Karlsruher SC - VFL Osnabrück (01-04-2011)

After a couple of days of work in Brussels, I take the high speed train to Cologne, where I am picked up by my brother and his friend S. for a little groundhop weekend. Our first game is in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg. While driving through town, we see droves of people walking to the Wildparkstadion. We buy tickets for €11 per person and joined the “echte Fans” (real fans), according to the girl at the ticket counter.

The KSC, as Karlsruher SC is known throughout Germany, is a well-established team in German professional soccer. While the club has played mostly in the 2. Bundesliga (Second Division) in recent decades, the KSC was in the 1. Bundesliga (First Division) between 1987 and 1998, even making it to the semi finals of the UEFA Cup in 1993-4. Both Ollie Kahn and Mehmet Scholl were bought away by Bayern München one year.

Although KSC has seen better days, it still has a loyal following. This evening almost 17.000 people make it to this Kellerduel between two teams fighting relegation in the 2. Bundesliga. Among them, at least 500 made the 460 km (285 miles) trip from Osnabrück.

Before the game starts, however, we stock up on food and drink, always perfect in German football stadiums. I find this monster piece of Leberkäse (a kind of grilled meat), way too big for the little sandwich, which costs me only €3 and lasts me the whole evening.

Before kick-off the crowd sings the official club song, something I always appreciate, and the hardcore doesn’t stop singing after that. They have enough reason to sing, as KSC already scores 1-0 after 5 minutes: good pass from the right is finished from 5 meter. A couple minutes later the home goalie makes three mistakes within 5 seconds, but isn’t punished… the fans now know it’s going to be a good day.

While the hosts generate a couple of chances, the guests are still in the game, creating their own chances and, in the 31^st minute, scoring a rebound with the head (although it looked like hand): 1-1. Osnabrück is able to take this score into the half-time, to the chagrin of the home fans.

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In the second half the level of plays drops further and it looks increasingly like “pinball football’. In the 68^th minutes the guests have a good attack, but a bad finish. Almost five minutes later the KSC striker goes alone at the goal, but the ball is saved from the goal line by a defender. Despite the poor play, both teams generate some chances and, more importantly, the fans keep singing and are full of emotion.

In the 85^th minute the guests have a counter-attack, running the ball for almost 25 meters before kicking it under the goalie: 1-2, a shell shock for the home fans. Only two minutes later they regain hope, as the VFL goalie dives under the ball, but the KSC striker kicks over the ball. Again two minutes later the game seems to be decided, as a VFL player goes alone at the KSC goalie, but his lob is too low and meters wide. Extra time, and KSC keeps pressuring. In the 93^rd minute the VFL goalie misses the ball, but it is saved on the goal line by a defender. But then, in the 94^th minute, as a consequence of the last free kick, KSC scores the rebound and secures a draw: 2-2.

Everyone around us goes crazy, as if KSC has just secured promotion into the 1. Bundesliga. All the frustration with the poor play has been forgotten, as fans hug, scream sing, and fireworks go off. A couple second later the referee blows the final whistle.

A game at the KSC is as close to football in the 1970s as you will get these days. An old stadium (unfortunately with athletics track around the pitch), thousands of genuine fans with flags, jerseys, and songs, and great and cheap stadium food. The football might not be at the highest level, your experience will be!

Toronto FC - Portland Timbers (26-03-2011)

Although the Timbers lost their first MLS game comprehensively, I decided to also make the 900 km (570 miles) drive up to Toronto to support the team in their second game. I drove up on Friday to find Toronto still snowy and ice cold. On Saturday I arrived at the stadium over an hour before kick-off (@ 2 PM) and parked my car for a steep $13 (Canadian) at the parking lot in front of BMO Field.

While freezing, it was already buzzing in and around the stadium. Having lost their first game away against Canadian rival, and newbie, Vancouver Whitecaps, TFC fans were nevertheless happy to start their fifth MLS season at home. I went to the ticket office and, after a lot of complications, bought a ticket for section 104, the away supporters section. It costs a good $43 Canadian ($44 American).

As I walked around the stadium, I saw only people in red and white. Inside the stadium, it wasn’t different. Even in the away section, an hour before kick-off, the few people already there were home fans. I decided to walk around a bit more, and make a stop in the toilet, where I saw the following funny thing.

As I wondered around, I met a small group of Timbers fans: two who drove up from Buffalo, New York, and one from Portland. Oddly enough, there was also a Sounders fan from Portland (nice guy, but I still don’t know why he was there). Several times TFC fans would come up to us and welcome us to the MLS and/or to Canada.

Just before kick-off I returned to the ‘visitors section’, which was packed with home supporters. As all games between an American and Canadian team, the game was preceded by two national anthems. I was surprised to see that the Canadian were singing their anthem with even more pride than the Americans normally do.

BMO Field is a soccer-specific stadium close to the center of the city, with a capacity of 23.000, which opened in 2007. For this first game against the Timbers 20.084 had found their way to the stadium, braving exceptionally cold weather (freezing and windy). The club had made red-white flags available for all fans, which they happily waved at the beginning of the game. Overall, the fans were not very loud, and only “Toronto’s Elite” were singing some songs.

The game started bad for the Timbers, where particularly the defense excelled in mistakes. In the second minute a defender headed the ball directly on the foot of a Toronto striker, who fortunately short straight at the Timbers goalie. Various individual mistakes followed and in the 15^th minute the hosts finally capitalized on it: 1-0.

In the 18^th minute the Timbers finally got a nice opportunity, with a free kick at 18 meter from the goal, which was kicked blindly into the wall. And while this started several minutes of Timbers pressure, real chances were hardly created because of terrible final passing. Among the few notable events were a scuffle between players in the 33^rd minute and a free Portland header (which went well over) in the 38^th minute.

The first half slowly dragged itself to its end. The home fans created little atmosphere and the football wasn’t keeping us warm either. Toronto didn’t dominate Portland, but it had little problem keeping its 1-0 lead. The Timbers still played naïve, but weren’t tested much. 1-0 was a reasonably fair half time score.

In the second half I joined the nine Timbers fans at the top of section 104: two from DC, two from Chicago, and two groups of in total five from Portland. Exposed by the biting wind, we tried to stay warm by singing songs and engaging in friendly banter with a small group of (sometimes) singing home fans a couple of rows lower.

Portland had more of the ball in the second half, but too often all players went into the middle, which left no space for a good attack. One exception was a good attack in the 68^th minute, which ended with a shot in the side net. Unfortunately, a minute later this was followed by a great shot from far out, which went over the Portland goalie who stood way too far away from his goal: 2-0. Except for a second yellow card for a TFC player several minutes before the end of the game, that was the last notable action of the game.

Toronto FC has started its fifth MLS season with a victory over an even weaker team, but will undoubtedly end in the lower range of the table. While it has a solid support base, and really nice fans, there is not too much atmosphere in the stadium. Hopefully this will change in the future, so that it will become a stronghold in the MLS.