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| First cup title delivered |
Das Wunderteam has finally done it. After coming so close last season, the Austrians defeated the Johnstone Wildcats by three goals to one in the final yesterday.
It has been a long ride really. Ever since Marcone took over the reigns at the club formerly known as the "Pecorators" in 2006, the fans and the whole team were looking forward to great and successful times. Under Italian management the team became a dominant force, winning back to back league titles and going as far as the semi final of the Xpert Champions League. One thing hardly bothered the Italian legend at the helm for over four years: the Classic Cup. The 8th round was the furthest they ever got.
The current gaffer is now coming close to the record of over four years at the club set by Marcone and after restructuring the team from a long balling monster to a midfield packed beast, the set-up is much more suited to the current system of Xpert11. Rumour has it that the back to back runners-up titles nearly broke the managers heart right after arriving, but the current success prooves his decision to stay with the side to be the right one. It did come at the expense of dropping down a few divisions, a little more than first expected by the management, but with three division titles in a row and two extended cup runs, fans had a lot to cheer about and the return to the Classic League does not seem too far away for a team still on their way to peak.
The final against the Johnstone Wildcats was a match between two active "scribblers" and KonkyWonky knocked out a few more on his road to the all deciding match. Thankfully for both sides, they secured promotion to the Classic League (Wildcats) and Division 1 (Wunderteam) before and had nothing to worry about for any important matches afterwards.
The match itself was, at least to the Austrians, a surprisingly one sided affair. While the Wildcats seem to have won a few choices on the tactical side, Das Wunderteam excelled on the pitch side of things. The match winner was nobody else than Kanon Sid, a 26-year-old striker, who had his performance boosted considerably due to his form training prowess and his greedy, perhaps even selfish self. After getting his side in front after just 16 minutes, Sid struck from distance again in minute 68 to cancel out the equalizer by the Wildcats, which came right after half time, to restore his teams lead. With the sending off for Sorai just four minutes before the end of time, the tie was nearly over. The own goal by Paluchowski for the 3-1 result was just the icing on the cake.
Shortly after the final whistle the manager put down a few words for the press:
"Today I am a very happy man. I have to admit to coming close to doubting a little my tactical astuteness in knock out rounds. While I did have a few successful runs in The Country Club knock out rounds and later winning the SSS Cup against old foe Chrillzmeist0r, I was beaten in the Classic Cup final last season as well as three (!) consecutive times in a private league (WoP-Community-Liga), which were pretty tough pills to swallow. Today, however, we hammered home our advantage that we gathered through patient building over the past few seasons and will now be cherishing the opportunity to take part in the Xpert Champions League for a second season running. Let's just hope for a better group stage draw (not Svajo and Chrille again please!) and for now: celebrate!"
What is left of Marcone at the team now? First of all the spirit in the players to have it in them to go all the way. Secondly only Purves Grundy (cheers Cloggies!) and Rickard Lagrelius, who both are the two most influential players in their position and perhaps even the club in general.
What is next for Das Wunderteam? Ending the season with a trip to Dracula FC. The long journey of the season began with a one-nil victory against the Romanians three months ago. It was, indeed, a very successful one.
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2015-02-27 21:32
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3092 Views |
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Reporter:
Tiggyjosh
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