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

On the Wings of Der Adler

Thursday, May 19, 2022