Match Reports 07/08
Match Report GAS vs Hotspurs Feb16th
Result 2-3
GAS Line-up:
Zafer, Heiko, Matthias, Marcus, Sascha, Thomas, Kerim (Mike), Cyrill, Volker, Chris, Michael
Man of the match: Volker Giebitz
Disappointing loss for the Germans
Fully aware of this problem, we wanted to prove otherwise and win this one after beating the Swiss two weeks ago. Looking back at our first encounter with the Hotspurs last August, we expected another tough battle with a compact British team. It was not going to be a walk in the park, but we were ready and willing to get it on.
The game started as usual. Not even five minutes were played and GAS were down by one. Confusion in the GAS defense was smartly utilized by Hotspurs’ veteran striker who made it 1-0 Hotspurs. So here we were again trailing way too early in the game. The above mentioned lack of consistency certainly doesn’t apply to this situation…
GAS tried to shake it off, but had problems to get used to the small and narrow pitch. So it took a while for us to get into the game – after about 15 minutes we managed to do so and started to create chances. Meanwhile we had to substitute Kerim who twisted his ankle and was replaced by Mike Yeboah.
After those first 15 minutes which were dominated by the Hotspurs GAS took control of the game and should have tied the game on chances from Michael and Volker. But it took another 15 minutes until Volker did so. Sascha recovered the ball on the left wing and delivered a nice cross into the box where Volker just had to tap the ball in.
The recipe for success in this game became clearer as the game continued. The Hotspurs fullbacks were very solid on long balls, so we had to use a quick passing game in midfield preferably along the wings to create danger. This worked rather well for some twenty minutes, but then for some strange reason we gave it away and allowed the Hotspurs to come back again: Seemingly out of nowhere – with one minute left to play in the first half – Hotspurs scored the 2-1. Zafer was unable to control a sharp cross from the right wing and their striker had no problems converting the deflection for the lead.
So it was 2-1 Hotspurs at halftime.
No changes were made during halftime and we were confident to turn this thing around.
The story of the second half can be told in a few words:
GAS kept on pushing for the equalizer but wasted half a dozen of clear chances. The game was dominated by the Germans, but Hotspurs remained dangerous with their two strikers (great mix of experience and serenity - esprit and quickness). Frustration grew among the Germans because it seemed as if the Spurs goal was locked and sealed! But we never gave up and seemed to be awarded for our patience.
Time was running out two minutes before the final whistle when the Germans got another corner. Sascha delivered it into the box and Volker reached for it – and then the football gods showed some compassion: Volker’s header actually went in for the late yet hugely deserved equalizer. 2-2 it was and two minutes to go. The Germans decided that this was not good enough and wanted to get it all.
Driven by their coach they threw everything in front and wanted to score the game-winning third goal. Consequently, GAS set up another run (with everyone heading forward) when suddenly the ball was fumbled on the center line and those very football gods showed their cruel face: A nice Spurs fastbreak followed resulting in that very game-winning third goal… but on the wrong end of the field!
Well, maybe we should have been happy with the late equalizer and settled for shared points. But hell, no! We should have won this game and so it was right to go for it even with only two minutes to go!
Anyways, thanks to the Spurs for a fair game and a lesson in utilizing defensive mistakes!
Man of the Match honors go to Volker who scored twice, had a number of other good opportunities and was the starting point of most of our attacks.
Written by
Martin
Match Report GAS vs SWISS Feb 2nd
Result 8-5
Goals GAS Chris Suess (3), Michael Klemm (2), Sascha Heussler, Heiko Pohland, Marcus Kuhnert Lineup GAS: Zafer, Johannes, Marcus, Rino, Sascha (Florian), Heiko, Cyrill, Kerim, Chris (Volker), Mathias (Phil), Michael (Mike) Man of the Match Heiko Pohland Goalfest at Bukit Bakot A cool breeze (must have been one of the coolest days in a long time), some drizzling and a pitch in decent condition set the stage for a game which turned out to be one to remember. After last week’s disappointing game versus the Vikings we vowed to show a different attitude in this game and get something going in an always interesting encounter with the Eidgenossen! We were aware of their strong offensive line-up and so we suited up for a tough and physical duel. With the crucial (defensive) mistakes from last week still fresh on our minds we pretty much knew what we needed to show to be more successful against the Swiss. And besides that our big “Karneval Party” was on later that night and we sure wanted to have something to celebrate. Our line-up looked solid with Bosporus Cat Zafer back in goal, Marcus Beckenbauer as last man and Rino Ruetli and Johannes Metzelder as man markers. In front of them we had Kerim Frings and Heiko Jeremies to close down center midfield and Sascha Ballack and Cyrill Barnetta to deliver pressure on the wings. Mathias Overath, Chris Kopfballungeheuer and Michael Littbarski formed our offense. Since we had conceded goals within the first 5 minutes in all of our recent games our emphasis was to keep a clean sheet for as long as possible. But apparently, despite trying our best we could only last for 3 minutes before it happened again (prematurely – always a disappointing thing to happen as some of us may know!): A sharp Swiss corner was cleared out of the box but only to land in front of a Swiss midfielder who volleyed it in for a spectacular goal. So here we were again trailing after way too short of a period! And the German sloppiness continued. Too many easy turnovers and bad defending contributed to an obvious Swiss domination in the first 15 minutes of the game. But then almost out of the blue GAS managed to equalize on a nice connection between Michael and Chris which our Kopfballungeheuer finished with a precise header from short range. The Swiss kept up their pressure though and continued to lead the way. Interesting battles were going on, especially between what must have been the youngest player on the pitch – the Swiss striker – and the oldest – former Swiss now German Allstar Rino Ruetli. While Rino managed to keep the upper hand for the most part, his opponent got away on one occasion and scored for the Swiss 2-1 lead. Soon after, Michael delivered a nice offensive run and fired a shot which landed in the back of the net for the equalizer. This goal seemed to be the wake up call and Initialzuendung for the Germans! All of a sudden, the midfield stepped up and won crucial challenges which were quickly converted into chances. This Swiss – GAS game had two key periods with the first one taking place then. For about 10 minutes GAS won literally every single tackle and scored three times: Roughly two minutes after Michael’s equalizer, Heiko conquered the ball deep inside German territory and delivered a beautiful pass right through the middle to Sascha who had taken off on the left wing. The Walz aus der Pfalz outpowered two defenders and fired a shot at goal which proved to be too strong for the goalie – 3-2 it was! It was all Germans now and the raid went on. The Swiss seemed paralyzed and shocked – even more so when GAS scored the 4th goal just moments after the third. The German midfield managed to grab the ball yet again and made a quick transition to offense with a nice connection between Sascha, Michael and Chris who went all the way to make it 4-2. Swiss came back with another goal shortly before halftime making it a close game again. Recapping the first 45 minutes and looking at the “eyebrow rising” score at halftime it was obvious to everybody that this game was far from being over. We knew we had to score again to bring this game home as the Swiss were ever-threatening and ready to score any time. And that’s exactly what we did. Only a few minutes into the second half GAS had another corner and scored the all-important 5-3. The ball came in sharp and somehow “landed” near Marcus. But in order to process it, he had to make some “Verrenkungen” and doing so successfully he managed to hit the ball in a Fallrueckzieher style but without the “fall” part. This goal trigged the second crucial phase (see above) which saw the Germans pulling away by another two goals. The most remarkable one was a shot by Heiko who whacked one from some 25 meters out. Brachialer Sonntagsschuss would be the correct German terminology! The Germans were rolling and Chris scored his 3rd goal of the day only minutes later after a nice deep pass by Mathias. 7-3 seemed like a comfortable lead, but there were 30 minutes left on the clock and we have already seen horses puke! Swiss brought on some fresh legs who all showed determination to get back into the game. So the tension remained high (at least on the GAS sideline), especially when the Swiss scored their 4th goal. And another 20 minutes to go. Fortunately, GAS responded quickly with Michael re-establishing the 4-goal lead with another one of his fine runs. So 8-4 it was and that proved to be too high of a lead for the Swiss to come back. They definitely tried everything, but thanks to Zafer who made a couple of great saves they only scored one more time about 3 minutes before the final whistle. Quite a game we saw there and a score that speaks for itself. Great attacking and rather sloppy defending on either side allowed this goalfest - both sides will be sure to emphasize on defense in the games to come – Tag der offenen Tuer is usually only once a year (and Urs is right in saying that 5 goals should actually be enough to bring it home) Anyways, all in all a very intense and physical game that was decided in midfield. GAS had two strong periods of about 15 minutes each in which we out powered the Swiss midfield and defense and simply scored more often than they did. Thanks to the Swiss for a well-fought and fair game! Man of the Match honors go to Heiko who was the defensive leader in midfield. On top of that he set up the important 3rd goal with a great pass and whacked one away himself. He had been struggling lately, but returned as strong as ever just in time for this game. Keep it up, Junge! by Martin
Vikings vs GAS 3:0 26th Jan
Latini vs GAS 2:3 19th Jan
After last week’s cancellation we were eager to finally kick off the New Year.
Awaiting us was an always strong and skillful Latini squad. We had a tough stand against them in our first encounter a few months back so we expected yet another battle.
We had to compromise on defense quite a bit with three of our regular defenders (Andree, Steffen, Rino) out for this game and facing one of the strongest offensive lines in the Cosmoleague we knew we needed to create some offense ourselves to stay alive.
Forced by these circumstances we created a “baby defense” with our youngsters Mathias Mertesacker and Johannes Metzelder playing man markers. Pushing the average age was our Libero Marcus Beckenbauer and Goalie Zafer Lehmann.
Starting on the wings was Deniz the Menace on the right and Philipp Lahm on the left. Joerg Sparwasser and Heiko Jeremies were supposed to seal off center midfield with Cyrill Barnetta as our playmaker up front.
Phil Inzaghi and Michael Littbarski started as strikers.
The game started out with Latini taking possession of the ball and the game forcing GAS to put all efforts on defense. Continuous pressure was coming from the Latini wingers creating a few dangerous runs and plays. One of those wing actions led to the first goal: Latini with some nice fore-checking put pressure on Deniz who fumbled the ball giving way to the Latini striker who had no problems converting on an easy one-on one with Zafer.
GAS continued to surrender pretty much all of midfield to Latini who showed the necessary aggression and eagerness to win challenges.
Despite this Latini dominance GAS almost made it 1-1 when Michael broke lose on the right wing and delivered a nice cross to Phil. Fortunately for Latini, Philatio was unable to convert which looked like a simple tip-in.
After this chance Latini took back control and set up their nice-to-look-at one-touch play. Fortunately for GAS, they didn’t score another goal (only hitting the pole after a very nice combination), so it was only 0-1 at half-time.
We figured we still had a shot to win this game as we were able to bring in some support from the bench with Chris Hrubesch, Thomas Effenberg and Sascha Ballack. The three had been lost on the AYE (in between SLE, SED, FDP and PAP) and only made it to the second half. Putting pressure on the Latini defense and drawing them away from our box should provide the right strategy to turn this game around.
And it worked out well!
Chris, Sascha and Michael got the fore-checking going and put Latini under serious pressure in their own half. This resulted in a free-kick right outside the box which Chris converted nicely with a hard shot into the far corner. So 1-1 it was – 5 minutes into the second half.
The Germans clearly had the momentum now and continued to push hard for the second goal. Once again it was Speedy Michael who had a nice run down the left line delivering another stellar cross. Chris missed it from short range (great save by the Latini goalie), but Mathias took up the deflection and converted from about 10 meters.
Evidently, Latini was surprised and somewhat shocked by this turnaround which came about within the first 10 minutes of the second half.
The Germans had the upper hand now and controlled the game putting increased pressure on the Latini defense. Chris missed a couple of good opportunities on headers to make it 3-1, but eventually it was Michael who scored the game-winning 3rd goal. And it was a “typical Michael”. Picking up the ball at the center line he headed for the box while Sascha was yelling to get the ball on the left. Instead, Michael pulled away and went straight for the goal leaving two defenders behind. Though he was chased by three other Latinis he shook them off and hit the far corner to make it 3-1. Nice run, great finish!
After that Latini pulled their stuff back together and managed to get back into the game. However, no clear chances were created except for one occasion where the GAS defense was inattentive and allowed the Latini left-winger too much space – he didn’t hesitate and made it 2-3.
Ten more minutes were to go and Latini threw everything they had at us! Attacking now with 3 strikers the Germans were forced to defend with literally every player on the pitch, but did so well enough to keep Latini from scoring once more.
After 90 minutes, the Germans were cheering while Latini looked somewhat dazzled and in disbelief on how they could lose this game.
While Latini dominated the first half and could have led by more than one goal, GAS came back with a vengeance in the second half (thanks to our substitute players) and turned the game around.
So all in all, it was a deserved win for the Germans because Latini missed to seal the deal in the first 45 minutes and took it too easy in the second half. The Germans on the other hand delivered a strong performance in that very second half and cold-bloodedly took advantage of the Latini sloppiness.
Anyways thanks to Latini for a well-fought and nice-to watch game!
Man of the Match honors go to Michael who scored the game-winner on a great solo run and set up another goal. And he was a constant threat to the Latini defense with his speed and “Giftigkeit”.
Goal GAS Chris Suess, Heiko Pohland, Marcus Kuhnert, Volker Giebitz, Michael
Zafer, Steffen, Marcus Kuhnert, Rino, Joerg, Heiko, Cyril, Kerim, Chris, Volker, Michael
Subs: Mathias, Florian, Joerg F.
Goalfest at Japanese Association
But “erstens kommts anders und zweitens als man denkt” (German saying that it never turns out the way you plan..).
The game started out with goal scoring action on both sides. 10 minutes into the game and it was already 2-1 Ubin. GAS scored the first one after a nice combination on the right wing; Chris delivered a cross which was deflected only to land in front of Heiko who whacked it into the back of the net to make it 1-0 GAS.
And the tragedy was about to continue – no one on the GAS side made an effort to make the team wake up and so the 3rd Ubin goal was just a matter of time.
So 3 three all it was at halftime and GAS vowed to step up their defensive effort in second half to prevent any more simple goals while trying to take advantage of the unstable Ubin defense at the same time.
During the last 20 minutes, GAS completely gave the game away. Wasting huge opportunities to extend the lead and displaying very sloppy defending/goal keeping.
As a result, Ubin managed to turn the game around in those last 20 minutes and took all three points.
And GAS? Well, GAS managed to thrash a great opportunity to win another game and did so in a very disappointing manner.
So here we are empty-handed yet again…
Thanks to Ubin for a fair game!
by Martin
GAS vs Brewerkz 3:3 24th Nov
Goals GAS: Volker Giebitz 3
Zafer, Andree, Marcus K., Rino, Cyrill, Thomas, Heiko, Sascha, Joerg, Chris, Phil
With this in mind we wanted to give Brewerks a hard time and push for a victory.
Our line-up looked pretty solid with almost everyone on board. Black cat Zafer was back in goal while Marcus Beckenbauer played center fullback with Rino Breitner and Andree Brehme giving support on the sides. Thomas Hitzelsberger and Heiko Jeremies formed our “double 6” with Sascha Ballack and Cyrill Barnetta sweeping the wings. Joergen Sparwasser and Chris Kopfballungeheuer were our center midfield pair – Philatio was upfront as our sole striker.
Despite the initial game plan to push for an early goal, the Germans didn’t get into the game at all. Brewerks was in clear control from the start and dominated midfield thus creating opportunities for an early goal themselves. GAS seemed to be asleep lacking pretty much everything required to be successful on a football pitch – commitment, aggressiveness and esprit. Brewerks on the other hand showed these basic football requirements and were consequently awarded with the first goal after about 20 minutes. Their rightwinger was allowed to deliver a nice cross into the box where the German defense did nothing yet again to prevent the striker from delivering a nice header into the corner.
GAS seemed to accept their unfavorable destiny which had come upon them that day showing no reaction whatsoever to turn this thing around.
As a result, Brewerks kept gaining even more control of the game and could have scored on a few more chances. But the 2-0 was only minutes away. After a GAS corner which was deflected, the quick Bewerks fullback initiated the counterattack outrunning every German opponent and setting up the striker who didn’t have any difficulty to convert.
So it was 2-0 at halftime and changes needed to be made to change things around for GAS.
Volker and Michael came on to leave a greater impact in offense. Playing just one striker seemed inefficient so we switched to two and moved Joerg back to the 6er position.
We knew we still had a chance to get back into the game but we definitely had to step up our game.
And that we did!
Michael left a first mark shortly after the start of the second half when he outran his opponent and brought in a sharp cross which Volker could not quite get a grip on, so it went wide.
But this attack set the tone for the second half. The Germans kept on pushing and shifted much of the action into the Brewerks half creating attack after attack. Michael had to score on another great run, but he missed the empty goal!
But after this chance it seemed like only a matter of time until GAS would score. And indeed, it didn’t take long. The Germans conquered the ball in their own territory and Heiko opened the game with a nice cross to the far right wing where Cyrill was waiting. The Swiss youngster then delivered a perfect cross which Volker had no problem to head home for the 1-2. Now everything pointed to the inevitable equalizer, but not quite yet. Just when GAS was pushing real hard for a second goal, the GAS defense turned the ball over in a British goalkeeper kind of blunter – playing a diagonal pass at the box which landed on the Brewerks striker’s feet. 3-1!
But frustration did not last long – only five minutes later, Volker gave another example of his great efficiency. After a GAS corner several players missed the ball, before El Capitan Joerg fired a shot which was deflected but only to land in front of Volker. He converted with his left foot bringing the Germans back into point range.
Another 20 minutes were to go and both teams sought their destiny in offense. It went up and down with chances being created on either side.
About 10 minutes before the end of the game, the German coach sent on Mike as third striker trying to get the equalizer by all means. But it was not Mike who scored – it was Volker yet again converting a freekick cross from Joerg with his head tying the game less than 10 minutes before the end.
With 3 strikers on the pitch we tried to go for the win then, but nothing much happened in the last 5 minutes (except a crossbar hit from Brewerks).
So it was 3-3 after 90 minutes which saw two clearly different halves. While Brewerks dominated first half and had a solid 2-0 lead (GAS showing a very poor performance), GAS came back with a vengeance in second half and managed to walk away with one point (which proves to be too little for both teams though).
Anyways, credit to both teams for a fair and fun to watch game.
Good to have you back, Volker!
Needless to mention who the man of the match honors go to this time…!
(Solid performances also by Cyrill and Michael)
Martin
Hollandse vs GAS 0:6 3rd Nov
Goals GAS: Thomas Berner 2, Volker Giebitz 2, Rino Binder, Florian Schmidt
Line-up: Phil, Rino, Marcus, Steffen, Sascha, Thomas, Joerg, Carl, Chris, Volker, Mike
Substitutions
Mathias (for Carl), Ingo (for Joerg), Joerg F.(for Volker), Florian (for Mike)
Man of the match: Thomas Berner
The unbeaten record continues
After drawing the last two games and accounting for only two wins this season so far, we really wanted to win this one. As for motivation, no one on either side needed to be pushed extra – the infamous
Nevertheless we were able to put together a competitive squad:
Phil Illgner replaced Zafer in goal, defense was formed by Marcus Beckenbauer, Rino Breitner and Steffen Vogts. Thomas Hitzelsberger and Joerg Sparwasser played our Doppelsechs with support from Sascha Ballack and Carl Hoelzenbein on the wings. Volker Effenberg and Chris Kopfballungeheuer represented the offensive midfield while Mike Yeboah was our sole striker.
This first attack set the pace for the rest of the game – the Germans were in clear control of defense and midfield thus creating danger upfront. As a result it didn’t take long for the Germans to score their first goal: 12 minutes into the game Steffen hit a long freekick into the box where Thomas managed to control the ball and converted from short range.
GAS kept on pushing and managed to score the 2-0 only five minutes later. Several German players missed to take the shot at the Dutch goal, then the ball landed in front of Thomas feet. He didn’t hesitate and “fired” a shot! The ball seemed savable, but somehow the ball landed in the back of the net and GAS were celebrating. The Germans were on fire now and put up a couple of nice plays but couldn’t score (Mike, Sascha).
But the 3rd goal was only minutes away.
After 21 minutes Sascha and Joerg connected superbly on the left wing and Joerg fired a shot; the goalie managed to reflect it to the side, but only to find Volker already waiting there. Volker took a quick shot and converted “ins kurze Eck” to make it 3-0.
So within 10 minutes – between the 12th and the 21st minute the game was pretty much decided because Hollandse did not seem determined enough today to turn it around after that.
En contraire GAS kept up the pace and were in full control of the game.
After half an hour the Germans scored the goal of the match, converting after an outstanding combination at the end of which Volker only had to tip the ball in. Joerg and Sascha connected on the left yet again sending Sascha to the far left wing where he sent in a long cross to the 2nd pole where Chris was standing. Chris won the header and headed it over the goalie to the 1st pole where Volker was waiting – no problem for him to score.
So 4-0 it was at halftime and GAS were confident to walk away with three points if the pace could be maintained. Hollandse certainly did not like to lose clearly to the Germans so we expected some more fierce Dutch attacks. They came and mostly initiated by their two new players Hollandse gained more possession and control. But the German defense stood tall and didn’t allow too many clear opportunities.
The 3pm heat at Bukit Timah tired some legs so several changes were made after a few minutes. Mathias came on for Carl, Ingo for Joerg and Joerg F. replaced Volker. Later into the game Mike was substituted for Florian who even managed to score the last goal of the game making in 6-0 on a fast free-kick from Thomas which caught the Hollandse defense by surprise.
Shortly before that, Rino had scored to make it 5-0 after a long cross from Sascha which was headed towards goal by Ingo when Rino stepped in between and converted.
Thomas took the ball trying to seal his hattrick. (Outside on the sideline his girlfriend was watching anxiously doubting whether Thomas could convert a third time – why should he be able to perform a third time now – usually twice is as good as it gets…)
And she was right – three times was just asking too much! While Thomas secured us one point last week with a nicely converted penalty shortly before the final whistle, this time he missed wide.
Shortly after that, the game was over and the Germans were celebrating their first win since – well, the opening game vs Hotspurs (… and the win against Gaulois)
As mentioned before, the game was decided in first half when GAS showed a strong performance winning most challenges in midfield and setting up several nice plays. Hollandse stepped up their game in the second half, but then it was already too late to manage the turnaround.
Anyways, thanks to the Dutch for a very fair game.
Man of the match honors go to Thomas who scored two and set up another goal.
Written by
Martin
GAS vs Latini 2:2 27th Oct
Result 2-2
Goals GAS: Volker Giebitz, Thomas BernerGAS Line-up:
Zafer, Marcus, Rino, Steffen, Sascha, Thomas, Joerg, Johannes, Chris, Volker, Mike
Substitutions:
Mathias (for Volker), Phil (for Mike), Hermann (for Joerg), Florian (for Steffen)
There are only a few teams in the Cosmoleague that do not follow the typical British style of football – and Latini is definitely one of them. Known for their fast and clinical game style, we knew we had to adjust accordingly if we were to continue our recent progress.
After fighting down a very physical Lions team last week, we expected a different game this Saturday. But at the end of the day/game, there were some apparent similarities. But let’s start from the beginning.
Our best player from last week, Arbeitsbiene Heiko Jeremies was out for today, as well as Andree who is still suffering from his knee injury, so we knew we might be a bit vulnerable on our defensive end especially taking into account the fast Latini offense. Thomas, Joerg and Volker have many qualities, but speed is not quite one of them, so we knew it was going to get difficult. Other than that, not many changes in our line-up: Zafer in goal, Marcus, Rino and Steffen as our defense, Sascha and Johannes on the wings and Volker, Chris and Mike forming our offense.
The game started out with the first German opportunity after a good run on the wing from Sascha who nicely set up Chris. But this was not going to be Chris’ game – it was the first of a handful of chances that he didn’t convert. A few minutes later the action took place on the opposite end of the field – deep inside German territory. A long deep Latini ball into the box was easily controlled by Marcus, but somehow he slipped leaving their striker all alone in front of Zafer who was unable to save the shot from short range. So it was 1-0 Latini after only 5 minutes on an absolutely redundant giveaway from GAS.
But we tried to fight our way back into the game pushing for the fast equalizer. Unfortunately, we were unable to convert one of the 2 or 3 good chances we managed to create – but apropos “redundant giveaways”, Latini returned our previous favour and created a good opportunity for us. Their goalie had a mental blackout after some 30 minutes when he picked up a throw in with his hands resulting in an indirect GAS free-kick right at the far corner of the box. Chris was standing by ready to take it, the ball was tipped and Chris went for it. He didn’t quite hit it as intended, so the (intended) goal shot turned into a very sharp cross headed for no man’s land. But right in no man’s land, Volker was standing around, and when the sharp ball literally popped into his face, he was not quick enough to pull away, so the ball hit him right on the forehead… and that’s how we scored the equalizer.
Not much happened for the remainder of the first half which saw a more active Latini team and Germans making easy mistakes and being too sloppy in front of the goal. Overall GAS had more clear chances, but Latini had more possession of the ball.
During halftime, Volker was substituted by Mathias (who by the way is only half his age!) and we knew we had to tighten up to stay in the game.
But right after halftime, GAS seemed to be asleep and Latini gained even more control of the midfield pushing for the lead. GAS only created danger through long balls which Phil (came on for Mike) and Chris were chasing.
After about 60 minutes Latini brought in two of their big players (we were surprised that they didn’t start in the first place) making a clear statement that they wanted to win this game now. At about the same time Joerg signaled that he was out of power and Hermann was brought on. Hermann was supposed to take one of their new players and seal off the left wing. He was not even a minute on the pitch when a long ball was hit towards the Latini #8 and him. Both of them were chasing it fiercely when Hermann pulled him down committing a clear foul. Unfortunately, the referee didn’t see the other GAS player who had been right beside the two players and pulled the red card.
So yet again – just like last week, we had to finish the game with 1 player short. And there were some 25 minutes left to play.
Latini continued their offensive run and it didn’t take long until they scored the 2-1 on a shot from the corner of the box. Now it was going to be even more difficult for us because Latini was in clear control of the game – and one player more.
The game started to get hectic with players on both sides losing the focus leading to several “Rudelbildungen”. Anyways, a few minutes before the final whistle Latini seemed like the winner, but it was not over yet.
A deep pass to Mathias sent him into the box where he was stopped by a Latini defender by means that the referee considered irregular and so he pointed to the penalty spot. Thomas took the chance and converted nicely to make it a draw. GAS had to fight through another 3, 4 minutes until the final whistle was blown.
Summary:
The game saw two questionable decisions by the referee (red card against GAS, penalty against Latini) and a Latini team that had more possession of the ball, but not too many clear chances. GAS had more clear chances, but didn’t convert them so the draw could be seen as justified (despite a Latini overweight on the pitch).
Martin
HSBC Lions vs GAS 1:1 20th Oct
Zafer, Rino, Marcus, Steffen, Heiko, Sascha, Thomas, Cyrill, Chris, Joerg, Mike
Phil (for Mike), Johannes (for Joerg), Franz (for Rino), Volker (for Thomas)
Man of the match: Goalie Zafer
We had a strong line-up– all the way through the bench and we wanted to leave an exclamation mark. Somewhat bruised and battered from a weak start into the season the GAS were determined to show that they were back on track.
Right in front of them our irreplaceable Arbeitsbiene Heiko Jeremies who put up another stellar performance ploughing the pitch and his opponent for all of these 90 minutes.
Thomas Schuster in center midfield, Cyrill Barnetta on the right and Sascha Ballack formed the GAS midfield, with the latter two playing a major role in the match that was yet to unfold.
Shortly before the match Kerim Frings signalled that he would not be able to play due to an old injury, so Joergen Sparwasser took over his position in offensive midfield right beside Chris Kopfball-Ungeheuer Hrubesch. Mike Yeboah was yet again our guy up front.
While this could have been the wake-up call for the Lions not to underestimate these Germans, they still seemed to be surprised by fast German attacks. Only a few minutes after the first big opportunity the Germans managed to score after all. Sascha started a nice run along the left wing and cut into the box where he missed on his first shot, but managed to reclaim the ball. His second shot though somehow found his way into the goal leaving behind a stunned Lions keeper and a bunch of cheering Germans.
The Lions were clearly shocked by the early German lead and responded angrily. But the measures for this angry response were rather inappropriate. Especially our former teammate Simon landed a few nasty tackles which were totally uncalled for. Luckily no one was injured and fortunately after a while we returned to playing football. This is with one exception – this time coming from the German side. What could be considered a retaliation foul from our youngster Cyrill caused the referee to send him off. So due to Cyrill’s juvenile Leichtsinn, we were left with only 10 players on the pitch and almost 70 minutes to go.
Now the Lions regained control of the game with the Germans focusing on holding on to the lead. Mike was substituted with Phil in order to provide more support for our defensive play. No clear chances were created for the remainder of the first half, so we went into halftime with a close German lead.
It was certain that there were going to be fierce Lions attacks in the second half, so we tried to prepare accordingly and get ready for another tough 45 minutes.
Thank God we could rely on much needed relief and support from a strong bench, so we were confident that we had a chance to walk away with points in our hands after 90 minutes.
But it was still a long way to go.
But after 80 minutes everything seemed to fall apart for the Germans when Sascha tackled a Lions player inside the box and the ref pointed to the penalty spot without hesitation. Frustration was in the air – 70 minutes of outstanding defensive efforts and now everything should have been in vain?
Nope, there was one man who didn’t allow that to happen! Our goalie Zafer who had a number of great saves earlier rose to the occasion yet again and managed to save the penalty.
There were a few minutes left to go and some more angry Lions attacks to deny, but towards the end of the game the Lions became more and more tired. That led to a few German counterattacks which almost gave us the lead again (see above), but we weren’t lucky enough.
Thanks to a great defensive effort, most notably by Heiko and a great performance by Zafer in goal we managed to grab one point and leave the exclamation mark that we were determined to leave.
Martin
Swiss – GAS 4:1 Sep 29th
GAS lose derby vs Swiss comprehensively
Germans were the worse of two bad teams who were both clearly not at full strength.
The German squad being stretched to its limits so that even a hero of the old days, Volker, had to be called up for this derby, besides a couple of guys playing their first Cosmo match.
And his impact was an immediate one, showing some leadership skills on the pitch GAS has been missing for a long time, giving signals and advise to players all the time.
Wouldn't it be for a great performance by Hassan in the Swiss goal he also would have scored, but Hassan caught his well placed shot towards the top corner.
This might have been the lead which could have given the game a different face, but once we conceded a goal a minute before and a minute after the break the outcome seemed to be inevitable.
Similarly to other games all 4 goals conceded were the result of some very elementary mistakes and Germans have nothing but themselves to blame for this continuous string of bad results in recent weeks.
Anyhow, a crisis meeting is already scheduled for midweek, let's see what the management can come up with to rebuild a demoralised squad.
At last a comment to the author of the Swiss report for his totally unnecessary comments on our squad situation: If you don't know all details best is to just remain silent!
And very last also from our side a big goodbye to "our" German in the Swiss squad, Wolfgang Schoch. A shame you've never experienced playing with the Eagle on your chest. All the best mate!
GAS – Nippon 1:3 Sep 22nd
After a devastating loss against SCC last week, we tried to make up for it by showing a reaction in our game versus Nippon.
Anyone following the Cosmoleague will know that this didn't really work out when looking at the result after 90 minutes.
We allowed Nippon to collect their first win by showing little spirit and efforts to turn things around.
Nothing worth mentioning happened during first half with both teams showing unworthy Cosmoleague performances, while the second at least brought about several goals.
Our Oldie Nick was able to convert after a corner kick to give the Germans the long-awaited lead. But instead of trying to hang on to it, the Germans continued with "headless" attacks leaving too much space for the ever-quick Nippon. And consequently, it didn't take long for the equalizer.
But it came even worse - while the Germans kept on pushing without creating any real danger, Nippon's attacks continuously caused horror in GAS' defense.
After another counter attack, the Japanese striker outran his German counterpart and coolly passed Zafer.
Last German hopes died after another fatal mistake in their own half - two more touches by Nippon and it was 3-1.
By Martin Schiessl
SCC – GAS 8:0 Sep 15th
Due to the fact, that this was the worst game we had as a German All Stars Team, there will be no match report, as no word can describe how bad it was
!!! We forget it quickly and move on 
!!!GAS – Casual 0:2 Sep 8th
Dammit!!! I think that expression pretty much sums up those 90 minutes on Saturday!
As in previous games against the Casuals (with a few exceptions), we put up a great fight and were hoping to pull a draw. But then, some five minutes before the final whistle, Casuals started another wave of fierce attacks and managed to score 4 minutes before the end of the game.
Yes, the win for the Casuals was a deserved one, but our brave commitment should have been awarded with one point. At least that's what we thought and that's why the German heads were down after the game and disappointment was all around.
We had started out with a newly formed defense with Sascha and Marcus as fullbacks while Thomas
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