August 7th, 2008

The last and the next match

By: Anna | Comments Add Comments

Last weekend, Stuttgart beat the FC St. Pauli 5:2 in the last test match. After Pauli scoring the leading goal in the first half, Stuttgart had to wait until after the break to turn the match around. But in minute 48, Mario Gomez equalized. Two goals were scored by Ciprian Marica, and one each by defence newbie Robin Schuster and Danijel Ljuboja. Later Pauli managed to score again, but the match had long been decided.

This means that three of Stuttgart’s strikers scored, and that with Cacau not playing due to muscular problems and Manuel Fischer missing two good chances. Seems like the striker department should not cause me as much worry as I had expected. Read the rest of this entry »



August 2nd, 2008

Pre-Season Fun In The Sun

By: Anna | Comments 1 Comment

So, I suppose you already noticed that I’m back from my two day trip to Stuttgart for the season opening, the renaming ceremony of the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion to the Mercedes-Benz-Arena, and the test match against Arsenal London. Read the rest of this entry »


Category Category: miscellaneous
August 1st, 2008

Breaking News: The Neverending Story Continues

By: Anna | Comments 5 Comments

It’s hard to be a Stuttgart fan these days, to be honest, with new rumours popping up about Mario Gomez each day. Latest one? Apparently Uli Hoeneß said to the tz: “We tried, but Stuttgart refused our request. With Mario Gomez, everything was clear already, but then the deal got cancelled. I think that’s sad, but there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Now, would Mario Gomez indeed sign a contract with Bayern Munich? I don’t know. As things stand, I only know what I get from various sources.
There’s Hoeneß’ claim that Bayern had almost signed him, and let’s not forget Rummenigge said something along those lines as well a few days ago.
Then there is what’s written on Gomez’ homepage, which is: “I never said I wanted to leave the club this summer. And I still have a contract with the VfB Stuttgart.”
Gomez’ advisor Uli Ferber says that he doesn’t know of any negotiations, and that all requests were handed to the VfB.
Sporting director Horst Heldt says the same as he said in the past weeks, which is that Stuttgart are not looking to sell Gomez this summer.

So, on the one hand Gomez and Stuttgart claim that there are no plans, but on the other Bayern seem to be surprisingly sure they can have him any time they want to, even though it didn’t work out this summer. Though one has to add that Hoeneß’ statement was printed in the same newspaper that also “knew” that Aleks Hleb was going to join Bayern (what is he doing in Barcelona, then, I wonder?) and which came to a certain negative fame when they tried to involve Bastian Schweinsteiger in some betting scandal that apparently never happened.

And, to be honest, it would be stupid from Stuttgart’s side to sell Gomez to Bayern at any point in his carreer. And I can’t see the major advance Gomez would get from a transfer there as opposed to some Spanish or English top club. I don’t think he’d do it, either, but then I don’t know him as a person. But it does give me quite a headache to think about the whole issue repeatedly.


August 1st, 2008

A Stuttgartot is kaphatja a Győr az UEFA Kupában

By: Anna | Comments 6 Comments

Now, I don’t speak Hungarian, but I suppose that means something like “The FC ETO Györ is up against the VfB Stuttgart for the second qualification round for the UEFA-Cup.”

ETO Györ finished third in the Hungarian League last season and took on Georgian club FC Zestafoni in the first qualification round.

That’s about all I know about this club, and Stuttgart’s officials don’t know much more than that, either:
“Personally, I don’t know the team at all. But we’ll watch the club and get ourselves some video material”, said coach Armin Veh, Horst Heldt added, “the club is an unknown name for me.”

Both emphasize that they want to reach the next round, though. Let’s hope we’ll know more in two weeks. The first leg match will be at 14. August in Stuttgart, the second leg is going to be played at 28. August (in, I suppose, Györ, if that’s the name of the city).


Category Category: UEFA-Cup, UI Cup
July 28th, 2008

Letting the expert speak

By: Anna | Comments 5 Comments

As a club’s own website is not always the most reliable source for un-biased information (see the comments to my latest post) and I didn’t have the chance to form my own opinion about Stuttgart’s performance yesterday, I’ll leave the comments to someone who is slightly more honest about the match: Ludovic Magnin (apologies for the picture, I just had to).

Read the rest of this entry »


July 26th, 2008

Who’s perfect

By: Anna | Comments 9 Comments

There is a German furniture store which is based on the concept of selling designer furniture, which usually costs a fortune, with “slight blemishes”, as the advertising tells us, and with a drastic reduction of the prices.

There’s something about the VfB Stuttgart’s transfers this season that reminds of this, except that we are buying players which are rumoured to be, well, difficult, and not selling them. It’s been often connected to the financial state of the VfB. Fact is, the club can’t afford spending as much money on transfers as, say, Bayern Munich, or even Werder Bremen, and so they end up with transfers that cause a certain degree of scepticism. Read the rest of this entry »


Category Category: Uncategorized
July 25th, 2008

Let’s try that again, shall we?

By: Anna | Comments 3 Comments

The exams are over and it turned out that I have a lot more time at hand than I originally expected. I’m sorry for letting you wait for an update so long and I’ll try my best to make sure that a break as long as this isn’t going to happen again.

So, what happened in these three weeks?

Read the rest of this entry »


Category Category: UI Cup, transfer news
July 5th, 2008

Just a short note

By: Anna | Comments 3 Comments

Hello, everyone!

I’m sorry to write this, but I won’t be able to keep this blog updated for a while. I’m terribly busy studying for exams at the moment, will spend the summer working and on top of that, I’m planning to move in September, all of which keep me away from following the news around the VfB Stuttgart and writing this blog in the way that I would want to, as a reliable source for all important news around the club.

Here’s to hoping that I’ll be able to get back to writing in a few months and that the VfB has a good start into the next season - right now, things are looking good, so far there hasn’t been a single injury at the training camp.

Though I haven’t been here for a long time, it was fun and I enjoyed it.

Goodbye! (And, hopefully, see you)


Category Category: Uncategorized
Tags Tags: no tags
June 12th, 2008

Busy with the Euro and reconsidering youth politics

By: Anna | Comments 6 Comments

Seems like everyone involved with European football is busy with the Euro. I know I certainly am. But there still are things going in the background and it’s time for a news update.

Mario Gomez is, indeed very busy with the Euro: So busy he didn’t want to comment on the latest shocking rumour which claimed that he had signed a pre-contract with the FC Bayern. Actually the story wasn’t much more than a sidenote to the even bigger shock of Arsenal London’s Aleks Hleb joining the Bavarians. Unlike Gomez, who doesn’t answer the questions about this with more than a smile, Hleb openly said that there’s no truth at all about the stories and Uli Ferber, who manages both players, also stated that he didn’t know anything about negotiations with the German champion in both cases. Read the rest of this entry »


June 3rd, 2008

Back for the big news

By: Anna | Comments 8 Comments

Apologies for not having updated in three weeks. To say it with the words of writer Terry Pratchett, “I aten’t dead,” I just happened to get stuck in a giant clutter of university work again, whose appearance coincided with the end of the Bundesliga season. I hope the worst is over now and I’ll be able to keep you updated with the most important news during the Euro and the summer break.

And news there are, indeed: Former Arsenal London and German National Team goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is going to play for the VfB Stuttgart next season. Both team manager Heldt and coach Veh are very happy with the transfer, Lehmann is looking forward to the next season and wants to contribute his part to a successful year. Read the rest of this entry »


Category Category: transfer news

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