Vikings - German All Stars 1-1

In the last game before the Christmas/new year break the Vikings were up against the unbeaten German All Stars (GAS). In fact the Vikings were one of only two teams to take points from GAS so far this season.

The coaches picked the more defensive 4-1-4-1 formation with Breitner as the Viking Makelele!:

Michael; Travis, Graeme, Richard, Stein; Breitner; Mofok, Martin, Chris, Jannik; Lars.

Subs: Tim, Mikael, Magnus, Udom, Ruj

As always the Vikings started out strong and were able to keep some good possession. Martin came through on the right side and hit a cross that Jannik slided in to reach – but somehow his effort went over the goal. Lars did good to hold on to the ball as the lone striker. Martin’s long throw-ins also caused the GAS a lot of problems as they struggled to clear the ball on more than one occasion. One of those dangerous throws was flicked on by Chris and Graeme could head home at the far post 1-0.

After the Vikings had broken the deadlock the GAS suddenly did better to keep possession and the game was very even. The GAS had a penalty claim as one of their strikers was thwarted by Magnus in the penalty area. To quote Magnus: “the guy had a fight with gravity, and lost…”However none of the two sides managed to find the net so first half finished 1-0.

Second half saw both teams playing some good football but the Vikings still seemed to be in control. Mikael had a good effort from the right side of the penalty area but unfortunately it hit the crossbar. The Vikings defense played a solid game but was caught out when going forward and the resulting counter attack gave GAS the equalizer. This happened with only 10 minutes remaining and all of a sudden GAS looked the better side as they pushed forward. A header hit the crossbar and might even have crossed the line but luckily the linesman didn’t think so.

The Vikings could have taken back the lead as Ruj came one on one with the German keeper but he just missed the goal. In the last minute there was a lot of drama when the GAS appeared to have scored the winner on a great volley from outside the area. The goal was disallowed though as the linesman correctly called an offside prior to the goal. This was more than one of the GAS players could handle and the referee had to send him off for childish behavior.

Shortly after the referee blew the final whistle and once again the Vikings had to settle for a draw. The result was fair enough and the Vikings can be happy with the performance. Michael was very solid in goal and Travis had a good game on the left back. Also Chris did a lot of good work in the midfield. Man of the match was Richard. Also it should be mentioned that the referee put in a good performance which was highly appreciated.

Match report by: Jannik