October 27, 2003
Match Reports - update
See the Match Reports section for the full story.
Tournament Report
After a long absence, the BHU soccer team has struck again….this time at a privately sponsored, local soccer tournament in the north of Hamburg. Even though some of our previous teammates have not been able to participate, the roster was replaced by some very talented new players, among them: Nobbi, Rainer, Jockel, Stephan, Nils, Michael, and Jochen. Anyway, our team consisted of young and old….well, mostly old, especially when comparing it to our opponents. Yet, our age was actually helping us out, because it turned out to be a battle of the minds with the younger teams, who were better at times, but our wits and Abgebrühtheit kept us in the game many times as we scored 4 of our 7 goals in the last minute, and thus won 2 games that way.
As the tournament went on, so did our beer consumption….to the dismay of our opponents who were chastising us at times for unfair play, but really it was more our lack of coordination due to our beer consumption. Anyhow, our first opponent turned out to be far weaker than we had expected, yet we only managed a 1:0, a score that hurt us in the end, because we missed the semifinals due to a worse score difference. Although we didn’t play well, we were always in good spirits…..a sign of our closely-knit unit!!!!!! The next game, we played vs. the eventual 3rd placed team….we lost 2:1. However, both games did not compare to the secret Final of the day….our game vs. the “shirts”, a team of young hotheads. In other words a team of puberty-aged 15 year olds against the oldest team in the tournament…..yes, my dear reader, you guessed right, it was good vs. evil, old vs. young, matured good looks vs. zit-faced kids. The crowd was going wild as we scored the first goal. Impressed by their stylish looks, as they were constantly fixing their collars, we unfortunately had to concede a goal, so the game ended 1:1…..Honestly, they were probably better, but we played our best game and with our little theatrics, we successfully entertained our fans. The other game was an unspectacular 1:0. The game for the 5th place was a no-brainer as we won without problems.
The tournament could be best summed up in statistics: 5 games played; 8 to 4 goals; one beautiful presidential fan, Steffi, and her loyal photographer Heiko (who both should be thanked here as they provided us with support and…. one case of Astra beer and a little water); one knock out of our MVP player Nobbi, who was put together by our president, fan and nurse, Steffi; a few scratches through forbidden slide tackling; one bicycle-kick goal by the best player of the tournament; 9 young soccer players who cared as much about their jersey collars as they did about their passing and scoring and most importantly, a great afternoon among friends.
Even though this short report does not do justice to the fun of a Saturday afternoon, I hope it will encourage you readers to play or cheer on the BHU team for the next tournament, which will be on November 30 at the Alsterhalle here in Hamburg. If you need more information, please email Norbert Schmidt at …….
Go BHU!
Contributor: Joe Banasch
