Battle of Berlin: Aftermath

The battle of Berlin (first leg) is in the books now and wouldn't you know it the favourites to win it won it.  Darn it, nothing like a good underdog story!

The Berlin Adler defeated the Berlin Rebels 17-16 in a tense and exciting season opener for both teams.  Any neutral fans within the 5,173 people in attendance sure got plenty of bang for their buck!

For a full report (in German) see football-aktuel.de take a stab at it here.  Read on after the break for Der Irlanders thoughts, analysis and general rantings!

Berlin Rebels -v- Berlin Adler

When one first sees the result it's only fair to think "Oh, the Adler let up and let the Rebels back into it to make it a close game.", it's okay, you can admit it.  Truth be told though, the Rebels lead for 58 minutes of the game and were done in by themselves in the end.  Allow me to explain:

The Rebels had a missed extra point as well as a field goal discounted for a personal foul.  There's four points right there.  Also, correct me if I'm wrong but if a personal foul occurs after a kick is made, shouldn't the penalty be assessed on the ensuing kick off and not utilised to call back a successful attempt?  Anyway, that should have been a non-issue because the Rebels left a lot more points out there on the field.

The men in black had a number of drives stall and falter due to penalties or miscommunications.  Leaving points out there isn't something experienced, mature teams do; mature teams such as the Adler.

While they struggled to get the offensive output they're typically used to but they got just enough points against the Rebels D.  A field goal off a fortuitous fumble to start the second half and a break away slant put them in position to engineer a late drive to go for the win.  With all their experience and poise in place the Berlin old-guards moved methodically down the field, taking what the GFL new-boys gave them, thanks in part to a crucial, if controversial, pass interference call on the home team secondary.  Long story short, with under two minutes left the Adler found themselves on the receiving end of a TD pass in the back corner of the endzone: 16 all.  One error-free PAT later and they were up by a point.

There was still time for a Rebels drive to reach field goal range.  With Darius Outlaw under center and with danger-man Jason Horton on the outside, the Rebels calmly took to the field needing only about thirty yards to get into range for their hired leg Matt Evenson.  They even seemed to get there on third down when stalwart German wideout Gregor Lietzau hauled in a low sideline pass but much to the chagrin of the Rebels sideline and the fans in attendance, the side judge didn't get a good view of the play as Lietzau's body was between him and the ball.  Unfortunately for the Rebels that was pretty much the end of their day as they failed to convert on the ensuing fourth down.  That's the way the cookie crumbles.  Luck favours the prepared mind.  C'est la vie.  Take your choice of platitude!

It just goes to show you the margin for error in the top league is almost microscopic.  Sure the Rebels might have gotten away with missing some opportunities last year in GFL2 but that won't past muster this year.  The team will have to tighten the screws, cut down on laundry, and find a way to close out against resilient opponents if they are to snatch a few wins this season, that'll start with a stern test the next two game weeks against Kiel at home and then away up north.  Basically they need to mature into a veteran team ASAP!

If you missed the game this time round, be sure to get to the return leg as it promises to be another belter!

One more thing too.  Finally the GFL has now played host to a full-blooded Irishman as Ross McCooey played the whole game after starting at right guard on the offensive line.  Like many other Rebels he has things to work on to tighten his game up but overall he seemed to hold his own out there and no doubt is keen to move on to the next game and help the Rebels progress in a positive fashion through the long GFL season.

McCooey in action against the Adler

That's all for now people.  Keep an eye on the blog for more upcoming articles, previews, interviews etc.  Best way not to miss anything is to either subscribe to the blog directly from here, or more sociably, click the 'Like' button and join us on Facebook.

Until next time.

Slán!