The day after our win was a good one for Union – first, our offer for Ferdy was accepted and we signed the little Cameroonian for £140K, and a peanuts contract. We also received word from Herr Bertram that our win over Ahlen was a new high scoring record for the club, and Fortuna decided to come to the table with a decent bid for Sreto Ristic - £600 000 plus Martin Luhr, who would be cover for Chibi Okeke in the holding midfield role.
The media were speculating over whether or not club hero Emil Kremenliev would be sold to chasing clubs Millwall, Oviedo or Wolves. I held back on commenting, because I had my eye on a more than adequate replacement my scout had brought back from England, who would cost about 45000 quid less per month, and clubs were willing to pay in excess of 2 million pounds for Emil. It all hinged on the signing of the new right-sided defensive midfielder…Meanwhile, the Sreto Ristic/Martin Luhr deal was confirmed as I took possession of another tasty transfer fee. At the rate we are bleeding cash, the choices are either getting into Division 1 and reaping the benefits from TV money or face extinction. I’m hoping for a wealthy benefactor, but to no avail - I suspect I’m stuck with Herr Bertram’s puckered rear end for some time to come.
Perhaps it was the sight of a new central midfielder that spurred him, but Chibi Okeke has been setting the training ground on fire according to Ivan. This is good news; anything to keep the lads on their toes is a good thing. Even better news – our Egnlish target has finally been offered to us at a slightly higher price than we would have liked, but we’ll take him all the same. Mike Duff from Cheltenham Town is his name, and he will hopefully become an integral part of our team should we agree terms. It was with this good news that we made our way into our away match at Bielefeld.
German Second Division, Arminia Bielefeld vs. 1. FC Union Berlin, 11th August 2001.
We had come to rely upon one man above any other, even this early in the season. And in one short burst, Ivan Bonilla once again made a game his own. The game started innocuously enough as teams felt each other out and traded attacks with neither team able to gain a decisive edge. That is, until Bielefeld were forced to knock the ball behind after a Kremenliev cross, and from the ensuing corner by Marko Tredup, Victor rose above the pack to head home the first goal of the match. We don’t tend to rest on our laurels, though, and put in two more meaningful attacks in the next few minutes, only to be impeded by the framework of the goal. But it was only a matter of time, and Emil Kremenliev again made a nuisance of himself from the right hand side by popping in a teasing cross. Keeper Miletic had no chance of reaching it, try as he may, and again Ivan was on the spot to head home his 5th goal of the season. The rest of the first half was uneventful except for the injury of Miletic who evidently had hurt his thigh stretching for Emil’s cross and was unable to run it off.
The second half saw Bielefeld start the brighter, but the tide quickly turned as we piled on the pressure close to their goal. Despite this, we couldn’t break through thanks to the stellar efforts of replacement keeper Mathias Hain, which left all and sundry wondering why he didn’t start on the paddock. Nevertheless, we couldn’t find a way through, and Bielefeld capitalised on our frustration by hitting us on the break and scoring in the 90th minute through a Mettenbrink strike. Thankfully, it was nothing more than a consolation and we kept our position near the head of the table behind only Frankfurt.
Bielefeld 1 – 2 Union Berlin
Bonilla 18’ 0-1
Bonilla 25’ 0-2
Mettenbrink 90’ 1-2
When we returned to Berlin I was pleased to see that we’d had offers for André Paralta and Sam Sodje accepted by Stevenage Borough and Gouveia respectively. Unfortunately, both of the little sods thought they were better off staying at their clubs, so my policy of bringing in bright young talent took yet another blow. A bright spot was the arrival of Mike Duff for £150K plus £500K if he got 20 caps for England. In what was a somewhat slow week, he slotted straight into the line up for our clash at the Stadion Alte Försterei against Schweinfurt.
German Second Division, 1. FC Union Berlin vs. 1. FC Schweinfurt 05, 17th August 2001.
In what was one of the duller openings to a match involving Union this season, nothing of note occurred until about the 10th minute when both teams traded shots that were both kept out brilliantly by the respective keepers. Ten minutes later, super striker Victor Bonilla turned provider as his pin-point cross was driven into the net by Ronny Nikol who had ghosted into the far post from his left wing. It would stay this way until half time, despite constant Union pressure.
After the break was an entirely different story as Schweinfurt came out all guns blazing and were rewarded after one an inspired individual run by right winger Sven Kresin was capped by a superb pass into the path of Vitus Nagorny, who couldn’t miss from only yards out. This stung the Union boys into action, and we took our chance, which came just 3 minutes later after Schweinfurt failed to clear a cross from Christian Fiel and in the ensuing chaos Jiri Balcarek shot low into the bottom corner. This was again undone by a piece of individual brilliance by a Schweinfurt player – this time Florian Galuschka, who took the ball in his own half, played a neat one-two with Steffen Rögele, skinned Ferdy close to the box and then delivered a delightful chipped ball to captain Matthias Gerhardt who headed home the equaliser. Again we had a period of sustained pressure, but could not seem to find the go-ahead goal – Bonilla had one ruled out for offside, and two more hit the bar. Just as it seemed we were destined to drop our first points of the season, Chibi Okeke in an unaccustomed position on the right drilled in a low cross and Kostadin Vidolov was on hand to give the ascendancy back to Union with a smartly taken half volley. Both teams had chances in the last 10 minutes, but we were luckiest as debutante Mike Duff was a tad over eager in our box and brought down a Schweinfurt player. Despite what seemed to be a cast-iron penalty, Herr Stark decided it was nothing of note and promptly blew for time. A collective sigh of relief blew around the Stadion Alte Försterei as the away fans threw anything that wasn’t bolted to the ground at the referee. We didn’t mind, though – our record was intact and we looked with confidence to our German Cup First Round match against Division 1 cellar-dwellers SC Freiburg.
Union Berlin 3 – 2 Schweinfurt
Nikol 20’ 1-0
Nagorny 48’ 1-1
Balcarek 51’ 2-1
Gerhardt 55’ 2-2
Vidolov 81’ 3-2
More good news for the club during the week, as Chibi Okeke was again called up to the Nigerian national team, this time for a home tie against Cameroon, but again, they lost – this time 1-2. The draw for the UEFA Cup 1st round was made minus a representative from Union – we decided to follow it via TV instead. And wasn’t it a toughie – Greek powerhouse PAOK Salonika will be our first opponents. We could use a good run to boost the coffers a tad, and I guess we’ll have to meet some tough teams along the way if we wish to progress, so why not the first round?
German Cup 1st Round, SC Freiburg vs. 1. FC Union Berlin, 25th August 2001.
Freiburg obviously knew little about our attacking players, because they came out spitting fire on the attack themselves. But they had to check themselves after 8 minutes as a clearance from a header was picked up by Mike Duff, who rapidly fed it to Kozak who’s cross was headed in by that man Ivan Bonilla. If Freiburg were shell shocked then, it got worse 7 minutes later as Nikol fed Ivan, who was dragged down crudely as he turned past Freiburg keeper Richard Golz. The penalty was awarded as we expected, and Golz sent off deservedly for a horrid professional foul. Ivan stepped up to take the penalty and slotted it with little trouble. On 27 minutes, the match was effectively over as a contest as Mike Duff headed a ball towards goal and had his shot parried – but Kostadin Vidolov was once again on hand to slot a goal home – he now has 4 goals in 5 matches. Despite our best efforts, that was where the scoring ended, but we were well pleased with a victory over higher opposition and looking forward to drawing an equal or lesser opponent for the 2nd round.
SC Freiburg 0 – 3 Union Berlin
Bonilla 7’ 0-1
Bonilla (pen) 15’ 0-2
Vidolov 27’ 0-3
No such luck in the draw – we face powerhouse and perennial runners-up Bayer Leverkusen in the 2nd round.
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