Random Rants: World Cup Blog

Soccer is rite of citizenship in German village.

Edgar Angly (left) and Wolfgang (Boney) Breunig first became teammates on the Gossmannsdorf, starting in 1947, and each made over 500 appearances for the club. -- Photos by Chris Courtney --

By Chris Courtney
SoccerTimes

GOSSMANNSDORF, Germany (Thursday, June 15, 2006) -- In this village of 1,200 along the banks of the Main River just south of Wuerzburg, soccer is in their blood. When a newcomer moves in, he can expect a group of men to knock on his door and offer a choice: to please either join the volunteer fire department or to play soccer for the TSV Gossmannsdorf team.

The German national team and the Bundesliga might be the most recognized entities in German football, but the heart of the game is found in the small town clubs.

Local soccer matches in Gossmannsdorf incite a passion similar to a west Texas town for a Friday night high school football game; it's the only show in town. The village empties on match day as nearly everyone works their way down to their riverside pitch where smoke rises from the bratwurst grill and the crack of opening beer bottles punctuates conversations about the team's prospects. Housewives in Gossmannsdorf enjoy game day because it means they don't need to cook dinner; everyone eats either at the ground or at the club's restaurant after the game.

Sure, they all enjoy the Bundesliga and often go to games at their beloved FC Nürnberg, 1860 Munich or Bayern Munich, but their own team is one they don't need to share with anyone else. Besides, competing with neighboring towns brings out a desire for bragging rights for an entire year, provided, of course, that you win. Despite being a much smaller town than their rivals Gossmannsdorf just won its division's under-17, under-15 and under-13 championships, the latter for the second straight year.

Just about every man and boy in the village is either a current or former player, so the reputation earned on the field in younger days bears a great influence on where he stands in the village's pecking order. Expect everyone to remember a muffed shot on an open goal 40 years ago. Those who never played will be remembered for just that.

Club president Harald Kraft is proud that the club has 349 members and, when you factor in that only those over 18 years-old count as members, almost 40 percent of the village belongs to the club. Tonight, the town and club gathered to watch their Germany team try to secure a place in the second round with a win over Poland.

Ten-year-old Johannes, German flags on his cheeks, displays the World Cup tribute on his bedroom door.

Whenever Germany plays in either the World Cup or European championships, this football-crazy town ratchets up the excitement. As everyone in town knows, the best place to watch the Germany-Poland first-round match is at the clubhouse where a large screen is erected in the dance hall. Walk into the clubhouse on any given night and chances are you'll see Wolfgang (Boney) Breunig having a beer with Edgar Angly.

Breunig and Angly were teammates for TSV Gossmannsdorf, starting in the late 1940s and they each played over 500 matches for the club. Breunig who earned the nickname "Boney" while playing as a tough right back, now runs the restaurant and bar, the only real restaurant in the village. Few seem to know his real name but know him only as "Boney." His old teammate, Angly was a striker, but is now owner of the town's sawmill. As his playing years came to an end, he raised the funds to build the clubhouse and was even elected mayor. Both locals predicted a tough match for Germany since the Poles "have their backs against the wall" after their opening loss to Ecuador.

Predictions for the outcome were relatively conservative, but none predicted a German loss. Under-11 midfielder Johannes Schmitt predicted a 2-0 vivtory, while the ultimate optimist Gerd Kirchener predicted a 4-0 triumph for the host nation.

With 75 people packed into the dance hall, the match started and the crowd was happy to see team captain Michael Ballack back on the field. While the Poles had a decent share of possession, little of it was in the Germans' half of the field while the home team built its attacks primarily through the left side on combinations between Werder Bremen's Miroslav Klose and Ballack. As the half ended 0-0, the fans counted the missed opportunities and near misses with, "They must score if we have any hope of beating a team like Brazil."

The second half commenced with similar frustration when a German striker Miroslav Klose shot skittered just inches from the post in the 51st minute. The longer Germany failed to take a lead, the more confident the Poles became and they started to look frisky, threatening Jens Lehman's goal. The Germans had the better of possession to that point, but seldom had enough attacking players forward to produce more meaningful chances.

Germany coach Jürgen Klinsmann then made a decision which got the Gossmannsdorfers off their feet when, in the 63rd minute, he substituted Borussia Dortmund's David Odonkor for defender Arne Friedrich. Odonkor's entrance shifted the German attack into a higher gear. Seven minutes later, Klinsmann poured gas on the fire by bringing on the crafty forward Oliver Neuville for Lukas Podolski. Then the barrage started.

In the 75th minute, Poland's Radaslow Sobolewski took down Klose near the touch-line and was sent off with his second yellow card, leaving Poland to finish with only 10 men. Bernd Schneider's resulting free kick snaked through the penalty area and almost sneaked into the goal. From here on out, the Germans kept the Poland goal under constant pressure, hitting the woodwork several times

There was some discussion in the German and Polish media this week of the fact Germany features two Polish-born strikers in Klose and Podolski. The Gossmannsdorfers could care less where someone was born -- if he is German enough to wear their national team jersey, that is good enough for them. As it turned out, two other players with immigrant parentage gave Germany the lead for good shortly before full time. The Nigerian-German Odkonor held the ball well on the right before firing a skipping stone-like cross to the Swiss-born Neuville, whose central-to-near-post run positioned him perfectly to make a sliding tap into the goal for a well-earned 1-0 lead.

Germany kept up the pressure in the waning moments and established itself as the first team to earn a place in the next round at 2-0 with six points. Since the next day was a Bavarian holiday, the Gossmannsdorfers, like many other German fans, partied into the night. reliving every moment of the game.

Meanwhile, up in Dortmund, German and Polish hooligans clashed in the city center. Two thousand German police officers brought the situation quickly under control and made over 300 arrests in one of the few blights on an otherwise amicable World Cup.

Chris Courtney is SoccerTimes European correspondent and lives in Brussels. He is in Germany covering the World Cup.