Berlin Football - Tennis Borussia Berlin v. Club Italia | Wow. Just wow.

[GuyGermanLatic]

I have no idea where to start with this one. Perhaps let me take you back to last week: I was preparing for today's match which saw TeBe play at home against Club Italia who were bottom of the league with 161 conceded goals to their name. I semi-jokingly said that if Borussia won by anything less than 15-0 I'd claim a refund. Ahem...

 

This is how it went.

 

Now Club Italia is a club organised by the Italian community here in Berlin. As the city is a giant melting pot of nationalities, this isn't uncommon in the Berlin-Liga. There are plenty of Turkish teams such as Türkiyemspor Berlin as well as a Jewish team called TUS Makkabi and a few others for communities dotted all round place. It's a gentle mix and a nice representation of what Berlin's all about. Now back to the day.

It seems every time I go and watch Borussia play it rains, is windy and is a bit cowd to say the least. After yet another week of weather in the mid-20s with sunshine and the odd cloud, today it chucked it down once more for my outing. Brilliant! Fortunately there's nothing a gigantic umbrella can't handle.

Little did I know the rain wouldn't matter today though. Not because of the main stand (Lookers lookalike) being perfectly built to keep all bad weather off but for what was in store. I had more of a look around today at the ground: you can really see the sign of a once successful team which has been swept back under the rug. Something about it is very Latics-esque.

 

I got a pint of Berliner Kindl, headed for the stand and sat myself between the mini-ultra section located at the far left of the upper tier. There seemed to be quite a decent crowd here today in around the 300-400s in comparison to last week's 195 attendance. Obviously they were expecting something.

The players came out to a small roar from the crowd. Answering the call of nature before the match, I noticed that the toilets are directly next to the changing rooms for the players. Whilst standing at a urinal a player came bursting in quickly only 5 minutes before kick-off like a Frisbee in a wind tunnel. You can't beat lower league football sometimes.

 

Club Italia kicked-off the game and managed to keep the ball. It started off as a midfield battle between the two with no side able to get a proper run at goal. However, after 3 minutes, a beautiful long ball found the TeBe winger who ran it into the box, pulled off a shot and put TeBe in front 1-0. Come on! An early goal will do the trick.

 

1 minute later, the exact same ball came again. It was crossed into the box to find a cheeky foot waiting to tap in the ball to make it 2-0 to TeBe. 2-0, let's keep it till half-time!

4 minutes later, now 8 minutes into the game, a slip up from a Club Italia defender left the TeBe forwards to pick it up and attack at goal. As the keeper ran towards him, he chipped the ball at an almost impossible angle. The instant reaction from the crowd was of disappointment - the ball stall hadn't landed, however. With God watching down on the ball - or perhaps the wind - it somehow dipped a millimetre under the bar to make it 3-0 to TeBe after.

Later, TeBe scored again. And again. And then again. And then once more. And then another for good luck. And then one because it's nearly half time.

Half-time score: Tennis Borussia Berlin 9-0 Club Italia

Tennis Borussia were winning by 9 goals to 0. From little tap-ins to spectacular diving headers, the TeBe players were enjoying this and you could tell. As they walked off, they made sure to pass us, the fans, who were giving them a loud cheer of support. It was starting to become more like celebration practice instead of a league fixture. Deep down I felt bad for the Club Italia guys but they honestly didn't seem to care that much.

I noticed again that TeBe's right-back was putting in an amazing performance - not just because they were winning either. His awareness of the game and skill are brilliant. He's definitely a player which will end up at a league club in the higher divisions. Fabien Thokomeni Siewe is his name, hailing from sunny Cameroon. Sign him up, LJ!

Enough of half-time, I want to see some more goals! Fortunately I didn't have to wait that long, pretty much straight after the kick-off TeBe scored once more making it 10-0. They used up 2 subs at this point to try and give the younger lads more experience and perhaps their first goal for the club.

Club Italia tried and tried again but just couldn't get it through the back line of defence. They'd either lose possession by a tackle or simply mess up a pass. They did have 3 shots though in the match. Sadly only 1 was on target. It was a dangerous shot from range which had the keeper worried but just sailed over. When you're winning 10-0 though, it's not exactly a live or die situation.

At this point the Club Italia keeper gave up. He was making his defenders take his goal kicks and spinning the spare balls on his shoulders like a basketball player. He let yet another in: 11-0.

 

For goal number 12, it was scrappy mess around in the box which landed at the feet of the TeBe's striker. From point blank range he smacked it into the right-hand corner with little more than a movement of the goalkeeper's eyelids. Poor lad.

Just before the whistle went, TeBe made it 13-0 in what is the highest scoring league match I have seen to this day. I stayed behind like most fans did and sang the boys in purple home. The Club Italia players surprisingly joined in. All in a single line, both teams took a run and dive for the fans to crown off the brilliant performance. If I'm honest, I didn't want the match to end! Absolutely brilliant. Forget Dortmund tonight, THAT is a one good Borussia team!

 

Final score: Tennis Borussia Berlin 13-0 Club Italia

 

for my video of a great goal and the players celebrating!

 

 

I still want my 5€ back.

Edited May 25, 2013 by GuyGermanLatic

[Matt]

Another great report. Cheers.

[Forte_Baby]

A good little site here http://www.abseits-soccer.com/phrases.html another team is SD Croatia Berlin.