Welcome to Dritte’s costliest friendly yet!

The usual last minute cancellation 15min before the game occurred (*$&%#@!) ensuring entry into the Strafenkatalog and therefore beers for the team. Luckily Christian Becker stepped up separately as goalie meaning we had a good squad available on the German All Star side. Some off them truly All Stars, others just Germans who’s star has faded long ago. The game kicked off just as SQ509 from Bangalore landed in the background. The German All Stars having kick-off and therefore the ball and first touch of the game, but the second pass already went straight to the opponent – a friendly game indeed. Opera Estate fielded some seemingly young and quick players on the wings meaning GAS did not push too high initially and evaluated the game and opponent first. Both sides initially neutralized not each other, but each team themselves with the last pass either being sloppy, offsides or passes being played too late. This gave both goalkeepers the chance to do some plane spotting. A couple of meaningful attacks from Opera Estate where stopped by a solid GAS back line, led by Fabian and Kristof in central defense and Marco and Finch on the wings. Benjamin and Stefan strongly supported in the midfield behind Nils with Simonyo and Markus on the wings and Nareen upfront. The latter ran his heart out on the pitch and put pressure on the Opera defense and the goalkeeper on several occasions resulting in uncontrolled clearances by Opera Estate and a couple of corners and free-kicks for GAS. The resulting headers from Kristof and Fabian went just wide. Seeing that despite their speed and agility, Opera Estate did not manage its passing well and would not opt for the long balls over the defensive line to beat the backline in the sprints meant that GAS increased the pressure and came to more and more chances. Inevitably Benjamin converted a beautiful cross from the right with a direct lop shot into the top left corner – 1:0 GAS after 35min and the passengers of Scoot flight TR689 from Krabi could witness it all as they approached Changi! A well deserved lead which GAS wanted to bring into half time. Opera Estate wanted to provide an answer immediately and almost did so when a through pass sliced the central defense in half and let No. 28 enter the box with the ball. A last minute tackle not once but twice from Finch helped keep the clean sheet. The following corner was easily defended by GAS given the clear height advantages. Half time!

With a few players departing in half time to watch some random subdivision game in Germany, GAS had another 40min to go with two subs. Ivan and Christopher started on the pitch and both of them should soon be in the spotlight. GAS continued to control the game with solid passing, some good dribblings but again lacking the decisive last pass. This was until Markus had a decent run down the right and passed the ball in the middle to Ivan who converted the ball confidently – 2:0 GAS five minutes into the second half. Unfortunately all passengers on Thai AirAsia from Bangkok were asleep and did not witness this nice attacking move. Shortly after Christopher Schwarz should have made it 3:0 but he managed to shoot the ball into the night sky from within 5m of the goal. The pilot of SQ236 from Brisbane had to swerve hard right to avoid being hit. Coach Christian was furious and before Opera Estate could even take the goal kick he subbed Christopher off so he can reflect on his performance over a banana on the bench. Nareen back in the game. Only 8 min later Simonyo dribbled yet again into the box and went 1:1 against an Opera Estate defender. The latter fell and, expecting a foul on him, grabbed the ball after falling. But Blowing Cake (“Pustekuchen”)! Handball and penalty for GAS. As this was a friendly game, GAS gave Opera Estate a fair 50/50 chance and let Finch take the penalty kick. Converted penalties in 12 years with GAS – 0 out of 3 taken. But today was meant to be the day, top right corner and 3:0 to GAS. Approaching Malindo Air flight OD805 from KL had to do an extra loop as the crew could not get the celebrating crowd on board to sit down. A solid lead now, but GAS wouldn’t be who they are if they would not give a window of opportunity to Opera Estate. Their newly subbed forward entered the box and with the agility of a Boing 747 ploughed through the defensive line. Apparently touching the leg of Finch, he tumbled, the referee whistled and it was penalty for the opponent. Christian Becker, previously complaining that he had nothing to do, could not get to the ball. 3:1 and Finch paying extra beers for the team. Conscious that the game could now tip against a still fast paced opponent and tired german legs the team stepped up again and with now even Goho starting to actually hit some balls the team ensured Opera does not get too close to the goal. Two promising free kicks went just wide. Another one of the GAS clearances led to a beautiful counter attack with Simonyo and Nareen steaming towards Opera’s goal. Nareen had one defender marking him leaving Simonyo no passing option but enough space to slot the ball home himself – 4:1 GAS with five minutes to go and the game was done. With the final whistle Benjamin’s daughter was waiting on the side line to serve some chilled Carlsberg – what a service and for the author of the report clearly the (wo-)man of the match! Being in a good mood, Coach Christian allowed Christopher Schwarz to join the team again.

Thank you Opera Estate for an enjoyable friendly focused on having fun kicking the ball about and neither team complaining, arguing or playing unfairly. That’s how football should be played. #lovefootballhateracism