17 Sept, 2024
Flying to Köpenick for the 1.FC Union Berlin - SV 67 Weinberg match
Report by Arnfinn Kjos Eduardsen
The alarm was set for 03:45 on Saturday, September 14th, but then I suddenly woke up at 02:10. OK, I just got up and made myself a coffee. It's the day I must do something I strongly dislike, namely taking the morning flight to Berlin. The flight leaves at 07:30, and dressed in Union clothes, I sit right at the front of the plane. This is going to be an unusually short Berlin trip for me (only 2 nights). For the first time, I am traveling to Köpenick only to watch the ladies play. The flight is on schedule, and I land just before 09:00. As I'm leaving the airport, several of the airport staff greet me with "Eisern".
Right up until October 14th, there is work on the S-bahn – that means "Ersatzverkehr mit Bussen" to Adlershof. (The REE is operating as normal – but not to Adlershof.) Once there, it's mostly about staying awake throughout the day, and finding the Bamsegjengen gear for the next day. An exciting match for the boys, which was fortunately broadcast on Vsport, against RB Leipzig helped a lot in keeping me awake. I regretted not going to Leipzig!
The women's third 2. Bundesliga game is against SV 67 Weinberg. As the only team after 2 rounds with a full score, they are currently the league leaders. The team was promoted a year ago and finished in 12th place last season. 12th place would normally have meant relegation, but because MSV Duisburg withdrew their team, they remained in the 2. Bundesliga. The team is based in Aurach, which is roughly midway between Stuttgart and Nuremberg – 509 km from Köpenick.
After a more normal Sunday morning, I am on my way to Hauptmann to meet Toril 90 minutes before kickoff. For women's matches, we don't need to arrive at the AF as early as for the men's games. 40 minutes before the game starts is more than enough to get our normal spot.
The last home game against HSV had 5508 spectators in the stadium, which was an attendance record for the 2. Bundesliga. Today we are somewhat fewer (4201), but more than enough to create a good atmosphere. In comparison, SV 67 Weinberg had 210 spectators at their last home game.
The start of the game showed that Weinberg was not going to be an easy opponent. In the first 10 minutes, they had several good attacks. But fairly quickly, Union picked up the pace and took more and more control of the game. In at least 2 good attacks, we saw the ball in the goal, but it was a few cm short! 1-0 came just before halftime (Lisa Heiseler). In the second half, Union increased the pace further. We increased to 2-0 in the 68th minute with last year's top scorer Sara Abu Sabbah. We had many good attempts, however, we were several times called offside. It ended 2-0. Important 3 points! Now we are quickly climbing the table.
EISERN
Link to matchday summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvCWqn6hvqs