Hamburg "Sonntag Doppel"

The conclusion of this particular European football trip concluded in Hamburg, with a double header from the lower tiers of German football...

1045 Oberliga Hamburg
Teutonia Ottensen 4
Wandsbeker TSV Concordia 2
Att: 175 (plus 20 or so tightwads, who wouldn't pay the €6, watching from road)

What better way to blow the cobwebs off than a spot of Sunday morning Oberliga action. FC Teutonia Ottensen regularly play their home games at 1045 in the morning so this was ideal. The ground, Sportplatz Kreuzkirche, is about a 15 minute walk from Hamburg-Altona station and, as suggested in the name, is in the shadow of the Ottensen Kreuzkirche (Church of the Cross). 

FC Teutonia were the Landesliga Hamburg-Hammonia champions in 2017, earning promotion to the Oberliga (level 5 of German football) Hamburg. They are enjoying a good season and they are comfortably in third place in the table (at the start of play today).

However in this league there is only one promotion spot to the Regionalliga Nord and that looks sewn up by TuS Dassendorf, who are 12 points clear at the top, with games in hand.  Teutonia do play the champions-elect in a couple of weeks time in the Hamburg Cup semi-final, so maybe there is still a chance of silverware this season.

Abdel Abou-Khalid gave Concordia the lead after two minutes but Aytac Erman (19, 32) and Georgios Cholevas (23) gave Teutonia a comfortable half time lead.

Two Wandsbeker TSV Concordia players received red cards, Martin Werner after 66 minutes for his second yellow card and  Kevin Zschimmer after 75 minutes for foul and abusive language. In between the red cards Concordia did pull a goal back when Abou-Khalid (73) scored from the penalty spot. However after 80 minutes Erman completed his hat-trick to make the game safe.

The second game of the day was 5 miles across town in the district of Lokstedt. The timings were tight so I had to be on my toes at the final whistle. I had to catch a bus to Schlump station and then jump off at Hagenbecks Tierpark and then walk 10 minutes to the ground. However whilst I was on the bus I received a text message to say kick off had been delayed due to an injury sustained at a earlier match on the pitch. The knock on effect meaning the remaining games were at least 30 minutes behind. The second half of Lokstedt's second team versus Inter Eidelstedt was just kicking off as I entered the ground, so at least there was time for a chill and a beer (or two) in the clubhouse as the temperature began to rise...

1430 Bezirksliga Nord Hamburg
Eintracht Lokstedt 2
HFC Falke 2
Att: 272

Sportpark Lokstedt, on Dörntwiete, is another artificial surface (if you can remember, it is very similar to Luton Town's pitch of the 1980's).

There is a small piece of wooden cover and also a decent view from the clubhouse decking behind the goal. Eintracht Lokstedt are celebrating their centenary this year and there is a display in the clubhouse to commemorate this achievement, including a plaque from the Deutscher Fußball Bund and a signed photo from Germany and Hamburg legend Uwe Seeler (pictured above right).

Eintracht Lokstedt were the league leaders with HFC Falke in 5th position (at the start of play) in the Bezirksliga Nord Hamburg, which is a district league and basically the equivalent of an English County League. In Hamburg the Bezirksliga sits at Level 7 in the German structure.

Today was a chance for me to catch up with friends who follow HFC Falke and chew the fat, sink a few beers and watch a decent game of football. 

Lokstedt raced into an early two goal lead. Mario Beslic opened the scoring after 5 minutes, after a defensive mix up up left him with an open goal. After 10 minutes Tamino Kunter raced through to slot home and double the home sides advantage.

Tobias Leuthold (25) halved the deficit after Falke were awarded a dubious penalty when Lokstedt 'keeper Jan Giesecke pushed  in the area resulted in the referee pointing to the spot. Kevan Hermann (55) equalised for The Hawks in the second half and the game could have gone either way. In the 81st minute Lokstedt had a chance to grab the victory but Nils Kuchenmeister saved Luis Gleich's penalty kick. The resulting draw was a fair result and brought to a conclusion another fantastic week of European Groundhopping. 

All that was left was to head back into town and sink a few more ales at the fabulous Galopper des Jahres! Until next time, a very fond farewell!