TeBe Party Army

E- Block International - A Weblog for "Away Fans" of Tennis Borussia Berlin.

Monday, September 25, 2006

The 'Kobold' Is Back...



I'm back in Berlin, for good this time, and I had hoped just in time to witness TeBe FINALLY getting out of this crappy German 4th division. But it looks like I may have arrived too late...

Some other TeBe fans call me 'Kobold', or lucky charm (actually, leprechaun). It all stems from the 2004/5 season, when I first properly started following TeBe. I arrived in Berlin that season in March, TeBe won the first 10 games in a row that I attended, won the Berlin Cup and for a brief spell looked like challenging for promotion. Some misguided eejits made the link between my presence and the team's success, and Kobold was born. Same thing happened last season when I got back for the Berlin Cup final, and we managed to fluke a win right at the end of extra time.

Typical football fans. Superstitious, fanatical, illogical, deluded. Now they think that my arrival is going to kickstart our promotion drive. Even though we're already 8 points behind Babelsberg and not playing well. Yesterday's win only confirmed Kobold status for some. I can't even point out this fact to others, for fear of ruining the magic.

Anyway, from my point of view, TeBe didn't play that well, it was a poor game with lots of stray passes, not much action, but we still deserved to win. A shame that we didn't get to play in the nice ground, and 7 EUR admission was a bit of a joke, but 2 EUR for a big beer was great (TeBe take note). Nice to see everyone again, and don't fear, the Kobold is here!

Photo Love Story: Ludwigsfelder FC Away

6th Matchday | Sunday, 24.09.2006 | 14.00 | Waldstadion

Ludwigsfelder FC - Tennis Borussia

Ludwigsfelder FC 0:1 (0:1) TeBe

Referee: Inka Müller (Stendal).
Goal: 0:1 (32., Savran)


After checking out the photos of the Waldstadion, I was excited to get down to what was a new ground for me. TeBe had been unlucky there in recent seasons and on our current run of disappointing form this was going to be a tense occasion. This tension was not shared by the Ludwigsfelder staff who went for a 4-3-2-1 formation: 4 guys needed at the back to play disco hits megamixes from the back of a van at half time, 3 guys for the dispensing of beer and grilling of sausages, 2 students as security on the "door" and 1 lady in the only entrance kiosk open serving about 1 customer an hour and thoroughly checking every piece of paperwork used to claim a reduction in a stupidly expensive entrance price. She caught us out with our scam but whilst saving the club the 3 Euros reduction that is only allowed to students who "study in Germany" and not those visiting, her speed of service probably forced at least 20 people to give up and go home. Overall balance minus 137 Euro for the club. Great. And we missed the first 10 minutes of the match too.

The Match Report:

- Quite a dull affair really as the scoreline reflects. After the last few matches TeBe needed to sort out at the back and keep a clean sheet. Thats exactly what they did and not too much more apart from the one necessary goal.

- Thiam was back in a more defensive role and that suits him better I think with his height coming up front for corners. He has the pace we need to get back to deal with counter attacks.

- We made some nice wing play and there were some good crosses in, TeBe always looking the most likely to score with the only real chances either coming from free kicks or nicely saved from Manuel in goal.

- The scoreline kept me on edge until the end but, although it was disappointing not to have put in three and closed up shop, our defensive play showed a positive that had been missing for a few matches. Fancy footwork doesnt guarantee points in the lower leagues, solid defence and a goal does - even if it is boring to watch sometimes.

- I was impresed again by Griesert and Eckl and Petrowsky seemed to do well as captain.


Photo Love Story:



Well after being seduced by the photos of Waldstadion, it was disappointing to be put on the grass pitch in the wood behind the real stadium. Good condition but a let down, especially after having to walk past the beautiful stadium to get there.



We had a lot of nice crosses and a fair few corners and with our height in the area it was a let down not to have scored from them.




Our defence worked together well and seemed to be much more organised that the last few games.




Manuel made a few cracking saves and kept a clean sheet, the first this season in the league.



A good match was had by the referee, Inka Müller, although some of the older TeBe pensioner fans will perhaps never understand that women can be just as good at refereeing as men.




After half time the fans held up a banner to comment on our chances of going up this season: Hope Only Dies At The Very End!




And here in a close up form. Thanks and respect go to Bart for organising that one. Well said and very fitting for our current situation.



The game over and a victory carried over the 90 minutes without conceding any goals. An important 3 points and an important boost for our defence.



Time to leave the luxury that is Ludwigsfelder and off to the station with a heavy police escort of two friendly police guys accompanying us to make sure we didnt get lost.



Often taunted for being the "gay" team by other fans, we now have a great new banner with Sponge Bob on it. Hats off to Bart again I believe.


The Results:

Ludwigsfelder FC - Tennis Borussia 0 : 1
Türkiyemspor Berlin - Germania Schöneiche 1 : 2
SV Babelsberg 03 - Berlin Ankaraspor 2 : 1
Motor Eberswalde - Lichterfelder FC 2 : 0
SV Yesilyurt 73 - Hansa Rostock II 2 : 1
BFC Preussen - MSV Neuruppin 4 : 0
BFC Dynamo - Torgelower SV Greif 0 : 0
FC Schönberg 95 - TSG Neustrelitz 1 : 0



Certainly Neuruppin arent looking too hot at the moment, Babelsberg are looking formidable on paper but apparently arent playing the most amazing football ever and our opponents next week (Motor Eberswalde) apparently suck. This leaves the table like this:


1 SV Babelsberg 03 6 6 0 0 12 : 1 11 18
2 Berlin Ankaraspor 6 4 1 1 15 : 6 9 13
3 Türkiyemspor Berlin 6 3 2 1 10 : 8 2 11
4 Hansa Rostock II 6 3 1 2 12 : 8 4 10
5 Tennis Borussia 6 3 1 2 13 : 10 3 10
6 SV Yesilyurt 73 6 3 1 2 12 : 9 3 10
7 Lichterfelder FC 6 2 2 2 13 : 9 4 8
8 Germania Schöneiche 6 2 2 2 4 : 6 -2 8
9 Motor Eberswalde 6 2 2 2 4 : 10 -6 8
10 Torgelower SV Greif 6 2 1 3 9 : 12 -3 7
11 Ludwigsfelder FC 6 2 1 3 6 : 9 -3 7
12 FC Schönberg 95 6 2 0 4 6 : 8 -2 6
13 BFC Dynamo 6 1 3 2 7 : 10 -3 6
14 TSG Neustrelitz 6 1 2 3 4 : 5 -1 5
15 MSV Neuruppin 6 1 1 4 4 : 12 -8 4
16 BFC Preussen 6 1 0 5 10 : 18 -8 3


Any talk of promotion has to be kept to a wisper at the minute with Babelsberg 8 points ahead of us still.

Next weeks fixtures are:


Tennis Borussia - Motor Eberswalde _ : _
Türkiyemspor Berlin - SV Yesilyurt 73 _ : _
Hansa Rostock II - BFC Preussen _ : _
Berlin Ankaraspor - FC Schönberg 95 _ : _
Lichterfelder FC - SV Babelsberg 03 _ : _
MSV Neuruppin - BFC Dynamo _ : _
Torgelower SV Greif - Ludwigsfelder FC _ : _
Germania Schöneiche - TSG Neustrelitz _ : _




And our match will be on the Saturday at 2pm.

7th Matchday | Sa, 30.09.2006 | 14.00 | Mommsenstadion
Tennis Borussia - Motor Eberswalde



See you there.