Europa's beste Mannschaft: „heute ist es mehr als nur ein Lied“

 

When I first started following Eintracht in December of 2013, I didn't know anything about anything. I didn't understand what a relegation battle was, I didn't understand what it meant to stay up, I didn't know the history of this club or any of it's players.  I barely knew anything about soccer! I only knew one thing: the supporters that followed this club were unlike anything I'd ever seen and I wanted to be a part of it.  Along the way, I fell in love with players, coaches, this sport, and this club.  Being an American, we just don't have this kind of experience here (at the Professional level at least).  10 years, and much heartbreak later, Eintracht Frankfurt has found the PERFECT way to bless it's supporters.  The Europa League win was a perfect ending to this ride, and hopefully the mark of great things to come.  I'm hoping this isn't the finish line, Die Adler are marked in their starting blocks.

Europa's Beste Mannschaft:

You better believe we are.  We have been for a while, only now we have some hardware to prove it.  In a hard-fought battle against a good squad, Eintracht went out and earned the title. In Europa League, Eintracht was perfect.  8-5-0, outscoring their opponents 20-13 along the way, and slaying every giant that had the audacity to step in their path.  Fenerbahçe?  Not good enough to beat us.  Real Betis?  So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen goodni-ight.  Barcelona?  Not only did we take you down, but we also now have the paperwork for Camp Nou. You should know by now that Spanish clubs can't beat us.  Tschüß! West Ham?  Knauf and Kamada wrapped that one up real quick.  It's been nice seeing you here, but this is our party.  And finally, Rangers.  Legendary traditional powerhouse.  Much respect, you put up a tremendous fight, but we're here to prove that Europa's beste Mannschaft: „heute ist es mehr als nur ein Lied“.  

As I sat in my apartment in Houston, Tx, screaming at the top of my lungs for every second of that match, pacing back and forth, pointing at the television, and fighting back tears when it was over, I couldn't help but think about what all the fans in Germany were feeling.  Eintracht Internationale, after all, is a global enterprise.  I can't imagine what this means to soo many Mitglieder who have been with this club for generations.  As I sit and watch this celebration on Eintracht.Tv I can kind of grasp the concept, and oh how I wish I was there!  You are what make Eintracht Frankfurt Europa's Beste Mannschaft after all. This team, this club, these fans, from Peter Fischer to the grounds crew, every single bit of it is first class.  We don't need a trophy to say how great we are, but it feels good to get one!  It's a beauty too.

Schwarz-Weiss wie Schnee!

Das ist der S.G.E. indeed.  We don't just have the D.F.B. Pokal, we have (another) Europa Pokal trophy to add to the collection.  Seeing the scenes of the 10's of thousands of Eintracht fans marching to the stadium, and seeing the end of the stadium filled with white shirts (and a few of my friends who made the trip from America to be there) was beautiful.  At kickoff, you could tell this was going to be a fight.  Rangers is a physically tuff, strong team, and they play with the pride of a powerhouse club.  They wanted it just as bad as we did and they didn't lay down.  Eintracht completely dominated the run of play for the first 30 minutes of play.  Firing 10 shots (3 on target) to Rangers 2.  It seemed that not even a boot to the head was going to stop them (how was this not at least a Yellow Card by the way?????). Eintracht was punishing Rangers on the counter, they were hitting them with combo play in the midfield, and they were ending almost every possession with a shot.  11 minutes in when Toure found Daichi Kamada behind Rangers' backline, the first serious threat appeared.  Daichi couldn't get the ball back to his right foot, but Djibril Sow managed to find the rebound and fired a good one to the top corner of the back post which Allan McGregor (as he was most of the night) was on top of.  Knauff (19:29), N'Dicka off an errant shot by Lindstrøm (20:07), and Sow again less than a minute later (20:53) all had clean looks to put the Eagles in front. Filip Kostic blasted a deflection just over the goal (29:46) and minutes later snatched a terrible Rangers pass off his chest and raced down the left touchline to fire a patented far post bender that just went just wide.  Over the first 45 minutes of play, Eintracht was by far the most dangerous team.  Rangers threatened seriously only once when Joe Aribo found a pocket of space in front of the 18 and blasted a left-footer about 3 feet wide of the goal.  You had a feeling it was just a matter of time.

Eintracht vom Main, nur du sollst heute siegen:

Even when Rangers capitalized on an untimely Tuta injury to sneak one past Kevin Trapp (56:19) I never felt we were losing.  Sow and Rode were dominating the midfield, and we were killing them on the counter.  We were going to find a way through.  You could see the mood of the players change after Aribo found the back of the net, but the team didn't look disparaged or down, they seemed to look more focused.  The lads immediately came right back. Kostic hit a deep cross to Knauf who stuck a beautiful ball to Lindstrøm in the middle of the box.  Lindstrøm hit a laser that found the stomach of Calvin Bassey right in front of the net (58:39).  Kamada had the best chance of the game (66:22) but he floated the shot on top of McGregor's net after he rushed a shot with time and space.  The chance was set up by tremendous pressure by Rafael Borré, who rushed Connor Goldsten after a back pass and a poor touch.  Borré forced a bad pass, which Rode broke and made an amazing play on.  In one motion, he slid in front of John Lundstram (who was breaking back to the ball), stretched out his right foot and flicked the ball to Kamada in the pocket.  Daichi tried to go far post, but McGregor had cut off that angle and left the near post wide open.

Schiess noch ein Tor, dem Gegner ist den Kasten rein:

It didn't take long for Eintracht to finally level the score.  In the biggest game of this club in 40 years, who better to combine for the equalizer than Kostic and Borré.  (68:56) Kostic fired a low cross in a place that only Rafael Borré's right big toe could reach.  Borré bullied his way in between Rangers center-back pairing and just managed to flick it to the near corner.  For these two to make this play, in this game, at this moment was beautifully poetic.  While their work was far from finished, it was the setup for things to come.  

Even though almost an hour of play would come after this, Eintracht needed this moment.  Borré had one last chance to win it (94:50), as he had found his way in behind the Rangers defense and was streaking towards the goal.  You could tell that he just ran out of steam, the defense caught up and managed to knock the right footer out of bounds.  The defense had set in.  Makato Hasabe, Evan N'Dicka, and Almamy Toure were almost unbreakable.  Almost.....with one exception.  117 minutes, 33 seconds into the game Super Man made an appearance.  With Rangers seriously threatening on the counter, Kemar Roofe raced behind the defense to track down a ball just before it crossed the end line.  Roofe fired a cross that took a slight deflection off Makato Hasebe's leg and bounced across the front of goal with Ryan Kent racing to it.  Trapp tracked the ball and just managed to flying kick his right leg to block it.  The man who saved Eintracht game after game this year had just made the biggest and most unbelievable save of his career.  The save without a doubt secured the game, and he had two more in his bag.  Trapp secured Ranger's last threat (120:00), and while it didn't seriously challenge him it put a stamp on a game that he was about to win.

In diesem Jahr:

It all came down to penalties.  What was one of the most beautiful penalty battles I've ever seen, Eintracht was flawless.  

Rangers: James Tavernier hits right at Trapp, Trapp dives right.  1:0

Eintracht: Christopher Lenz goes upper right corner, McGregor guesses wrong 1:1

Rangers: Steven Davis perfectly places one in the top right corner, Trapp guesses wrong, 2:1

Eintracht:Ajdin Hrustic blasts one lower-left corner, McGregor guesses wrong 2:2

Rangers:Scott Arfield crushes one top left corner, Trapp guesses correctly, but still can't stop the shot 3:2

Eintracht:Daichi Kamada equals Arfield, hits the right post on a scorcher, ball gets around McGregor who guessed correctly 3:3

Wasn't it perfect, that the end of this season, and the end of this Pokal, ended in the hands of Kostić, Borré, and Trapp?  The game was about to turn, and two players secured their fate as Eintracht legends, one opened his page.

Rangers:Aaron Ramsey slow runs up to the ball.  Kevin Trapp leans to his right.  Ramsey hits one right to Kevin Trapp's spot, guessing he's diving out of the way.  Trapp holds his ground, kicks out his left foot and knocks it away. 3:3

Eintracht:Filip Kostić goes lower right corner.  McGregor guesses correctly, but Kostic places it perfectly and puts enough on it the keeper has no chance.  3:4

Rangers:Kemar Roofe goes low left.  Trapp guesses correctly again, but Roofe blasted it and Trapp couldn't get to it. (4:4)

Eintracht:Rafael Borré goes upper left, McGregor guesses correctly again.  Rafael put it just high enough McGregor couldn't get it. (4:5) Good guys win.  GOOD GUYS WIN.

Final thoughts:

Players come, and players go, but Eintracht remains:  

The fondest and most heartfelt goodbyes to Stefan Illsanker, Danny da Costa, and Aymen Barkok.  May your next post find you the most success.  Danny da Costa has been one of my favorite Eagles, and I'm sad to see him go.  

This is going to be the best offseason:

Not only is all of Eintracht Internationale celebrating like we are Martin Hinteregger, we have some young, exciting players already on their way.  Let's hope we can keep the band together for this Champion's League run, and add a few more pieces to them.

Eintracht Internationale, this is but a step.  Dare to dream BIG:

You guys and this club have earned it.  One day in my lifetime, we will take down Bayern München and hoist the Meisterschale.  One day, we will look back in remembrance of this Europa Pokal, as we lift a Champions League trophy.  I don't know when, but it's going to happen.  Eintracht aus Frankfurt,du schaffst es wieder, Deutscher Meister zu sein.  

Bis zum nächsten Mal:

Next year is bringing much change for me, and hopefully a lot more time for writing this blog that I love soo much.  Thank you to everyone who reads.  It's crazy for me anyone reads this at all.  Love you guys, and love this team.  EUROPA'S BESTE MANNSCHAFT S.G.E.

Forza S.G.E.

Brian

Liebe Eintracht: We're about to win a trophy. "Some Do's and Don'ts" during the game.

So, admittedly (and if you know of the other teams I follow), it's been a while since any of my favorite teams have had a chance to win a major trophy of any kind.  But I do have some experience in cheering on the guys playing for them, and I have seen almost all of my favorite teams hoist a major trophy at the end of a season.  The Dallas Cowboys (1992, 1993 & 1995), the Dallas Mavericks (2011), the Dallas Stars (1999), the Houston Dynamo (2006, 2007) and our beloved Eagles hoisted the DFB Pokal at the end of the 2018 season.   While some of us may be new to this, there is a definite protocol in terms of behavior in order to secure our team a trophy and represent the best fan group on the planet: Eintracht Internationale.  So, from a seasoned veteran, let me share with you some game-day rituals and superstitions that are for sure going to give Die Adler the energy they need to finish this off.

*Author's Note:  This piece is complete satire and designed to be funny.  Please take any outrage at this post somewhere else.  I'm a fan first and a blog writer.  Everyone just chill and have some fun.*

Game Day Do's and Don'ts.

Do:

Wear your lucky charms.  All of them.  If you have to wear two Eintracht Trinkos (Frauen and Manner......not that I'm pointing at you @Najakwa......but I'm pointing at you @Najakwa), then it is ultra necessary on Wednesday, May 18th.  If you have bracelets, socks, shoes, hats, scarves or your lucky pair of underwear......you wear them. I don't care if you look like a 15th Century knight or Joey from Friends when he put on all of Chandler's clothes.  YOU DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO.

Don't

Wash your lucky clothes before the game.  Don't you dare wash that luck off of your charms.  Now's not the time people......desperate times call for desperate measures.  It's winning time, suck it up and tuff it out.  No matter how bad it smells or if you accidentally spilled currywurst sauce on it.  It's go time.

Do:

Find a good place to watch it.  The setting is up to you. Sevilla?  Public Viewing? Local Pub? Watch Party? At home by yourself? Need a crowd to cheer with that doubles as a support group? Go for it.  If you are going to the game, you're amazing (and I'm completely jealous!).  If you are like me and need to hide in a dark hole so you can scream obscenities at the screen and no one will see you cry?  You do you.  But, get in the moment, set the mood, and enjoy the scene. Subsequently, I would kill for a chance to watch this in the Waldstadion with 50,000+ Adlerträger. 

Don't:

Be that person.  You know.....that guy that goes to the other team's favorite spot just to raise a ruckus and be a general jerk?  I've done that, please learn from my younger, much dumber self, this is a really bad idea.  It's risky for your teeth, that's all I'm saying.

Do:

Make a hearty meal.  You'll need your energy, plus you need something to soak up all the beverages you'll be downing to calm your nerves.  Be wise, be responsible, and cook enough food for 30 people, even if you're only watching with 3.

Don't: 

Drink soo much you can't remember what happened/pass out before the game even starts.  Don't drink soo much you are stumbling and mumbling come match time.  We're adults.  We do that after the final whistle.  We have serious "12-ing" to do during the match, we need everyone on their A-game.  

Do:

Head to the forest, and relieve yourself on a tree.  WE ALL KNOW IT'S FOR LUCK.

During the game:

Do: 

Find a comfy spot with a good view.  Make sure you have both food and drink close at hand, and plenty of room to jump up and pump your fists without striking another Eagle.

Don't:

Whatever you do, for the love of all that is good and Holy, move from that spot.  Not to grab a snack, not to go to the bathroom, not if you or your wife goes into labor.  NOT FOR ANY REASON.  Unless we down 0:1, then everyone must switch seats.

Do 

Sing every song in the Eintracht Song Book.  Even if you don't know the words, fake it and sing as loud as you can.  I'll be singing all day here by my lonesome (that's Texas speech by the way) in Houston, Tx.

Don't

Pretend like you're working.  Everybody knows......

After The Game:

Do:

Talk trash to everyone whose team didn't win a trophy this year.  American fans, I mean anyone.  

Oh, you like the LA Lakers?  That's nice, did they win a trophy this year?  My team did.  

Oh, Yankees.....how cute of you.  By the way, did you see the trophy my team won?  

You support Dortmund? ((snicker)) Would you like to see what an actual trophy winner looks like? 

I see you wearing that Manchester United shirt.  Look, here's the Europa League trophy.  You've probably forgotten what one of these looks like..... 

I've already set this up with all the West Ham fans at my school.  Friday is going to be brutal for them.

Do:

Go around shouting: "Eintracht von Main, nur du sollst heute sieeeeeeegeeeeen. Eintracht von Main weil wir dich alle lieeeeeeeben."  I'm going to be putting it on repeat.

Do: 

Remember to prepare responsibly for the ridiculous after-party.

Lastly......Do:

Enjoy every single second of it.  Then, prepare to repeat it all next year when we make our Champions League run.  We're the best team in Europe, we're the best fans in Europe.  The whole world is about to find out.

Thanks again for reading,

Forza S.G.E.!

Im Herzen von Europa liegt mein Frankfurt am Main

Die Bundesliga gibt sich hier gar oft ein Stell-dich-ein

Hier gibt es eine Eintracht, die spielt Fußball ganz famos

Man kennt sie nicht nur am Mainestrand, nein auf der ganzen Welt

Und wenn sie gewinnt im Waldstadion, dann ist die Stimmung groß

Eintracht vom Main, nur du sollst heute siegen

Eintracht vom Main, weil wir dich alle lieben

Schieß noch ein Tor, dem Gegner in den Kasten rein

Jeder wird sagen, ohne zu fragen

In dieser schönen Stadt am Main

Eintracht aus Frankfurt, du schaffst es wieder

Deutscher Meister zu sein

Der Eine liebt sein Mädchen, und der andre liebt den Sport

Wir schwören auf die Eintracht auch mit unserm Ehrenwort

Führt sie der Weg mal fort von hier in andre Stadien rein

Wir sind in Gedanken immer bei Dir, nie wird es anders sein

Begleiten wird sie unser Chor, drum stimmet all mit ein

Eintracht vom Main, nur du sollst heute siegen

Eintracht vom Main, weil wir dich alle lieben

Schiess noch ein Tor, dem Gegner in den Kasten rein

Jeder wird sagen, ohne zu fragen in dieser schönen Stadt am Main

Eintracht aus Frankfurt, du schaffst es wieder, Deutscher Meister zu sein

Roller Coaster: The Duality of Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022

I'm going to have to stop writing.  Every time I start writing again, Eintracht stops winning.  I start writing something criticizing their play, and they win big games.  This team is soo up and down, I can't get one blog post written before something changes.  I feel pretty sure we don't need to worry about the curse of the Diva, we need to start worrying about the curse of OnTheWingsOfDerAdler.com.  Seriously.  Look at it.  Last year I wrote that it was time to believe, and Eintracht go 2-3-1 down the stretch.  This year I write that it's time for them to make a push, they go 0-2-1 in the Bundesliga.  After blasting Hertha,  taking down Real Betis, and winning a hard-fought game against Bochum, Eintracht has been winning huge games in one league and has been disappointing in the other. There are soo many things that make this version of S.G.E. frustrating.  We watch exciting, gutsy performances mid-week, and uninspired performances on the weekend. They aren't producing goals at a high rate and although they are a good defensive team, they aren't a great one.  They are just good enough to give up 1 goal a game. Despite Kevin Trapp's brilliance (and he has been brilliant this year), this team is struggling to keep clean sheets and earn 3 points in the Bundesliga, while not losing a single game in Europa League.  There were unbelievable wins over the giants of Barcelona and losses to Armenia Bielefeld. But why? It's easy to play the blame game.  It's easy to point the finger, but let's take a look at the duality of Eintracht Frankfurt this season.

Lack of experience/quality depth:

The Eagles have done a terrific job developing attacking talent over the last few years and have been able to restock, retrain, and sell on some fabulous players.  It's never easy, but easier when you can pair a striker with Filip Kostic. Eventually, Kostic will figure out how to get him the ball where he needs it.  This year was much bigger than just finding a striker and plugging him in though, and the results in the Bundesliga have shown that.  Borré (27 starts, 2,288 minutes), Lindstrom (26 starts, 1,976 minutes played) Lammers (460 Minutes), Hauge (949 Minutes), Jakić (1,834), and Knauf (669 Minutes) have been needed heavily in their first debut Bundesliga season.  The team has been up and down all season juggling the two campaigns, and even crafty veterans like Kostic and Kamada have shown some tired legs and inconsistency.  Seven Eagles (Trapp, N'Dicka, Kostic, Sow, Borré, Hinti, and Tuta) have logged 3,000 minutes this year.  The midfield pairing of Kristijan Jakić and Djibril Sow has had to carry the lion's share of playing time across the season.  Rode has finally started to find form after missing a good chunk of the Hinrunde with a knee injury.  The new guys have been terrific in the Europa League, but not quite good enough in the Bundesliga.  Now sitting 9th in the table, with a chance to qualify for Champions League with a win against Rangers on May 18th, the team has both made huge strides and lost ground in the Bundesliga at the same time.  Without some key additions in the offseason, or making the loan deals of several of these new players permanent, it could be an early exit from Champions league and a similar standing in the league next year.

Rafael Borré

It's easy to place a lot of blame squarely on him.  After the strikers that have come through Frankfurt recently, a lot was expected of Borré.  It's easy to say he's underproduced, and no one would disagree with you for that opinion. As we've seen with all of those players though, your first year in the Bundesliga requires a steep learning curve.  Borré needs to be better, but mostly he needs to find better positioning.  He's often tracking back a little too far, holding up play a little too deep, and unable to get back into a shooting position within the 18.  Some of that is the service he's not seeing, but some of that is him playing too deep and failing to get into open spaces in front of the net. Borré ranks 63rd in the Bundesliga in Shots/90 minutes of play (1.83), and his average distance per shot (13.6 yards) ranks 57th.  Compare that to what Andre Silva did a year ago (3.58/90; 12.6 yards per attempt) and you can see where a large amount of the dropoff in goal output has gone.  It's not just that he's not getting the goals, he's not getting into position to get shots.  Silva in his first year with the club (3.09/90; 11.6 yards per attempt) was taking better advantage of the space created by the Dopplezehn.  Borré has gone huge stretches without scoring a goal or assist this year, and only has 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 20 appearances across all competitions.  But.....haven't we seen this before?  

First Season with Eintracht:

• Alex Meier: 34 appearances (27 starts) - 2,456 minutes played - 9 goals, 8 assists - .33 Gls/90
• Sebastien Haller: 36 appearances (30 starts) - 2,752 minutes played - 13 goals, 6 assists - .43 Gls/90
• Luka Jovic: 27 appearances (11 starts) - 1,154 minutes played - 9 goals, 1 assist - .70 Gls/90
• Andre Silva: 37 appearances (28 starts) - 2,495 minutes played - 16 goals, 4 assists - .58 Gls/90
• Rafael Santos-Borré: 43 appearances (40 starts) - 3,319 minutes played - 10 goals, 6 assists - .27 Gls/90

While I'm not saying that Borré will explode like Haller, Jovic, Meier and Silva did, the first year is too early to evaluate him.  All of these players saw significant jumps in their productivity from year 1 to year 2, and the same should be expected from RSB. It's not unthinkable that he could produce 15-20 goals next year. Borré could be adjusting to a new level, and a new responsibility.  He's played 2,000 more minutes than he ever played at River Plate and is getting little relief from Lammers (21 aps, 7 starts, 744 minutes played, 2 goals 0 assists), Gonçalo Paciência (24 aps, 4 starts, 614 minutes played, 4 goals, 1 assist), and Ragnar Ache (16 aps, 1 start, 266 minutes played, 0 goals, 1 assist).  While Borré needs to be better, Eintracht could really use another striker to take some pressure off of him.

The back 3.

The first team of Hinti, Evan N'Dicka, and Tuta have been extremely solid as a unit.  They are tuff, rugged, athletic, smart and work well off of each other.  Although it took Hinti a little while to work off all the offseason Krombacher he'd been drinking, he had just rounded into form before he was lost for the season.  The problem here is also quality depth. The ageless wonder Makato Hasebe has provided the bulk of the rotation minutes.  Logging in 1,546 minutes over 23 appearances (15 starts), Hasebe has stepped up each time his number is called.  The team, however, has not.  Eintracht has posted a record of 4-2-5 with Hasebe in the starting 11, and has been outscored 14-18 over those appearances. The team is 1-1-3 when he comes off the bench, including the Matchday 18 loss to Dortmund, who scored 2 goals after Hasebe subbed on for Daichi Kamada to solidify the defense. Almamy Touré has provided 925 minutes this year and will be needed even more over the last 3 games.  Touré is a good defender and can get the ball downfield and help in attack.  Stefan Ilsanker has been almost non-existent this year. Eintracht needs to pick up another quality defender this summer.

Im Hertzen vom Europa......

It's going to be a wild game.  I know Die Adler faithful are going to pack Seville and blow the doors off the place.  Auf gehts jungs, and lets go get some hardware.

Thanks again for reading.

Forza S.G.E.

Brian