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***image1***Although Kaiserslautern didn’t pull off the victory they hoped for at the 2008 Installation Management Command – Europe’s Community Level Soccer Championships, they turned out to be the tournament’s Cinderella team, taking home the third place trophy.
Going into round robin play, K-Town had an immediate disadvantage, as it was short two players against all other teams. They managed to hold their own however, as they tied Grafenwöhr 3-3 and Mannheim 2-2, on day one.
Day two of round robin play, they were fortunate as Bamberg forfeited all games. K-Town’s chance of making it into the semi-finals came down to the final game against Wiesbaden.
A win would give them a record of 2-2-0, the same as Mannheim and Grafenwöhr, meaning it would come down to overall points scored. Mannheim was leading with ten points and Grafenwöhr had seven. Going into the Wiesbaden match, Kaiserslautern had six points.
They needed to score two points and pull off a win in order to continue on as the second seed in the semi-finals. Four points and a win would tie them with Mannheim for a first place seed. In the end, they beat Wiesbaden 3-1.
The second seed slot matched them up against SHAPE who had shutout all of their previous opponents during round robin play. K-Town previously battled SHAPE in Belgium during the regular season and beat them by one point.
During the semi-final game, Kaiserslautern beefed up their team and was an even match for 11-man play. However, the goalkeeper Lewis Sandoval took a foot to the face early on when a SHAPE player tried to score as Sandoval was diving for the ball.
“His foot slid down my face and kicked me in the throat,” he said, adding that the kick knocked out one of his contact lenses, distorting his vision for the rest of the game.
While Kaiserslautern managed to score one point against SHAPE, during a penalty kick, SHAPE proved to be too strong as they beat K-Town 4-1 and eventually won the championship.
However, K-Town wasn’t ready to give up. Stuttgart pulled off an upset against Mannheim, forcing a rematch against Mannheim and Kaiserslautern.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game,” Sandoval said. “We were leading the whole time, but they’re a good comeback team.”
Like their first battle two days earlier, the game ended with a score of 2-2, but because this win was for third place, the match went into overtime.
Each team selected five players for the shoot-out, and Sandoval hoped to be among the five, but he wasn’t chosen.
As goals were scored on both sides and the score rose to 12-12, there were no players left to shoot except for the goalkeepers and Sandoval finally got his chance.
It was goalie-on-goalie, and Mannheim’s keeper Mazi Siameja was up first. He shot and Sandoval blocked it. Although the refs had called numerous reshoots in the overtime battle, they confirmed Sandoval had a clean block.
All that was left to clinch the game was a shot by Sandoval. K-Town players cheered him on. A couple steps, a swift punt and a whistle by the refs signified a goal and a win. K-town’s players rushed to the goal to celebrate, as they earned the third place title with a final score of 13-12.
“We came with nine players and still qualified to make it to the finals,” Sandoval said. “All the pain for these last three days was worth it.”
