, all-seated unlike every other German stadium.

Duisburg, forcibly relegated due to financial misdemeanors, have no respect for the parvenus of Red Bull.  A mainstay in the upper divisions, their fans bemoaned the lack of tradition of RB.  But whatever you think of the politics, the Red Bull Arena is simply one of the finest in the world, built within the old zentralstadion.  As the away turnstiles were next on our clockwise tour of the stadium we (my better half was also with me) slipped in there.  Although technically lower tier, the view was still fantastic, high up in the corner.

Match action.  RB go close.

The match started at a pace.  Leipzig could have been 3-0 up in 10 minutes, Bundesliga build-up play followed by 3.liga finishing.  Then MSV took the lead, a quick break, the forward clean through, he took it around the keeper, but with the angle diminishing and a covering defender sliding to the line, he had the wherewithawal to pull it back to give his mate a tap-in.  Cue celebrations in the stands for the ‘zebrafreundes’.  Why zebras?  MSV’s hoops are BLUE.

Harry the zebrafreunde was here.

The lead didn't last.  Within 5 minutes Red Bull got a free kick 25 yards out, which was curled left-footed into the corner.  Good finish, but essence of slow motion about it.  Keepers need to learn to take a couple of paces before diving.  And that was it.

After an entertaining first half, precisely nothing happened in the second, as evidenced by zero injury time.  Since when does that happen in a second half these days?  I missed the highlight at half time, the Duisburg fans waving rubber rings in the air and throwing them on the pitch.  Dunno what that was about.  They also unveiled a banner, probably the one I photo’d outside the stadium.  Red Bull are going to have to put up with more of this if their ascent continues.

The Duisburg players come to salute their following.

At the end, MSV fans cheered the result.  Despite being a big fish in a small pond, they're not optimistic of an automatic return.  I guess they’re relieved to even have a team following financial problems.

The Damage:

€15 ent

€3 beer

€3 badge

= €21

Match action, looking towards the main stand side.

Sektor C completely empty.

The beautiful curve of the stand.

Sektor D closed too.

Looking towards the far corner.

Even the seat patterns are beautiful.

Duisburg players take the acclaim.

Exiting over what used to be the terrace of the old zentralstadion.

What's not to like?

'Zebras have tradition'...RB do not.

The facade of the old main stand.