E- Block International -
A Weblog for "Away Fans" of Tennis Borussia Berlin.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
German Cup First Round Draw
TeBe vs. Energie Cottbus , Mommsenstadion, 9/10 August 2008
As Bungle said on Lila Kanal, good and bad. Should be a big crowd, a kind of Berlin/Brandenburg Derby character to it, bit of previous between the clubs, should generate plenty of local interest (RBB (regional TV channel) might even take an interest, Premiere (German Sky) are showing all cup games live). And we may have just a wee fighting chance.
On the other hand, plenty of scum element can be expected, Cottbus have a kind of friendship with Union, and some very unsavoury elements in their support. Plus, realistically we have no chance. Still, a least a Bundesliga team and it stirs the blood much more than previous draws.
So TeBe gave their fans a conciliatory end to what has been a bitterly disappointing season with a comfortable win against the surprise lower-league finalists. Halil Savran was the hero yet again. He's announced that he's leaving TeBe, as expected, to go to Dynamo Dresden. I can only wish him all the best, he's been by far our best player over the last 2 seasons, deserves a crack at a higher level, and will be sorely missed. His reaction after scoring the 2 goals should tell you how he feels about the club.
A poor consolation to a very poor season, but a day out in Mauerpark and a final nonetheless, I would let our Seconds play if it weren't a bit of an insult to our Union-defeating opponents, Hermsdorf:
I won't be there, too expensive to get to Berlin from Aarhus, so Doughnut Boy will have to keep us informed *sob*.
02.05.08 TeBe 1 Hansa II 6 (SIX, in true videprinter style)
09.05.08 Greifswald 2 TeBe 1
TeBe tonight were mathematically relegated to the restructured 5th division (ie they've no hope no of staying at the same level, league 4, by finishing in the top four). The abuse on Lila Kanal has been flying all week (bunch of effing mercenaries, a load of characterless shitebags etc) after the absolute nadir of another 5-goal home drubbing, now despair and resignation is kicking in. You know when someone like Endi is thinking of packing it in that things really are THAT bad.
Cup Final's on 4th June, I'm thinking of flying over for it, not so much to see the team but rather to see old friends and maybe say farewell. I can't see myself ever living in Berlin again, and there's a good possibility that there may be no TeBe soon.
Great result, not so great performance. Apparently. But that matters not, as TeBe take all the points in a veritable 6-pointer against the team 2nd in the league, a team that had recently beaten both Hertha II and Hansa II.
Jubilant Party Army
Schrödter apparently played well, Fuss was back on form apart from his corners, and Timo made some important saves, but apparently Tuerkiyem played conservatively for the draw and it was a poor game. Another downside is that most of the sides in the top 7 all won. The table's looking quite tight, here it is:
Apparently we dominated until BFC had a man sent off in the second half, whereupon they came back into the game, until a foul in the box let hot-shot Halil score his 274th of the season (well almost!)
In any case we march on, a lage police presence prevented the Nasen from attacking our fans, and Sascha Kadow is officially useless. If TeBe win the semi, they may even have the privilege of the Kobold's presence (record: 2 Berlin Cup finals, 2 wins) at the final!
Attendance: 388 (way down from 1700 2 seasons ago, have the Torgelower public lost interest in the Oberliga and their team?)
So TeBe get the second half of the season off to a great start. Apparently we didn't play that well, the 3 goals we conceded were avoidable and defensive mistakes, but to score 4 away from home, (and we had 2 ruled out for offside) bodes well. Unfortunately, most of our rivals won too, which leaves the table looking like this:
Next up, BFC Dynamo in JSP in the Cup on Wednesday, should be a cracker, wish I could be there, just round the corner from home and all that. Plenty of necessary security arrangements in place to ensure TeBe fans' safety.
Yet again, sorry for the lack of updates, Doughnut Boy is in Canada with his lady, snowboarding, and I'm in the French Alps, sans lady, also snowboarding. Thus we've both kind of lost touch.
What can I tell you? I'm sure Norbert can help, but in the last 2 matches before the far-too-long Winter Break (which is still ongoing and has been since the beginning of December), TeBe notched a very promising 1-1 draw with fellow promotion chasers, Hertha Amateurs, despite being down to 10 men for much of the match, then, in a situation very reminiscent of last season, we recorded a very disappointing 2-1 away loss to Optik Rathenow in the last game before the winter break, which somewhat put the brakes on our promotion challenge. The table looks like this:
In other news, there has been some activity during the transfer window. Again, I'll need Norbert and Mr. Bungle to fill me in, but we have signed a striker, Danny Kukulies, from 1. FC Magdeburg, and a few others who I can't be bothered looking for.
There has been much transfer speculation around our best player, someone who is shining again this season, Halil Savran. Hertha, FC Union and Babelsberg 03 have all said to be interested in him, but it looks as if he's staying put until the end of the season, when I think his contract runs out. Much will depend on whether we can do the unlikely and clinch promotion as to whether he stays or not.
I don't think we'll get promoted. A bleak future lies ahead. But then again, I am an infamous pessimistic.
As our man in Berlin has still yet to be spotted among the Party Army this season due to boycott/ lethargy/ lack of Hancot the motivator (my mate in Belfast has made it to EVERY Linfield game since I've been back, already quadrupling his total for last season!), I guess it's up to me to keep any occasional English readers what's happening with the best team in Berlin.
Well, TeBe have managed, with their new/interim management team, to manoeuvre themselves into a good challenging position in the table in the past month with a series of fine performances. In chronological order then, a VERY brief summary:
SV Green Table (so called cos of their propensity to appeal and gain points off the pitch,)apparently are going to withdraw from the league any time soon, or merge with BAK, which could prove a big disadvantage as they took points off our promotion-chasing rivals Dynamo, which they'll get back, putting them further ahead of us...
The biggie, and apparently of the best matches many TeBe fans had ever witnessed. Coming back from 2 down against the league leaders, then to lead 4-3 before a late equaliser would seem to indicate a pivotal moment in TeBe's season, and augurs well for challenges ahead.
A well-deserved and hard-fought win against a team that was going well in the league, apparently TeBe always looked in control, especially after the 2 early goals. nb: NO goal this time from Hot-shot Halil!
A veritable massacre from a rampant TeBe side that could have hit double figures on what has become a happy hunting ground in recent times for both players and fans. This result lifted TeBe to 5th in the table. This is how things look at the top of the table in mid-November, shortly before the Winter break:
Hertha (A) Played 11 Won 10 Points 31
Hansa (A) Played 11 Won 8 points 26
Tuerkiyemspor Played 12 won 8 points 25
BFC Dynamo Played 12 won 7 points 24
TeBe Played 12 won 7 points 23
Greifswalder Played 12 won 7 points 23
So although it looks as if 2nd place and thus automatic qualification for the new Regionaliga is possible, I still feel we'll fall back late on, as we always do, that Hansa are too strong, and that 3rd place is what we should be aiming for and will be scrapping for with BFC and the surprise package, Tuerkiyemspor. Who knows, if we keep this up and get our injured players back, maybe we might push on.
The only dark spot on the horizon is that clubs are starting to circle around Hotshot Halil, including 1FC Union. No wonder. If we can keep him (fit) until at least the end of the season, we have a big chance.
Attendance: 1460 (not bad, esp considering the 18.00 Friday kick-off)
This really was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Drawing 0-0 with Schoeneiche last weekend was embarrassing enough, but losing 1-0 at home to a team that played the last half-hour with 10 men, leaving us with 4 points from 5 games against supposedly 'weak' opposition, sealed it for me. Something HAS to change, on a sporting level, things cannot go on like this.
Even Mr. 'Glass is half-full' Norbert has given up, all in the space of 2 weeks. From this:
But one has to confess, that the fighting spirit of TeBe - especially after the equalizer have been scored - was alive and kickin´.
The hope is still there. Be more optimistic Mr. Hancot! It´s not over yet! Well, o.k. - "yet"...
Fact is: the next two matches - away vs Germania "defense" Schoeneiche and home vs BFC Dynamo - will be very crucial and give us the direction of TeBe in the months to come.
I shall wait until the fifth matchday before I´m going to state an analysis on the Lila-Kanal and before I´m going to give you an answer whats in the nasty, half empty glass inside.
Till then - always hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
To this:
No more reports on the last two matches?
Well done.
There is nothing much to report about anyway.
Draw to Germania Schöneiche. Defeat to BFC Dynamo. Last one was really nasty.
There is nuffin. No play. No real football. No good defense. No efficient Midfield. No passionate offense. Nuffin.
On the terraces we did our best. But its very hard, when there is no response at all on the pitch...
The coach is to be fired.
Maybe half of the team (at least) is to be sacked also...
The glass is not half empty. Currently there is not even one drop in it...
Maybe I exagerrated my disappointments, but - you know - one can hardly be objective, when you´re team is losing like this ...
To give you some idea of the reaction among TeBe fans in Berlin having to witness this embarrassment, I've translated a few posts, apologies for the poor translations, but thanks to Endi for his (angry) thoughts:
To all of you that haven't grasped it yet:
Only the first THREE qualify for the new 3-way Regional League, where we could play against Braunschweig etc. The rest (ie us) will then play effectively in the 5th Division, in the Oberliga. We plummeted to the 4th division for the first time a few years ago, and soon we'll be even lower. To all of you who say it's not over yet: who exactly ARE we going to win against, if we can't beat rotten teams like Schoeneiche and BFC?
In the first half, it was quite ok, like in Schoeneiche. But then? We've a man more, and you couldn't even notice it, not at ALL. The only one showing anything like fighting spirit (like in Schoeneiche) was Petrowsky. No chances, no fight, nothing. If they don't know how important it is to win against direct opponents (and, by some distance, the most unpleasant club in the league) in the fight for qualification, then I don't know anymore. [a propos BFC fans] How often do we have to watch this cheering mass of idiots and PM and consorts in he Casino afterwards playing Bertie Big Bollocks? And whoever claps that team (with the exception of Greil) after that performance is beyond help.
The only positive is that the Division 2 Treasure AG definitely won't be seen in Division 5.
With regard to our footballing deficiencies, Mr. TeBe, Bungle, writes:
[In contrast to Babelsberg, who have shown an ever-increasing improvement in their football, and a fight-to-the-death spirit], With us, we play at a snail's pace, no movement in the game, inexplicable runs into nothing. It is shocking to see how badly the wheels have come off within the space of a few years, even if our 2-1 in the pre-season made us believe we were capable of something more.
At the moment things look very bleak. The team, in its current state, is nowehere near ready to challenge for promotion. On the contrary, our goal looks more and more unreachable with every game.
And more, this time thanks to Kelte for pointing out tactical deficiencies:
Once again, I only saw the one thing:
Eleven players, who more or less harmlessly and planlessly (re-)acted against a team who played better with 10 men than with 11.
System/Tactics = non-existent Effectiveness = no sign of it Attitude = apparent only in a few Discipline = non-existent Strength of game = enough for Oberliga also-rans. At best.
I can't help thinking of the film "Groundhog Day", everything has repeated itself again, but at least that was a fiction; with TeBe,it appears that learning from one's mistakes is also a fiction, except that we see the reality of it on a weekly basis before our very eyes...
What more can I say? Truly, once again, I thank my lucky stars that I'm not in Berlin this year, Linfield might be playing poorly, but they aren't an embarrassment like this current TeBe 1st team is. You could argue, possibly with justification, that TeBe has reached its true level, the support has dwindled, the money isn't really there anymore, that our expectations are just too high. But TeBe is a 'Traditionsverein', with a rich history and, at the moment, probably have the 3rd most-expensive squad in the league. That we are losing, in a clueless and predictable fashion, against Mickey Mouse teams and clubs is a singular embarrassment.
And I'm afraid that, in my book, the trainer has to shoulder the blame for this. If you read back through the archive of this blog, Dejan's tactical competence has been questioned at regular intervals, but I mostly let him off, especially at the end of last season, when we had to resort to playing goalkeepers outfield. But this team has shown no improvement at all despite the stability at the top of the hierarchy, in fact we've gone backwards. Like Kelte said, certain themes keep re-emerging time and again:
1. Shocking starts to the season that leave us with too much to do, meaning that the mid-season rallies are too little, too late. 2. An inability to win the bread-and-butter games against so-called 'weaker' opposition (and perversely, the ability to raise our game in the 'big' games, see both SVB03 games last season). This speaks volumes about the lack of willingness for the fight among our players, but also leaves accusations pointed at the manager about lack of motivation. 3. Our inability to play a quick incisive passing game. Our hoofball tactics against Oberliga also-rans. Our over-reliance on Savran. Playing Kadow again. (I would even say getting Gottlieb back in). Getting overrun down the flanks. Quite frankly, our tactics and system seem to be non-existent. 4. The amount of times we play poorly in the second half, and concede late goals. Thsi surely points to a lack of fitness, so the training must be lacking. It also points to a lack of bottle among the players.
I could go on, but it would depress me too much. My patience has run out with Dejan Raickovic. Really nice guy, A TeBe legend, but he can't cut it as an OL trainer, in my opinion. We need to act NOW to save something from this season. Dejan's now screwed up 2 potential title-winning bids. No doubt many players need to be moved on, but until this happens, we need a new trainer who can get the most out of those players there now, until the next transfer window opens.
It's times like these that an Exile's life can have its rewards.
...and things go from bad to worse for TeBe, a team who are notoriously slow starters. Well, dropping 6 points already against 2 teams we should beat on paper does not bode well for the coming 10 months.
Yet again, our only performer was allegedly Halil Savran; our playmaker 'dervish', Ergidi, was man-marked by an enforcer and was thus rendered anonymous; misplaced passes allez, no play down the flanks, diagonal balls though the middle cutting holes in our new defence (Thiam still injured, Below had to go off early), not enough working back from the wingers and strikers, etc etc (thanks to Lila Kanal, I've paraphrased some of the comments).
3 games in and we're already 6 points behind the leaders and the 'stay-in-the-same-league' positions. A sorry picture, similar to last season when we were realistically out of the picture by the end of September, is emerging. Good old TeBe.
I await with baited breath for match reports from Doughnut Boy, who's soon back in Berlin. I imagine he'll be none-too-keen on going along regularly to watch bog-standard Oberliga dross. I don't blame him. I'm kinda glad I'm not going to be in Berlin this year.
Good old TeBe, reliable as ever. From last week's euphoria of a 4-0 home win over Torgelow with 10 men and Savran, last year's POTY, scoring 4 headers, to a deeply disappointing 1-0 defeat away to Neustrelitz, a big let down for a relatively large travelling support of 40+ fans. No cohesion, poor passing, some 100% chances missed and no real commitment. Not good reading on Lila Kanal.
Qualifying for the new Oberliga (we must finish 3rd or above this season) is going to be damn hard. Hertha and Hansa Roctock Amateurs have already signalled their intentions by winning both their openers, and there's a lot of teams in the mix with the potential to come third, not least BAK, and even Dynamo. TeBe can't afford many more such reverses. I already have a sense of foreboding...
TeBe Party Army On Tour: Antira Football Tournament, Hamburg, June 2007
The Party Army was back in action after a successful outing (hehe) at the Respect Gaymes last weekend (Hancot was in Spain, hence no match report). This time, we took part again in the Antira St. Pauli Tournament. I was really looking forward to this, as I really enjoyed my first one, 2 years ago at the Antira St. Pauli 2005 (link to my report of that tournament).
We set off mid-Friday afternoon, with two Israelis, Eyal and Oded in tow, who would prove to be among the stars of the tournament, playing it in the true spirit (but with maybe a bit too much skill for the normal participant ;) ), I lost count of the number of teams they played for, and the number of goals they scored (and the number of chances Oded missed :D ) The journey was relaxed as we had to wait for another Israeli, Bilouh the tent-killer, in Hamburg, and we got stuck into the beers and exchanged gestures on the Autobahn with our Babelszwerge friends; the heavy rain en route however was a portent of what was to come...
We got there fairly late, at around 9, to find the party already in full swing and the grounds (St. Pauli's training ground) already well-filled with tents, many more than 2 years ago. As it was still light and not raining too much, we pitched our tents (hehe) and I suddenly realised that the kiddy tent my parents had got me 16 years ago wasn't going to cut the mustard. At all. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it was the smallest and most rubbish tent in the whole place.
Off we headed to the clubhouse to meet old friends, make new ones (a big hello to Sheff U Gareth and the 2 crazy girls from Finland who hitchhiked the whole way 'just for the fun'!) and get drunk on Astra. Some cheesy music was supplied, but I was there for the beer. Then the rain REALLY started coming down. Torrentially, I kid you not. We headed to bed at around 2.30am (I think), Bilouh sleeping chez moi as he'd nowhere else to go, and even in the dark it was clear that pools of water had gathered. He managed to stick it out for 3 hours despite having no sleeping bag and lying on a small stream, then he disappeared. I was soaked and shivered until about 7am, a mop-up with my t-shirt hardly doing any good, then I decided that the clubhouse was a better idea. This guy had the best bed in the house though, on the counter of the outdoor beer stand!
Breakfast of rolls was already being prepared, a few coffees warmed me and woke me up a bit, then i had the misfortune to run into the Sportklub Friedhofstribuene crew (just kidding). Cue rounds of beer and Sekt, and stupid me tried to keep up the drinking pace with Peezn, Wolfi and co, something I'd soon regret...
So, onto the action, to be honest I didn't keep a note of the scores as I usually do, and strangely enough, given my alcohol consumption, I can't even remember a lot of the games, so a big thanks to Endi for providing me with scores:
Saturday:
Group matches:
TeBe Party Army - Herri Norte Taldea / Athletic Bilbao 3:1
Some silky skills on display...
And some poor misses ;)
An astonishing start for the Party Army, a convincing win, something unheard of, good football, ditto, thanks to Matze, Oded, Eyal et moi, although the Bilbaoers were somewhat 'pedestrian'. Z.toni moaned about the substitutions being somewhat chaotic, but he's never happy. We had something like 13 players and at least 4 fans, so I only played for a bit.
TeBe Party Army - VIF Kladen / Valerenga Oslo 2:3
Typical TeBe scene, a mad goalmouth scramble
So we succumbed to the big (drinking) Norwegians, who were weaker than 2 years ago and we could have got a draw if someone had been a bit more clinical (*cough* *Oded*) Their late winning goal had a hint of controversy about it, but as a spectator I saw it going through a hole in the net. Had a good chat with these boys, though one of them later in the Jolly Roger REALLY didn't need to tell me that he'd shit himself during one of the games on the pitch... Oh, and I didn't play this one, wanted some others to play.
TeBe Party Army - Antifa Bergamo / Atalanta Bergamo 2:2
The beautiful slide
The not-so-beautiful slide
We really should have won this, sloppiness causing us to twice throw away a lead. I scored one of the goals of the tournament, if I do say so myself. I ran the length of the pitch down the middle, screaming for Eyal, who had broken through down the right, to knock it into the middle. Cue a cracking cross, a slide from me and a wonderful goal. Cue me being knackered for the rest of the game and substituting myself.
Play-Off: TeBe Party Army - Schwarze Geier / Eintracht Frankfurt 2:0 ? 3:1?
Don't remember too much about this game, we cruised it, Matze mopped everything up in defence and sent balls to all corners of the grounds, and Bart got a bad injury after a clumsy high tackle, the Nike imprint being left in his thigh.
I also played a few times for the Friedhofstribuene, one of these games unfortunately being a heavy defeat to eventual runners-up, St. Pauli Skinheads.
The rest of the games that day, that were due to take place after a break, were called off due to another torrential downpour, so the drinking began in earnest once more. We wanted to go to a talk by an English antifascist about England during and after WW2, but it was packed out, good to see. It was at this stage that my tent finally died a death, Bilouh managing to rip an unfixable hole in it. I was actually relieved, as we'd found a disused house with veranda just behind us, which was a) dry and, err, b) dry.
Dead tent, even more dead next day when scavengers tore it apart for the groundsheet!
The wonderful dry house
We finally got our act together at about 8ish, and after I'd had a bottle of wine, all headed into the centre (well St. Pauli anyway) for some musical entertainment. Imagine our surprise when our train wouldn't move for 20 minutes, and when we got there, lines of riot police had blocked us going anywhere except through an isolated industrial estate. Apparently there was ademo going on nearby at the same time against a Moevenpick restaurant being built in the nearby Schanzenpark, and the police didn't want us joining in.
Welcome to Hamburg
Fine by us, we just wanted a few beers and to play some table football, so we managed to sneak off and eventually find the Jolly Roger, an FC St. Pauli pub, where the Norwegians kept me entertained. We then took an extended dander round the area, including the Reeperbahn, despite the reluctance of nikita and G. who had been there before and weren't impressed, before we finally got to the Rote Flora, where the 'official' party was taking place. Not my cup of tea when it comes to politics in there, but there were 3 floors, a chilled atmosphere without and within, and some cool drum n bass.
I think we got home at about 6ish/6.30am, it was certainly bright and the sun was shining, but I was well gone by this stage, 36 hours of solid drinking having taken its toll. So it probably wasn't a wise idea to sit down with the Bordeaux boys for a bit of a chat in French, while drinking pastis at the same time. Goodness knows when I went to bed. It must have been around 7.30/8am. Not a good idea when I was supposed to be in the kitchen helping out at 10am. In fact, I finally woke up/was woken up at 12.30pm, having missed much of my kitchen duty (for which I rightly got an earful from z.toni and Endi later) and 2 TeBe matches. I eventually did go in and offer my services, but most stuff was already done, so all I did was help wash up for a bit and chat with the others. Sorry to the Fanladen for being so drunken and crap. As the not-so-good book says, the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.
Thus I walked around like a zombie for much of the day, only drinking a beer with Ibrox out of duty, it was no pleasure whatsoever. Conversely, I seemed to play better when in a state of delayed drunkenness... Here's the Sunday round-up, of what I can remember and was told, which ain't much:
Sunday:
2nd Round:
TeBe Party Army - Ultra St.Pauli 3:1
I was in the land of nod, so no report and no photos
Quarter-Final:
TeBe Party Army - Republica Internationale / Leeds 0:2
Land of nod. I dreamt a good game. According to Endi "disastrous performance, especially from me"
Playing For Places (where apparently, we were put in the wrong pot)
TeBe Party Army - Verrückte Köpfe / Wacker Innsbruck 3:0? 4:0?
Hancot was finally aboard again, if only for the last few minutes, and managed to score a goal! Much to the chagrin of big Ibrox, who thought I was going to pass wide when through, only to send the ball trickling past him in the space he'd left anticipating my pass, the eejit. Another convincing performance.
TeBe Party Army - Friedhofstribüne 2:0
Yeah! My favourite game of the tournament, we fixed it so we could play against each other. I'd already played for both, as had Felix, so we decided we'd wear both teams' shirts and swap with one another half way through the game. I started with FHT, and pretty much played the whole match, the organisers blowing the final whistle early even though they'd promised us longer. Eyal scored a good individual goal, I remember, and Endi finished off a lovely team move. As for me, I missed a great chance, putting a 'powerful' header over the bar after a cracking cross from the right. I wasn't happy. But it was great fun.
Match for 5th Place:
...was supposed to be against the Goettinger, but we decided not to play against each other, so we both shared 5th place!
So I wandered off to help the Viennese Friedhofstribuene; and played my best game. I even scored the winning goal! A lucky one, I was dribbling nowhere, when suddenly a small gap in the middle appeared, off I went, and slotted it home at the near post. G. said it was a nice goal anyway, and was peeved off that I scored, so that was praise enough for me!
As for the Party Army goalscorers overall, this is as good as Endi could remember, Eyal and Oded can hopefully help, but they really scored too many to remember:
Eyal und Odet mehrere.... Endi 2 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Marc 2 Tobi 1 oder 2 Matze? Benni 1
And then all that was left was for the group photo, and prizegiving. The prizegiving is normally an amusing affair, with each team bringing their own prizes to give and each team choosing what they want. This time, for such a high placing, we got a cool glass trophy, donated by Ultras Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Our injured star, hospitalised for much of the day, went up on crutches to get our cup from Pauli's president, Littmann:
We slowly packed up, hung around for a while, said our goodbyes, then hit the road. 2 minutes later and we were in Maccy Ds stuffing our faces. Our Israeli friends were delighted by their Happy Meal prizes and now have an impressive list of German phrases, including
"Ich habs" and
"Ich bin ein Ogre" :D
The journey home was quiet, all the lightweights nodding off in the back; I chatted away with the driver to keep her company, poor German schlager our only other company.
All in all, I thought it was a great tournament: it's certainly the friendliest of any I play, there's a great atmosphere, and the rain didn't stop anyone enjoying themselves. I've one or 2 small criticisms, but now's not the time.
And if you made it this far, well done! Feel free to correct me with regard to any of the scorers, and if you want any photos removed. A massive Thank You to all the people from St. Pauli who worked so hard behind the scenes to make everything such a success, from the organisation, to the food and drink, it really was appreciated. A BIG Thank You to all the Party Army who took part and supported, including the young fraction, you know who you are, hope you enjoyed it! And to the Friedhofstribuene boys and girls, you really are a bad influence on me, but I had a ball!
"Sportklub Here!TeBe There! We Are Drinking Everywhere!"
Drenched, drunk, draw. Best way to sum up this match.
TeBe generally laboured, and I thought played pretty poorly. Neuruppin needed the win to stay up, given that Schoenberg and probably Yesilyurt will pull out of the league, and it looked it, they were simply hungrier, played the better football and missed more than one 100% chance, a few after one-on-ones. They (in my opinion) deservedly took the lead with a lovely header from a floated in free-kick.
TBH, yet again, we were playing with goalkeeper Timo Hampf outfield, and 2 youth team players, and the other first-team regulars seemed tired after recent exertions. We finally seemed to want to play after going behind, and Halil missed a penalty after Timo(!) was fouled in the box. We continued to push, and Halil made up for this earlier error with an equaliser (erm, I missed the goal as I was at the toilet at the time, we hadn't looked like scoring at that point and I thought it was the perfect time to relieve myself, apparently not :( ) We then nearly won it, a goalmouth scramble and a couple of great saves from their keeper keeping them level, but that was it, Hansa II had lost so we missed the chance to finish the season in 2nd place, and Eberswalde lost and thus were relegated.
Again, I thought Lemcke played well, had a quick word with him after the game, and it's not yet clear if he'll stay at TeBe next year, I'd keep him, his performances in the last couple of months have been impressive. Eckl was his usual busy energetic self, have been impressed with him recently too. Below was good again, commanding and keeps things simple, and Savran worked without much reward. I got a photo with my POTY, and tbh I'm not sure he'll be at TeBe next year. According to the rumours, Greil is leaving, Fuss will stay (you'll need to improve next year Micha, when was the last time you scored?) Question marks remain over Griesert, who imo has flattered to deceive this year, and should have done more; Galic is injured too much, and must be surely on his way; and I'm not sure if Weidner will be back. I'd be amazed if Thiam was still here next year, though a source told me he is staying.
Other notes on yesterday: despite the terrible weather, the Party Army was in good voice, possibly inspired by a posse of loud cheerful MSV fans with a drum. We stayed put, despite the option of going into the stand, and everyone seemed to be on good form, despite the poor fayre on show on the pitch.
TeBe are one of the co-sponsors and supporters of the 'Respect Gaymes' in Berlin next month, and as such, banners were hanging supporting the initiative, plus some cool music at half-time from DJ Bungle (where were you after the match? :( ) and the following scoreboard display:
A big big thank you to Christian, doing work experience at the moment for TeBe, and his group of school mates, who provided tasty cocktails for the past 3 games, raising funds for their A-Level school formal; unfortunately, due to the inclement weather, they didn't make as much money as they would have wanted, and TeBe's poor crowds the past few games couldn't have helped, but they were certainly valued by Block E, and there can't be too many grounds in Germany that have their own cocktail stand! Good work, fella!
A thank you too to whichever TeBe player it was who donated a keg of beer for the fans, it in no small part contributed to me being really drunk and sleeping for 14 hours today... everyone was in top spirits after the match, was nice chatting with everyone again, especially Jarred, another Party Army legionnaire, who even prefers to travel to the Mommse from Potsdam than to watch his local team, the 'boring' Babelsberg! This will be my last match report for quite some time, as I'm moving away, we'll have to hope Doughnut Boy keps them up, but given his sloth, I'll not hold my breath! A big hello to our occasional reader from Canada, I hope things are going well for you Ryan, we miss you! And to Block E et al: Despite our occasional disagreements, I always enjoy watching football and having a drink with you, and I'm gonna miss you all. See some of you in Hamburg in a couple of weeks!
These are the new shirts for this season. They cost just under 50 Euros from the fan-shop. If anyone is interested in buying one to wear about their home town abroad, then you can always send me an e-mail and I will promise to do all I can.
This is just the site of Andy and Jim, TeBe Fans living in Berlin. The thoughts and comments here are not official club opinion and we take no responsibility for external links, our translations or the comments.
