Report
This weekend we sent a team to take part in the 8th Deutsche Bahn Spreefighter Cup in Berlin- Schöneweide. There were 12 teams in total competing in a league format, meaning we had 11 x 10 minute 7-a-side games on a lovely grass pitch split in half. We only managed to bring 9 players consisting of FCKP II players and two guest players (Thierry and Malachy), due to FCKP I playing the in the Bunte Liga on the same day. There was a great atmosphere with music and teams from as far as Munich and Nuremberg and we started our first match with a draw against BSC Almanax as neither team was able to score.
We played our second game against Treptower Kickers and managed to score our first goal through Alex, with Malachy providing the assist. The other team also scored however and nobody was in the right place to direct Malachy’s fizzing low cross across the goal-line into the net to find the winner, meaning the game ended 1:1.
Our third game brought our first loss as we were beaten by a very strong team of S-Bahn Azubis. Eze found James on the edge of the penalty area after some good passing play and James was able to pick his spot to score a nice team goal.
For our next game, we faced a team which included BuliBär Sandro: Sportfreunde Berlin 09. We again managed to score but lost 2:1 to a good team that forced defensive errors and capitalized on the open space in our defence. Malachy scored our goal after a shot from Alex rebounded back.
Up next were ICE Train Nürnberg and we went into the game with plenty of optimism despite two losses in a row. We dominated the game with good passing play but were unable to take our chances. Were felt unlucky to concede as our aggressive play was punished when they scored a goal on the counter, and we were confined to a bitter 1:0 loss.
Determined to make our chances count and come away with something more to show for our efforts, we faced the hosts Spreefighter Berlin in a close match. We had two great chances for Eze and Malachy but we couldn’t find the net and the game ended a 0:0 draw.
We went into the game against FC Oldie not knowing what to expect, having seen how good some of the players from the opponent had been in previous games but also seeing that they had some older players. In the end, we were taught a lesson from a team with a mix of experience and great young talent, including probably the best player of the tournament (their #7). They used the whole pitch well by having at least one striker always pushed right up the top of the pitch between the goals and the corner. This made it difficult for us to defend as we had to try to cover the strikers without giving up too much space in the midfield. The result was that they had plenty of space in the middle of the pitch and their talented players were able to easily run towards our exposed defence with pace and cause problems with their trickery, meaning we ended up on the wrong end of a 4:0 spanking!
After having only managed to get three points in the first seven games against really strong teams, including all the teams that eventually finished in the top six, we finally played against some opposition that weren’t as strong. We were able to record our first win with a strong performance against Gormann Allstars, who were at the bottom of the table. Malachy opened the scoring after dribbling through their defence and Adonis scored a screamer from 15 metres out. The game finished 2:0.
We went into the next game with renewed energy, despite having gone down to 8 players as Eze had to leave early. We dominated the encounter with HHI Kickers but only managed a single goal from Malachy with Cuong providing the assist in a 1:0 win.
Raring to go again, we were excited to face the next team who were also bottom of the table at the time and were dreaming of a rout, but were disappointed to find out that they had gone home early and therefore forfeited their remaining games, meaning we recorded a default 1:0 victory.
Exhausted and hungry from 90 minutes of football spread out over 7 hours, we headed into the last game against Kick Berlin knowing that a win might lift us up into the top half of the final standings. The game was a really close one and both teams had enough chances to win, but in the end Kick Berlin managed to score the winner in the rain with an efficient counterattack, leaving us in the lower half of the table after a 1:0 loss.
In the end, we finished 10th place in a tightly packed table with just 6 points between 3rd and 10th place. S-Bahn Azubis, the eventual winners, and FC Oldie were far ahead of the rest and the last two places were taken by two teams who failed to score a single goal in the competition.
It was a really fair tournament with a really funny mix of very skilled players from club teams and hobby players. The weather even stayed nice almost right up until the end and we’ll go back next year for sure!
Players
Bart, James (C), Jon, Adonis, Cuong, Alex MC, Ezequiel L
Guest players
Thierry, Malachy
Goals
Malachy (3), Alex MC, James, Adonis
Report by James Topping
