Zafer Evren

DEFENSE

Markus Heerlein

Michel Hermann

Jens Taubken

MIDFIELD

Matthias Bertl

Jens Hofmann

Andre Koehlmann

Dennis Thun

Marc Singh

STRIKERS

Volker Giebitz

Michael Klemm

SUBS

Jordi Costa

Florian Schmidt

Markus Dolenga

Rene Schieber

And indeed the Germans showed good attitude during the opening minutes, putting together some decent passing and enjoying more possession of the ball. After 14 minutes Volker found himself with a clear shot on goal which the Ranger goalie parried. The rebound fell again to Volker whose second attempt was cleared off the line before Madse eventually hit the target, 1-0 GAS.

One would have expected the Germans to push for a quick second goal but instead of piling up the pressure, the Rangers were invited to get back into the game. The pace of the match, together with the standard of football, declined rapidly as both sides resorted to an unsightly display of kick and rush. This, together with an inexplicable German festival of passing errors benefited our opponents who had their first clear opportunity after 31 minutes. Zafer in goal won that initial encounter with Rangers' dangerman #17. Both sides now managed to grind out some opportunities and Jens and Dennis both produced misses in promising one-on-one situations. Instead of a comforting 2-0 lead at halftime, however, the GAS got the equalizer on a counter just before the break.

Coach Joerg demanded a much more spirited performance in the 2nd half to land the first and much needed win in four matches. What followed, though, were probably the worst 20 minutes in the recent history of German football in Singapore: a performance so bad that it is difficult to find appropriate words, but surely it was devoid of any passion, any spirit and any flair. The almost logical consequence were two Rangers goals to put the match almost beyond reach. 1-3 it was after 60 minutes. Only four minutes later, however, a defense splitting pass, converted by Micha after a nice individual effort brought the Germans back into the game. Having smelled blood, Joerg now replaced a defender with a third striker to increase pressure and possibly enforce the equalizer. The tactic worked. After some relentless pressure one of many resulting corner kicks found Volker after 78 minutes who's header proved unstoppable for an otherwise very good Rangers goalkeeper. Game on!

The Germans now went for a dramatic winner, pushing the Rangers back into their own box. But their #17 had other ideas and shattered any fantasies of a win by scoring again after a lighting quick counter attack with 84 minutes gone. Trying to avoid a fourth successive defeat the GAS once again threw everything at the Rangers defense but were unable to find a late equalizer.

At the end it was too little too late. Had the Germans played the whole match like the last 20 minutes it is fair to assume that the three points would have been secured by the "Mannschaft", but a spirited performance for only 20 minutes is simply not enough to win any games in the Cosmoleague. So it was a fourth consecutive defeat and with a tricky schedule lying ahead, a massive effort

is required to get the German All Stars out of their current misery. 

Florian Schmidt