Cologne had not only built up a sizeable half-time lead, but had in fact jumped into first place on the Blitztabelle (live table). However, this being the 2. Bundesliga, not everything went completely according to plan.
Nürnberg bit back after the break thanks to a Flatterball (a ball moving in the air) from Jens Castrop deceiving keeper Marvin Schwäbe.
It didn’t impact the outcome of the game, but at around the same time, news came through that Elversberg had forged ahead in Braunschweig and went on to record a 3-0 win. Little Elversberg from the Saarland, and not Cologne, therefore topped this madcap division at the end of Sunday business.
The fact is “business” is probably the wrong word. It doesn’t feel like business because fans still stand at the hub of what makes the 2. Bundesliga tick. Without them, there would be no heart or soul, just an event missing context. Fans are active participants in the drama, not customers filling in two hours of their lives and dancing to the tune of the wealthy and their whims.
All game long, the Cologne fans in the Südkurve and their counterparts in the visiting Nürnberger-Block generated booming noise but never insulted each other, knowing they are not the respective enemy, but similar members of society who happen to follow a different club.
Frequently, as a commentator on German football, I get asked on social media how one gets tickets to games. The answer is, it’s far from straightforward. Memberships and season ticket bases remain colossal, and tickets are kept at a fair price so as to preserve the spirit of community intrinic to football up and down the Bundesrepublik.
All I can say is, if you are planning a German football trip, try as hard as you can to attend a home match involving one of the many 2. Bundesliga Traditionsvereine. You’ll come out of it better versed in why a German football atmosphere is distinct from the norms in other countries. Why political issues — local, national, international — are not to be shunned.
Also, ESPN+ offers viewers two games from the 2. Liga every week, which is two more than many rights-holding broadcasters worldwide show.
Die beste 2. Liga Europas (the best second division in Europe) is not stretching things if we’re looking for a new headline description for a league that personifies on-pitch chaos.
