Germania Schoeneiche 0:1 TeBe

Jahnstadion, Saturday 18th November 2006

Team: Greil - Schalle, Thiam, Below - Duygun, Scholl, Thomson (Lemcke), Petrowsky (Schmidt), Weidner - Savran (Galic), Fuß.

Goal: Fuss (30)

Attendance: ?

TeBe came away with the three points but were a bit lucky to do so. Yet again, we dominated the first half, then either took our foot off the gas or were undone by a lack of fitness in the second. This could be this time partly due to the fact that the impressive and motvated captain Petrowsky had to come off midway throught the first half injured, and Ryan Thomson was substituted fairly early into the second half, puffed out due to lack of match fitness. The loss of these two combative tempo-dictating players was certainly felt.

It was a good day out. Doughnut Boy wasn't well, so no beer for him, but I was prepared with some tasty Czech beers (more Berliner Pilsner was acquired en route). We congregated at Ostkreuz at 11.30, two distinctive groups forming on the platform, the 'ultras' and the casuals (I was among the latter). People were a little edgy, as FC Union were due to play just after us, and our journey to Schoeneiche took us past the stop for Union. There's been a bit of previous between the teams and when you consider that they have an average attendance of 5000 and we have an average core travelling support of 40, the tension was understandable. Only 2 plain-clothed policemen were in attendance, and they advised us to not get off at the same station on the way back, as a huge group of Dynamo Berlin and Union were likely to be in attendance at the same time. We'd met early enough that there were only a few Union fans on our train out of Berlin, and there were no incidents.

We then had to change and wait for a tram to the ground. I thought this was one of those joke old-school trams that people pay lots of money to travel on to relive the good old days, but it was actually OUR tram :)



We had to wait for a while, in the middle of nowhere, then then party tram set off. Through a forest, I've never been in a tram that has travelled so far without stopping. The locals must have been bemused by a motley crew of football nuts, drinking away and singing stupid songs. On arrival in Schoeneiche, plenty of NPD stickers, plenty of police cars, barely a soul to be seen, a typical East German Saturday scene, very idyllic. This was another one of those games that had ridiculously been adjudged a 'security game', persumably because of Union' s proximity and the potential for trouble with them. The police were fairly stand-offish though, the only contact with them being a body check before entering the ground. We needed a couple of stewards for the match, and four reprobates volunteered, probably the best (and default) choices in Joerk, Benny, Endi and Doughnut Boy, default as they were probably the only four without alcohol in them! LWOB was the other candidate, but, with respect young man, not a serious one. Anyway, they ended up doing jack sh it anyway, just sat and watched the game and probably only did it to get in for free!

We were probably about 45 in the 'Away End'. This was one of the worse Oberliga grounds, pretty but with no terraces (grass banks) and one portaloo for all the away fans. No beer during the game for me, think it was 2EUR for a 0,4l, alright, and it was 3 EUR in (concessionary), good. Check out the, shall we say, 'primitive', stadium announcer's box, and the highly sophistiated audio equipment (which we couldn't hear on our side btw, quelle surprise :) )





Thanks to Endi for the photos.


Anyway, to the game. Like I said, TeBe battled hard during the first half, didn't really create a lot but the will, engagement and commitment were there. Players of the half, and indeed of the match for me were the two wingers/ wing-backs, Jonas Weidner and Erol Duygun, back in the side again after a while on the bench. Jonas was skilful and tricky, giving the full-back a headache, and Erol often bombed forward and linked up well with the midfield. In addition, Abdoul Thiam was immense again, an almost cert for player of the season already, and I'll be amazed if he's still playing in this league next season. Anyway, the goal came after 30 minutes, good interplay in the midfield sent Duygun away, he beat his man on the right flank with pace, and whipped in a great near-post cross which Fuss, on fire at the moment, headed in.

The second half was more edgy, as I said, we took the foot off the gas, intentionally or not, and almost paid the price. Keeper Manu Greil made a great save 5 minutes into the second at point-blank range from a header, and 2 minutes from the end, Schoeneiche's striker was through one-on-one with the keeper, but somehow managed to scuff his shot wide when trying to lob Manu, when it was easier to score.

The team did the usual 'La Ola' after the win, though seemed a bit reluctant to me:



The support was good, especially in the second half when the team needed us, "Auf geht's TeBe schiess ein Tor" [Come on TeBe, score a goal] seemingly the new fan favourite, much to the disdain of Doughnut Boy. Fotuna Adrian, from Cologne, Rheinland, was acting the giddy goat yet again, singing stupid songs against me because of my England jacket, so he got the appropriate response of "Auslaender rein, Rheinlaender raus!" ["Foreigners in, Rheinlanders out!] (again, the rhyme sounds better in German). We also had some new young support in the form of a 6 year-old girl who I think was a member of the Scholl clan. O.Luv made this cool video of a bit of the second half, I'm at the front in the navy coat, check out the "Only One Team In Berlin" song:



The trip back into Berlin was fun too. Party Tram with a few pissed TeBelers, then when our train arrived in Koepenick, hundreds of Unioner got on. Cue all our boys and girls moving down together into one half of a carriage, posturing and singing away provocatively. I didn't manage to get across in time, the carriage was heaving with Unioners, but I wanted to stay in among them anyway as an unidentifiable casual, and see what they said. It was quite funny, it could have kicked off in a big way but Denis and Doughnut Boy were the first line of defence, talked with the fans immediately in front of them, until Denis started the singing as well with "Lila Weiss ist schwul!" [purple-white is gay], some of the Unioners thought their boys started singing it and joined in! :) The reactions were funny. Some shouting 'purple-white shite!' some with hate-filled faces, and some not understanding why they hated each other so much when the real enemy should be Hertha BSE. At the other end of the carriage were 5 nasty-looking huge skinheaded Nazis, Thor Steinar clothes et al, but they didn't seem interested in us at all. Probably preparing themselves for Dynamo at Ostkreuz.

TeBe really are on a roll at the moment, that's 10 league games unbeaten (9 since the Kobold's been back) and no goals conceded in 2. However, it was again rendered academic as Babelsberg won ANOTHER game luckily 1-0. Their record is played 13 won 12, amazing stuff, and good luck to them. We're not going to catch them.

German match report hopefully soon from Eberswalder Tennisfan. Big thanks to Denis for the great photos. No match report from me next week as I'll be in Sweden. Doughnut Boy will be doubtless too lazy to do one. Lazy git.