Saturday was the day we have been looking forward to for two months now: the first game day of the 2014/2015 season against Japan FC. Over the summer we have been working hard on our tactical set-up and the test games were promising. We won three out of four matches, drew only one (against Japan), scored 22 goals and conceded only 4, which all resulted from either corner balls or penalties. Thus we were determined to continue the trend and carry our momentum right into the first game of the season.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in the Sonjiang Sports Stadium, sunshine and blue skies – a rare sight in this city. Our early bird Luismi witnessed a massive squad of around 20 Japan players warming up as they always do already an hour before the game. Even though we missed some regulars as our keeper Cody, Eitel and long-time injured Mandela, we had a strong squad and were very confident for the game. Our replacement in goal was comeback-kid and the keeper with the biggest cup in the club Alvaro Roca, who was kind enough to change his goal scoring boots for the keeper’s gloves for a day. Ahead of him we played Seb and Will in centre defense, Essien and Daniel on the fullback positions, Luismi and Ronald in centre defense, Alex and Thomas on the wings, Stevie Wonder in offensive midfield and Tobi Junior upfront. As substitutes we had Adam, newcomer Volker, another returning champion Ives Ziegler, plus Hajo. Dennis was there too but unfortunately a bit sick so he could only support us from the sidelines.

The game did not start quite as we expected. Japan played some strong pressing, shifting the game over both sides and keeping our midfield and defense quite busy in the beginning. We had some trouble building up our game, and only after about 10 minutes we started to create our first chances. Having played about 20 minutes Japan headed a corner ball right on the crossbar, which was their closest chance. However as the game carried on, our attacks became more and more dangerous and it was in the 36th Minute when Luismi passed skillfully over the defense to Steve, Adam blocked the defense while Steve dribbled from the goal line to the 6-yard box and put the ball in the net for the first goal of the season. Stevie Wonder as we know him! We had some more chances in first half but the score at half time was still 1-0.

We started the second half with only some small changes. Essien and Thomas were playing on the fullback positions, while Adam played on his usual position over the left wing. From the whistle we started much more dominant than into first half, creating some good chances while the entire team was defending solidly, not allowing Japan anywhere near the danger zone. So it took only 10 minutes until we struck again: in an perfect example of teamplay Adam passed from a central position just inside the box to Alex, who was waiting on the right and quickly put the ball flat back into the centre where Steve converted to his second goal of the day. This was the ignition spark for even more powerful offensive football. After a midfield combination on the righthand side between Steve, Thomas, Ronald and Alex, Alex got the ball about 40 meters away from the goal. Tobi and Adam did some distraction movements, allowing Alex to use his speed and get into a good shooting position. His shot bounced off the keeper but found its way into the net, so it was 3-0 after 60 minutes. Supported by our defensive midfielders Luismi and Ronald who worked tirelessly up and down the field, our offensive department showed their firepower now more and more often. Only 3 minutes later Alex sprinted down the wing and crossed smoothly to the centre, where Tobi jumped higher than any defender and scored a brilliant header in the upper right corner – 4-0. The attacks kept on rolling now. Another three minutes later we saw a beautiful combination weteen Adam, Tobi and Steve, who had the eye for Tobi in the box, passed the ball and Tobi converted for his second of the day. Still we had not quenched our thirst yet. In minute 77 Luismi interecepted a ball, passed on to Alex whose long, flat pass cut in between two defenders and found Tobi again. Tobi would not miss such an opportunity and put the ball in the low left corner, raising the tally to 6-0. The final mark on the game came then from our two newcomers in minute 86: Volker played a nice long ball over the defense to Ives, who did not waste time and skillfully put the ball with the first touch from 15 meters in the upper left corner of the goal. 7-0 it was and this was the result we finished the game with.

All in all we are happy that we could see our efforts over the summer bearing some fruits in the first game already. This game was a win of teamplay, with players supporting each other, running for each other and the result shows us we are on the right way. However we also know that there is still a lot of work ahead of us, we are confident though that we are up for the challenge.