Middlesbrough U21 3-2 Borussia Monchengladbach U21 (Premier League International Cup Group Stages)
The beautiful thing about being a football nerd is that you get to learn from a very young age how to spell awkward team names like Borussia Monchengladbach.
Die Fohlen were already one of the best teams in Europe when I was growing up. They had decade long battles with Bayern Munich to take five Bundesliga titles in the 70s, they reached the European Cup final in 1977 and twice won the UEFA Cup in 1975 and 1979.
Players like Allan Simonsen, Berti Vogts, Rainer Bonhoff and Jupp Heynckes shining under their two most successful coaches Hennes Weisweiler and Udo Lattek.
Since the 70's, like my own club Nottingham Forest, those heights are yet to be re-reached and they have even had a couple of spells in the second tier but the club is now a solid top half outfit in Germany under the stewardship of Gerardo Seoane and tonight I'm looking forward to their youngsters taking on Middlesbrough in the Premier League International Cup.
Boro have seemingly always had good youngsters come through their system. I'm thinking back to the 80's and David Armstrong, Tony Mowbray and Colin Cooper. A little later Stuart Ripley, Stewart Downing, Adam Johnson, showing a tradition of good wide players, Lee Cattermole, David Wheater and more recently the likes of Marcus Tavernier and Djed Spence have also come through the system.
Last night their first team won 4-1 at QPR in the Championship and they're doing ok under Michael Carrick but tonight it's the turn of the kids and I'm out the door for mid afternoon, up the A1 and heading north towards Teesside to see what Mark Tinkler's team has to offer.
The Venue
I've taken the A19 past Thirsk and onto the A66 ring road, it's all carriageway to the Riverside Stadium as I pass first the impressive Tees Newport Bridge all lit up in the dark, before being equally wowed by the nearby Transporter Bridge which is also glowing, purple neath the black sky.
With time to spare I pull into a retail park beside the ground for a quick KFC, before driving over to the stadium where for £2 you can park directly outside, tickets are just £3 as I'm directed towards the ticket office where I pay with some change I have left from parking.
From the outside the venue glows golden but dimly lit, inside I'm grabbing a quick cuppa which is a whopping £3 and poured without care so I give it a good stir myself before entering the field of play, red seated, square bowl shaped and grey roofed, panoramic from my pitch up near the corner spot, green grass, the players out warming up as I air a field of 90's nostalgia, Ravenelli, Juninho, Emerson and all.
The Game
Three sides are empty, there's a thousand or two in this stand and the atmosphere is calm, It's a good tempo for a game of this type as Monchengladbach do the early pressing. The away side in all green are rewarded when a mistake is latched onto by the impressive playmaker Shio Fukuda, he sends Charles Herrmann through on goal and the wide striker runs in and slots home under hardly any pressure.
The Germans deserve their lead and are the better side in a first half where they show technical superiority, but Middlesbrough have some guts and graft, Charlie Lennon looks to be another typical production line winger out on the left, he's jinking into the box and causing trouble, out right George Gitau and Hazeem Bakre combine well, Boro win a series of corners but really trouble the Borussia back-line, before another error leads to their opponents scoring a second.
A loose pass by Harley Hunt latched onto by Winsley Boteli, the striker had only just came on for the injured Kilian Sauck but was alert to home in and finish in style, before dancing in style in the corner in front of me.
The Score
You feel there's no way back for Boro at the break, a class above Monchengladbach look better on the ball, Fukuda is neat from an inverted wide position, captain Veit Stange in midfield makes things tick with an array of passing, but I've been to these games before, whilst the foreign teams usually have all the technique and ability, the English sides tend to have that character, that strength and power to come good late on, that mentality to never give up, it's a good quality that is ingrained in British DNA and it's one, that get a goal, then things could change.
And that's exactly what happens, Monchengladbach hardly come out in the second half, they run the clock down and keep the ball without intention, whilst Boro win more corners, eventually, at minute eighty, Luke Woolston knocks a good one in, he's a lovely long pass on him, this time his pinpoint drilled cross into the box is headed in by Ajay Matthews and it's game on.
Suddenly there's belief in the crowd, a last ten minutes of battering the door down, lively sub Daniel Nkrumah tries his luck from range, just over, centre midfielder Jack Stott does the same, he's hit a belter, twenty plus yards out into the left corner of the goalkeepers net, a stunner, game on, only one winner from here I'm sure.
That winner comes within a minute of the board going up for stoppage time, some relentless pressure ends with Ajay Matthews blazing home from a tight angle, enter scenes of celebration that no matter the competition, has you believe the feeling of scoring a goal is the best on earth.
The Stars
That winning goal by Matthews, two from him in the game, capping off a lively performance from the front man, but standing out for me was their number four Luke Woolston who from centre half and deep central midfield he sprayed a lovely long pass at ease.
At right full back I liked George Gitau who was full of energy and although Charlie Lennon was taken off he shown promise in the first half of being that classic old fashioned winger who your father would just love to watch.
Special mention to goalkeeper Tom Glover who was most competent, especially good with his sweeping and kicking, whilst for Borussia Monchengladbach I liked their Japanese playmaker Shio Fukuda who switched sides and intelligently linked up with his front men, in front of him Charles Herrmann looked lively whilst their captain Veit Stange took sensible positions in collecting the ball to start off attacks from deep, he's tall and leggy and has the attributes of a top CDM.
The Verdict
Never give up, is the takeaway from the match, it feels I've seen it before, talented technical foreigners for long part dominating, before physical, hard working Brits power in with muscle and heart to take over, a bit like how Donald Trump has taken over in American politics I suspect? Maybe his roots back to Scotland giving him that feisty edge you need to win?
The Teams
Middlesbrough: Tom Glover, George Gitau, George McCormick, Luke Woolston, Harley Hunt, Jack Stott, Sonny Finch, Finlay Cartwright, Ajay Matthews, Hazeem Bakre (Nathan Simpson 78), Charlie Lennon (Daniel Nkrumah 57).
Borussia Monchengladbach: Maximilian Neutgens, Elias Vali Fard, Jonathan Foss (Jamil Najjar 46), Yannick Dasbach (Joshua Uwakhonye 22), Kilian Sauck (Winsley Boteli 35), Shio Fukuda, Niklas Swider, Dillon Berko (Len Worsdorfer 59), Veit Stange, Grant Ranos (Fritz Fleck 46), Charles Herrmann.
7:00pm Kick Off. Wednesday 6th November 2024, Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough (att 1,600).
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