Dreisamstadion may have had some 4,500 people in it but 4,000 of them were Roten Teufels. The away fans were behind one of the goals. I walked over and waved to them during warm-ups.
I scanned the rest of the stadium, a few odd Freiburg fans sat in the upper part of the main stand and the rest of the stadium was empty. If I wasn't so g*dd*mned nervous today would feel like a home-away-from-home match. I checked my phone. Zeros bars.
Philipp Herscher started at right back and Saydou Bangura started up top with Muhammed Kiprit. Kenny Redondo starts because Marius Kleinsorge was terrible in our last match.
Maybe the team were mimicking how I felt. We started jittery and nervous. We couldn't get the ball and when we did we couldn't string any passes together. We were also a mess defensively. They were just passing circles around us.
In the 24th minute, it was as if my players had been paid off. Their right fullback had all the time in the world to pass into the penalty box.
Defensive midfielder Julian Niehues had wandered out to the flank so Assani Lukimya had to step up to the midfielder who got the ball near the penalty spot. He passed to the wide open right winger (#22). Their right winger passed to the completely and utterly wide open striker standing at the 5m box.
The striker sat down, unfolded his napkin, placed it on his lap, had a sip of water, thanked the maitre d for his menu, perused said menu for several moments then chose to slot the ball past Avdo Spahic into the left side of the net.
1-0
Was I going to wake up from this nightmare? I looked down. Nope, not a nightmare, I was wearing pants.
Maybe fate was going to grant the Russian mobsters their wish.
"WAKE UP!" I started bellowing at my players. My hollering was certainly louder than the few odd Freiburg fans who were cheering.
We answered in the 33rd minute. Redondo ran to the end line, did a Cruyf turn then passed back to Herscher.
Herscher crossed to Rene Klingenburg who smashed his header right at their keeper from 5m.
Their keeper blocked it but it fell to Kiprit who tapped it home.
1-1
I breathed a sigh of relief as the Roten Teufels celebrated with their players.
Unfortunately, that was a brief glimpse of sunlight on an otherwise p*ss poor, gloomy, cold and rainy afternoon.
In the 39th minute, Herscher didn't step up and gifted them a goal.
Their left winger had driven down our right flank, with Herscher trailing. Their winger spun and passed back as Herscher caught up. The trailing fullback gave the ball right back to the winger.
Instead of staying with his man, Herscher had just stopped. This gave the winger time to look up, see the two hard charging teammates in the box and curl in a cross.
Herscher kept them both onside. The second man stabbed the cross in for the goal.
2-1
F*** me. F***ing suffering from the injury bug and it sure looked like Herscher was working hard for his mafia money. S***. Did the polizei tell him NOT to throw the match?
Jörg looked about as frustrated and angry as I felt as we trudged into the away team room at halftime.
"What the f*** was that," Ulf Kirsten said. "Are any of them f***ing trying? Where's their work ethic that we've seen all season?"
I let loose with a curse-filled tirade about desire and work ethic. It was kind of like lobbing a long ball into the box; I hope someone heard me.
In the 50th minute, Lukimya did just that. They'd cleared the ball up over the half line. Assani caught the ball on the short hop and punted towards the Freiburg penalty box.
Kiprit leapt highest and knocked the ball down and towards the middle.
Right to the feet of Marlon Ritter.
Marlon looked down and put his foot through it.
The keeper didn't react all that well and the ball skipped off the wet turf just in front of him.
And the ball rippled the inside of the far post netting!
2-2
I was swept off my feet by a wave of coaches and players.
Now my problem became a dilemma. Do we push for the winner or sit back and keep what we've got.
Ritter had not tried a through ball for Kiprit yet today. This means I was due one or two.
So I told Boris Tomiak, Ritter and Klingenburg to sit back and hit them on the counter.
I replace Redondo at 60 minutes with Kleinsorge as Kenny had been largely ineffective.
They kept coming at us. They whipped in cross after cross. Each time they crossed, I held my breathe as I feared this would be the one that would make the Russians happy.
But each time either Tomiak headed it clear or Spahic made a spectacular save. Everyone else out there was just garbage defensively.
If I had any hair, I'd have pulled it out during this match.
If I had any nails left, I'd have chewed them off in this match.
Then in the 78th minute, Kleinsorge launched a 50m pass over the top of their defense from inside our half out by the sidelines.
Kiprit was the quickest off the mark as usuall and was one on one with their keeper.
But their keeper parried it.
We kept trading chances with them. It was seriously freaking me out. My guts were tied in a knot.
Avdo Spahic kept bailing us out with great save after great save.
Finally, the fourth official raised up his board and displayed that we'd have four minutes of extra time.
Seconds became hours as this torturefest just wouldn't end.
Finally, the ref blew three of the sweetest sounding blasts and it was over.
I ran out onto the field and hugged Tomiak, Ritter and Spahic. I thanked each of them for saving us.
Then my phone vibrated. I got a text. I pulled my phone out. I had four bars.
good job today our helpful friend . you played your part and got the result we want. Freibank Sankt Gallen. account 2348-237-322387 password freiburg21 |
"Congratulations," Bin said stepping in front of me. "Let's get you off the pitch and somewhere safe."
"I got the text," I said.
"We know," Bin replied. "Its all over now. We're sweeping them up. We have enough to shut their entire operation in Germany down."
