A way too long interview with Cleveland's resident VfB Fan
DFO: Some background. Why VfB?
T: Boy, and I know this is a longer than usual answer and probably more than you want but VfB is my club for four reasons, I guess.
DFO: Oh jeez, this is gonna be one of "those" interviews?
T: Yes. Get ready for the word-talking.
One, as a Cleveland Browns fan, the last 20+ years, for the most part, have been historically awful, which led many of us to see what else was out there. Turns out, once you give up on following the Browns, and most of the NFL, your horizons open up quite a bit.
Two, I’ve always been interested in soccer, as I played it (poorly) back in my youth and high school (sadly I cannot prove what I believe is my most significant accomplishment, leading the team and league in yellow and red cards) and as I grew older I always enjoyed the game, especially the World Cup, and because of my family’s last name, I always found myself pulling for Germany.
Three, as a relatively semi-capable high school history teacher, I’ve always been kind of interested in, well, history (which is good, I guess, seeing as that's kinda my job). Living in Cleveland, the winter’s sometimes turn certain “interests” into “obsessions,” simply because you can’t do anything else but stare at the walls for long periods of time, so, during one particularly cold spell, when the walls were particularly boring and I was stuck inside longer than usual, I spent some time looking into some family history. Long story short, the first recorded Haselswerdt's (Haselswerdt Zero?) were located in the Baden-Württemberg, Germany area.
Four, around 2014, the TV channel Fox started to show Bundesliga games on regular television, so us American folk could actually start to partake in German football.
So add all four together, and, in the spring of 2015, I started to watch a bunch of Bundesliga matches, actively trying to find a club that I wanted to support, and focusing on clubs from the Baden-Württemberg area.
DFO: So which clubs were on your radar back then?
T: Looking back at the 2014-2015 Bundesliga season, there were several clubs that a newborn fan who wanted to stay in the Baden-Wurttemburg area could choose from – VfB, SC Freiburg, and Hoffenheim … while there were several 2.B clubs like Karlsruhe, Heidenheim, and Sandhausen.
DFO: So ... Why VfB?
T: Well, you have to remember, that back then, the 2.Bundesliga may as well have been on Mars as far as American fans were concerned. No coverage, no news … I mean, I bet I didn’t even know the league even existed back then (admittedly, I wasn’t the smartest fan … then or now). So you can cross all the 2.B clubs off the list … which is kind of interesting, seeing how close Karlsruhe is to Haselswerdt Ground Zero.
DFO: Based on the Vfb versus Karlsruhe rivalry, that sounds like a topic for another day... please... another day. Please ... not today ... please ... another, different day...
T: Fair enough.
DFO: So ... why VfB?
T: Well, the next factor is, when you consider how ridiculous I was about supporting a club with some kind of geographic tie, well, Hoffenheim was out, too.
DFO: Which left VfB and SCF. So why VfB over SCF (also, this is the third time I’ve asked this question … it would be nice if you actually answered it at some point)?
T: It probably came down to a few things.
DFO: Oh good ... another list.
T: You are not a very supportive interviewer.
One, Stuttgart was geographically closer to Haselswerdt Ground Zero, so they had the early lead, which is kind of odd, because I’d been to Freiburg before and absolutely loved it. But I couldn’t get over the geographical attachment.
Two, VfB survived the season and Freiburg were relegated, and I’m sure the fact that I wanted to actually watch matches played a role in picking the team that would be on television the next season. The irony, of course, is that VfB has been relegated twice since then, and SC Freiburg, my brother's club, has been a Bundesliga mainstay. Sigh...
Finally, and maybe a lot of fans are like this, VfB just “fit.” I’d have no idea how much they would fit in the coming years, but there was just something about the club. Nothing tangible. Just “something.” I mean, I remember watching the last 30’ of the match at Paderborn and how tense it was and that when Ginzcek scored the goal that would put VfB up for good and secure survival how the players and assembled VfB fans just went nuts. I still remember that moment, and even though I was 3,000 miles away from Paderborn that day, I felt … some kind of attachment. I clearly didn’t understand it, and I surely didn’t understand why everyone was so excited or relieved or what not because I didn't really understand the concept of relegation back then, but at that point, I was all in, and many, many, many dollars spent at the team store later, I think half my closet consists of VfB attire.
DFO: Sheesh, okay, that took forever. Favorite moment/game/player/memory/kit?
T: Not even close – favorite moment and game was attending the spring 2018 game at Mercedez-Benz against Hamburg with my very, very good friend, Jeff (the Hennes fan). Even though it was a draw, wow. What an experience. When Ginzcek scored that goal to draw 1:1, the place just erupted … very awesome. It was also awesome to watch Jeff get patted down three times by security even though he had nothing more than a beanie with him. He’s a sketchy character, to be sure.
Player? Gentner. Hard not to like and appreciate what he did all those years. Though I'll always have a soft spot for my boy Niedermeier! Can't explain that one, but why not...
Kit? Sheesh, I own way, way, way too many … BUT I always find myself going back to the 2016/2017 red one … love the color and collar on that one. Plus, it's a great tennis shirt, too.
DFO: Last year... sum that up in a single word.
T: Ugh. Roller-coaster ... that's one word, right?
DFO: Elaborate?
T: I mean, we just got promoted two years ago. Everyone was predicting a top 7 finish after the great near Euro League season the year before. It was our 125th anniversary. And then ... crash. Korkut had us playing super defensive, gritty - some would say lucky - long ball and … it stopped
working. Then Weinzierl was just a complete disaster (I’d love to be a fly on the way and figure out what exactly went down with that guy, sheesh). At least with Korkut there seemed to be a plan; with Weinzierl I couldn’t figure out what was what. Then Willig seemed to have righted the VfB ship and then in the playoffs ... the VfB ship sank and sank hard. I still remember Union scoring seconds after Gomez did at home; I couldn't believe how fast exaltation turned to exasperation. And then the Nico offsides at Union, oh my lord. I took a long, long walk after that game.
Sadly, I walked past my neighbor, the Bayern fan, and he was clearly not feeling as bummed as I was.
Happily, my dog uses his lawn as a restroom quite often.
DFO: So in getting ready for 2.B, how do you feel the team prepared during the summer?
T: Pretty poorly, at least initially. I really think that the powers that be felt we’d be in the Bundesliga and not the J.V. league and most of our initial planning, at least at the top, was based on that idea. Like Walter for example. He and his system had me the most worried, I guess.
DFO: So, Walter, you were never a big fan of his, eh? What worried you about him?
T: No, I wasn't a big fan, and I don’t like being so negative all the time but I wrote at the time of his hiring that I felt Walter and his system were more in tune with Bundesliga than 2.Bundesliga play, that the possession-based game would be pretty great for the more open spaces in the big boy league but that it would just leave the team open to counter after counter after counter in the long-ball 2.B league. Actually, bundesligafanatic.com wrote a great article about the whole thing and I have to agree with pretty much everything that was said. Anyway, say what you will about how negative I am, but I’ve seen quite a few 2.B matches the last three or four years, and I just had a bad feeling.
The caveat? The bummer is that there were parts of Walter I really liked. I really liked he had a plan and had a system and basically had a swashbuckling way of going about things. It didn’t always work, but I liked that VfB had a particular style. It’s just too bad it didn’t work.
DFO: What about the squad itself?
T: I just didn’t feel like we had done enough to get ready for the season and that our personnel losses were pretty significant. Turns out, I was really wrong on this one. For example, I really liked Zieler in the net and I thought Beck, who isn't exactly a fan favorite, would help us, just like Gentner could help us(plus I had this romantic thought that Gentner, in his swan song with us, would lead us back to the Promised Land). Turns out, their replacements have been more than capable, and I have to admit, I was really off base on this concern.
In fact, though I'm usually pretty negative, I was really thinking that Gonzalez could get some confidence in this league and that Gomez would be amazing and score 17,000 goals this season and destroy every Terodde-record known to man. So ironically, the things I was concerned about turned out to be non-factors, but the things I was optimistic about turned out to be huge issues.
Which proves, once again, I ... know ... nothing.
DFO: But things started out fantastic, though, didn’t they? From July through September, there were 20 of 24 possible points, and even a win versus your Pokal nemesis Hansa Rostock. Your fears had to be allayed a bit, yes?
T: Oh, totally. Things were looking great, and going 12 of 12 possible points in September was fantastic. And the players I thought I was going to miss were being replaced by players more than capable. Kobel was doing fine in goal; Badstuber and Kempf seemed to be patrolling the defense quite well; Stenzel, though unremarkable, was doing fine at Left Back and Sosa wasn’t embarrassing himself at Right Back. Sure, there were errors, but all in all, considering we were playing this super offensive style where the defense was kind of left out on an island sometimes, things looked okay on that end. And Nico looked to finally get some confidence and Silas, wow, that guy is exciting. Add in Al G’s timely goals and things seemed to be looking fine.
DFO: But...
T: But ... there were always odd things, like our line-ups sometimes. I’m not a huge fan of Stenzel, but whatever, I get why he's back there. Sosa, though, I don’t know … I just don’t see it. And Ascacibar on the wing? Yikes. The bigger issue seemed that our game plan just seemed off. Like, Gomez would start and be all alone and we don’t cross it to him … but then sometimes Nico and Silas would start instead but then all we seem to do is cross it to them. Just some odd stuff.
But the biggest thing is there was always this feeling of getting a bit lucky, of winning games by one goal and having waaaaaaay too much “danger time,” as my Swiss VfB fan friend Adrian tends to call it. For example, look at the Bielefeld match. It took an extra time goal to pull that one out. I get that 2.B isn’t a cake walk, but it just seemed like every game had too much luck involved.
DFO: And then in October, it looked like the wheels started falling off.
T: That Wehen Weisbaden loss? At home? BRUTAL. Funny thing, I’ve never been more confident of a win than on that day, proving once again, I am not a bright man. And even though it was really cool to see a club like Weisbaden get an historic win like that, that one was a rough one.
DFO: November, though, saw two wins…
T: … December was once again brutal, and proved to be the end of Walter’s tenure. The losses were just so bad, against teams that were … well, like my art teacher once said about my art work in high school, it was “just not good.”
DFO: So did you agree with Walter getting sacked?
T: Boy, I don’t know. I mean, yes, ultimately, I do. But ... I was honestly surprised he was let go. Third place and just points out of first place indicates he should stay; the team’s form in December indicates he should be let go. Just for the sake of stability, he should stay (you could write an entire thesis paper on the number of coaches my two major teams, the Browns and VfB, have gone through during a given period); but the stagnating lack of ideas the team seemed to be displaying indicates he should go. Probably the thing that ended up hurting him the most was just simple bad luck. I mean, we just weren't scoring. But ... there were times we didn't look great. At the end of the day, I get it, though it is odd they seemed to hire a guy who has some similar principals.
DFO: Any thoughts on the new coach, fellow American Matarazzo?
T: Lol, not a single one. I'm so wrong so many times I think I'll sit this one out. He has a nice beard, so that’s a good start I suppose. Hopefully he does well enough that we can go the rest of 2020 with no more VfB head coaching searches.
DFO: So, some hinderunde reviews. Team MVP?
T: This is tough for me, because no one is lighting it up on the offensive side and our defense can be leaky at times. You could make an argument for Kempf, as he's key to our defense, but that ridiculous red card versus Karlsruhe in the waning moments was just ... silly. I thought Kobel was doing a good job in goal ... but then he was benched by Walter. Forster was lights out for a while, but then just faded away. So ... I’d probably lean toward either Nico or Hamadi Al Ghaddioui. They’ve both scored some late, important goals to earn some valuable points, so I suppose I would go with one of them. But I think it’s a testament to how “ehhhh” this first half has been that you can’t nail down one person as THE key guy so far.
DFO: Most surprising player, good or bad?
T: Surprising in a good way, Nico has really upped his game from last season, so I’m happy to see that, for both him and the team. But to be honest, I thought he'd have a big season at this level, so I guess I can't count him. I really love watching Silas play, he’s just SO much fun to watch; I'm really hoping for big things from him in the future. And Endo looks to be a nice player in the middle. Probably an unpopular opinion, but I think Castro has been surprisingly effective this season as he’s moved around to some different positions.
Surprising in a bad way, yeesh, Mario … whether it’s bad luck or whatever, I really thought he’d have an amazing season, so it's hard to not put him on this list. I guess I’d add Didavi here as well. When he’s on the pitch, you can just see he oozes talent that is so far and above what everyone else in 2.B has, but whether it’s through injury or game plan or what not, it just doesn’t pan out as much as I think it should.
DFO: Player who needs to step up his game?
T: ALL OF THEM! I’d like to say Gomez, but I’m curious as to how much he’ll see the field in 2020.
DFO: Thoughts for the rückrunde?
T: Nail-biting nervousness. On paper, we are legit, the most talented team in the league. I mean, as negative and concerned as I am, talent is talent. But ... in reality, we just haven't been able to gel. It's hard to imagine the new coach will get that cohesiveness in a few short weeks, so ... boy ... I'm nervous.
Again, though, as a super-negative, expect-the-worst, glass-half-empty fan, even I have to admit that we have a strong roster for this league and that we'll be in the running until the end ... some early wins in January and February would certainly help calm the nerves, that's for sure.
DFO: Any games you are anticipating?
T: I wanna win all the local rivalries, so we're coming for you Sandhausen and Heidenheim and Karlsruhe! But VfB plays my buddy and fellow DFO contributor Ian's team, St. Pauli, the day before the Super Bowl, and he's a huge San Francisco Forty Niners fan (or is it Santa Clara? Hmmm?), and as I'm a Browns fan, this is as close to the Super Bowl as I'll ever get - my friends' team making it - so that looks to be a pretty awesome weekend.
DFO: Finish this sentence: VfB will earn promotion to the Bundesliga if:
T: We find someone to score goals for us. I may be in the minority, but I think our defense is good enough, especially now that we are backing away from Walter's super-aggressive approach, and especially if Kaminski ever comes back from his knee injury in August. But if we can find someone - ANYONE - to be our go-to-guy in the offensive third, I think we'll be okay.
DFO: Finish this sentence: VfB will stay in 2.B if:
T: We have a run of bad luck. Lame answer, but we are talented enough to make it out, or at least finish in the top three of the 2.B. But if we get a run of bad luck - our CB's keep getting hurt or we continue to miss opportunity after opportunity AFTER FLIPPING OPPORTUNITY or Gomez gets called offside every time he puts a ball in the net - well, you can't account for that (I'm sure Walter would say the same). And let's be honest, even a negative nellie like me knows that had we converted SOME of the chances we had in the hinderunde, we'd be head and shoulders above the rest of the league and we'd all be sporting classy Walter-style beards in honor of him and his winning ways. But, alas.... We just need SOME luck and we should be fine. But ... this is VfB, so we'll see.
DFO: If VfB plays FC Koln in the playoffs:
T: I may not talk to my best friend Jeff for a week. Or maybe I'll find a new best friend. I mean, one of the best parts of sports is bs'ing with one another, having our teams playing one another, stuff like that. But because both of our teams like to yo-yo back and forth and play tag as one goes down the relegation ladder while the other goes up the promotion staircase, well, every game matters, which is cool, but also ... stressful. Man ... I don't think we've been in the same league for more than one or two years of our fandom, come to think of it? So, yeah, that's gonna be a tough one for sure, lol.
DFO: Prediction, right now!
T: After all that negativity, I'm going full-on confidence and I'm going to predict a runner-up, Vice-2.Bundesliga Champion, 2nd place finish. Al G is gonna score a ton and we're gonna be talking this June about how to bolster the roster for the Bundesliga, baby! Just too much talent on our side, and if we get an early win at home versus Heidenheim on the 29th, I really like our chances to roll off some wins as we get more and more confident. And then I won't have to hurry past and hide my face when I walk the dog by the local Bayern fan's house anymore!
That wraps up the longest interview of all-time with the only known VfB Stuttgart fan in all of Cleveland, Ohio (or all of Ohio, for all we know). And alone though he currently may be in his Northeast Ohio VfB-fandom, rumor has it that he's currently crafting a geography lesson in order to force feed some VfB culture to his students during the 12:30pm EST VfB v. Heidenheim match that takes place today during his 9th period Geography class. Check back later for more of his often-incorrect, yet well-meaning, thoughts and opinions on not just his beloved Stuttgart -based club but also on his other interests as well - interests such as cribbage, low-level rec league tennis, buying everything he can from the VfB fan shop, and why the Cleveland Browns should be relegated to the Canadian Football League once and for all.
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