The soccer players of the referee group (SRG) Erding took a sensational second place at the 37th Max Klauser Cup 2023.
Altötting/Erding – It was almost enough to win, but in the final the Pfaffenhofen group prevailed in a penalty shoot-out.
With a mixture of "young wild ones" and "old hands", the Erdinger referees traveled to the indoor championship of the Upper Bavarian referee groups, which this time was held in Altötting.
The very first game was against the defending champion and winner of the last three tournaments, SRG Weilheim.
Erding was also quickly 1-0 down, but goals from Julian Bauer, probably the best player of the tournament, and Ludwig Lerch turned the game around.
Lucky for Erdinger that a Weilheim striker missed the empty goal just before the end and missed the 2-2 equaliser.
Draw against strong SRG Inn in the fourth game
In the second game against SRG Bad Tölz, Erding struggled for a long time, but won 1-0 with a goal from Michi Grabl.
In the third game against SRG Munich North/Dachau, there was also a narrow 1-0 win, thanks to a goal after a dream solo by Bauer.
The solid defense was once again the guarantee for the win.
In game four, the previously unbeaten teams from Erding and the hosts, the SRG Inn, met.
In an exciting game, they finally separated 1:1.
Lerch was able to make up for the shortfall immediately.
The final against Pfaffenhofen ended with a lot of goals
SRG Erding needed a win from the last two group games to be sure of reaching the semi-finals.
In the next game, the very young squad from Ingolstadt was waiting.
Gerhard Ferlisch was able to put the nervously acting Erdinger ahead with a brilliant free-kick from eight yards out, right under the bar, but Ingolstadt managed to equalize shortly before the end.
In the last game against SRG Schongau, a win was essential, which was also won 2-0.
Goal scorers were Moritz Martin and Bauer.
SRG Chiem was waiting in the semifinals.
It was an exciting game back and forth.
Bauer was able to turn the early Chiem lead into a 2:1 with a double strike.
After the 2:2, Wölfl scored the 3:2 winner after preliminary work from Bauer.
In the final, Erding met Pfaffenhofen.
At the end of regular time it was 1-1, Ferlisch equalized with a free kick.
In the penalty shoot-out, the Pfaffenhofen team had better nerves and won 8:7.
Nevertheless, the people from Erding were satisfied, because only the boldest optimists had counted on second place.
SRG Erding is hosting the next Max Klauser Cup.
It will take place on January 20, 2024 in Oberding.
(MARTIN KUBELSBECK)