CS Fola Esch – FC Déifferdéng 03 (15-10-2017)

 

The last game of our groundhopweekend, which included four games in four countries in three days, was in Luxembourg, a destination that I feel is too often shunned by my fellow groundhoppers. Fortunately, my brother shares my soft spot for football in the Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, so on a remarkably warm and sunny Sunday afternoon in October, we drive to the small town of Esch-sur-Alzette to visit one of their three (!) clubs in the Luxembourg National Division, the top division in the country.

 

Having parked our car on the hilly small road next to the stadium, we are blows away by the entrance to the Stade Émile Mayrisch, home to the Cercle sportif Fola Esch (Sporting Circle Fola Esch), better known as Fola Esch or simply Fola. It is the oldest club, which was founded by an English language teacher in 1906. They play in the oldest stadium in the country, which has a majestueuse façade, behind which hides a pretty basic football and athletics stadium with one modest covered stand. The total capacity is 4,900.

 

We get a general admission ticket for €10. As we are early, we visit the little canteen and get some coffee, before the snack bar opens up to provide us with excellent fries and sausages. After that, we sit on the simpler bleachers, as the weather is too good to be covered. There are roughly 500 people, some 100 fans of FC Déifferdéng 03, who have made the 10 km trip from neighboring Differdange.

 

In the 5^th minute the visitors head the ball softly at the goalie. Six minutes later the hosts attack, but the player hits over the ball. After fifteen minutes we have the first (weak) shot at goal, from FC03. The next play Fola loses the ball in midfield, FC03 passes the ball to the striker, who shoots at goal from the penalty box: 0-1. Three minutes later, as I’m still circling the pitch to take some pictures, Fola shoots from 20 meters, low, but the goalie jumps over it: 1-1.

 

While the pace and quality of the play remain quite mediocre, the game itself is entertaining. In the 22^nd minute the Fola goalie tips a good shot wide, and the next minute the F03 makes a good safe at a shot of the striker. Five minutes later both goalies have made another good safe, one after shot from close by, and one from a clever free kick.

 

In the 32^nd minute a surprise attack leads to a Fola player making himself free, tricking the defender, and then passing to a free teammate, who scores from 2 meters: 2-1. Although there are several more chances, the half time score is 2-1.

 

The second half is even crazier. Within the first fifteen minutes Fola scores two more goals from close range, after exceptionally clumsy defense by FC03. In the 70^th minute Fola counters, a cross is missed by all, which leads to an easy finish and a stunning 5-1 score.

 

But we are not done yet. As the away fans around us get a bit grumpy, Fola again counters, but this time the goalie saves well. Two minutes later, in the 81^st minute, a Fola defender launches a beautiful long ball, which is controlled by an attacker, who goes around a defender, pulls around the goalie, and finishes easily: 6-1!

 

The majority of away fans who are still in the stadium, mainly because of the good weather, get a little bit of consolidation when FC03 finally has a good attack again, which leads to a cool finished: 6-2. Two minutes later, they have another attack, which is finished from 2 meters: 6-3. There are no more goals in the last five minutes of the game.

This was my eighth game in Luxembourg and definitely the most entertaining – although almost all have been very entertaining. However, 9 goals, while sitting in the sun and being able to use free wifi, all for just €10 – not to speak of the delicious snacks, which were also very affordable – can hardly be beaten, not in Luxembourg, and not anywhere else.

AO Acharnaikos - PAE Anagennisi Karditsas (28-05-2017)

 

Last time I was in Athens, two years ago, there were no games to see, so this time around I was happy to see that the season wasn’t all over yet. The Superleague Greece (First Division) was in the play-off stages, with the game between the big teams from Athens and Thessaloniki mired by violence. As I have seen all the major teams of Athens already more than two decades ago, I decided to go and see a game in the Football League (Second Division). My Dutch friend WL, who has lived in Athens for decades, went with me, which was not just good for company but also for directions – turned out that the bus line we needed had been discontinued a year ago. So, after two different buses, and an almost one-hour travel to the outskirts of Athens, we arrived in a very sleepy suburb of Acharnes, where the effects of the economic crisis are much more visible than in the heart of Athens.

 

Athlitikos Omilos Neos Acharnaikos was created in 1938, but only founded in 1959 – I also don’t know why. Until 1961 they were known as Yperochi Menidi – Menidi is another name for Acharnes. Their colors are green and white and their logo is a four-leaf clover, which makes them look very similar to Athens powerhouse Panathinaikos – although they are not officially connected. Until the 1990s they played in local divisions of Athens.

 

After a cup of coffee in a far too modern café close by, we return to the stadium, where we buy tickets (€5) for the main stand, which turns out to be the only of two stands open today. Fortunately it is covered, as it looks like the rain will return during the game.

 

Acharnes Stadium is an old concrete stadium in a residential area, probably from the 1950s, which has seen little investment since its opening. It has a capacity of 4,450, but today there are barely 250. Only some 5 percent are women, rest mostly older, local men. No one had the made the almost 300 km (180 miles) track from Karditsa in the North of Greece.

 

The weather has been terrible all day, i.e. cold, grey and rainy, and the pitch is in a horrible state. This doesn’t help the already limited players:both teams are on the lower end of the table. The pace of the game is low, the control poor, and the passing cautious. And then, out of nowhere, in the 8^th minute, the hosts shoot from 25 meters and the goalie completely misses the ball: 1-0. I start to wonder about the Chinese gambling mafia.

  

In the 11^th minute a free kick of Acharnaikos goes nowhere. Fifteen minutes later a good attack by the hosts is shot at the goalie from close range. Another ten minutes passes in which little happens and most of the audience remains low-key, mostly passing time by talking with each other.

 

In the 35^th minute an Anagennisi corner is missed by everyone and a minute later their free kick is headed well over. In the 38^th minute two players get injured and stay on the ground for a while. Then the official clock is moved to 45 minutes and it turns out it was running 8 minutes slow. Half time: 1-0.

 

The second half continues where the first half left off: slow pace, poor control, cautious passing. In the 53^rd minute Anagennisi has two attacks, one is headed out by the hosts, and in the rebound a visitor volleys the leg of an Acharnaikos player rather than the ball. Overall, the game is full of injuries, which makes it even slower.

 

The visitors are pressuring, as the hosts mainly defend. Anagennisi mainly pumps in crosses, which are (easily) headed out by the Acharnaikos defenders. At one attack the home goalie almost fumbles, at another he tips the ball over the goal. In the 66^th minute Anagennisi has another attack, this time ending in a low and slow shot, which is saved by the goalie. In the 75^th minute the guests finally score; once again the attack is over left and this time it s finished in the right corner: 1-1, which is also the final score.

Acharnaikos is a great destination for an adventurous groundhopper, but might not be worth the trouble for the average football fan. I’m just happy WL went with me and didn’t even complain!

BFC Dynamo –VSG Altglienicke (15-07-2016)

There are few places in Berlin where the East still is alive but Sportforum, home to the Berliner Fussball Club Dynamo, is such a place. It’s situated in a part of East Berlin that is not yet gentrified, although that seems a matter of time, and where the past holds more allure than the present or future.

It is mid-July but the weather is grim: cold, grey and very windy. This is the first test game of the new season that BFC plays at home and some 200 people have come to see the “DDR Rekordmeister” play. BFC was founded (only) in 1966 in the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR; in German DDR) and was the team of the infamous Minister of International Security and its even more feared Stasi intelligence service. Not surprising then that Dynamo was record champion in the GDR.

 

Those glory days are long gone. Like other GDR teams Dynamo wasn’t able to make the transition to a successful (all-)German team in the Bundesliga. In fact, it suffered even more from the end of communism, in which it had such a privileged position. No longer able to draft the best players, or intimidated opponents and referees, and without a strong commercial and popular basis, BFC has become a minor team in the united Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), now playing in the Regionalliga Nordost (Fourth Division).

This friendly against a local team attracts some 200 people, all hardcore BFC fans, mostly sporting gear and tattoos of the old communist club logo rather than the restyled new one – even though several of them were too young to have known the old club. Almost all supporters are male and white, many look rough. While the younger try to act tough, some of the older have the confident swagger of former hooligans. Dynamo is said to be the favorite team of far right activists in Berlin but I see no far right symbols.

The game is played on a side pitch and not in the dilapidated main stadium (which is a very modest accommodation as it is. I pay €5 and get a “bracelet” rather than a ticket (just like with concerts). The fans stand on one long side of the pitch, at times two-three deep, and seem mostly concerned with catching up with their friends rather than watching the game. Everyone seems to know everyone.

Both teams are very young, mostly in early 20s, and mostly white with several Germans of Turkish origin – very common for Berlin. The BFC players are clearly better, although their pace and technique is not impressive. In the 5^th minute a defender of the visitors makes a dumb foul and Dynamo easily converts the penalty: 1-0.

In the 18^th minute the Dynamo striker shows nice control, but follows it with a bad shot. The next minute a Dynamo defender almost scores an owl goal through a terrible pass back at the goalie (who has left his goal). Five minutes later a corner is finished with an easy header: 2-0.

Even though the final result is clear, and it is a friendly game, the tackles are at times reckless – perhaps because many players on both sides seem to know each other. The referee stops the game for a bit to speak to the two coaches to tell them to calk down their players. After several minutes the game continues, less edgy, but still with some tough tackles. In the last few minutes of the first half Dynamo scores twice: 4-0 is also the half time score.

 

The first fifteen minutes of the second half are dominated by the visitors, who seem more inspired than Dynamo. Then the hosts wake up and have some decent chances but the goalkeeper saves them. In terms of football there is little to note, and few supporters seem to be watching it. The most notably moment is when Dynamo has a corner in front of two of the middle-aged (ex?) hooligans and one of them says to the player that he can take it better. The player says “do it” and he does – very badly but the referee, also a local, is smart enough to let it go and then simply repeat the corner.

 

I left the game 10 minutes early, which I rarely do, but it was cold and neither team seemed particularly determined to score an(other) goal. From the website I learned that the final score was 5-2.

Even though I feel I didn’t get the real Dynamo experience, I enjoyed the visit and at least saw the core of this unique club. I will definitely return to see a regular Regionalliga game. You should too!