Aaaaaand…silverware it is!

written by Dirk

After a couple of last minute cancellations the GAS Vet’s team gathered at City Ground once again to scare our opponents away…at least we scared them with our beer breaths from the x-mas Party the previous night. It was hopeless to wait for our coach Hasi, so we started under the command of goalie Michael once again. Even though we had to pay tribute to the previous day, we at least tried to show our skills-hopeless in the first game against a strong squad from Cosmos. 1:3 was the result, and although we played the first time ever in our new green jerseys, which should have been a lucky event for us, we made it quite easy for the other team to crush us.

Against one of the Japanese teams we made it a bit better, but still we were not able to score, 0:0. Our third game against a surprisingly strong Thai team was a hard fight, and even though they were technically in an advantage, we held a 1:1 almost until the end. An unnecessary mistake from us made the Thais scoring the crucial goal and the disappointment was huge.

We had only one last chance not to end as the last in our group, so we took all our strengths together-that was finally the long awaited turning point. From now on we played as a team, fought and even scored. 2:0 against the French, enough to play for the shield cup. We also won against another Japanese team thanks to a superb header from Dave (see attached Video!) and once again against the French, both games we won 1:0, enough for the 5^th place and enough for another silverware! The last four games showed the GAS Vets with outstanding performances, both in fighting spirit and in team play. And although we had only two substitutes, we managed to play focused, heavy breathing, but disciplined until the very end of each game. A great day with a great team, lots of fun on and off the pitch as usual. And we learned one thing: Even though we party the previous day, we are still able to play a nice and successful tournament.