Announcement
12th Matchday: Shanghai Cosmos vs. Shanghai Sauerkrauts 3:1 (1:1)
Match Report: Sauerkrauts vs Cosmos
Date: 21. February 2009, 13:00
Location: Tianma Greenfield
Result: 3:1 for the other team
Players: Helmuth, Bilgin, Sven, Torsten, Erich M., Alan, Jan M., Nico F-W, Wei Qi, Johann, Nico A., Ralf, Antti, Carlo, Chao Di, Uli Supporters B., the president of the club
Drinks: Local brewed beer of international brand
Well, the history of the game is talked in a few sentences. But it was a historic event in the history of the club: Uli, the longest active player for the club, made his 25th comeback, still wearing the number 21, the happy number that made him player of the match in his 24th comeback in January 2005. That time Uli was 42, and 21 was just the half of his age and he was still running like a 21 year old rocket player*1.
Before the match, great discussion which position Uli should play, Bilgin offering me every position in the starting line-up as long I can run, under the condition that I should leave the pitch after latest ten minutes. Helmut than made the right move: I was awarded the honor to do the motivation “Zicke Zacke Zicke Zacke” and afterwards have a rest to warm the bench.
This was a right decision: Motivated, the Sauerkrauts came good into the match. With Ralf keeping the 16’ner free from Cosmos players and Nico, Anti, Johann balance the attack, all players found their position and played with confidence. Quiet early in the game, we were rewarded with the lead. After a nice corner, Jan showed his nicest in heading play and rammed the ball into the net. But as often in the last matches, somehow the referee did not use the whistle when there was a clear irregular behavior from our components, suddenly one of the Cosmos players had the chance to score, and he used it.
Mid of first half, time for some changes, and after all players from the bench got on the pitch, finally Uli made his comeback. Little bit unused position, midfield left forward, in safe distance from the own goal, I tried to tempt the field and see if the ball is still my friend. A few nice tricks here, some short passes there, some slow sprints and some long runs, just to see how it is after more than1.051.200 minutes without playing on a big pitch. Not a sensational comeback, but at least some friendly words from the captain and the president.
After halftime, Uli still in the line-up. Best proof that the performance was not too bad. Or the captain trusted that 15 minutes rest is long enough for me to recover from 10 minutes playing. Some remarkable chances from the Sauerkrauts, Nico sending the ball to the cross beam from more than 30 meters. But again, the referee not aware of the action on the field, thus giving the Cosmos team a undeserved 3:1 lead. Sauerkrauts still fighting, but the 90 minutes were too short to come back in the game. But taking into consideration that the Cosmos are plying in the upper half of the bottom, we got some confidence for the game against the Turks were we need to defend the Doener border. Beer was cold, showers were warm, so all in all the Saturday afternoon at Tianma was the right place to be.
Uli K., 16. March 2009
*1.Also see the book “historic events in Shanghai Soccer”, censored by Bilgin G., with a foreword from Franz B., China World Press, first published 1904, 98th edition 2006, with comments from Uli H. and Ralf R. on the games played 7th and 14th January 2005 and pictures by Torry Sun.
