The men of the world occupy the sixth place in the German championship

(pm/ea) – Last weekend the TSG Erlensee 1874 eV men’s soccer team also competed in the German Championships on the small court. After two days of tough competition and some unfortunate defeats in Hannover, the team is still satisfied with its sixth place.

In the group stage on Saturday, the team met FBC Heidelberg in the first match. After a solid start and a 4:1 lead, the Erlensee team unfortunately lost focus in the second half and failed to capitalize on their chances. Heidelberg turned the game around and led 7:6 with 36 seconds left. With a strong final race, Sven Berg equalized the Erlensee with ten seconds left. The match had to be decided in overtime. Luck was on Heidelberg’s side again, who secured an extra point with his golden goal.

The second group match against Turtles Berlin was a reflection of the first: in the break it was 4:4 after the Erlensee team had advanced several times. Airlinci’s men also advanced several times in the second half. But in the last minutes of the match, Finn Jan Makonnen (the top scorer of the German League) turned up the temperature in the dress of the Berlin players and helped his team to a late equaliser. Once again he went to overtime and once again Erlensee drew the short straw (8:9 thereafter).

In the final group match against the organizers and finalists, the Hanover Mustangs, the TSGE men managed to reach the semi-finals. The victory after regulatory time against the Hanoverians had propelled Erlensee into second place. Not an easy task against a very physically fit Mustang, who have impressively won their previous two group matches. However, as the obvious ‘underdog’, Erlensee showed a very solid performance and demanded everything from the Mustangs. Five minutes before the end, Hanovers led 8:7 and 50 seconds later added the goal to score 9:7. Erlensee risked everything and knocked goalkeeper Noah Bongratz off the field to get an extra field player. A hit into the empty goal with 30 seconds left narrowly sealed the next defeat and Erlensee’s men were forced to finish third in the table after the preliminary round.

On Sunday, the match for fifth place was against TSV Burdsholm of Schleswig-Holstein. In the break, the guys from Erlensee advanced by 4:3 and in the second half they extended the difference to 6:3. However, Bordsholm did not give up: first, the team from the far north tied at 6:6 almost 10 minutes before the end and less than Two minutes later the northern lights came up for the first time. In the last stage, Erlensee tried everything to settle the match, but Bordisholm repeatedly blocked with his own goals. In the end, Erlinci had to admit defeat again (9:10).

Despite the unfortunate and narrow defeats in all matches, there was a lot of fun and the atmosphere in the team was good throughout the tournament. With a bit of luck and better chances, more than 6th place could definitely have been achieved. Reaching sixth place in the German Championship as a ‘fun team’ is still impressive.

It should be noted that the participants from Hess (TSG Erlensee and TSV Tollwut Ebersgöns) loudly supported each other throughout the tournament. At this point, a big thank you again to the players from Ebersgöns, who took home the bronze medal at the end.

Photo: PM