29.04.2010
News-Archive

International Eintracht

Some call it a derby, some don’t – still the games against FSV Mainz 05 are always special ones, given the short distance between the cities, and the local character this fixture carries. In fact the distance is short enough to travel to this away game by boat.

Some years back our creative fan scene came up with the idea to hire one of the tourist ferries that connect the river Main with the river Rhein to use it as transport for the away game. It was a big success and ever since the away games in Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga against Mainz were partly travelled to over the river by 400 cheerful supporters. This year the demand was so big, that 1,000 fans took this route on three ferries (!) – probably unheard of before.

 

Meier Show - Clark Debut

The game itself did not disappoint either. Top striking force Alex Meier scored a couple of goals within the first twenty minutes and it all looked like an easy (first) away win to Mainz. Just before half time FSV came back with a lucky deflected free kick goal, and they levelled the score in the second half. Austrian Umit Korkmaz scored a cracker to get Eintracht back in the lead, but with four minutes to go it was 3-3 again due to an Aristide Bancé goal – the final result. US American international Ricardo Clark gave his long awaited Bundesliga debut in this game, and without making a huge impression he had a solid and very useful performance over the full 90 minutes. He is likely to play again against Hoffenheim, manager Skibbe and chairman Bruchhagen would like to test him further before maybe offering him a long term contract. He looked like he could be an alternative for defensive midfield.

Match report: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=273156&cc=5739

 

Will He Stay Or Will He Go?

Turkish international Halil Altintop showed some good performances over the second half of the season, since he joined from Schalke on loan. It is soon to decide (and to negotiate) whether Eintracht wants to keep him and give him a long term contract. Recently his form has dropped a bit, in 13 appearances he has scored twice for Eintracht and assisted one goal (Martin Fenin’s last minute winner against Bayern München). Not a lot for a forward, but this might also be down to his style of play, roaming wide and picking the ball up on the wings. Still, manager Skibbe expressed his wish for Altintop to stay with Eintracht – we will see if the club can afford him.

Altintop on Turkish Football Federation website: http://www.tff.org/Default.aspx?pageId=526&kisiId=1063400

Departure Of The Skipper

Swiss international and Eintracht left defender Christoph Spycher will leave the club after a spell of five years in Frankfurt. The loyal team player was made captain ahead of the running season, also due to the fact that he is multilingual and highly respected within the team. He joined in 2005 from Grashoppers Zürich and will probably return to his home country. We might see him at the World Cup representing Switzerland in the tough group H among Spain, Honduras and Chile. Spycher will join Young Boys Bern. All the best to Christoph, many thanks for your efforts at Eintracht!

Transfer news (in French): http://www.football.ch/fr/start.aspx?vNews=1&newsID=15

 

Return Of The Old Skipper?

You might think ‘one in, one out’ – recently our former captain Ioannis Amanatidis and Spycher’s predecessor rejoined the team in practice sessions after a long, long injury break. He also featured in a mid week friendly against a low division club and scored the opener. The sorely missed Greek international who always had been a leader and influential offensive power house might give us more options up front next season. If he fully recovers that is. His World Cup dreams though seem over, his return probably was a tad too late for Otto Rehagel and his Hellenic side.

Amanatidis on Hic Football federation website: http://www.epo.gr/pop-player_eng.asp?s_player_plr_id=75

 Sensational Goal By Caaaaaio

Brazilian midfielder Caio has improved by a margin over the recent months, and seems happy with the backup he receives from the coaches. In the game against Leverkusen he scored an absolute outstanding long range goal. He was probably something around 34, 35 or 36 meters away from René Adler’s goal, when he smashed the ball in a curve over the Leverkusen defense. The balls changed the direction twice and in the end even dropped, bang on the crossbar and into the net. This is probably down to the modern ways of producing footballs that sometimes seem to fly a loop before heading towards the goal. But this one was also down to Caio’s shooting skills, he hammered the ball with the inside of his foot and gave it an unstoppable power. The opponent’s manager Jupp Heynckes said afterwords, not even god would have saved that shot.

 

Eintracht Goes East

Ever heard of Ðong Tâm Long An F.C.? Or would you know whether Vietnam ever made it to a World Cup? Well, probably we wouldn’t know, but this might change. In May Eintracht will continue the long tradition of travelling foreign countries and visit Vietnam in order to play two friendlies. On May the 12th Eintracht will play against the national side of Vietnam at the national stadium in Hanoi. Two days later Michael Skibbe’s team will be hosted by Vietnamese top flight club Ðong Tâm Long An F.C. for another test match. Eintracht will represent Germany and the county of Hesse in order to celebrate 35 years of diplomatic relations.

Chelsea Goes Frankfurt

While we’re at it – it has also been in the media that another international friendly against the European big shot Chelsea London is in the making. Some sources tell us it might take place early August ahead of the 2010/2011 Bundesliga season. It will be good opportunity for our fans to show our international standards of creating a great atmosphere. The dream of European football is as good as over for this season – but maybe these games will give us the appetite for it once again. And we might see some stars of the World Cup 2010 in action as the likes of Drogba, Terry, Lampard and Essien play at the London club.

The current Chelsea squad: http://www.chelseafc.com/page/PlayerHome/0,,10268,00.html