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After fielding half a team at the Vienna tournament, the full strength Munich side was back in action at the Capital Cup in Berlin. This was Sabrina's first tournament, and Stefan decided to join us for his first competitive touch experience as well. (He ended up playing with Leipzig instead but still had a good time.) With Berlin, Rüthen and Frankfurt fielding some very competitive squads, this was going to be a real test of our team's composure. And fitness.
 Captial Cup 2010 Squad At the beginning of the first match against Frankfurt we were somewhat rattled. We hadn't played much more than social touch in the English Garden for several months now, and mistakes were abundant. The opposition even had a Brad Geiger look-alike to distract us, but somehow we pulled it together to manage a close win by full time. The matches against the inexperienced Berlin 2 and Leipzig teams were easy as expected, and while we used them to tidy up our play and to introduce more intensity into the attack and defence, we were still somewhat sluggish compared to the level required to compete in the finals matches.
We heard from Berlin that the Rüthen kids were quick, and last longer than the Duracell bunny. We noticed that right from the tap off. It was a fantastic positive for our team that we raised our intensity to match theirs, and used our subs (out of necessity!) to good effect. We were most impressed by the transformation of this team over the last year. Last year they appeared in Berlin as a rookie team of students that ran mostly sideways very quickly, and had little in the way of team coordination. This time they were a slick outfit that worked together relentlessly over a set of six to give us heart attacks. Well done to them. But back to our game. It was in this game that our driving came together under pressure. There was also enough sting in the line attack to punch to score seven times. Could we do it again against Berlin 1 in the final?
As it turned out, Berlin 1 didn't have it all their own way. In a high scoring affair they beat Frankfurt 8-6 (or something similar), after being down just before half time. Anyway, under sunny skies and surrounded by a host of Berlin residents visiting Templehof airport for its first public opening since its closure, cheered on by cheerleaders holding pom poms spotting Touch München's future colours of black and yellow (sorry, made that last bit up), under the direction of Level 6 referee Derek Fisher, the long awaited final commenced.
 Randy scores! It was Munich that drew first blood in the first set of six. In a line attack move up the left, Keith Ball darted through the line and threw a pass to the bulls eye on winger Kate Stout to score. But then Berlin replied with some skillful manoeuvering by Rob to take the lead. Somewhere along the way came a decisive moment in the battle of the coaches. Our Keith Ball did a quick roll ball on the Berlin line, stepped right and accidentally onto Rob's foot, received the ball back from Nomis a second later and score beside a Rob lying on the ground. 1 - 0 Keith Ball.
But it was Rob and Berlin who had the last laugh. Having discovered a weakness in our line defence in the centre, he repeatedly hit that soft spot to good effect, and in the end we conceded several touchdowns there. In a closely fought match, the home team won the day 6-4, but it was a fantastic effort from the Munich team.
Congratulations to Sabrina for taking out the MVP title within the Munich team, and managing to smear cake all over the face of our other rookie Stefan at the dinner party. Thanks to Berlin for providing the cake.
POOL GAMES
Munich vs Frankfurt: Win 5-3
Munich vs Berlin 2: Win 7-1
Munich vs Leipzig: Win 6-1
SEMI FINAL
Munich vs Rüthen: Win 7-3
GRAND FINAL
Munich vs. Berlin 1: Lost 4-6 |
