The WSV squad that finished 5th in the Regionalliga West. Best players were Moosmayer as defensive midfielder, Zieba attacking midifielder and of course Knappmann, who led all 4th division scorers with 30 goals.

No                       (Age) Country GM/St  YEL-RED  GOALS   

GOALKEEPERS

1   Sascha Samulewicz     (26)   GER 	7-7 	0-0    	0    
12  Bastian Sube          (20)   GER	3-3 	0-0 	0   	 	
24  Christoph Semmler     (32)   GER 	23-23  	1-0 	0     	
32  Martin Klafflsberger  (28)   AUT	3-3	0-0 	0      		

 DEFENDERS 

4   Robert Fleßers 	 (25)   GER 	28-27   6-1 	4
5   Stefan Lorenz        (30)   GER 	5-3  	0-0 	0
14  Daniel Flottmann 	 (27) 	GER	33-33 	8-1 	3
16  Thomas Schlieter 	 (31)   GER	33-32 	3-0 	3     
19  Lukas van den Bergh  (23)   GER	6 -2  	1-0 	0
21  Jörn Zimmermann 	 (20)   GER 	19-4  	1-0 	0
22  Felix Herzenbruch 	 (19) 	GER 	24-22  	4-0 	1     
31  Felix Haas 	         (24)	GER	13-11  	2-1 	0     

MIDFIELD

2   Björn Weikl 	 (35) 	GER 	0-0 	0-0 	0
3   Benjamin Baltes 	 (28) 	GER 	25-10   3-0 	0
6   Dennis Brinkmann 	 (33) 	GER 	2-2  	1-0 	0
7   Raschid El Hammouchi (30) 	MOR	31-30  	2-0 	0   
8   Tom Moosmayer 	 (32)	BEL	33-33  	5-0 	4    
15  Marcel Landers       (27) 	GER 	35-32  	4-0 	2     
17  Ben Abelski 	 (29) 	GER 	21-9 	1-0 	1
18  Ken Asaeda 		 (28) 	JPN 	16-8  	2-0 	1
20  Jan-Steffen Meier    (20) 	GER 	27-16  	1-0 	0      
23  Nico Matern 	 (19) 	GER 	1-1  	0-0 	0
25  Maciej Zieba 	 (25) 	POL 	31-29 	3-0 	9

FORWARDS

9   Christian Knappmann  (31) 	GER 	36-34 	4-0 	30   
10  Bekim Kastrati 	 (33) 	ALB 	10-2 	3-0 	1
11  Marco Quotschalla 	 (23) 	GER 	16-12  	3-0 	5    

WSV was unable to knockoff Dortmund’s B squad, who thereby win the Regionalliga West/Südwest a point ahead of Sportfreunde Lotte. This crowns a fine season for the Neon-B, whose coach is David Wagner, who’s main claim to fame is a couple of matches for the US National team.

It was a very entertaining match, with both sides going for the win. Dortmund was more fortunate, and jumped out a bit faster. WSV looked beaten but charged back into the match. Things looked ready to fall apart when Robert Flessers got his ass tossed for insulting the referee after Dortmund’s 4th goal. But Christian Knappmann nailed his 30th goal of the season (which is tops in all four levels) and WSV had chances to tie until the end. (A tie would have sent Lotte into the 3.Liga). All-in-all, a decent performance against a motivated opponent, but overall it’s been a crap season, despite the good run in the final third.

In player news, Danny Cornelius of VfB Lübeck has signed a contract with WSV for next season. Cornelius had previously played for coach Hans-Günter Bruns, and is considered one of the fastest players in the Regionalliga.

Wuppertaler SV 	 - 	Borussia Dortmund II	 3:5 (1:3)

Attendance: 7,048 in Stadion Am Zoo

0:1 Vrancic (8.)
0:2 Boyd (16.) 
1:2 Flottmann (34.) 	 
1:3 J. Hofmann (40.)
2:3 Quotschalla (46.) 	 
2:4 J. Hofmann (56.) 
3:4 Knappmann (59., penalty) 	  
3:5 Vrancic (90. + 2) 

Klafflsberger - 
El Hammouchi, Flottmann, Schlieter, Herzenbruch    - 
Fleßers, Moosmayer - 
Landers, Zieba    - 
Knappmann, Quotschalla       

Subs:
van den Bergh (63., Herzenbruch)	
Baltes (75., Landers)
B. Abelski (77., Quotschalla)

Trainer: Bruns

DORTMUND II:
Focher    - 
Fring, Terzic, Paurevic, M. Halstenberg - 
Benatelli, Bakalorz    - 
Baykan, Vrancic, J. Hofmann  - 
Boyd       

Subs:
Ducksch (59., Boyd)
Treude (70., J. Hofmann)
Soltanpour (82., Baykan)

Trainer: Wagner

Wuppertal escaped from Wanne-Eickel with a somewhat fortunate win against Schalke’s B squad. The first half seemed to give WSV an edge, as they had more ball possesion, but they really didn’t create any chances. The main opponent seemed to be the terrible condition of the pitch, which had consequences for both sides. Jörn Zimmerman had to be subbed early, as he wrenched his foot on the uneven turf. With WSV controlling the match, it seemed not much would happen, but Schalke created a goal from nothing. A perfect cross from Pascal Schmidt and a header from Alex Langlitz, and the Royal Blues were up 1-0. Schalke now gained the upper hand, and had a couple of promising chances that they blew.

In the 2nd half, WSV came out organized a bit better, and began to press harder. Both sides wasted opportunities, and it was ex-Schalke Marco Quotschalla who squared things with a perfect volley off a cross from Zieba. In the goal celebration, he ran towards the Schalke bench and pointed a finger at his ex-coach Bernard Trares. A somewhat wanker move by Marco, although he denied any intent in a post game interview. Both teams now pressed for the win, but the turf seemed to have more success. Schalke’s Schmidt missed an open net, and in the end, it was Christian Knappmann who decided the match on an assist from Marcel Landers. The Knapper’s 29th of the season, continuing his lead of all Regionalligen. The team and some 250 travelling WSV fans then had a nice party on the train returning to Wuppertal…

FC Schalke 04 II	 - 	Wuppertaler SV 	 	1:2 (1:0)

Attendance: 404 (Mondpalast-Arena, Wanne-Eickel)

1:0 Langlitz (39.) 	  
1:1 Quotschalla (69.) 
1:2 Knappmann (87.) 

SCHALKE II:

Himmelmann - 
Langlitz, Fahrenhorst, Sabah, Weber - 
Volkmer, Muhovic    - 
Ernst, P. Schmidt, Torres - 
Loheider   

Subs:
Thiele (46., Loheider)
Erwig-Drüppel (83., Ernst)
	
Trainer: Trares

WUPPERTAL:

Klafflsberger - 
van den Bergh    , Schlieter , Flottmann , Herzenbruch - 
Zimmermann, Fleßers , Asaeda, Zieba       - 
Knappmann, Quotschalla    

Subs:
Landers (41., Zimmermann) 
B. Abelski (64., Asaeda)	
Baltes (77., Zieba)

Trainer: Bruns

WSV basically kicked Idar-Oberstein’s ass.

Things started right off the bat. Lukas Van den Bergh, getting a chance for a start in place of the ill Thomas Schlieter, put in a perfect cross and the Regionalliga’s leading scorer Christian Knappmann banged home (no. 28). A few minutes later, Knappmann turned provider and his cutting pass sent Marcel Landers down the flank, and Landers found Maciej Zieba, who volleyed into the net. WSV was totally dominating the match, doing whatever they pleased. SCI didn’t even have a shot until over half an hour had passed. Flessers scored off another assist from Knappmann, and Zieba put the final touches on a great 1st half, as dribbled around SCI GK Kornetzky and tapped into the empty net.

In eth second half, WSV slowed down things a bit, although they were still dominating. Idar-Oberstein made it worse on themselves as Gündüz, who had only come on at half, got his ass red carded after 62 minutes. WSV must have thought “what the hell?!” and banged in a couple of more to complete the rout.

Wuppertaler SV   - SC Idar-Oberstein    6:0 (4:0)

Attendance: 750 (Stadion Am Zoo)
	
1:0 Knappmann (5.) 	  
2:0 Zieba (13.) 	  
3:0 Fleßers (27.) 	 
4:0 Zieba (43.) 	 
5:0 Quotschalla (65.) 	  
6:0 Herzenbruch (87.) 

WUPPERTAL:

Semmler - 
van den Bergh    , F. Haas , Flottmann , Herzenbruch     - 
Landers , Fleßers     , Moosmayer    - 
Zieba         - 
Knappmann     , Quotschalla

Subs:
Baltes (73., Quotschalla)
B. Abelski  (77., Moosmayer)
El Hammouchi (83., van den Bergh)
	       
Trainer: Bruns


Idar-Oberstein:

Kornetzky - 
Lawnik , Schunck , Maurer , Garlinski - 
K. Schug , M. Lehmann    - 
Cordier , Sawin    - 
Mertinitz , Stumpf
   
Subs:

Gündüz  (46., Sawin)
Vetter  (59., M. Lehmann)

Trainer: Hildmann

You’ve got to put the ball into the net! WSV came out strong and pressing, and created lots of chances. The hosts were pressed back into the defensive, and barely crossed the midfield. Despite the high temperatures, WSV was working hard and bombarding the Wiedenbrück goal. It seemed only a matter of time, but there was no score at half.

The second half was a bit more even, as Wiedenbrück did manage some chances, but GK Christoph Semmler was sharp. WSV continue to pile up opportunities, but things were not going in. Particularily goal-getter Christian Knappmann was unlucky, as his headers just missed the mark by centimeters. So things progressed, and then potential disaster: In the 81st minute, Thomas Schlieter tripped Mainka. Penalty! However Semmler became the hero as he smothered Jansen’s penalty to preserve the draw. WSV actually had a couple of more chances to win the match, but Wiedenbrück’s GK Marcel Hölscher, the best player on the field, stopped Zieba’s point-blank shot from 7 meters, and Baltes had an injury time winner turned away as well.

After the match, WSV coach Hans-Günter Bruns mentioned that the 0-0 result was “a joke”, given all the chances WSV had. But overall, he was satisfied with the effort given on a hot day…

SC Wiedenbrück 2000 - Wuppertaler SV 0:0 (0:0)

Attendance: 550 (Jahnstadion) 

Wiedenbrück:

Hölscher - 
John, Leeneman, Kniat, Rogowski - 
Strickmann, Krause    - 
Studtrucker, Mainka, Dayangan - 
D. Jansen   

Subs:
Tietz (35., Studtrucker)
B. Halstenberg (73., Strickmann)
Rodriguez Diaz (77., Krause)

Trainer: Stratos

WUPPERTAL:

Semmler - 
El Hammouchi, Schlieter, Flottmann, Herzenbruch    - 
Fleßers, Moosmayer - 
Landers, Quotschalla, Zieba    - 
Knappmann

Subs:
Baltes (61., Quotschalla)
Zimmermann (77., Landers)

Trainer: Bruns

Why didn’t you play like this earlier? Trier came in with a five match winning streak, and hopes for promotion. They were outplayed by WSV and go home losers. If WSV had been playing all season like they have the last few weeks, we’d be getting promoted. Instead, another drab season, although at least some hope for the future (maybe).

Anyway, Wuppertal started string and pressured Trier into the defensive. A few decent chances, but Trier’s GK Poggenborg was sharp. However, after 28 minutes, it was Knappmann who gave WSV the lead. Zieba flipped the ball into the box, Knappmann shielded the ball from the defenders, whirled around and left the keeper no chance. WSV in the deserved lead and Trier now forced to open up. The first chance for the vistors only came after 33 minutes, a volley shot from 20 meters by Pagenburg (no, not a mispelling of their GK)

The second half saw more WSV pressure, and this time it was the reverse of the opening goal. A nice pass from Knappmann, and Zieba had an open net to poke home. At this point it seemed all over, but to Trier’s credit, they threw everything forward, and eventually brought WSV into distress. With some luck, Eintracht could have got an equalizer, but overall WSV deserved the win.

Wuppertaler SV - Eintracht Trier 2:1 (1:0)

Attendance: 1,086 (Stadion Am Zoo)

1:0 Knappmann (26.) 	 
2:0 Zieba (62.) 	 
2:1 Kulabas (67.)

WUPPERTAL:
Semmler    - 
El Hammouchi , Flottmann , Schlieter , Herzenbruch - 
Landers , Fleßers , Moosmayer    - 
Zieba  - 
Knappmann, Quotschalla   

Subs:

Meier (75., Quotschalla)
Baltes (83., Moosmayer)
B. Abelski  (89., Knappmann)	 

Trainer: Bruns

TRIER:
Poggenborg - 
Cozza , Stang , Zittlau    , Drescher - 
Hollmann - 
Kraus , A. Abelski , Kuduzovic    - 
Kulabas, Pagenburg

Subs:
Pintol (46., Kuduzovic)

Trainer: Seitz

WSV had a workman-like outing in the makeup game against Bayer Kid-Aspirins. They pretty much controlled the game from the start against the Mini-Lusers, and when Tom Moosmayer floated in a freekick, Daniel Flottmann was unmarked at the far post to give WSV the lead.
Interesting that GK Rene Adler, German international, started in goal for Bayer-II, as he is now recuperating from his injury. Will be interesting to see if he wins back his starting job from Bernd Leno, who has done very well. He looked pretty decent, but WSV didn’t give him much of a chance when scoring their goals – but he had plenty to do.

After dominating teh first half, WSV continued to press in the 2nd. They peppered the Alka-Seltzer Jrs. goal with shots, Flessers shot cleared off the line, Landers a direct volley that was just blocked. Then it turned into the Christian Kanppmann show, as the Regionalliga’s top goal-getter demonstrated his stuff. In the 63rd minute, a Moosmayer corner was extended by Landers, and Kanppmann was there for the tap-in. Then he hammered in a rebound off a Zieba shot.

Overall, a fine performance for Wuppertal…

Wuppertaler SV - Bayer Leverksuen II    3:0 (1:0)

Attendance: 698 (Stadion Am Zoo)

1:0 Flottmann (23.) 	 
2:0 Knappmann (63.) 	 
3:0 Knappmann (72.) 

WUPPERTAL:
Semmler - 
El Hammouchi    , Flottmann     , Schlieter , Herzenbruch - 
Landers , Fleßers    , Moosmayer    , Baltes    - 
Zieba - 
Knappmann        

Subs:
Quotschalla (71., Baltes)
B. Abelski (77., Moosmayer)	
Meier (83., Fleßers)

Trainer: Bruns

LEVERKUSEN II:
Adler - 
Koronkiewicz    , Haitz , Nauber , Eichmeier    - 
Temeltas    , Weiler - 
Biada    , Opper    - 
Steffen , Hirsch   

Subs:
Al Ghaddioui (63., Biada)	
Maouel (63., Hirsch)
Leo (79., Eichmeier)

Trainer: Mink

WSV travels to leaders Lotte and beats them up! Shows what Wuppertal is capable up when they just focus.

Lotte is the likely promotion favorite, and certainly expected a win. (Not that anyone cares, since they have zero fans and nobody has ever heard of them). And they grabbed the lead and seemed to be on their way. But WSV wasn’t phased and soon the outstanding Maciej Zieba equalized, after the combo with Ben Baltes and Tom Moosmayer. WSV then stunned their hosts by taking the lead when Marcel Landers floated in a freekick – meant as a cross – that ended up in the net. In the 2nd half, it was the Zieba show, as first his inside pass could only be knocked in for an own goal, and then he put home another cross from Mossmayer. 1-4 and the rout was on…not. This is WSV, and they can never make things easy. Soon after Felix Haas got his ass red carded, giving Lotte some hope. The leaders threw everything into attack and came storming back. WSV defended desperately for a while, and then in injury time, a couterattack by Marco Quotschalla finished the match.

Despite scoring 5 times, it’s a bit surprising that Christian Knappmann didn’t notch one. Perhaps he shot his wad midweek at Kaiserslautern…

A nice win for WSV, but mostly as a reminder of what could have been. If they hadn’t been dicking around mid season (and early season and for the most part late season too…hey, all season), this could have been a promotion decider – with Wuppertal at least returning to the 3.Liga. As it is, Lotte could probably care less, as their promotion rivals Dortmund II and Gladbach II also lost.

WSV has a makeup home match Tuesday against Bayer Alka-Seltzer Light (Luserkusen II), who basically suck in 17th place. So if the pattern continues, WSV will probably stink and lose disgracefully, and the fans will only console themselves with “Runge raus!!” chants.

Sportfreunde Lotte - Wuppertaler SV 3:5 (1:2)

Attendance: 920 (connectM-Arena)

1:0 Wingerter (7.)
1:1 Zieba (21.)
1:2 Landers (25.)
1:3 M. Lorenz (49., own goal)
1:4 Zieba (53.)
2:4 Kotuljac (74.)
3:4 Engelmann (76., penalty rebound)
3:5 Quotschalla (90. + 3)  

LOTTE:

Buchholz -
Grieneisen, Dal. Gataric, Czyszczon, Zinke -
Wingerter, Zech       -
Loose , M. Lorenz    -
Engelmann, Kotuljac    

Subs:
Schlösser (46., Dal. Gataric)
Assauer (67., Zech)
Maddente  (71., Wingerter)

Trainer: Walpurgis

WUPPERTAL:

Semmler -
El Hammouchi, Flottmann, F. Haas, Herzenbruch    -
Landers, Fleßers, Moosmayer, Baltes    -
Zieba         -
Knappmann  

Subs:

Schlieter (58., Baltes)
Quotschalla (74., Landers)
Meier (86., Knappmann)

Trainer: Bruns

Back in the “day”, there was a San Francisco rock band called “The Tubes” who had a semi-hit entitled “White Punks on Dope”. I can’t remember much of the song, but for some reason it reminded me of WSV…

Anyway, in K-town, it was going to be a showdown between the Regionalliga’s top gunmen, FCK’s Andrew Wooten and WSV’s Christian Knappmann. It turned out to be a non-starter, as Wooten played for FCK’s Bundesliga squad on Saturday, and therefore was scratched. Knappmann seized the moment with a brilliant second half display of 4 goals, and with 24 reigns supreme over all 4th division in Germany.

WSV came out strong, pressing hard. Especially attacking midfielder Maciej Zieba looked good, one of his better performances. Despite several chances, no scoring in the first half, but things immediately heated up after the restart. FCK drew first blood, as Steven Zellner dribbled through the sleeping WSV defense and knocked home. But WSV didn’t cave in like they usually did, and a nice cross by Tom Moosmayer was headed home by Knappmann. Just a couple minutes later he was fould in the box, and put home the penalty. A few minutes more, a carbon copy of the first: Mossmayer cross, Knappmann header, goal. Finally, to cap off a crazy 10 minutes, this time the cross from Sven Landers, and another Knappmann strike.

A surprisingly decent WSV performance against a half-way decent opponent.

1. FC Kaiserslautern II	 - 	Wuppertaler SV	 2:4 (0:0)

Attendance: 320 (Fritz-Walter-Stadion)

1:0 Zellner (59.) 	  
1:1 Knappmann (63.) 
1:2 Knappmann (65., penalty) 
1:3 Knappmann (71.) 
1:4 Knappmann (74.) 
2:4 Freyer (88.) 


KAISERSLAUTERN II:

Keilmann - 
Becker    , Orban , Modica    , Heintz    - 
Lindner , Linsmayer - 
Saiti , Zellner     , Himmel - 
Freyer    

Subs:
Rizzuto (46., Heintz)
Grammel (73., Becker)
Lensch  (76., Rizzuto)
 
Trainer: Schwartz


WUPPERTAL:

Klafflsberger - 
El Hammouchi , Flottmann , F. Haas , Herzenbruch - 
Landers    , Fleßers , Moosmayer , Baltes       - 
Zieba - 
Knappmann 

Subs:
Meier (81., Baltes)
Zimmermann (86., Landers)
                
Trainer: Bruns

WSV dicked around in Elversberg. Coach Bruns moved folks around, given some injuries and the opportunity to look at some youngsters. Reserve GK Martin Klafflsberger looked pretty decent. Christian Knappmann nailed his 20th in the nets, which leads all Regionalligen. But WSV couldn’t really get much of and edge, and soon after the Knappmann goal, SVE was equal through a strike by Luxembourg international Marcel Deville.

Overall, yet another poor outing in a crap season by WSV.

SV Elversberg - Wuppertaler SV 1:1 (0:0)

Attendance: 250 (Waldstadion an der Kaiserlinde)

0:1  Knappman (51.)
1:1  Deville (59.)

ELVERSBERG:
Kuhn -
Wolf, Pellowski , Fernandes, Schwall -
Grimm, Reiß    -
D. Jungwirt , M. Schug -
Krasniqi, Deville       

Subs:
Marte (82., Grimm)
Billick (86., Deville)

Trainer: Kiefer

WUPPERTAL:
Klafflsberger -
El Hammouchi, Flottmann, Herzenbruch, Moosmayer -
Landers, Zieba, F. Haas, Baltes    -
B. Abelski, Knappmann    

Subs:

Zimmermann  (73., Landers)
Asaeda (80., Baltes)
Meier (87., B. Abelski)

Trainer: Bruns