Another Day at the Office

A beautiful weekend it was. GAS Zweite (believe it or not) managed to field a squad to participate in the SCC 7s Tournament at the most beautiful football pitch in Singapore, The Padang. Rumor has it that the multiple private/direct messages that the coaches sent to their players made effect. Because I mean, Singapore is not full with spoiled expats at all, it is just an stereotype!

So there it was Zweite, a team with 9 brave players and a rookie coach which only merit to be in that position is being able to cope with Germans and Swiss for more than ten years and whose vast knowledge of tactics was learnt and developed under the tutelage of former Cosmo Coach Thomas Berner.

The tournament could have started better, the first match was against the best team in the Group Stage WB FC. The team was uncomfortable and did not manage to get the grasp of the field, so 2-0 it was for WB FC. For the second match, the squad decided to not follow the formation instructed by the coach (3-2-1) and instead adopted a 2-3-1 formation which resulted in a massive improvement on their game. Unfortunately, the lack of accuracy and concentration after leading the match in 2 occasions resulted in a 2-1 for Woodgrove CSC. The improvement continued during the last match against St Andrews, and the team took the 3 points with a 1-0 score. Unfortunately not enough to qualify to the Cup Finals but enough to get into the Plate Finals. That would mark the end of the Saturday.

On Sunday, the nervousness was high. Marco was unable to play due to injury and at 9:00 AM (meeting time) Roman was nowhere to be seen. Luckily for GAS Zweite Roman spent the night in the massage tent and was able to make it shortly before the QF kick-off against the British Exiles. A strong defense led by Nik, Schacher and Stefan S. together with a superb midfield commanded by Jens and Dinh was able to dominate the match and resulted in a 4-0 for the Germans. Special mentions goes to our strikers Winnie and Roman who scored in this game and allowed the team to go to the SF against Cabin Crew Circle Football.

Little did GAS Zweite know that they will be making history that day (to quote our former coach Flo S.). The SF match passed by and ended up with 0-0. Hence, the referee called out for a penalty shoot-out thanks to a great save from Said. GAS Zweite won the round by 8-7 and made it to the Final of the Plate Cup.
The excitement across the team was palpable, specially for the coach who during the post-match interview said: "I am extremely excited to being able to play a Final in my debut as a coach. I am looking forward to becoming the most successful coach and win some silverware in my first appearance as a coach. The players have thanked me because I have shown them the way, but I replied that I am just doing my job".

Unfortunately, it went unnoticed for GAS Zweite and the referee that Steffan Schacher come from the bench (after being substituted because he was INJURED!) to take one of the penalties, violating the rules of the tournament. The referee endorsed the result, but however the SCC Sport Court decided to reverse the results and disqualified GAS Zweite from the tournament. Sad and controversial decision, not even the Bundesliga reverted the results when Bayern Munich (a team who wins the Bundesliga occasionally) fielded 12 players on the pitch, but come on we were playing at SCC... The most beautiful pitch in Singapore.

So GAS Zweite wrote history for being the first team in all GAS history to be disqualified from a tournament. What a great start

Thank you to Said, Nik, Schacher, Stefan, Jens Winnie, Roman, Dinh, Marco and Julian who came to play and to support the team.

We hope to see you more in training to prepare the future tournaments and the upcoming League.