football rambles

I was in Turin a couple of weeks ago and accidentally on purpose bumped into ex Juventino and Napoli player Ciro Ferrera. We had seen him commentating on the Juve v Borrusia Mornchengladbach game. It was mentioned he owned a restaurant called Da Ciro in the city and was often to be seen there. We went for a pizza there at lunch and the great man himself was tucking into one. Great pizza,  Ciro!

On Wednesday the moment we had been waiting for finally came when we took up our seats in the Westfallen Stadion to see Borrusia Dortmund take on Paderborn in the DFB Pokal. Everything went well and despite it being an early kick off in a mid week cup game the stadium was still rocking. One disappointment was that Aubameyang and Reus weren't playing after they had single handedly taken Augsburg apart at the weekend. In came Adrian Ramos and Gonzalo Castro for the two. Things got off to a bright enough start with only Ramos's first touch and offsides saving Paderborn. However, things took a turn for the worse when Burki lost his head on 21 minutes and a grateful Lakic put the visitors ahead. Our worries didn't last for long though, as just 4 minutes later Adrian Ramos finally did what he was supposed to do and equalised from an angled shot. On 30 minutes the turnaround was complete when Castro scored after a clever back heel from Kagawa. It was 3-1 by the break when Kagawa s

Luckily the Sud Tribune were also early and in good voice!

As usual we got in the ground before Dortmund took on Paderborn too early.

Dortmund U Building. The one we didn't see last time and suitable visuals used for a trip to BVB.

Last year we came and saw Borrusia Dortmund lose 1-0 to Hannover. This time we were luckier as the boys in black and gold beat Paderborn 7-1. Here are a few photos from before the game this time.

There were plenty of odd things in the German Football Museum. A couple that caught my eye were the giant football made by Adi Dassler and signed by every player in the inaugural season of the  The other was Mertesacker's shirt and medal from that awful day when Arsensl lifted the FA Cup against Villa in May

There are a multitude of trophies on display in the German Football Museum apart from the World Cup. Here are a few of them: From 1903 to 1932 the German football champions were presented with the Viktoria, a trophy of a Roman Goddess that was donated to the Germans for their participation in the 1900 Paris Olympics. A more well known trophy is the current day Deutsche Meisterschale which is given to the Bundesliga Champions. The European Cup, won by Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich ( but not in 1982) The reason we were in Germany - the DFB Pokal. Wolfsburg won it last year, but lost to Bayern Munich while we were there. BVB took one step closer to it by beating Paderborn 7-1.

Obviously the German Football Museum pays a lot of attention to the brilliant win in Brazil in what was a stupendous won for them. Whole books have been written on how the Nationalmannschaft went from underdogs to world beaters, so here are just a few things from that section: The famous ball (designed in Germany) takes centre stage. The shirt that Gotze scored the winning goal in. Manuel Neuer's gloves The World Cup itself.

A couple of articles worn by Der Kaiser caught my attention in the German Football Museum caught my eye. There was a lot about East German football and how people still followed teams in the a West. As well as the well known stories of people standing on the East side of the wall hoping to hear cheers from Hertha was the story of this Bayern Munich shirt, worn by Franz, signed by the team and smuggled to a fan club over the border. More unusually was this coat given to Beckenbauer by the Uzbekistan Football Association in the run up to the World Cup.

I have to commend the German Football Museum on its honesty and openness. They don't shy away from fascism in the game in the 1930s and the way Hitler manipulated sport. Something that I have written about on this site before is 'the Death Match' when Dynamo Kyiv players under the guise of FK Start defeated a well fed and much healthier German army team in Kyiv. Look up the post if you want to know the full story of the games the Ukrainians played and how most of them were killed later in war camps. I have to admit that I was surprised to see a poster from the game in the museum. A film just before the Worl Cup has never been aired in case it led to anti-German sentiment. It's good to see that the folk at the Football Museum have taken a more mature approach.

Germany have won the World Cup 4 times, but they also have time in their museum for some of the defeats they have faced. Among features on losses to rivals like Italy, Holland and in the early days Austria are mentions of England's victories over Germany. Included are a couple of things from 1966. Firstly, you are asked 'did the ball cross the line in the World Cup Final in 1966?'. At the moment it was about 64% saying it didn't, although we did manage to get the score down a bit! Another memento from 1966 is a Shrovetide Football that was presented to the German team who were staying in the nearby Pevril of the Peak - a hotel where I didn't particularly enjoy working one Summer as a student!

On Tuesday we arrived in Dortmund and went to the brand new German football museum. If you are ever in town for a BVB game it is well worth the effort. It really is a museum of two halves. The first half looks at the history of the national team from early beginnings to the 2014 World Cup win, in a frankly honest way. The second half is dedicated to the development at club level. In between you are treated to a 3D film plotting the story of the 2014 World Cup victory. The next few posts are going to be dedicated to just a few of the things that I enjoyed there.

It was a couple of weeks ago when Ely put four past Needham Market and I am only just catching up now. The game itself was a bit one way traffic, as Ely took on a very raw Needham side who are propping up the table. After a scrappy opening encounter where Ely could have easily taken the lead, if Alex Theobold hadn't strayed offside and Spencer Saberton had been more clinical was followed by one of dominance by The Robins. Craig Neal set up James Seymour to take the lead on 23 minutes and then a a Matty Simpson hat trick in 13 minutes before halftime with a series of brilliant goals put the opposition under. The Robins took things more calmly in the second half as they were to play Downham Market in a local Derby on the Tuesday in a game which finished as a draw. However, on this day the Robins went home with a comfortable victory under their belts.

It's been a busy few weeks and I've been in Italy and Germany. I need to catch up on a report for Ely City and another fabulous trip to Dortmund which took in a 7-1 win for BVB and a trip to the newly opened German football museum.

I am afraid that this is going to be a rather short report as I am about to fly off to China. It would have been nice for the Robins to get a run in the Vase, but it wasn't to be. It was a very spirited performance by the young Robins team against Newmarket, who are in the division above, but at the end of the day they took their 2 chances and knocked the Robins out.