England V Germany @ Lyne F.C 2010
June 26, 2010 was the second time in three years that we were able to stage an International Football friendly with our German and English friends and family. As a quick introduction, my wife Ann and I (Uli) have lived in Lyne for 6 years where our sons Ben and James (6 and 4, respectively) where born and where they love to play football on the Green. I am from Germany and Ann despite her new surname (Kleinsteuber! ) is English. Our friends and family last met at our Five year Anniversary party where we livened things up by staging an "international football match".
The occasion this time was a charity event for the Lovissociety which supports families with terminally ill children. The charity was set up by my Cousin in Canada who last year sadly lost her young daughter Lovis to a rare discease.
In addition to the charitable cause we were also hoping to associate ourselves somehow with the real worldcup hoping for an England v. Germany match in South Africa that Saturday evening to spice up the party we were hosting in Chertsey. In the end the REAL match did take place as you know, but a day later.
Now to our game on Lyne Green. The German team this time around was filled with hopeful young talent from my family in Koblenz with no less than 3 players in the starting 11 under 20 years promising to put the considerably older English team under pressure. This did not last for long as the English quickly created chances and were up 3:0 after 20 minutes due to series of great moves and defending errors (the irony of it all). On the other side my German team were unable to connect properly on a number of occasions and despite an overall balanced game England took the 3:0 lead into half time. The second half started with a similarly balanced overall game but with England applying more pressure on our defenders and managing to retain and then build the lead following a brief German comeback. Whilst we were able to create good chances it was the English that proved deadly with cunning penalty box movement and precision shooting. The full time result of 7:2 reflected an ice cold counter attacking performance that was not to be expected by a team of old footballing talent, mixed up with local cricketers and rugby players.
Germany did redeem themselves with a strong penalty performance - we always finish the game with an obligatory penalty shoot out. It was 9:7 after penalties with the Germans knocking in each ball with precision and effectiveness and England doing what it always does at this stage...Despite the late surge the full results of 9:7 was an unexpected Goal festival and some claim it was even worth watching. A re-match is not yet planned but rumours have it that our German friends might stage a similar show in 2012 during the European finals. So regardless of what happens with the real teams there may well be an England team (from Lyne) fighting it out on the continent.
The game was great fun and all participants (organisers included) had a fantastic day which managed to generate a tidy sum for our charity. Many thanks to Nigel, Ian et al for all their help in preparing the ground and lending us a hand. Good luck to all LYNE FC teams for next season.
BEST WISHES Uli, Ann, Ben and James Kleinsteuber
Many thanks to this years U12's for making this happen and Pat and Richard for marking out!!
Cheers
Nig
