First Matchday: Send in the clowns

By: Scott | August 8th, 2009

Mainz, says Rudi Völler, has a mosquito problem. That problem, in particular, involves Aristide Bancé.

“He’s three-metres tall,” Völler says of the Mainz striker. “Yet a mosquito lands on his back and it’s enough to knock him down.”

It wasn’t literally a mosquito, of course, but the towering defender, Sami Hyypiä. One wouldn’t think merely being an immovable object is something to be penalized for, but referee Deniz Aytekin disagreed and it was a decision that earned Mainz their match-equalizing free kick in the 82nd minute. Six minutes later, and just one minute after coming out onto the pitch, Gekas slots one past the Mainz keeper. To everyone watching, Leverkusen had just added a third to the back-to-back goals provided by Derdiyok and Kießling to give us the lead we took into half-time. The linesman saw it differently. His flag went up, a clearly on-side goal gets called back and Rudi Völler’s hair goes a little whiter. Minutes later, the final whistle blows, we’re forced to settle for the 2-2 draw and the Mainz side, along with a fan dressed in full clown regalia, start celebrating as though they were being awarded the Deutsche Meister trophy out of Beyoncé’s vagina.

“Wir sind um zwei Punkte beschissen worden,” complained the Werkself Sporting Director. Or in the language of Shakespeare, “We were fucked for two points.”

As Bayer 04 point out themselves, not all can be blamed on Aytekin. The first Mainz goal, a scant 5 minutes into the match, was the result of sloppy defending on our part. Adler was definitely worthy of accolades for 90 minutes, but had no chance against Tim Hoogland’s header from five metres. At the other end, Mainz ‘keeper Müller wasn’t too shabby and can take credit for helping his side stay in the game- especially after blocking a Barnetta penalty kick in the 17th minute. There’s also the issue of this “slower” play Jupp Heynckes has our squad trying out. For the first 20 minutes, the Werkself seemed far too cautious on the ball- a stark deviation from last season’s style of fast, forward movement. Waiting for the perfect opportunity isn’t entirely wrong-headed, but there’s a lot to be said for forcing your own game onto the opponent and I’d wager the waiting game will not reap positive results against a side with more to bring to the table than Mainz has. Like, for example, Hoffenheim, who we’ll face next weekend.

UPDATED: The last highlights vid was yanked down. Hopefully this will remain online a good while longer: