Out Of The Cup, Into The Fire

BFV-Cup: Hertha Zehlendorf - TeBe 1:0 (1:0)

Squad: Hampf - Duygun, Thiam, Eckl - Weidner, Schmidt, Kadow (62. Kollmorgen), Thomson, Griesert (80. Perez) - Savran, Fuß.

Goals: 1:0 (14.) Stingl.

Ref: Felix Zwayer (Hertha BSC).

Picture source

A shot that hits the crossbar, bounces on or over the line and then bounces out again has a name in German. It is called a "Wembley Goal". The fact that a) the 1966 goal was clearly in b) the Germans would have lost anyways and c) Germany have won the World Cup so many times that this once is pretty petty has not stopped the Wembley goal becoming a cult topic in Germany. Obviously this goal 40 years ago in London was such a blow to the German psyche that the phrase is used to describe a goal that is a difficult call and is usually used to suggest that it was not actually in. This makes it hard to write a match report on the 1-0 cup loss against Hertha 03 last week because firstly neither myself or Jim were at the match and secondly because the other reports are tending to suggest the goal was not actually in and therefore a "Wembley Tor".

The defeat means that as we thought the season was all over, well it certainly is now!

TeBe are too far behind Babelsberg to really even bother applying for the licence to the next league required in Germany to go up. The only remote chance left to us is that the local council in Babelsberg still havent got round to filling in their paperwork for the extension of the flood lights at the Karli. They still have a while to do this and so this straw probably isnt worth clutching at. Save collecting a petition from local residents against the extension plans I see no hope and if we did that then we really would deserve a good kicking from our friends in Babelsberg.

With promotion hopes dashed and our 2 and half years unbeaten cup run over, the season is about as exciting as a garden gnome owners' convention. The players that came to us in order to get a foot in the door of higher level football will now have to go: We cant pay their wages and they should be looking further afield now for their chance. The squad will have to be cut, sponsors are not happy, the management are under fire and the fans will probably start setting priorities in their lives that mean a rainy friday night match against a team in the Oberliga will probably have to miss out to more exciting activities.

The current split in the fan scene isnt going to help with the more vocal (at least on the Internet) members of Block E calling to spend the rest of the season in a party mood. This call for action probably intended to boost optimism and keep fans coming to the matches will undoubtedly been seen as a threat rather than a promise to the majority of TeBe fans who come to Tennis to actually watch the football. But anyone wishing to seriously discuss this issue should avoid using the fan forum Lila Kanal unless they want to be banned as the forum really isnt designed for such things. Alternatively there are face to face meetings, but critics of the current situation will probably have little success at the fan meeting in January either. What a thoroughly depressing situation.