Thumbs up before the district final of the Merkur CUP: The U11 kickers of the eight teams then impressed with great junior football. © SRO
U11 footballers of TSV Ebersberg are district winners, and surprise finalists are also allowed to go to the district finals of the Merkur CUP.
Markt Schwaben – At the district finals of the Merkur CUP, it was only the eight-metre shoot-out that brought the decision in two placement games. In the final of the exciting tournament at the Markt Schwabener Sportpark, TSV Ebersberg beat TSV Zorneding 1-0 (0-0) in regular time. In the end, however, three teams cheered.
A group of players, a short speech and two happy teams: At the Merkur CUP, fair play and the fun of sport are very important. Already in April, eight out of 15 district teams qualified for the district finals in three preliminary round groups (we reported). So whoever played on the stadium square in Markt Schwaben on Father's Day was one of the winners even before the tournament began.
The aforementioned group of players was created at the request of Markt Schwaben's youth leader and CUP organizer Alexander Peters after the match for seventh place. TSV Pliening won the game 4-0 thanks to a brace from Giannis Tsatsas and two more goals from Timo Hemmerle and Anton Schmidt. In the final circle, both teams paid respect to each other and celebrated their participation in the district finals. "A great idea from the coach of Markt Schwaben," said TSV coach Tilmann Holder.
The fact that Zorneding made it to the final was certainly the most extraordinary thing about the tournament.
Jasper Kemmercell, coach of the Poinger E-Juniors.
In the course of the day, however, there were quite tighter game decisions. The two semi-finals in particular were full of excitement. When TSV Zorneding reached the final against SG Anzing/Parsdorf, Johannes Demmler was the celebrated hero with the only goal of the semi-finals. The fact that TSV Poing, third in the group (behind SC Baldham-Vaterstetten and Zorneding), did not even make it into the top four, was a surprise for some spectators. "The fact that Zorneding made it to the final was certainly the most extraordinary thing about the tournament," said Jasper Kemmercell, coach of the Poinger E-Juniors.
The SCBV junior team had a particularly strong defence to offer. "We didn't concede a single goal in the game," said coach Thomas Siedschlag. Without conceding a goal, they went into the semi-finals against TSV Ebersberg. The first goals were scored in an eight-metre shootout. The Kreisstädter were successful with all four shots. And the rest was done by the outstanding TSV goalkeeper Benedikt Miedl, in which he parried two Baldham eight-meter attempts.
In the final, it became clear how close the field of participants was in terms of footballing performance. Valentin Atzler decided the final with the only goal of the game. "We were already in control of the game, but Zorneding put a lot of pressure on," said Matze Erhard, coach of the tournament winners. However, the defence around Benjamin Jakovljevic withstood the pressure of the underdog. TSV Ebersberg rightly celebrated loudly with its fans and at the award ceremony they got a ticket for the district final as well as a voucher for a complete set of jerseys from local sponsor Raiffeisen-Volksbank Ebersberg.
The grief of the Zornedingen U11 juniors after the final defeat did not last long. Because the runner-up was also allowed to celebrate: He will also be allowed to represent the district in the district final of the Merkur CUP at the beginning of July. And last but not least, the SCBV players threw their hands into the cloudy sky at the award ceremony after the bitter eight-metre defeat in the semi-finals. They received the ESB Fairness Award and thus jerseys for the whole team.
The 29th Merkur CUP 2023 is the world's largest e-youth tournament. It is organized by the Münchner Merkur with the BFV and supported by the premium sponsors ESB Energie Südbayern, Radio Arabella and uhlsport. FC Bayern Munich and SpVgg Unterhaching are also supporting the tournament. ESB is also a fair play partner of the Merkur CUP and a sponsor of the sustainability project. Raiffeisen-Volksbank Ebersberg is supporting the tournament as a local partner.