robilaz Posted June 26, 2023 Author Share Posted June 26, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 17 | Hottmann Hits New Heights The unusual decision to join a club in the division below your current club was seemingly working out well for Ruprecht Prusseit, who'd led Energie Cottbus to 18 wins in his first 19 league games in charge. That immediate success saw the Cottbus board move quickly to lock down their prized asset, handing Prusseit a £500 weekly wage increase until the end of the next season. Prusseit's big challenge now was keeping hold of his better players and leading Cottbus to the immediate promotion they deserved. Some players did leave, including left-back Mateus Brunetti who'd scored four penalties this season. But the key factor was keeping hold of his deadly strikeforce. Targeting Another Regionalliga Title The 2030s began with an OstDeutscher clash as Cottbus travelled to Berlin FC Dynamo. And they made a solid start to the decade as striker Eric Hottmann maintained his goal-per-game record to nick a 1-0 win. He scored again as his strike partner Stefen Tigges bagged a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over struggling Wilmersdorf then Hottmann bagged four in a 5-2 thrashing of Rathenow to move to 20 league goals for the season. That took the striker past Cottbus' record for most goals in a season, beating the previous record of 28 set by Nils Petersen in 2010/11. He also now had the league's record tally of 28, set by Alexander Schumacher in Prusseit's previous season at this level, well within his striker. He scored two more as they dominated Carl Zeiss Jena 4-2, one as they defeated Viktoria 1889 2-0 and another brace in a 3-1 win at another East German rival Hallescher. Hottmann equalled the record with the opener at home to Halberstadt before Tigges sealed a 3-1 win then broke it with two goals in a 3-1 win at Erzgebirge Aue. He'd now scored in 11 successive games, scoring 19 goals in the process! As for Cottbus, they'd still only failed to win one game all season, were now on a 14-game winning streak, and had a 14-point lead over Dynamo Dresden with eight games remaining. The winning streak ended with their first draw of the season, a 0-0 at home to Rot-Weiß Erfurt in which Tigges picked up a serious hip injury. That meant he'd probably played his final game for the club. Potential Title Bottle Job? With seven games remaining, Cottbus had a 12-point lead over Dresden, meaning they needed three wins to claim the Regionalliga Nordost title. Without Tigges, Prusseit decided to tweak the formation to drop an attacking midfielder in behind Hottmann. That worked nicely as they went to local rivals Chemnitzer and won 3-0 with goals from Hottmann, loanee Rasmus Jørgensen in the attacking midfield role and midfielder Dennis Carstens. But they suffered a surprise 1-1 draw at home to bottom-side TeBe Berlin. That teed up a potential title decider as Cottbus made the trip to Prusseit's hometown club Dresden, who are the only team to Cottbus and have beaten Prusseit in all three of his previous clashes with them. And that trend continued as Dresden came out flying and scored early as Cottbus played terribly, then held them off after the break to inflict a second defeat on their rivals. That cut the lead to seven points with four games remaining, and Prusseit was worried the loss of Tigges was really hurting them. But they got back on track as a Hottmann brace inspired a 3-0 win over Berliner AK. Cottbus' first chance to win the title came at Lokomotive Leipzig and they made a good start as a brilliant team move was finished off by loanee left-back Karl-Heinz Hesse then Hottmann bagged a brace before half time. Leipzig got a goal back with their only shot on target but Carstens finished it off. Energie Cottbus were Regionalliga Nordost Champions!! Prusseit rested the entire first 11 for the final home game, a fan day that saw over 13,000 people turn up and a young side still got a 1-1 with Plauen, then Hoffmann bagged two more in a 3-3 at Meuselwitz. They finished the season with new league records for the most wins (30) and most points (94) and won the league by six points from Dresden. Hottmann was the league's top scorer with 38 goals in 31 games and Tigges was third with 22. Winger Micael Sanhá also broke the league's assists record with 24 followed by loaned winger Phil Hennig's 13. Hoffmann also broke the league's average rating record with 7.98 followed by Tigges' 7.75. Prusseit had rested players because he presumed that, like last time he was in the league, they would face a promotion playoff against the Nord division winner. But, strangely, they didn't have to play one. Energie Cottbus were promoted to 3. Liga!! Local Cup Run Having been knocked out of DFB-Pokal, Cottbus had a second cup opportunity in Verbandspokal Brandenburg, which they also won last season. They eased through to the last eight by hammering FSV Eintracht 6-1 then beating Hennigsdorf 2-0, but went up a level by thrashing FSV Luckenwalde 8-2 led by a Hottmann hat-trick. Cottbus won 10 successive league games for the second time this season as Hottmann and Tigges edged a 2-0 win at Chemie Leipzig. A semi-final at home to Rathenow and Cottbus dominated with 19 shots to zero... but only scored one as Hottmann tapped home in first-half injury-time to reach the Final. Three days after winning the league, Cottbus faced off against Oberliga Nordost winners Babelsburg. They got off to a flyer as Hottmann's low cross helped Busche score just his third of the season. Hottmann was gifted a goal before curling home a brilliant second from 25 yards to make it 3-0 at the break before Babelsburg had even had a shot. They added a fourth after the break through centre-back Daniel Klug and wrapped up a 4-0 victory. Energie Cottbus defended Verbandspokal Brandenburg and won Ruprecht Prusseit's first cup tournament!! Prusseit Celebrates More Success This season had been a huge success that Prusseit believed validated his decision to quit Hansa Rostock II and drop down a league. He won his second league title and lifted his first cup as Cottbus dominated Regionalliga Nordost - but he would be playing his old club next season as Rostock II easily avoided relegation. This season's star man was obviously Hottmann, who scored a new club-record 48 goals plus six assists and an 8.08 average rating in 38 games. Tigges also impressed with 25 goals and 11 assists in 35 games, while Sanhá set a new club-record 28 assists and four goals in 42 games and Hennig scored eight and got 16 assists. Up in Bundesliga, Bayern extended their streak to 18 successive titles. However, it was a lot closer this time as they only won the league by two points from Leipzig. Union Berlin improved to a mid-table finish but Hansa Rostock were relegated. Magdeburg finished 5th in 2. Bundesliga and Zwickau and Hansa Rostock II finished mid-table in 3. Liga. Could Prusseit keep Energie Cottbus in 3. Liga? Or would his achievements see other OstDeutscher Sieg prospects take note of the manager's ability? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted June 30, 2023 Author Share Posted June 30, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 18 | The Great Rebuild Of 2030 Ruprecht Prusseit's decision to drop back down to Regionalliga Nordost paid off as he led Energie Cottbus to a league and cup double in 2030. He now faced a stiff challenge to rebuild a threadbare squad and keep Cottbus safe in 3. Liga. Even more exciting news was that Prusseit passed his Continental A Licence over the summer, which suddenly had him looking like a half-decent Football Manager. However, it wasn't all good news as Cottbus were suddenly struggling financially, heading into the new season with minus £800k in the bank. That was largely due to a fairly significant outstanding debt, but could have some effect on Prusseit's plans to rebuild his squad. Cottbus released 23 players, including one of their star men Stefen Tigges, as the new season ticked around on 1 July 2030, which slashed £20k off their weekly wage spending. That left Prusseit with 10 players and one week before the season kicked off he had just 16! But he gradually rebuilt the squad after a raft of trialists and disappointment at missing out on targets. Prusseit was most excited about signing midfielder Christoph Geppert on a free transfer. And frees were the name of the game as he also drafted in Porto striker Tiago Sousa, who he planned to convert into a right-winger, and Hamburg's versatile striker/midfielder Onur Kurtulus. He then turned to loans, starting with a familiar face in his former Rostock II defender Michele Venturi, then exciting midfielder/winger Joao Soares, holding midfielder Kimmo Eskelinen and left-back Jeremias Keblowsky. Earlier in the summer, Prusseit's board agreed to his request for a senior affiliate club and eventually offered him four options, of which the most appropriate was fellow OstDeutscher club RB Leipzig. And Prusseit immediately took advantage by loaning in promising midfielder Phil Meyer. With a new squad rebuilt, Prusseit had settled on changing to a more conservative 4-3-3 that he'd used in his days at Stendal and Rostock. And that was largely because last season's top scorer Eric Hottmann was the only striker he trusted whereas he had a solid selection of midfielders. Into The Unknown In 3. Liga In truth, Prusseit wasn't really sure how good the team of freebies and loanees he'd cobbled together was. However, he'd done enough to satisfy the bookies, who had Cottbus down to finish 6th in 3. Liga at 6/1 to win the league. Relegated Jahn Regensburg are favourites at 1/3 followed by Eintracht Braunschweig (8/13), Ingolstadt (11/4) and Aalen (9/2). The season began with Prusseit's 300th match in management as Cottbus made the trip to Victoria Köln, where the more conservative formation earned them a solid 0-0. The first game at Eduard Geyer Arena saw another solid defensive effort and a much more impressive attacking effort. Arnel Kujovic opened the scoring early on before Sousa bagged his first two goals for the club late on. There was more of the same at Frankfurt II, as Hottmann got his first goal of the season alongside a Daniel Klug penalty and a late strike by Micael Sanhá sealed a 3-1 win. The new approach was working a treat as they conceded just once in their first three games. And that was extended as Hottmann hit top form with all four goals against Stuttgart II. A first defeat followed at Duisburg as Hottmann picked up a month-long injury. The two league favourites followed but his replacement Richard Busche scored as Meyer got his first for the club in a wild 3-3 with Ingolstadt before a narrow 1-0 loss at Jahn Regensburg, which gave Prusseit plenty of optimism about their chances. Prusseit's Highest Profile Cup Game After a good DFB-Pokal cup run last year, Prusseit and his board were hopeful of another to bring in some much-needed money. They began in the first round at home to 2. Bundesliga side 1860 München and Kujovic hit a beauty in the 76th minute to nick a 1-0 win. However, they were unlikely to go much further as they drew the highest-profile game of Prusseit's career so far at home to Bayer Leverkusen in round two. They performed admirably against a substantially better team but fell to a narrow defeat through a goal just after the break. An Enforced Tactical Rethink Cottbus’ solid start to the season was disrupted by some odd shenanigans. Venturi and Soares suddenly had their loans cancelled by their parent clubs because they were “unhappy with the position they were playing in” despite giving Prusseit zero warning! Luckily, he managed to agree a deal to bring Venturi back but Soares kicked off two days after the transfer deadline. That forced Prusseit into a tactical rethink, using a strange narrow 4-2-2-2 that maximised his side’s midfield strength. The enforced formation change worked out fairly well with a draw at Nürnberg and a five-game winless streak continued with a fairly impressive 3-3 at Braunschweig. But they soon kicked into life with new strikeforce Sousa and Hottmann both scoring in a 3-1 win at Hertha II and Kujovic bagging a brace that took him past his goal tally of last season in a 4-0 thumping of Aalen. Sousa then scored both in a 2-1 win at Stuttgarter Kickers. And that little flurry of wins lifted Cottbus all the way up to 2nd place, just one point behind leaders Ingolstadt. They maintained that run as Sousa scored the only goal at home to Mönchengladbach II then scored again in a 2-0 win at Zwickau, which sent Cottbus top of 3. Liga for the first time. Sousa was really excelling in his natural role, as he bagged a hat-trick to down Ahlen 4-0 and came 2nd in the November player of the month award. December began with a big game for Prusseit as he returned to former employers Hansa Rostock II, who were deep in relegation trouble, for the first time. And he gave them a taste of what they were missing out on as Sousa scored two more before a late Busche strike sealed a dominant 3-0 win. His side passed a big test of their credentials as Bayern II come to town and were brushed aside as Hottmann slide Sousa in to score the only goal after 34 minutes. And 2030 was wrapped up with a 1-1 draw at home to Victoria Köln, which left Cottbus’ two games short of the all-time 3. Liga record for most successive wins of 10 set by Karlsruhe in 2013. But it kept Prusseit’s side top of 3. Liga going into the winter break. They topped the table on goal difference tied with Ingolstadt on 42 points after 20 games with a five-point gap back to 3rd-place Jahn Regensburg. Sousa is flourishing up front, leading the league with 17 goals, a 7.52 average rating and six player of the match awards. And goalkeeper Rezart Zeqiri leads the way with nine clean sheets in 15 appearances. Prusseit was a little taken aback by his team's impressive performance given how much of a struggle it had been just to get a squad together. But the team was looking good in the new formation and he was optimistic about taking a title fight to Ingolstadt. Could Cottbus push for unlikely back-to-back promotions? Join us on Monday to find out! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted July 3, 2023 Share Posted July 3, 2023 Back to back promotions would be an incredible feat! Very interesting tactical shape it certainly working. How are the other Eastern German teams performing at this stage? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 3, 2023 Author Share Posted July 3, 2023 3 hours ago, SixPointer said: Back to back promotions would be an incredible feat! Very interesting tactical shape it certainly working. How are the other Eastern German teams performing at this stage? Yeah, this season has gone way better than expected! Timely question - there's a little update at the bottom of the next post (which I'm about to add), but briefly: Union Berlin just got relegated and will join us and Magdeburg and Hansa Rostock, who are in 2. Bundesliga mid-table. Zwickau and our former team Hansa Rostock II got relegated from 3. Liga, where Dynamo Dresden will join them as they beat Werder II in the Regionalliga playoff. Down in tier six, our former club Dessau just about survived in Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anhalt this season, after having a year down in the unplayable tier 7. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 3, 2023 Author Share Posted July 3, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 19 | Surprise Title Challenge Ruprecht Prusseit had cobbled together a squad of freebies and loanees in the summer of 2030 but somehow put together a team potentially capable of mounting a 3. Liga title challenge. Indeed, his Energie Cottbus sat top of 3. Liga heading into 2031. That early season success prompted the Cottbus board to offer Prusseit a new contract, which he gladly accepted to stay at the club until the end of the 2031/32 season. Not only that, they also agreed to fund Prusseit's final coaching course, the Continental Pro Licence. Prusseit's squad was looking threadbare as several backup players requested to leave on loan. So he tapped back into his new senior affiliate partnership with RB Leipzig to loan in centre-back Gino Mauckner, holding midfielder Daniel Schmidt and 5ft 6in striker Korbinian Austermann for free. Key Injury Threatens Cottbus' Progress Cottbus began 2031 well as Arnel Kujovic scored twice to nick a 2-1 win at Freiburg then got injured. The midfielder only scored three times all of last season but has already trebled that figure, which has seen him force his way into the Montenegro team. Without him, the goalscoring responsibility fell to the front two and they didn't disappoint as Tiago Sousa bagged a hat-trick inside half an hour, which moved him to 20 goals for the season, and Eric Hottmann added two in a 5-2 thumping of Frankfurt II. However, their plans were hit hard as star man Sousa, who won player of the month in December and January, suffered a torn hamstring in training, which would rule him out for a few months. And his absence was felt massively as Cottbus fell to a 3-0 defeat at Stuttgart II then drew 1-1 at home to Duisburg. Luckily, Ingolstadt hadn't taken advantage of those slip-ups and the top two went head-to-head next in Bavaria. The hosts started the game better but Cottbus nicked the opener courtesy of Leipzig loanee Phil Meyer slamming home just before the break. They defended superbly and looked to be nicking all three points only for Ingolstadt to equalise from a corner in the last minute. Another tough game followed as Cottbus hosted Jahn Regensburg, who were gradually closing on the top two. But Cottbus put them in their place through two unlikely sources as midfielder Kimmo Eskelinen and utility man Onur Kurtulus scored their first goals for the club in a narrow 2-1 victory. Ingolstadt lost at Nürnberg II to four games without a win, which saw Cottbus open up a five-point gap at the top. A tricky challenge was overcome as Austermann's first senior goal edged a 1-0 win at home to Nürnberg II before a slightly unlucky 3-2 loss at Eintracht Braunschweig. 10 Games From A Dream Promotion That left Cottbus still top of 3. Liga with 10 games remaining, and still with a five-point lead over Monchengladbach II, Bayern II and Jahn Regensburg with Ingolstadt a further three points back. They began the run-in at home to Hoffenheim and got off to a flyer as Meyer scored inside 30 seconds and a strong defensive effort held the visitors off before Hottmann's double sealed a 3-0 win. But they continued their inability to beat Dortmund II as, despite 15 shots to four, they came away with a 0-0 away draw. They also dominated Hertha II by 22 shots to three and looked to be heading for the same result but substitute Kortulus rescued them with an 85th-minute winner. A trip to Aalen seemed an easier proposition, but the home team were excellent, bossed the game by 20 shots to 14 and took an early lead. But Hottmann's strike earned Cottbus a hard-fought point and, luckily, none of their rivals won so their lead was only cut to four points. Top scorer Tiago Sousa, who was also still the league's top scorer, returned after nearly three months out with a torn hamstring as relegation-threatened Stuttgart Kickers came to town. And the striker claimed an assist on his comeback, creating the second of midfielder Dennis Carsten's brace, which trebled his league tally for the season, in a 2-0 victory. A huge game followed as a potential title decider took them to 2nd-place Mönchengladbach. Cottbus got a horrible start and the hosts made them pay with two goals. Prusseit switched to a 4-2-3-1 and that at least got Sousa his goal only for Mönchengladbach's striker with 8 finishing and 9 composure to complete his hat-trick. Another Local Cup Final Amid the league excitement, Cottbus had also reached their third-successive Verbandspokal Brandenburg Final. Prusseit used a fully rotated 11 throughout the competition and they eased past several lower-tier sides to face fifth-tier Fürstenwalde in the Final. Annoyingly, the under-19s had a game the same day, but Prusseit stuck with his rotated side and only named three subs to rest players for vital league games. The minnows looked to be set for a shock win as they scored after an hour only for Busche to equalise in the last minute. That took it to injury time and Cottbus finally made their quality pay as Busche added another before holding midfielder Daniel Yéo sealed a 3-1 win in the 115th minute. Energie Cottbus won a 3rd-successive Verbandspokal Brandenburg and Prusseit's 2nd! Four Games From Glory The defeat to Gladbach II cut Cottbus' lead to just one point with four games remaining. However, Gladbach II and Bayern II can't get promoted, so they effectively had a seven-point lead. And the good news was that Cottbus had a fairly easy run-in. Game 1 - Zwickau (16th, home): Cottbus' bid for glory began with the televised Friday evening weekend opener in an all-OstDeutsche clash with Zwickau. And they put in a confident display at their relegation-threatened rivals as Carstens and Sousa made it 2-0 before half-time then left-back Jeremias Koblowsky and Kurtulus wrapped up a 4-0 victory. Later that weekend, Gladbach II drew at Nünberg II, which extended the lead to three points, and Jahn Regensburg won but Ingolstadt drew, so Cottbus just needed one point to secure promotion. Game 2 - Rot Weiß Ahlen (17th, away): Another relegation risk was up next and Cottbus started well without finishing their chances. Predictably, Ahlen were given a ridiculous penalty just before half-time but Rezart Zeqiri saved it to go in 0-0 at the break. Sousa won a penalty after the break, which Carstens tucked home, but a terrible clearance by Zeqiri gifted Ahlen an undeserved equaliser. But despite dropping points, Energie Cottbus were promoted to 2. Bundesliga! Game 3 - Hansa Rostock II (18th, home): The next task was to try and win 3. Liga and their first chance to potentially do that came at home to Prusseit's former club and already-relegated Hansa Rostock II. A terrible first half came to life as a great team move was rounded off by Sousa crossing for Kujovic to tap home. They looked to be cruising but out of nowhere Prusseit's former striker Alexander Schumacher scored from basically Rostock II's only attack. Prusseit threw the players forward and got his result as Kujovic doubled his tally. Elsewhere, Bayern II drew 0-0 at Ingolstadt, prompting a mad pitch invasion as the Cottbus fans fled onto the field to celebrate with their heroes. Energie Cottbus were 3. Liga Champions!! Spoiler Despite the beautiful poetic nature of Prusseit lifting the trophy against his former club, it did rob 3. Liga fans of an epic final day title showdown as Cottbus visited Bayern II. But Cottbus signed off in style as Sousa and Kujovic strikes earned a 2-1 win. That saw Cottbus win the title pretty comfortably, finishing seven points clear of Bayern II and 10 clear of the nearest actual promotion challengers Jahn Regensburg. Only Bayern II scored more than their 73 goals and they had the joint-best defence with just 35 conceded. Sousa was the league's top scorer despite missing 12 games, scoring 23 in 26, and topped the average rating chart with 7.53. But surprisingly, he didn't win player of the year. Hottmann got the most player of the match awards, with eight, and came third in player of the year, with some kid from Bayern winning it, and Zeqiri topped the clean sheets chart with 15, conceding just 28 in 33 games. Prusseit was honoured as the 3. Liga Manager of the Year, which was his first-ever award as a Football Manager! Reflecting On An Unexpected Success Prusseit certainly wasn't expecting a promotion push way back in July when he didn't have enough players for a matchday squad. But his team of cobbled-together freebies and loanees had worked miracles to step up to 3. Liga and win it. The star man was undoubtedly Sousa, who scored 23 and got four assists in 29 games and flourished after moving to his natural striker position. His strike partner Hottmann also did well, scoring 18 and getting six assists in 39 games, and surprisingly won fans' player of the year. But a surprise hero was Kujovic, who massively stepped up with 15 goals and 11 assists in 38 games from midfield. Prior to this season, the Montenegro international had only scored nine goals in 268 appearances for the club! Carstens popped up with eight goals and six assists and Kurtulus scored six and got three assists despite only starting three games. Prusseit was fairly sure this squad needed a pretty serious rebuild to survive in 2. Bundesliga but he was also really happy with life at Cottbus. So it would take a very good offer for him to leave and, realistically, he was now looking at the likes of Union Berlin and RB Leipzig as the only realistic next moves in his career. Up in Bundesliga, Bayern maintained their dominance by winning a 19th successive title by 11 points from Leipzig. But Union's luck finally ran out as they were relegated in 17th place. Two more OstDeutscher sides Magdeburg and Hansa Rostock remain in mid-table solidarity in 2. Bundesliga but Zwickau and Hansa Rostock II were relegated from 3. Liga. Dynamo Dresden had a chance to replace them as they reached the Regionalliga playoff and did so, defeating Werder II on away goals. Down in tier six, Dessau were back in Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anhalt after a year in non-league and survived in 17th place. Could Prusseit build a squad capable of competing in 2. Bundesliga with very limited finances? Or would another opportunity arise elsewhere in Eastern Germany? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 7, 2023 Author Share Posted July 7, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 20 | Prusseit's Huge Opportunity Energie Cottbus was very much an East German football team on the up as Ruprecht Prusseit and his team of freebies and loanees achieved back-to-back promotions to 2. Bundesliga. However, the Dresden-born manager had plenty of work ahead of him as he prepared for his first taste of the German second tier. Another cause for concern was the club's finances, which stood at minus £1.2m heading into the new season, but had dropped as low as minus £3m the previous campaign. More concerningly, the club had a net debt of over £11m. However, the summer saw a massive opportunity come Prusseit's away as, fresh from Bundesliga relegation, Union Berlin sacked Dan Putrescu and soon approached him for an interview. The interview went very well and Union quickly asked for his staff changes and, a few days later, came in with a huge offer. And Prusseit signed a deal that nearly tripled his wages on £7k per week. Ruprecht Prusseit joined club number five as he took charge of Union Berlin! Who Are Union Berlin? 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., or 1. FC Union Berlin, is a professional club based in the Köpenik region of East Berlin. The club's roots go back to original club FC Olympia Oberschöneweide, which went through numerous name changes before 1. FC Union Berlin was founded during the reorganization of German football in 1966. The club nearly collapsed due to financial issues after German reunification in 1990 and was twice denied a licence to play in 2. Bundesliga in 1993 and 1994. They finally made it into the second tier in 2001, and reached the German Cup Final the same season. More tough times followed as they found themselves down in the fourth tier in 2006, but a swift rise saw them win the inaugural 3. Liga in 2009. Union stayed in tier two until 2019, when they won their first-ever promotion to Bundesliga by beating Stuttgart in the relegation playoff. That made the club the first team from the former East Berlin to play in Bundesliga and only the fifth from the OstDeutscher region after Dresden, Rostock, Leipzig and Cottbus. Union have struggled through this save, finishing in the bottom half in every season bar a 9th-place in 2024. They won a relegation playoff in 2028, improved to 12th in 2030 only to finally succumb to relegation 12 months later. But this move represents a massive step up in club for Prusseit. The club has a bank balance of £36m, a wage budget of £673,000 and a whopping transfer budget of £15m. And, considering Prusseit had only ever spent £3,900 on players, that was a massive step up! Union play at the 22,012-capacity Stadion an der Alten Föresteri, which was built back in 1920. Promotion is an absolute imperative this season, so the pressure will very much be on Prusseit to swiftly deliver. But he started out by selling some of the deadwood that had gotten Union relegated in the first place, bringing in £7m for 12 players. However, he also lost star striker José Egueras, who wanted to leave after relegation, to Athletic for his £7.75m minimum fee clause then winger Alberto Segura to Köln for a new club record £14.25m. The best player remaining at the club is midfielder András Schäfer, who's racked up over 300 league games for the club, followed centre-back Philipp Schulz and goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. They also had a site favourite on the books in versatile full-back Josha Vagnoman. Prusseit wasted no time in strengthening the squad, starting with a few loans including familiar faces Phil Meyer and his teammate Gino Mauckner then Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Gerhard Seibert and Wolfsburg winger Achim Jungehülsing. Prusseit made his first proper cash signing as he paid £3m for rapid Barcelona winger Antonio Villalonga, who became the best player at the club. More exciting youngsters followed in winger Grga Picak for up to £4m from Dinamo, striker Ahmed Ramadan for up to £3m from Odds, right-back Nico Korte for up to £5m from Hansa Rostock and striker Dominic Frerking for £1m from Frankfurt. He also snapped up left-back Jan Hosek for £60k and powerful former Spurs centre-back Younes Dias on a free. Then, on his first-ever transfer deadline day, Prusseit snapped up exciting Czech striker Matej Lnenicka for £4.1m from Viktoria Plzen. That saw Prusseit break the Union record for high spending, investing £16.3m over the summer. With the squad rebuilt, Prusseit initially decided to go with a standard 4-3-3 approach, but the arrival of Lnenicka persuaded him to go with the 4-2-4 he'd used successfully at Rostock II. Flying Start To 2. Bundesliga Prusseit's new club was huge favourite to win 2. Bundesliga with odds of Even followed by Augsburg (7/4), Nürnberg (11/4), Bochum (3/1) and Darmstadt (6/1). His first game in the German second tier was at home to promoted Ingolstadt and his new side put on a show. Segura opened the scoring before a debut brace by Ramadan, both assisted by Villalonga, and a late fourth from winger Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty. Ramadan impressed again at Holstein Kiel, going one better with a hat-trick inside 20 minutes before Schäfer added a fourth. Meyer scored his first Union goal in a 1-0 win over another promoted side Jahn Regensburg, Picak got his first 20 seconds into a trip to Paderborn before Ramadan sealed a 2-0 victory then Picak and Ramadan made it five from five at home to Hannover. An international break followed deadline day and Lnenicka wasted no time in getting his first Union goal, scoring inside 80 seconds on his debut at Greuter Fürth. Ramadan and Picak sealed a 3-0 win but Prusseit was most impressed with his backline repelling Greuter's 18 shots. First Clashes With OstDeutsch Sides Two all-OstDeutsche class in Prusseit's first meeting with his former employers' senior team Hansa Rostock. Loanee Jungehülsing became the youngest scorer in Union history aged 17 years and 277 days but a first defeat of the season followed as Rostock twice came from behind to win 3-2 through two Oliver Batista Meier penalties. Prusseit then faced his first clash with fellow OstDeutsche side Magdeburg. And Cottbus time they came out on top as late Schäer and Scholz strikes earned a 3-1 victory. Their away form proved a little shaky, losing their next two at Karlsruhe and Heidenheim, but Ramadan hit a new club- and league-record four-goal haul to inspire a 5-3 thumping of fellow relegated side Bochum. Back on home ground, there was a huge game for Prusseit as his former club Energie Cottbus came to town. And his team clearly understood how much their manager was up for it as Picak scored the opener after 29 seconds, which set up an absolutely dominant first half in which they racked up 23 shots and scored five, including a Ramadan hat-trick. Picak wrapped up his hat trick after the break as Union inflicted a 7-1 battering. Prusseit tested out a more conservative 4-3-3 at St. Pauli, which stopped the losses with a 0-0. He used it again to take on 4th-place Nürnberg at home and it worked nicely in a 3-1 win before a 1-0 defeat at Augsburg. But he returned to the 4-4-2 for the final game of 2031 as they recovered to hammer Darmstadt 4-1 led by a Lnenicka brace, in which Union set a new low club-record attendance of 15,098. That left Union in second heading into the month-long winter break, trailing in-form Heidenheim by three points. Ramadan was the top scorer in the league with 16 in 16, while he and Lnenicka were second and third in the average ratings (7.68 and 7.49), and Lnenicka is second in the assists chart with seven, plus five goals in 11 games. Could Prusseit lead Union Berlin to the promotion and title that his board and supporters were expecting? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted July 7, 2023 Share Posted July 7, 2023 5 hours ago, robilaz said: OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 20 | Prusseit's Huge Opportunity Energie Cottbus was very much an East German football team on the up as Ruprecht Prusseit and his team of freebies and loanees achieved back-to-back promotions to 2. Bundesliga. However, the Dresden-born manager had plenty of work ahead of him as he prepared for his first taste of the German second tier. Another cause for concern was the club's finances, which stood at minus £1.2m heading into the new season, but had dropped as low as minus £3m the previous campaign. More concerningly, the club had a net debt of over £11m. However, the summer saw a massive opportunity come Prusseit's away as, fresh from Bundesliga relegation, Union Berlin sacked Dan Putrescu and soon approached him for an interview. The interview went very well and Union quickly asked for his staff changes and, a few days later, came in with a huge offer. And Prusseit signed a deal that nearly tripled his wages on £7k per week. Ruprecht Prusseit joined club number five as he took charge of Union Berlin! Who Are Union Berlin? 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., or 1. FC Union Berlin, is a professional club based in the Köpenik region of East Berlin. The club's roots go back to original club FC Olympia Oberschöneweide, which went through numerous name changes before 1. FC Union Berlin was founded during the reorganization of German football in 1966. The club nearly collapsed due to financial issues after German reunification in 1990 and was twice denied a licence to play in 2. Bundesliga in 1993 and 1994. They finally made it into the second tier in 2001, and reached the German Cup Final the same season. More tough times followed as they found themselves down in the fourth tier in 2006, but a swift rise saw them win the inaugural 3. Liga in 2009. Union stayed in tier two until 2019, when they won their first-ever promotion to Bundesliga by beating Stuttgart in the relegation playoff. That made the club the first team from the former East Berlin to play in Bundesliga and only the fifth from the OstDeutscher region after Dresden, Rostock, Leipzig and Cottbus. Union have struggled through this save, finishing in the bottom half in every season bar a 9th-place in 2024. They won a relegation playoff in 2028, improved to 12th in 2030 only to finally succumb to relegation 12 months later. But this move represents a massive step up in club for Prusseit. The club has a bank balance of £36m, a wage budget of £673,000 and a whopping transfer budget of £15m. And, considering Prusseit had only ever spent £3,900 on players, that was a massive step up! Union play at the 22,012-capacity Stadion an der Alten Föresteri, which was built back in 1920. Promotion is an absolute imperative this season, so the pressure will very much be on Prusseit to swiftly deliver. But he started out by selling some of the deadwood that had gotten Union relegated in the first place, bringing in £7m for 12 players. However, he also lost star striker José Egueras, who wanted to leave after relegation, to Athletic for his £7.75m minimum fee clause then winger Alberto Segura to Köln for a new club record £14.25m. The best player remaining at the club is midfielder András Schäfer, who's racked up over 300 league games for the club, followed centre-back Philipp Schulz and goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. They also had a site favourite on the books in versatile full-back Josha Vagnoman. Prusseit wasted no time in strengthening the squad, starting with a few loans including familiar faces Phil Meyer and his teammate Gino Mauckner then Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Gerhard Seibert and Wolfsburg winger Achim Jungehülsing. Prusseit made his first proper cash signing as he paid £3m for rapid Barcelona winger Antonio Villalonga, who became the best player at the club. More exciting youngsters followed in winger Grga Picak for up to £4m from Dinamo, striker Ahmed Ramadan for up to £3m from Odds, right-back Nico Korte for up to £5m from Hansa Rostock and striker Dominic Frerking for £1m from Frankfurt. He also snapped up left-back Jan Hosek for £60k and powerful former Spurs centre-back Younes Dias on a free. Then, on his first-ever transfer deadline day, Prusseit snapped up exciting Czech striker Matej Lnenicka for £4.1m from Viktoria Plzen. That saw Prusseit break the Union record for high spending, investing £16.3m over the summer. With the squad rebuilt, Prusseit initially decided to go with a standard 4-3-3 approach, but the arrival of Lnenicka persuaded him to go with the 4-2-4 he'd used successfully at Rostock II. Flying Start To 2. Bundesliga Prusseit's new club was huge favourite to win 2. Bundesliga with odds of Even followed by Augsburg (7/4), Nürnberg (11/4), Bochum (3/1) and Darmstadt (6/1). His first game in the German second tier was at home to promoted Ingolstadt and his new side put on a show. Segura opened the scoring before a debut brace by Ramadan, both assisted by Villalonga, and a late fourth from winger Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty. Ramadan impressed again at Holstein Kiel, going one better with a hat-trick inside 20 minutes before Schäfer added a fourth. Meyer scored his first Union goal in a 1-0 win over another promoted side Jahn Regensburg, Picak got his first 20 seconds into a trip to Paderborn before Ramadan sealed a 2-0 victory then Picak and Ramadan made it five from five at home to Hannover. An international break followed deadline day and Lnenicka wasted no time in getting his first Union goal, scoring inside 80 seconds on his debut at Greuter Fürth. Ramadan and Picak sealed a 3-0 win but Prusseit was most impressed with his backline repelling Greuter's 18 shots. First Clashes With OstDeutsch Sides Two all-OstDeutsche class in Prusseit's first meeting with his former employers' senior team Hansa Rostock. Loanee Jungehülsing became the youngest scorer in Union history aged 17 years and 277 days but a first defeat of the season followed as Rostock twice came from behind to win 3-2 through two Oliver Batista Meier penalties. Prusseit then faced his first clash with fellow OstDeutsche side Magdeburg. And Cottbus time they came out on top as late Schäer and Scholz strikes earned a 3-1 victory. Their away form proved a little shaky, losing their next two at Karlsruhe and Heidenheim, but Ramadan hit a new club- and league-record four-goal haul to inspire a 5-3 thumping of fellow relegated side Bochum. Back on home ground, there was a huge game for Prusseit as his former club Energie Cottbus came to town. And his team clearly understood how much their manager was up for it as Picak scored the opener after 29 seconds, which set up an absolutely dominant first half in which they racked up 23 shots and scored five, including a Ramadan hat-trick. Picak wrapped up his hat trick after the break as Union inflicted a 7-1 battering. Prusseit tested out a more conservative 4-3-3 at St. Pauli, which stopped the losses with a 0-0. He used it again to take on 4th-place Nürnberg at home and it worked nicely in a 3-1 win before a 1-0 defeat at Augsburg. But he returned to the 4-4-2 for the final game of 2031 as they recovered to hammer Darmstadt 4-1 led by a Lnenicka brace, in which Union set a new low club-record attendance of 15,098. That left Union in second heading into the month-long winter break, trailing in-form Heidenheim by three points. Ramadan was the top scorer in the league with 16 in 16, while he and Lnenicka were second and third in the average ratings (7.68 and 7.49), and Lnenicka is second in the assists chart with seven, plus five goals in 11 games. Could Prusseit lead Union Berlin to the promotion and title that his board and supporters were expecting? Love it. You finally ended up at the crown in the Jules. Union Berlin is my German team. I visited Berlin pre covid. When the team was still in the 2. Bundesliga. I went to a game against VFL Bochum and the experience blew my mind. The ground in the forest, the beer on the terrace, the atmosphere, the free travel to the game. Everything about it opened my eyes to how football should be for a fan. Unfortunately because am from Scotland and Celtic and rangers ruin everything we will never ever get to have that experience of drinking at the game again. Prusset now has the club he can really make a project off? Is this the team to take to a Bundesliga title? You better not consider RBL everything that’s wrong in modern football and everything Union stands against! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 12, 2023 Author Share Posted July 12, 2023 (edited) On 07/07/2023 at 17:03, SixPointer said: Love it. You finally ended up at the crown in the Jules. Union Berlin is my German team. I visited Berlin pre covid. When the team was still in the 2. Bundesliga. I went to a game against VFL Bochum and the experience blew my mind. The ground in the forest, the beer on the terrace, the atmosphere, the free travel to the game. Everything about it opened my eyes to how football should be for a fan. Unfortunately because am from Scotland and Celtic and rangers ruin everything we will never ever get to have that experience of drinking at the game again. Prusset now has the club he can really make a project off? Is this the team to take to a Bundesliga title? You better not consider RBL everything that’s wrong in modern football and everything Union stands against! This is awesome! I'd love to go to a Union game one day - and I need to visit Berlin too. Maybe one day. And yeah, the whole German football experience feels like everything football is supposed to be, compared to what we get in the UK. Trust me, we will never consider joining RB Leipzig - Ruprecht is very much committed to the Union project, and hopefully if we can survive and reap the Bundesliga money then we can build something special. Edited July 12, 2023 by robilaz 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 12, 2023 Author Share Posted July 12, 2023 Hertha Berlin were on track to secure an immediate return to Bundesliga after manager Ruprecht Prusseit made a solid start to his biggest job so far on his OstDeutscher Sieg journey. But there was plenty of pressure on the Dresden-born boss to make that promotion happen. However, Prusseit's credentials as a manager were significantly boosted as he passed his Continental Pro Licence, the highest coaching qualification possible in January 2032. The new qualification saw his world reputation increase to 3.5 stars or National. Taking The Fight To Heidenheim Union Berlin began 2032 superbly as Matej Lnenicka and a brace by winger Antonio Villalonga had them 3-0 up inside 24 minutes at Ingolstadt. The hosts scored twice out of nowhere after the break but Union held on for a 3-2 victory. Midfielder András Schäfer nicked a 1-0 win at home to Holstein Kiel followed by a 3-0 win at Jahn Regensburg while league leaders Heidenheim lost two on the bounce, which suddenly sent Union six points clear. A week later, the lead was nine points as Union came from two goals down to thump 10-man Paderborn 7-3 led by a brilliant Schäfer four-goal haul while Heidenheim lost again. And a strong start continued before a six-game winning streak ended with a 2-0 defeat at Hansa Rostock. Union got back on track with a 1-0 win over another fellow OstDeutsche side Magdeburk courtesy of right-winger Grga Picak's delicious finish. Then top scorer Ahmed Ramadan scored his 20th league goal of the season in a 2-0 win at Sandhausen. 8 Games From Bundesliga Union's strong start to 2032 had coincided with Heidenheim having had a dreadful one, losing five of their last nine games having only lost three of their first 17. With eight games remaining, Union had built up an 11-point lead on Heidenheim, 12 points on 3rd-place Rostock and 4th-place Darmstadt. Ramadan had been quiet of late but burst into life with his second four-goal haul of the season in a 6-0 hammering of Karlsruhe. Then just a second draw of the season, a 1-1 at Bochum, saw Rostock cut the lead to 10 points. Heidenheim, meanwhile, had continued their slump down to 5th and Union's first chance to clinch promotion could come against them. They were looking good as Lnenicka scored early on but offered nothing after that and allowed Heidenheim back into it. But Rostock also drew and they stayed 11 points clear of 4th-place Darmstadt with five games remaining. Their next potential opportunity came in Prusseit's first return to Energie Cottbus, who they put seven past earlier in the season. They again dominated his former club, with Picak adding to his hat-trick in the first game with a first-half brace alongside Lnenicka and Ramadan strikes, then a late Achim Jungehülsing goal wrapped up a thumping 5-0 away win. On The Verge Of Bundesliga The next day after Union's crushing of Cottbus, Rostock drew with Ingolstadt to leave Union 12 points clear of 4th place with four games remaining. So Union just needed one point to confirm promotion and two points to clinch the title. They had a good chance to achieve both as they entertained 10th-place St. Pauli. Union came out flying and dominated the first half by 11 shots to one, eventually taking advantage as Villalonga slammed home after 43 minutes then laid on the second for Schäfer three minutes later. The game was all over as midfielder Phil Meyer drilled home from the edge of the box 10 minutes after the break and young striker Dominic Frenking sealed a dominant 4-0 win late on. Union Berlin were 2. Bundesliga Champions! A successful campaign concluded a 3-2 win at Nürnberg thanks to Ramadan's hat trick, a 2-2 draw with Augsburg and a final day 2-0 loss at Darmstadt. Union won the league by 12 points from Nürnberg, massively outscoring the rest of the division with 90 goals while only Nürnberg conceded fewer than their 33. Ramadan was the second-top scorer with 28 in 33, only bettered by Nürnberg striker Leonardus Michaux scoring 34 in 34. Villalonga set a new league record with his 7.53 average rating, Lnenicka also set a new league record with 15 assists followed by Villalonga's 12, and Mads Hermansen kept the most clean sheets with 15. Looking Ahead To A First Bundesliga Campaign Prusseit was delighted with Union's efforts this season, especially a dominant second half of the campaign that saw them walk away with the 2. Bundesliga title. Furthermore, the title success bagged Union a much-needed £17.25m. Ramadan topped the goalscoring charts with a new club-record 31 in 35 games plus five assists and a 7.48 average rating. And his strike partner Lnenicka scored 10 and got a new club-record 16 assists with a 7.38 average rating. Winger Villalonga scored five and got 13 assist with a club-high 7.49 average rating and is apparently considered a leading Bundesliga player. Schäfer scored 14, Pica scored 11 and got six assists, and left-back Jan Hosek got 10 assists. There was plenty of work to do in the summer if Union were to survive in their manager's first-ever season in Bundesliga. But having just completed three successive promotions with two teams, Prusseit was feeling pretty confident. And he'd already set about making transfers to strengthen the squad. The good news was that he'd managed to make it up to Bundesliga without Leipzig becoming the first-ever OstDeutscher champions. Bayern won their 20th successive Bundesliga, winning the title by 11 points from Leverkusen with Leipzig finishing way down in 10th. Rostock, Magdeburg and Cottbus all survived in 2. Bundesliga and Dresden finished mid-table in 3. Liga, where they'd be joined by Chemnitzer who won Regionalliga Nordost. Could Prusseit build a squad capable of competing in Bundesliga? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Congratulations on the title win!!! Loooking forward to the De Eisern bundesliga days! how is Philip Schulz looking? I just about signed him for standard liege. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 14, 2023 Author Share Posted July 14, 2023 On 12/07/2023 at 22:30, SixPointer said: Congratulations on the title win!!! Loooking forward to the De Eisern bundesliga days! how is Philip Schulz looking? I just about signed him for standard liege. Cheers! yeah Schulz is decent, he's been really solid for us heading into the Bundesliga 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 14, 2023 Author Share Posted July 14, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 22 | First Taste Of Bundesliga After 10 years of life as a proper Football Manager, Ruprecht Prusseit had gone from virtual obscurity to joining Germany's elite in Bundesliga. He led Union Berlin back to Bundesliga in 2031/32, lifting only the club's second professional trophy as 2. Bundesliga Champions. But there was little time to reflect on his journey from a local football injury and subsequent minor management experience to managing in the lower tiers, then a rise from the third tier up to the top in three seasons. As Prusseit had plenty of hard work behind the scenes. That's because his star midfielder András Schäfer was joining Monaco at the end of his contract, left-back Jan Hosek went to Slavia Prague for £1.2m and centre-back Jan Sodiq joined Energie Cottbus for £1.3m. And the squad was set to be very light when a mass of loanees departed, so Prusseit wasted no time in locking down deals as soon as promotion was secured. Indeed, 11 (eleven!) players arrived the day the transfer window opened. The pick of the new signings were probably two 18-year-olds in striker Ville Paavolainen, who joined for £3.1m from AGF, and Satoru Iida, who Prusseit was going to use as a holding midfielder after joining for £500k from Niigata Unicorn. The defence got a significant makeover, including left-backs Ori Kanuk and Marcel Müller, for £2.6m and £1.3m from Hapoel Be'er Sheva and St. Pauli, and centre-backs Jindrich Scasny, Ali Salameh and Emiliano Otero for £5.75m, £2.5m and £2.5m from Slavia Prague, Viktoria Plzen and Boca Juniors. They were still very light in midfield, which Prusseit addressed with a couple of loan deals for Inter's Andrej Kovac, who looks like being a special player, and Lucas from Flamengo. Those deals had the squad packed with potential, with 14 players of at least 4.5-star potential. And, with a fairly hefty rebuild completed, Prusseit decided to move to a more conservative 4-3-3 approach. Four of the new signings come in as starters, with striker Matej Lnenicka retraining as a midfielder and new boy Paavolainen battling it out with last season's top scorer Ahmed Ramadan for the lone frontman role. Facing A Tough Bundesliga Challenge The bookies certainly didn't fancy Union's chances of survival, predicting them to finish 17th with odds of 400/1 to win the league. Bayern are the only team fancied to win it with odds of 8/15 followed by Bayer Leverkusen, who've built a really strong team, at 9/1, RB Leipzig at 12/1, Dortmund at 16/1 and arch-rivals Hertha at 25/1. Prusseit's first-ever match in top-tier football took him to what may be the biggest ground he had been to in his 48 years, as Union travelled to RheinErgieStadion to face 1. FC Köln. But Prusseit's team was far from overawed as they started well with winger Grga Picak beating two men to slam home after 14 minutes. Köln got level with a penalty just after half-time and began to dominate but Union defended well before an inspired sub saw Ramadan take advantage of a defensive howler to score an 84th-minute winner. A massive fixture followed as Prusseit's first home game in Bundesliga was also his first Berliner Derby against Hertha. The rivals played out a dreadful first half but, deep into injury time, Lnenicka got forward from midfield and latched onto a loose ball to smash home from 12 yards. An equally bad second half followed with Hertha offering nothing and they were again made to pay by Lnenicka in injury time! Another home game followed against Hamburg and Kovac got his first goal to earn a solid 1-1. But Prusseit's second away game swiftly saw his biggest-ever stadium visit broken as they faced the toughest test of all away to perennial champions Bayern. Union unsurprisingly got thumped 4-0, which wasn't bad after giving up an outrageous 39 shots to one, before losing 1-0 at home to Gladbach. Another huge game followed as Prusseit face his first-ever clash with OstDeutscher top dog RB Leipzig. Prusseit switched to a more conservative approach and it worked as a Ramadan brace and a Paolo Di Canio-esque Antonio Villalonga volley earned a famous 3-2 victory. A pretty disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Werder Bremen was followed by a hard-earned 1-1 at fellow promoted side Nürnberg and a Paavolainen goal earned another 1-1 with Hoffenheim. But they got back to winning ways as Picak and Villalonga goals downed struggling Arminia Bielefeld 2-0. But any performance so far this season was blown out of the water by a stunning performance at Leverkusen. Great play by right-back Josha Vagnoman teed up Paavolainen for the opener inside five minutes and Kovac doubled the lead seven minutes later. Leverkusen dominated the game but only managed to get four shots on target, while another excellent Paavolainen finish then his replacement Ramadan wrapped up a stunning 4-0 victory. That was backed up with another superb performance to hammer Frankfurt 4-1 with braces by Paavolainen and Lnenicka, which lifted Union into the top five after 12 games! And they stayed there as Picak created the opener for Lnenicka then scored the winner in a 2-1 victory at Mainz. But a 4-0 hammering at home to Stuttgart ended Union's six-game unbeaten streak followed by a 2-0 loss at home to Dortmund, before Picak and Paavolainen earned a 2-2 draw at Freiburg. That sent Union into the winter break sitting fairly comfortably in 8th place with 25 points from 16 games. They were only three points off the European places but, more importantly, 12 points clear of the relegation place. Only four teams had conceded fewer than Union's 23 but only six had scored fewer than their 24. But Picak had the second-most assists in the league with seven. Could Prusseit maintain Union's strong start to life in Bundesliga and lead them to safety? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 Very good start to life back in the Bundesliga! Beating Hertha is always a biggie!! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 17, 2023 Author Share Posted July 17, 2023 On 15/07/2023 at 02:53, SixPointer said: Very good start to life back in the Bundesliga! Beating Hertha is always a biggie!! Oh yes! In some of my recent saves Hertha have become the biggest team in Germany after 20 years or so... so we need to prevent that from happening! And beating RBL is always nice too 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 17, 2023 Author Share Posted July 17, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 23 | Poor Form But Plenty Of Potential Union Berlin enjoyed a strong start to manager Ruprecht Prusseit's first-ever season in top-flight football. They'd been as high as fifth in the early stages of Bundesliga and went into the winter break just a few points behind the European places. Their strong start to the campaign was rewarded as the Union board doubling Prusseit's wages to £16k a week with a new contract through to 2035. The challenge now was for the manager to maintain that strong start and avoid any relegation concerns. Throughout this save, no side has been relegated from Bundesliga with more than 31 points. So Prusseit's team needed to pick up at least six more points to remove any feats. Prusseit was especially keen to stay up and finish as high as possible purely to start bringing in some of the Bundesliga's rich prize money. That was because the club came into 2033 with a negative bank balance having lost £13m since the start of the season. Shaky Start To 2033 The new year began in disastrous fashion as Union got pummelled 8-0 at Hertha in the Berliner Derby with a hat-trick from Thiago Almada and four from Julian Rijkhoff, who immediately moved to Liverpool for £80m. However, it had only been 2-0 when Matej Lnenicka got sent off for a two-footed lunge. And the performance was so bad that Prusseit fined all 11 players a week's wages. Union were now five games without a win with a tricky run of games upcoming. For obvious reasons, Prusseit went a little more cautious and they were lucky to only lose 2-1 at Wolfsburg after being battered by 21 shots to six then slightly unlucky to lose 1-0 at home to Köln. Just what they didn't need now was a visit from Bayern, although they had just lost their second game of the season 1-0 at another promoted side Nürnberg. But there was no such generosity as Bayern cruised to a 2-0 win with a brace from their ridiculous striker Florian Kreuzer. A 1-0 loss at Hamburg had fans firmly on Prusseit's back as they'd gone eight league games without a win, lost five on the bounce and scored just three in eight. As a result, Union slumped to 14th in Bundesliga. However, that poor run was finally snapped as Prusseit made a few tactical and defensive tweaks for a trip to Gladbach. Winger Grga Picak put them ahead with a delicious 30-yarder just after the hour mark then midfielder Andrej Kovac ran through the Gladbach defence to double the lead nine minutes later. The hosts got a goal back but Prusseit went more defensive and held on for a 2-1 victory. Union couldn't take momentum from that as a tough game at home to Bayer Leverkusen saw a 2-0 defeat. But another good performance on the road saw Kovac create the opener for Picak then nick a point at Werder Bremen with a superb 95th-minute strike from the edge of the box. A vital game for Union saw a visit from 15th-place Nürnberg and Prusseit thought this was the ideal time to move back to his two striker formation. And a Picak penalty edged a terrible game of just 11 shots between the two teams. More importantly, that moved Union onto 32 points and 14 clear of the relegation places with nine games remaining. Edging Towards Survival A solid 13th-place in Bundesliga meant Union were virtually safe heading into the final quarter of the season. But their run-in was pretty tough, starting by losing 3-0 at 3rd-place Stuttgart before Lnenicka and Ahmed Ramadan ended their long goal droughts to nick a 2-2 draw with 4th-place Wolfsburg. Another OstDeutsche rival clash resulted in defeat as they were edged out 3-2 by RB Leipzig, in which Ville Paavolainen ended his 13-hour goal drought. They lost 2-0 at Frankfurt before goals by the strikeforce of Ramadan and Lnenicka mathematically confirmed survival. The season rounded out with a 1-1 at relegated Hoffenheim, 0-0 at Arminia Bielefeld and a 3-1 loss at Dortmund, before a final-day 1-1 draw at home to Freiburg on Prusseit's 49th birthday. Union finished up in 13th place in Bundesliga with 39 points, finishing 17 points above the relegation places, 11 points above the relegation playoff and 15 points off the European places. Those efforts saw Prusseit come second in German Manager of the Year while right-back Nico Korte won U19 Player of the Year. And, more importantly, they bagged £41m in prize money. Plenty Of Promise At Union Berlin Prusseit was pretty pleased with his first season in the German top tier, safely avoiding any relegation trouble thanks largely to a strong start to the campaign. However, he was a little concerned by just three wins and 14 points from 18 games after Christmas. Lnenicka led the way with 11 goals followed by Paavolainen and Picak with nine, Ramadan's seven and Kovac's six. Picak topped the club's assists chart with 13 followed by Kovac with six and Antonio Villalonga's four. And Kovac was the only player to average over a 7.00. However, there was plenty to get excited about given the potential at the club. Prusseit saw his first player represent Germany as Korte was handed his debut against Ukraine in March, despite being in pretty terrible form for Union. While the potential at the club was proven by Paavolainen coming 2nd in NxGn 2033, along with Korte (9th), Satoru Iida (18th), Ori Kanuk (20th), centre-back Kresten Vilfort (23rd) and Jindrich Scasny (39th). That potential was added to by a solid youth intake that contained two 5-star potential players in goalkeeper Michael Reitz and winger Christopher Middendorf plus 4-star holding midfielder Younes Müller. Bayern continue their ridiculous dominance of Bundesliga, winning a 22nd consecutive title by seven points from Dortmund, while Leipzig were down in sixth. Bayern also wrapped up a DFB-Pokal and Champions League treble! A third OstDeutscher side will be in Bundesliga next season as Hansa Rostock won 2. Bundesliga but Prusseit's former club Energie Cottbus were relegated back to 3. Liga. While Chemnitzer were relegated from 3. Liga and Chemie Leipzig were relegated from Regionalliga. But two more of Prusseit's former clubs were promoted as Hansa Rostock II won Regionalliga Nordost and Stendal won Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anhalt. Could Prusseit develop more of the potential at Union Berlin for an improved campaign in 2033/34? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 23 hours ago, robilaz said: Oh yes! In some of my recent saves Hertha have become the biggest team in Germany after 20 years or so... so we need to prevent that from happening! And beating RBL is always nice too They are in my UCL group. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 16 hours ago, robilaz said: OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 23 | Poor Form But Plenty Of Potential Union Berlin enjoyed a strong start to manager Ruprecht Prusseit's first-ever season in top-flight football. They'd been as high as fifth in the early stages of Bundesliga and went into the winter break just a few points behind the European places. Their strong start to the campaign was rewarded as the Union board doubling Prusseit's wages to £16k a week with a new contract through to 2035. The challenge now was for the manager to maintain that strong start and avoid any relegation concerns. Throughout this save, no side has been relegated from Bundesliga with more than 31 points. So Prusseit's team needed to pick up at least six more points to remove any feats. Prusseit was especially keen to stay up and finish as high as possible purely to start bringing in some of the Bundesliga's rich prize money. That was because the club came into 2033 with a negative bank balance having lost £13m since the start of the season. Shaky Start To 2033 The new year began in disastrous fashion as Union got pummelled 8-0 at Hertha in the Berliner Derby with a hat-trick from Thiago Almada and four from Julian Rijkhoff, who immediately moved to Liverpool for £80m. However, it had only been 2-0 when Matej Lnenicka got sent off for a two-footed lunge. And the performance was so bad that Prusseit fined all 11 players a week's wages. Union were now five games without a win with a tricky run of games upcoming. For obvious reasons, Prusseit went a little more cautious and they were lucky to only lose 2-1 at Wolfsburg after being battered by 21 shots to six then slightly unlucky to lose 1-0 at home to Köln. Just what they didn't need now was a visit from Bayern, although they had just lost their second game of the season 1-0 at another promoted side Nürnberg. But there was no such generosity as Bayern cruised to a 2-0 win with a brace from their ridiculous striker Florian Kreuzer. A 1-0 loss at Hamburg had fans firmly on Prusseit's back as they'd gone eight league games without a win, lost five on the bounce and scored just three in eight. As a result, Union slumped to 14th in Bundesliga. However, that poor run was finally snapped as Prusseit made a few tactical and defensive tweaks for a trip to Gladbach. Winger Grga Picak put them ahead with a delicious 30-yarder just after the hour mark then midfielder Andrej Kovac ran through the Gladbach defence to double the lead nine minutes later. The hosts got a goal back but Prusseit went more defensive and held on for a 2-1 victory. Union couldn't take momentum from that as a tough game at home to Bayer Leverkusen saw a 2-0 defeat. But another good performance on the road saw Kovac create the opener for Picak then nick a point at Werder Bremen with a superb 95th-minute strike from the edge of the box. A vital game for Union saw a visit from 15th-place Nürnberg and Prusseit thought this was the ideal time to move back to his two striker formation. And a Picak penalty edged a terrible game of just 11 shots between the two teams. More importantly, that moved Union onto 32 points and 14 clear of the relegation places with nine games remaining. Edging Towards Survival A solid 13th-place in Bundesliga meant Union were virtually safe heading into the final quarter of the season. But their run-in was pretty tough, starting by losing 3-0 at 3rd-place Stuttgart before Lnenicka and Ahmed Ramadan ended their long goal droughts to nick a 2-2 draw with 4th-place Wolfsburg. Another OstDeutsche rival clash resulted in defeat as they were edged out 3-2 by RB Leipzig, in which Ville Paavolainen ended his 13-hour goal drought. They lost 2-0 at Frankfurt before goals by the strikeforce of Ramadan and Lnenicka mathematically confirmed survival. The season rounded out with a 1-1 at relegated Hoffenheim, 0-0 at Arminia Bielefeld and a 3-1 loss at Dortmund, before a final-day 1-1 draw at home to Freiburg on Prusseit's 49th birthday. Union finished up in 13th place in Bundesliga with 39 points, finishing 17 points above the relegation places, 11 points above the relegation playoff and 15 points off the European places. Those efforts saw Prusseit come second in German Manager of the Year while right-back Nico Korte won U19 Player of the Year. And, more importantly, they bagged £41m in prize money. Plenty Of Promise At Union Berlin Prusseit was pretty pleased with his first season in the German top tier, safely avoiding any relegation trouble thanks largely to a strong start to the campaign. However, he was a little concerned by just three wins and 14 points from 18 games after Christmas. Lnenicka led the way with 11 goals followed by Paavolainen and Picak with nine, Ramadan's seven and Kovac's six. Picak topped the club's assists chart with 13 followed by Kovac with six and Antonio Villalonga's four. And Kovac was the only player to average over a 7.00. However, there was plenty to get excited about given the potential at the club. Prusseit saw his first player represent Germany as Korte was handed his debut against Ukraine in March, despite being in pretty terrible form for Union. While the potential at the club was proven by Paavolainen coming 2nd in NxGn 2033, along with Korte (9th), Satoru Iida (18th), Ori Kanuk (20th), centre-back Kresten Vilfort (23rd) and Jindrich Scasny (39th). That potential was added to by a solid youth intake that contained two 5-star potential players in goalkeeper Michael Reitz and winger Christopher Middendorf plus 4-star holding midfielder Younes Müller. Bayern continue their ridiculous dominance of Bundesliga, winning a 22nd consecutive title by seven points from Dortmund, while Leipzig were down in sixth. Bayern also wrapped up a DFB-Pokal and Champions League treble! A third OstDeutscher side will be in Bundesliga next season as Hansa Rostock won 2. Bundesliga but Prusseit's former club Energie Cottbus were relegated back to 3. Liga. While Chemnitzer were relegated from 3. Liga and Chemie Leipzig were relegated from Regionalliga. But two more of Prusseit's former clubs were promoted as Hansa Rostock II won Regionalliga Nordost and Stendal won Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anhalt. Could Prusseit develop more of the potential at Union Berlin for an improved campaign in 2033/34? Very solid first season in the top flight only real concern is that 8-0 beating 😳 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 23, 2023 Author Share Posted July 23, 2023 On 18/07/2023 at 08:40, SixPointer said: Very solid first season in the top flight only real concern is that 8-0 beating 😳 Haha yeeah that was brutal 😖 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 23, 2023 Author Share Posted July 23, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 24 | Avoiding Second-Season Syndrome The progression of Ruprecht Prusseit as one of the best young managers around was confirmed as he led an unfancied Union Berlin side to survival in his first season in Bundesliga. But the Dresden-born manager was keen to progress both his managerial abilities and the club he was working with to avoid any suggestion of second-season syndrome. To get there, Prusseit knew he had to make sacrifices, such as cashing in on interest shown in his promising youngsters. Early examples of that were defender Jindrich Scasny and striker Valle Paavolainen, who'd signed for a combined £8 million 12 months ago, both drawing interest from big European sides. And Chelsea won the race for both, spending £12m on Scasny and £11.5m on Paavolainen. He also sold players with 12 months on their contracts who refused to sign new deals, which saw striker Ahmed Ramadan join Sampdoria for £3.3m and underperforming centre-back Younes Dias move to Monaco for £3.6m. Prusseit quickly reinvested by splashing out a club record £7.5m on exciting 18-year-old Sparta Prague attacking midfielder Jakub Silny. He replaced Scasny and Dias with 19-year-old Mikulaz Mraz for £800k from Slovan Bratislava. He also did deals to bring in former loanee Gerhard Seibert in for £3.5m from RB Salzburg and striker Michael Storskov for £2.5m from Kobenhavn, which may be the best deal of the summer. With those additions made, Prusseit decided to tweak his formation to a 4-3-3 with a flat three in midfield and Silny and Antonio Villalonga providing the width in behind Storskov. Into Bundesliga Season 2 Union's chances are rated slightly higher than last season, with a prediction to finish 16th and title odds of 300/1. Bayern are obviously favourites at 10/11 followed by Leipzig (8/1), Leverkusen (10/1), Dortmund (12/1) and Stuttgart and Freiburg (18/1). They began with a no-hope game at home to Bayern, but applied themselves well and only lost 1-0 to a ninth-minute strike. But an opportunity to get off the mark saw Jahn Regensburg come to town and Storskov got his first goal for the club before Grga Picak made it 2-0 inside 18 minutes. They settled for that and Prusseit was a little disappointed they didn't add a few more. Strangely, a third home game followed and they earned a 0-0 with Leipzig. Bizarrely, Union faced five away games on the bounce. That began with a 2-0 loss at early pacesetters Gladbach, in which Storskov got injured for the third successive game. Matej Lnenicka moved up front and earned a point at Nürnberg. Then the big one took Union to Hertha, where they lost 8-0 last season. This time they applied themselves better but got dominated and lost 2-1. They also got battered at 2nd-place Wolfsburg but a stout defensive effort after Picak's early strike earned a 1-1. But a slight tactical tweak, dropping Satoru Iida to a holding role, worked well as Picak and Mraz goals earned a 2-0 win at Köln. So after five away days, Union headed into the October international break - in which Storskov scored on his Denmark debut - in a respectable 12th place. They sat seven points above relegation trouble and only three points off the European places. Looking Upwards Pre-Christmas Union returned to action with a first home game in a month against 6th-place Werder Bremen. The newly monikered wonderkid Silny had a slow start to life in Germany but got his first goal for the club to earn a 1-1 draw. And another solid defensive effort and a penalty by loanee Robert Gruber earned an important 1-0 win at 15th-place Arminia Bielefeld. Another must-win game saw a first top-tier clash with fellow OstDeutscher side and newly-promoted Hansa Rostock. They started on the front foot with Storskov missing a sitter. But they soon took advantage of a strong start as Villalonga slammed home then Storskov tapped home from close range. That gave the striker confidence and he scored a delicious 25-yard curler 90 seconds after the break. Two Mads Hermansen howlers gifted Rostock goals back but Storskov wrapped up a hat-trick to sandwich those goals. Then got injured again! That was followed by a tough trip to Dortmund, where Prusseit decided to test out a defensive approach with a mass of more defensive instructions. And, to his surprise more than anyone else's, it worked as Seibert scored early and, despite an Adeyemi penalty, they held on for a point. Another international break followed but Union returned with another three points. Villalonga put them ahead after half an hour then goals either side of halftime by Lnenicka and Picak's delicious curled effort wrapped up a 3-2 victory over Hamburg. That suddenly had them in 7th and just three points off the Champions League places! But any dreams of reaching those heights were firmly dashed by a 2-1 loss at 4th-place Freiburg, who dominated by 25 shots to seven. However, they closed the gap on the European places with an excellent 3-2 win at home to 6th-place Stuttgart. The visitors twice led either side of Storskov's close-range header, second time around thanks to another Hermansen clanger. But an excellent Storskov finish got them level again before a superb outside-of-the-right-foot finish by Seiber nicked it in the 89th minute. That was backed up with a solid 0-0 at home to a strong but struggling Leverkusen before wrapping up 2033 with a thrilling 3-3 draw at 5th-place Frankfurt. That was despite going to Prusseit's defensive approach with Picak and centre-back Philipp Shulz twice cancelling out Frankfurt goals before another late Seibert strike earned a point. A strong run of form saw Union sitting firmly in mid-table in 10th place. Their 25 points, thanks to six wins, seven draws and just four defeats, sees them 13 points of any relegation issues and five points off the European places. Interestingly, Bayern didn't hit the top of Bundesliga until the last week of November due to a strong Gladbach start, and now only trail Dortmund having played one game fewer. DFB-Pokal Run! Last season, Union's Pokal run was halted by Dortmund in the 'eighth final.' And wins over Nordhausen and Frankurt sent them back to that stage again. This time, they took on Freiburg away three days after the same league fixture. And a switch to Prusseit's defensive away approach worked as they earned a 0-0 then Seibert and Gruber strikes nicked a 2-0 extra-time win. That teed up a quarter-final at Wolfsburg in January. Prusseit was delighted with Union's progress so far this season. But he was keen to avoid the post-Christmas slump that occurred last season. Their top player, when he's been fit, has been new boy Storskov, who has nine goals and a 7.27 average rating in 14 games. Picak has impressed with seven goals, he and Villalonga both have four assists, but Silny leads the way with six assists. Can Prusseit help Union avoid another Bundesliga slump? And can they progress to the latter stages of DFB-Pokal? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 Enjoyed this! I’ve gone the East German route as well, with one of your old teams, Cottbus 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 25, 2023 Author Share Posted July 25, 2023 On 23/07/2023 at 12:55, Deisler26 said: Enjoyed this! I’ve gone the East German route as well, with one of your old teams, Cottbus Strong choice! How are you getting on with them? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 25, 2023 Author Share Posted July 25, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 25 | Massive Record Sale Union Berlin had made a solid start to their second season back in Bundesliga. But Ruprecht Prusseit was keen to avoid the slump they suffered in the second half of last season after the winter break. However, 2034 began with some disappointing news as Bayern München met star right-back Nico Korte's £44m minimum release fee. Annoyingly, £12m of that went to former club Hansa Rostock but, on the positive side, that record transfer fee doubled the club's bank balance to over £50m. Backup centre-back Emiliano Otero also left for £1m to Argentine side Atlético de Rafaela then, on deadline day, 28-year-old centre-back Philipp Schulz joined Wolfsburg for £7.5m as he had 18 months on his contract and refused to sign a new one. The Korte deal went through after Prusseit had agreed deals that extended his transfer policy of signing inexpensive players with massive potential. Union's Scandinavian contingent was added to with right-back Mathias Nilsson Morsing joining for £2.5m from AGF and attacking midfielder Mads Vollesen coming in for £2.8m from Brøndby. Prusseit also snapped up Colombian winger Dúvier Canizalez on a free transfer from América de Cali then added depth with a few random loanees on deadline day. Looking To Climb Bundesliga 2034 began with the toughest test possible, a trip to 22-time reigning champions Bayern München, who'd just signed striker Riley Shackell for £124m from Chelsea! Prusseit's defensive approach and Mads Hermansen's 15 saves limited the damage to 2-0 after Bayern battered them with 35 shots to nine. But Union bounced back in dominant style with 25 shots to nine at home to Nürnberg, with striker Michael Storskov making two count to lead a 2-1 victory. The post-Korte era began with a trip to bottom-of-the-league Jahn Regensburg, who still only had three points. Storskov was on the scoresheet again after 16 minutes and Grga Picak doubled the lead before a late consolation. And they made it three wins on the bounce as midfielder Gerhard Seibert scored the winner in a 2-1 victory at home to Gladbach, who were in freefall having topped the league after seven games. Prusseit's 100th game in charge of Union was a big one as they travelled to fellow OstDeutscher side but, interestingly, not a local rival RB Leipzig. They caused no shocks in a 2-0 defeat but bounced back with a 2-0 win at Werder Bremen with Nilsson Morsing scoring his first goal for the club - which is one more than Korte scored! - before another Storskov strike. But another away defeat followed with a 2-1 loss at 5th-place Stuttgart. DFB-Pokal Latter Stages Union had progressed to the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals, where they faced a tough test at Wolfsburg. But Storskov continued his fine start to 2034 with two first-half goals to inspire a 2-1 victory. They probably got the best draw in the semis as they faced Leverkusen while Bayern faced Leipzig. Leverkusen started better and took advantage of it as a brilliant Wirtz pass sent their ridiculous striker through for the opener. Union came back into it but couldn't but their chances away and the hosts doubled the lead before gifting a consolation with a bizarre own goal. But on the positive side, Union bagged £2.92m for losing in the semis. Leverkusen went on to win the cup, defeating Leipzig 1-0 in the Final. How High Can Union Finish? Union went into the final 10 games of Prusseit's second Bundesliga campaign in 9th place on 37 points. The relegation concerns predicted by the media were long gone and they were six points off the European places. The run-in began with a tricky game at home to 2nd-place Wolfsburg but a strong defensive performance earned a 0-0. Another clean sheet followed as a Storskov goal was enough to down Arminia Bielefeld. That victory saw Union surpass last season's points tally of 39 so anything else now was a bonus. But could they reach even higher levels? Another point was added as a late winger Antonio Villalonga strike earned a 2-2 with 7th-place Frankfurt. Yet another tough game was up next as leaders Dortmund game to town and, for the second time this season, scored through an Adeyemi penalty. But Union stayed strong and Storskov nicked a deserved equaliser just before the hour for a second 1-1 with Dortmund this season. That gave Union confidence heading into a trip to 15th-place Hamburg, which they nicked 2-1 with an early Picak screamer then Storskov seized on some shambolic defending. Final Day OstDeutscher Excitement The win over Hamburg lifted Union into the European places for the first time with five games to go. A big test of those credentials came with a visit from 5th-place Freiburg and it wasn't looking good as Freiburg took the lead after 28 minutes. But the brilliant Picak levelled with a total fluke then, just as it looked to be drifting to a point apiece, played a delicious through-ball for loanee Robert Gruber to nick a winner. A winnable game followed at home to Köln and they delivered as a Storskov double, a Villalonga strike and centre-back Ali Salameh's first goal for the club inspired a 4-1 thumping. Three days after the Leverkusen semi, Union had another huge game as their final home game of the season saw out-of-form rivals Hertha cross town for the Berliner Derby. The game started poorly but Villalonga woke the fans up with a superb left-footed finish. Yet another Hermansen howler gifted Hertha's striker an equaliser but he was bailed out as Picak finished superbly before centre-back Mikulas Mraz headed home from a free-kick. That kept them three points above Frankfurt heading into two away games. First up was a trip to Leverkusen, where they were really unlucky to lose 1-0. Frankfurt beat Jahn Regensburg 1-0 to move the two teams level heading into the final day. So a win at already relegated fellow OstDeutscher side Hansa Rostock could seal European football. Union came out and dominated the first half with 15 shots to two but went into the break at 0-0. Prusseit fired the team up and got his reward as Villalonga slammed home then Salameh made sure of it by heading home a corner. Unfortunately, it was all in vain as Leverkusen's cup success meant Union missed out on Europe but they did bag £62m in prize money. Elsewhere, shockwaves reverberated around Germany as Bayern didn't win Bundesliga for the first time since 2012. They were usurped by Dortmund, the previous German champions in 2012, and even slipped to 4th thanks to being battered 5-1 at Leipzig! Reflecting On More Union Progression Storskov was the top scorer at the club with 21 goals in 33 games. But arguably their best performer and Prusseit's favourite player was Picak, who scored 11 and got 10 assists with a 7.30 average rating in 35 games. Villalonga chipped in with six goals and six assists, Seibert scored seven and got four assists, while winger Jakub Silny got 10 assists and Matej Lnenicka got nine from midfield. And the potential in the squad was confirmed by Silny coming third in NxGn 2034 with Mraz in 17th and loaned-out defender Kresten Vilfort in 42nd. Prusseit was absolutely loving his time in Berlin building an exciting, youthful and potential-packed team. So he had no hesitations in accepting a new contract that upped his wages to £20k a week until 2037. Furthermore, his efforts this season saw Prusseit win German Manager of the Year for the first time, weirdly ahead of Germany's assistant manager! What could Prusseit do with a sizeable transfer budget heading into the summer of 2034? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 28, 2023 Author Share Posted July 28, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 26 | First Taste Of European Football Union Berlin enjoyed a strong second season in Bundesliga as Ruprecht Prusseit's young squad secured a 7th-place finish. At first, Union were told they'd missed out on European football due to Leverkusen winning the cup but, for some reason, Freiburg were bumped up to the Europa League and Union took their place in the Europa Conference League. The summer of 2034 began with a mini-saga as Bayern responded to not winning Bundesliga for the first time in 22 years by sacking Julian Nagelsmann after 12 successive league titles and three Champions League wins. The Bayern fans immediately instilled Prusseit as their favourite for the vacant job, but obviously Prusseit wasn't interested. Staying in Berlin, Union had £123m in the bank and a transfer budget of £54m. That was boosted as two key players of the Union rise departed, with Matej Lnenicka joining Rennes for £3.3m and Antonio Villalonga going to Benfica for £9.25m. Prusseit began investing that cash by continuing his focus on affordable young talent. First through the door were Israeli midfielder Ariel Atrash for £1.2m from Hapoel Tel Aviv, centre-back Sahin Guvenc for £2.5m from Besiktas and midfielder Kevin Starke for £5.25m from Leverkusen. Prusseit then broke the Union transfer record to sign holding midfielder Abdelkarim Belkacem for £8.5m from Feyenoord before centre-back Manfred Ammermann signed for £4m from Leipzig and winger Gonzalo Abreu joined for £2.5m from Peñarol. But the signing of the summer could be 18-year-old striker Leandro for £4.6m from Palmeiras who, Prusseit thought quietly to himself, could be the new Endrick. Despite those eight incomings, Hertha still ended the transfer window with £92m in the bank. And, with his transfer business done, Prusseit stuck with the 4-3-3 that worked well last season. Satoru Iida drops back into defence, Gerhard Seibert steps up as the playmaker and Belkacem and Abreu come in as starters. Prusseit's First European Football Prusseit's first taste of European football saw Union enter the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League, which gave him his first taste of the snazzy new draws... First up was Willem II and a brace from last season's top scorer Michael Storskov earned a 2-1 victory in Holland before a 0-0 at home sent them through. They took on Maccabi Tel Aviv in the next round and another Storskov double earned a 2-0 win in Israel before a comfortable 3-0 home victory, which oddly saw a new club attendance low of just 14,000. And that eased them through to the Europa Conference League league phase. Third Bundesliga Campaign Begins The media still didn't fancy Union's chances, predicting them to finish 14th with odds of 250/1 to win the league. Bayern remain heavy favourites at 11/10 followed by Leipzig (6/1), champions Dortmund (15/2) and Leverkusen (14/1). Season three in the top tier began with a tough game at home to Leverkusen. Prusseit's defence held firm in a tight game while midfielder Grga Picak nicked the only goal just before the hour mark. But the new-found rigours of midweek and weekend games saw a knackered side lose 2-0 at Hamburg before a rotated side lost 3-1 at Nürnberg. They got back on track with a thriller at home to Stuttgart, in which Picak, Steibert, Storskov and Guvenc's first goals for the club earned a 4-2 victory. But a 2-0 loss followed at Dortmund, who had a front three of Reyna, Adeyemi and Bardghji... That saw an interesting trend developing as Union won all their home games and lost all their away games. That continued as a Seibert brace and Atrash's first goal for the club led a 3-1 win over Gladbach then they got absolutely battered by 34 shots to three at Bayern but only lost 2-1, with Leandro getting his first Union goal. Seibert and Storskov earned a 2-1 win at home to Fortuna Düsseldorf before - guess what? - a 2-1 loss at city rivals Hertha and a 3-1 win at home to St. Pauli thanks to a Picak strike and Storskov double. So after 10 games, Union had won five out of five at home and lost five out of five away! Union Get An Away Point (But Just The One!) The bizarre trend of losing every away game was snapped by Seibert's penalty earning a heavily rotated team a draw at Köln, before getting back to business as usual by losing 3-2 at Freiburg. But the perfect home form continued as back-to-back Storskov braces earned a 2-1 win over 3rd-place Wolfsburg and 2-0 win over struggling Frankfurt. The European schedule saw Union oddly miss a load of league fixtures. So they headed into a month-long winter break sitting 11th in Bundesliga but just three points behind 6th place Stuttgart with three games in hand. As the table below shows, Union have won all seven games but lost six of their seven away games! Europa Conference League League Phase Strangely, there was no fancy ceremony for the Europa Conference League league phase, but Union got a pretty easy-looking draw. Union began at home to Cluj, absolutely dominated the early stages and scored early through Storskov. But they somehow only won 1-0 after racking up 20 shots to zero! A similar story followed at Inter Turku as Union dominated but struggled to finish their chances until Storskov came off the bench to bail them out with an 87th-minute winner. Union stepped things up a notch with a 4-0 thumping of BATE Borisov. And the 100% record continued with back-to-back trips to Austria, winning 2-0 at Rheindorf Altach and 2-1 at Sturm Graz, which saw them qualify automatically with a game remaining. 2034 concluded by entertaining Motherwell and hammering them 4-0 with first-half goals by winger Jakub Silny, Picak, Storskov and centre-back Mikulas Mraz. That saw Union finish 3rd as one of four teams with a 100% record. And Prusseit couldn't help but feel this whole league phase concept seemed a really ridiculous idea. Nevertheless, Storskov is the competition's top scorer with 10 goals, Storskov has been exceptional so far this season, scoring 22 goals in 25 games with a 7.53 average rating, and winger Silny has been a surprise key performer with a club-high seven assists and a 7.22 average rating. How far could Union progress in the ECL? And could they finally win a league game away from home? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted July 31, 2023 Author Share Posted July 31, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 27 | Europe's Top Marksman Some bizarre league form had seen Union Berlin competing towards the top of Bundesliga with a perfect home record and atrocious away record. But a first taste of European football had seen them breeze through an easy set of Europa Conference League league phase matches. January saw disappointing news as winger Jakub Silny joined Barcelona for £25.5m on deadline day after centre-back Ali Salameh moved to Wolfsburg for £850k. Prusseit had taken the plunge and increased Union's scouting range to worldwide after the summer transfer window. The first results of that increased capacity were promising Algerian left-back Ali Anani for £2.5m from MC Alger and centre-back Matheus Andrade for £4.6m from Cruzeiro. Prusseit had to move quickly to replace Silny and again turned to Cruzeiro to sign the rapid Lucas for a new club-record £11.5m. Breaking The Away Hoodoo Union resumed their Bundesliga campaign with a mass of games in hand thanks to some odd scheduling. And they kicked off 2035 with two home games in four days. First up, Hamburg bossed the first half but couldn't find the breakthrough and Union took advantage after the break with goals by top scorer Michael Storskov, Silny and Samadeh. Then two goals in four minutes by Storskov and right-back Mathias Nilsson Morsing edged a tight game against Hoffenheim in their favour. Storskov won a penalty that midfielder Gerhard Seibert converted then went on to wrap up a 20-minute hat-trick to seal a superb 5-0 thumping that took Union to an incredible nine wins out of nine at home! But could Union reverse their away fortunes? Three opportunities to do that were up next, starting with a tricky trip to 6th-place Leverkusen. Union played well, limiting Leverkusen to minimal chances and nicking a lead through winger Kevin Starke, only for Salameh to throw away two points with a 72nd-minute own goal on his final appearance. That was a step in the right direction ahead of a trip to bottom-of-the-league Werder Bremen, where they finally snapped the away hoodoo as midfielder Grga Picak's 85th-minute strike nicked a 1-0 win. And Union made it two away wins on the bounce by dominating 17th-place Fortuna Düsseldorf as Picak's early screamer and two Storskov tap-ins earned a 3-1 victory. Bizarre Bundesliga Scheduling That strong start to the year saw Union shoot all the way up to 5th in Bundesliga. But the string of good away results ended with a 2-1 loss at Stuttgart, which was part of a five-game away streak that ended with a 1-0 loss at Leipzig. And a third straight defeat followed 1-0 at home to Dortmund, which ended Union's perfect home form. However, that was the first in a run of four straight home games! And that helped them get back on track with three successive 1-0 wins over Köln, 5th-place Freiburg and Nürnberg, in which Storskov scored his 30th goal of the campaign. He went on to bag a brilliant hat-trick in a 4-1 hammering of Hoffenheim away, which saw him break Ahmed Ramadan's club record of 31 goals in 2031/32. And that moved Union back up to 5th heading into the final eight games. That began with another three-game away streak, which began with a 1-1 at St. Pauli. Prusseit's 500th game in management came in a trip to Gladbach and another Storskov goal earned another 1-1 draw before an impressive defensive effort earned a 0-0 at 2nd-place Wolfsburg. But back on home ground they excelled as Storskov scored his second hat-trick in five league games and his 11th goal in the last 10 games to defeat Werder Bremen 4-1. That teed up a thrilling four-way battle for the final European places with Union in 5th two points clear of Leverkusen in 8th. However, Union's run-in was very tough. Union began the run-in at Frankfurt and a solid defensive effort earned a 0-0, which dropped them 7th as Freiburg and Stuttgart both won. Next up was Bayern at home and Lukas and Storskov goals had them 2-0 up after 18 minutes, but a disappointing collapse saw Bayern come back to win 3-2. However, they responded in style by thumping city rivals Hertha 4-0 with goals from Seibert, holding midfielder Abdelkarim Belkacem, Storskov and Picak. Union went into the final day in 7th in an OstDeutscher clash at home to Leipzig. Union had the better of the game but both teams missed chances and drew 0-0. Elsewhere, Leverkusen beat Freiburg, which saw Union hold on to finish in 7th place and qualify for the Europa Conference League for the second successive season. And that again bagged them £62m in prize money. They ended the season with 14 home wins but just three away from home. Union had the Bundesliga's top scorer as Storskov scored 28 in 32. However, not only was he the top scorer in Germany but also across Europe, as the Dane won the European Golden Shoe! Storskov also came third in German Players' Player of the Year, while Belkacem won Bundesliga Signing of the Season and came second in Newcomer of the Year and Prusseit defended his Manager of the Year award. Europa Conference League Knockouts Union progressed straight to the last 16 of the Europa Conference League, where they were drawn with Swiss side Sion. And the big teams to look out for include Benfica, Everton and Real Betis. Union got the perfect start in Switzerland as Lucas scored his first goal for the club in a dominant 3-0 win. So Prusseit rotated for the home leg and exciting young striker Leandro scored both in a 2-0 victory. That sent them into the quarter-final, where they annoyingly drew Everton. A poor first leg saw the English side nick a 1-0 victory in Berlin before they deservedly won the return leg 3-2. Reflecting On Another Successful Season Prusseit was delighted with the progress his young team had made this season, again finishing 7th despite the distraction of playing European football alongside their league campaign. This season's star man was undoubtedly Storskov, who scored a new club record 41 goals plus six assists with a 7.45 average rating in 48 games. Also impressive were Seibert with 11 goals and 12 assists, Picak with nine goals and 10 assists and Starke with two goals and nine assists. A special mention has to go to goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, who equalled the club record of 22 clean sheets and only conceded 39 goals in 47 games, but will be leaving in the summer after agreeing a move back to Denmark. Union's efforts this season were impressive given half the squad were 21 or under and had potential of at least 4.5-stars. And a sign of that potential was having six players in NxGn 2035 led by winger Starke coming 2nd, as well as a future agreed signing and a few more players Prusseit had been chasing as summer recruits. Could Prusseit build on two 7th-place finishes and progress further in Europe next season? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted August 3, 2023 Share Posted August 3, 2023 Things are still moving nicely in East Germany! I feel like Union are on the cusp of something special 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 5, 2023 Author Share Posted August 5, 2023 On 03/08/2023 at 17:50, SixPointer said: Things are still moving nicely in East Germany! I feel like Union are on the cusp of something special For sure! Especially with the new signings (below), picking up some great young talent 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 5, 2023 Author Share Posted August 5, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 28 | European Golden Boy Union Berlin wrapped up back-to-back European campaigns for the first time in club history as they sealed a second successive 7th-place Bundesliga on the final day of 2035/35. And manager Ruprecht Prusseit was excited for the future as he secured the signings of some serious hot prospects that he felt gave him potentially the best young squad in Europe. Union were also looking good off the pitch as the board cleared the club's outstanding debts. The bank balance ticked up to £118m with a transfer budget of £63m and weekly wage budget of £758k, of which Prusseit was using just £470k. The summer began with 34-year-old goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, who was the only Union player aged over 26, heading back to Denmark with Kobenhavn at the end of his contract. Prusseit also moved on players that weren't up to it, bringing in £18m for wingers Gonzalo Abreu and Dúvier Canizalez, striker Dominic Frerking, centre-back Kresten Vilfort and both left-backs Ori Kanuk and Marcel Müller. While young striker Leandro went to Club América on loan. Some serious talent arrived in their place, starting with eight players arriving when the transfer window opened. The pick of them was probably 19-year-old Chilean striker Claudio Sepúlveda, who cost £3.5m from Colo-Colo, along with wonderkid winger Omar Nzeyimana, who arrived for just £625k from Mamelodi Sundowns. 6ft 5in South Korean keeper Lee Kwang-Sun replaced Hermansen for £2.4m from Jeonbuk, while bigger outlays saw striker Miroslav Milosevic join for £6.25m from Red Star and centre-back Jean-Paul Vogt arrived for £11.25m from Feirense. Also worth keeping an eye on are winger Bruno Rodríguez, who cost £4.6m from Peñarol, and full-back Juanpa, who joined on a free from Junior FC. The squad was now looking in a really good place, with every first-teamer having at least 3.5-star potential and 14 having 5-star potential. Prusseit was considering a tactical change, moving to a 4-2-4 or a 4-3-3 both utilising two holding midfielders, keeping last season's successful 4-3-3 in his back pocket. But he was leaning towards the 4-2-4. Back Into Conference League Qualifiers Union were back in the qualifiers for the Europa Conference League, which began against Cypriot side Omonoia. The first leg in Cyprus was up first and a Grga Picak brace got them started before Vogt headed home on debut to seal a 3-1 victory. Nzeyimana got a start in the second leg and scored twice in the first 17 minutes before midfielder Gerhard Seibert wrapped up another 3-1 win. Next up was Serbian side Vojvodina and strikes by Picak and holding midfielder Satoru Iida sealed a 2-0 home win. And a Milosevic double back in his homeland earned a 3-2 defeat and 4-3 aggregate win to reach the league phase. Flying Start To Bundesliga Season Four The bookies had Union down to finish 13th with odds of 200/1 to win the league. Bayern remain huge favourites at 4/9 then Leipzig at 11/1, Stuttgart at 16/1 and Dortmund at 18/1. Strangely, Union again began the season with three consecutive home games. They kicked off against Gladbach but went behind after 19 minutes and were 2-0 down after an hour. Milosevic got one back with a penalty on his first start then winger Lucas came off the bench to score twice in nine minutes and seal a thrilling 3-2 victory. Milosevic scored again, this time off the bench, to nick a 1-0 win over Leverkusen then Iida scored the only goal against St. Pauli. Prusseit had started the season with the 4-2-4 and it had worked nicely, so he stuck with it for a big first away day as they travelled across the city to Hertha. The hosts dominated the game but Union nicked a set-piece goal through Mikulas Mraz and held on for a third 1-0 on the bounce. That briefly took Union top of Bundesliga for the first time until Bayern ruined their fun. A perfect start was disrupted by new keeper Lee suffering a lower back stress fracture. But that didn't affect them at Hoffenheim, as last season's heroes Picak and Michael Storskov scored their first league goals of the season in a 2-1 win, then at Frankfurt. Union had been clinical so far but took that to new levels at home to Dortmund. Picak got the show started with a goal after six minutes then his brilliant run and cross laid on the second for Storskov before scoring his second inside half an hour. A crazy few minutes of injury time saw Dortmund score twice before Picak went down the other end to make it 4-2 in the 50th minute! Milosevic settled any nerves six minutes after the break before Dortmund got another back. Union even had three goals disallowed by VAR but settled for a thumping 5-3 victory, which was their first over the "big two" of Bayern and Dortmund. An international break followed but Union maintained the momentum with Picak, Milosevic and Storskov all scoring again in a 3-2 win at bottom side Arminia Bielefeld. So eight wins from eight games and they still weren't top thanks to Bayern! However, they did go top despite the winning start halting with a 2-2 draw at home to Stuttgart rescued by a late Nzeyimana penalty. They stepped up the attacking threat at promoted Paderborn, racking up 4.55 xG as Milosevic opened the scoring before a Storskov hat-trick, all assisted by Rodríguez. However, Prusseit was concerned about their defensive efforts as they just edged a 4-3 victory, including conceding twice in the last five minutes. Europa Conference League League Phase Union got a tougher draw than last season, with fixtures against Lyon, Bodø-Gimt and København, but they should still have enough about them to qualify. They began at home to Antwerup and new boys Sepúlveda and Nzeyimana sealed a 2-1 opening win. A trip to Iceland to face Brei∂ablik followed and a heavily rotated side breezed to a 3-0 win. The toughest game saw Lyon come to town and another rotated side dominated with Sepúlveda scoring again before Picak and Storskov came off the bench to wrap up a comfortable 3-0 win. A trip to Norway followed and Union failed to win a league phase game for the first time at the 10th attempt as they drew 0-0 with Bødo-Glimt. Two weeks later, they returned to Scandinavia and brushed København aside 3-0 with goals by Sepúlveda, Seibert and Lucas. The league phase concluded by hosting fittingly named Faroese side B36 Tórshavn, who were 36th out of 36. Prusseit sent the lads out with an attacking approach and boy did that work. Union raced into a 10-0 half-time lead and settled for seven more after the break with Seibert, Milosevic and Nzeyimana hat-tricks and a Sepúlveda double hat-trick, including four in a seven-minute period, as they won 17 (Seventeen)-0! Unsurprisingly, Union topped the league phase with 16 points, 28 goals and just one conceded to advance to the knockout phases. Tackling A Tough Run Of Fixtures A stellar start to the season saw Union Berlin top of Bundesliga after 10 games. But they faced a tough run of fixtures as the winter break edged closer. First up, Hamburg visited Stadion An Der Alten Föresteri and were brushed aside by close-range Picak and Storskov goals. But an international break saw key defender Mraz injured ahead of a big trip to Leipzig. And they lost their 11-game unbeaten start with a 3-2 defeat that Leipzig should have won by more. Next up was a really tough game as Union welcomed 2nd-place Bayern, against whom they have an abysmal record. In 25 meetings in this save, Union have won one, lost the other 24, conceded 63 and scored just 16. And Prusseit had lost all six of his meetings with the champions. Prusseit prepared by resting his first 11 for a midweek DFB-Pokal game, which they lost 3-2 to Leverkusen, while Bayern played their strongest team - yet magically still had a fully fit team. But Union had the better of a fairly even game and got their reward as Storskov tucked home just after the break. And they appeared to be edging towards a huge win until, out of nowhere, Alphonso Davies scored a 30-yard screamer for an undeserved 94th-minute equaliser. Because of course he did. But on the positive side, that was Prusseit's first point against Bayern. Union returned to winning ways with a 2-0 success at 8th-place Freiburg with goals from the deadly front two of Milosevic and Storskov. That took them into a month-long winter break in a really strong position, especially as Bayern lost 2-1 at Leipzig then 3-2 at Freiburg. Those two games both took place after Union's trip to Freiburg as their European involvement again saw several games cancelled. As a result, they found themselves in 3rd place, just two points behind leaders Frankfurt and one point off Bayern with three games in hand on both! Storskov again leads the club's scoring charts with 15 in 25, of which 18 are starts, and worryingly is now wanted by the likes of Juventus, Milan and Spurs. But a key player has been his strike partner Milosevic in the deep-lying role, given he's scored 13 in 20 with a 7.38 average rating. Prusseit's claims about having the best young squad in Europe were given some clout as impressive centre-back Mraz won FIFA Best U21 Men's Player, with holding midfielder Iida in third, then the exciting Rodríguez became the first-ever Union player to win European Golden Boy. Could Prusseit continue Union's strong league form and mount a challenge to Bayern's crown? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 7, 2023 Author Share Posted August 7, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 29 | Chasing A First Major Trophy Unfancied Union Berlin found themselves on the verge of a title challenge as they came into 2036 just two points off the top of Bundesliga with multiple games in hand. Key to that prospect was holding onto their star players despite the likes of Grga Picak and striker Michael Storskov attracting attention from across Europe. Prusseit also added to his squad with pacey 18-year-old centre-back Cláudio Borborema arriving from Palmeiras for £8.5m. Can Union Maintain Their Challenge? Union had nearly a month away from league matters but returned with five games in two weeks as they played catch-up on their rivals. They looked a little rusty at 9th-place Gladbach but earned a draw through strikers Miroslav Milosevic and Storskov. One of their three games in hand saw 15th-place Nürnberg come to town and they tarted poorly by conceding inside 90 seconds. But they dominated the game and eventually turned things around with second-half goals by Picak and winger Kevin Starke. Three days later, they entertained 16th-place Hoffenheim and goals by Starke, holding midfielder Abdelkarim Belkacem and winger Lucas sealed a comfortable 3-0 win. A second game in hand swiftly followed at 14th-place Köln and a Storskov goal nicked a cagey game 1-0 to move Union three points clear with one more game in hand remaining. And the busy spell ended with a seven-goal thriller at Leverkusen, which Union edged led by a Milosevic brace. Prusseit got to rest his squad ahead of a big Berliner Derby at home to Hertha. Union made a flying start as Milosevic drilled home from the edge of the box after 70 seconds. Hertha grew into the game after the break, missed a couple of big chances and were made to pay as a stunning Picak pass sent Storskov through to seal a 2-0 victory, despite missing a late penalty. A Tricky Run Of Games The strong start to the year continued as a Storskov brace downed St. Pauli 2-0 and took him to 20 goals for the season. But their good form ended with a 4-2 defeat at 7th-place Wolfsburg in which Storskov picked up an injury. Prusseit passed 200 games in charge of Union in a big game at home to 3rd-place Frankfurt. And Storskov's replacement Claudio Sepúlveda delivered on his first Bundesliga start with a second-half brace to inspire a 3-2 victory. Another tough game followed as Union went to 5th-place Dortmund and lost 2-1 in a really poor performance. A good chance to put that loss behind them came at home to bottom side Arminia Bielefeld. They dominated the game but left it late as Lucas and Sepúlveda edged a 2-0 victory. Europa Conference League Knockouts Union drew Cypriot side AEK Larnacas in the round of 16. They went to Cyprus first and a concerning defensive performance was bailed out by wingers Picak and Bruno Rodríguez sealing a 3-2 win. They were dominant back in Berlin and a Lucas double was enough for a 2-0 victory. Bødo-Glimt followed in the quarter-final and a Sepúlveda hat-trick inspired a 3-0 win in Norway then a fully rotated team won 2-0 at home through Sepúlveda and Lucas. Another Scandinavian side followed in the semi-final as Union took on København. A trip to Denmark was up first and midfielder Gerhard Seibert's screamer and winger Omar Nzeyimana's penalty earned a comfortable 2-0 win, which took them past the Conference League record of 48 goals this campaign. And Rodríguez came off the bench to add one more for a 1-0 win in Berlin. Union Berlin were heading to the Europa Conference League Final! Tight Bundesliga Title Race With eight games remaining, Union trailed the seemingly invincible Bayern, who'd won 10 on the bounce since the start of the year, by three points with a game in hand. Realistically, Union had already improved their best finish under Prusseit of 7th and the club's all-time best finish of 5th set back in 1971. Game 1 - Hamburg (8th, away): The run-in began with Storskov returning from injury to score a six-minute hat-trick and Milosevic ended a 10-hour goal drought in a 4-2 victory. The next day, Bayern won their 11th on the bounce 2-0 at Stuttgart. Game 2 - RB Leipzig (5th, home): Union hadn't beaten Leipzig in six games since Prusseit's first clash with them and that's their only win in the side's last 22 meetings. Bayern made it 12 in a row, thumping Paderborn 4-0. Leipzig had their right-back sent off then scored their first shot on target while Union failed to put their chances away. But the game swung on a terrible sub as Mraz headed home a corner then Lucas scored twice in three minutes to claim all three points for his team. That sealed the club's highest-ever finish and first Champions League qualification. Game 3 - Köln (13th, away): Possibly the most winnable game saw Köln come to town and take the lead after 25 minutes. But Storskov stepped up with two goals either side of halftime to lead a 2-1 victory. Bayern won a 13th straight 3-1 at Hamburg. Game 4 - Bayern (1st, away): The title race could swing on a trip to 13 successive wins Bayern. Former Union player Nico Korte gave them a potential opportunity when he got sent off in first-half injury time. Union still struggled to create anything against 10 men but at least stopped Bayern scoring to keep their lead at three points. Game 5 - Freiburg (6th, home): Union came out firing as Storskov and Milosevic made it 2-0 inside 17 minutes. Seibert added a third after the break before Nzeyimana rattled in a penalty to crown a thumping 4-0 win. The next day, Bayern won 2-1 at Köln. Game 6 - Stuttgart (10th, away): Union's game in hand took them to Stuttgart and Rodríguez's 44th-minute strike nicked a 1-0 win which, combined with Lee Kwang-Sun making eight saves, moved them level with Bayern with two games remaining. Game 7 - Nürnberg (13th, away): Union realistically needed another three points as Bayern won 1-0 at home to Leizpig the day before. But they struggled at Nürnberg, who had the best of the game with 15 shots to seven but neither side found a way through and it ended 0-0. Game 8 - Wolfsburg (5th, home): A week later, the title came down to the final day with Bayern leading Union by two points. Union hosted Wolfsburg while Bayern hosted Freiburg. Union struck first as Mikulas Mraz headed home a corner but quickly fell 2-1 behind. Prusseit fired the team up and they responded Borborema's first goal for the club and Seibert fired them back in front 10 minutes later. But, just as he did, Jamal Musiala put Bayern in front and added a second late on. So Bayern won the title. Union finished 2nd just two points behind Bayern, which earned them a huge £95m. Their tally of 83 points was a new record tally without winning the title, after only losing three times all season and finishing a huge 16 points clear of 3rd-place Frankfurt. Storskov was third-top scorer with 22 goals, Rodríguez topped the assists chart with 12 followed by Picak on 11 and Lee's 14 clean sheets was only bettered by Bayern's Costa with 22. Europa Conference League Final Union Berlin's first-ever cup final saw them take on Lyon in the Europa Conference League Final at Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna. Prusseit had a full bill of health so lined up: Lee; Nilsson Morsing, Mraz, Borborema, Anana; Iida, Seibert; Picak, Rodríguez; Storskov, MilosevicSubs: Sepúlveda, Reitz, Vogt, Belkacem, Nzeyimana, Lucas, Ammermann, Starke, Kunert, Sahin, Juanpa, Ostermann Union came out on the front foot and had two decent chances well saved. But they eventually got their reward as Storskov latched onto a delicious through-ball by Mathias Nillson Morsing, controlled it superbly and slammed home at the near post. Lyon offered even less after the break, only mustering one shot on target, and substitute Nzeyimana made sure of the win from a late corner. Union Berlin won the Europa Conference League! Celebrating Union's Greatest-Ever Season This was undoubtedly the greatest season in Union history, recording their best-ever league finish and winning their first major trophy. Prusseit was delighted with how the season had gone and really pleased with his squad's ability to fight on domestic and continental fronts and push a big-spending Bayern so close. Storskov again led their goalscoring chart with 27 goals in 47 games. But there were much more contributions from elsewhere with Sepúlveda scoring 20 followed by Milosevic (19), Picak (15), Lucas (13) and Nzeyimana (12). Rodríguez was their leading assisted with 16 followed by Storskov (15), Picak (12) and Nzeyimana, Starke and Nilsson Morsing (9). The achievements further strengthened Prusseit's belief that he was working with the best young squad in the world. And the strength of young talent at the club was confirmed by left-back Ali Anani winning NxGn 2036 with Nzeyimana in 5th. Could Ruprecht Prusseit build on the best season in Union history? And how would they fare in their first Champions League campaign? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted August 7, 2023 Share Posted August 7, 2023 Congratulations! What a season! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 8, 2023 Author Share Posted August 8, 2023 Thanks! Yeaaaah, cracking season, the Union bus is well and truly rolling! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted August 8, 2023 Share Posted August 8, 2023 What a season!!! Running Bayern so so so close. The East German trophy haul is coming! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 11, 2023 Author Share Posted August 11, 2023 On 08/08/2023 at 18:43, SixPointer said: What a season!!! Running Bayern so so so close. The East German trophy haul is coming! Yep, I don't think we're too far off challenging them for trophies! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 11, 2023 Author Share Posted August 11, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 30 | Union Berlin In Champions League Union Berlin enjoyed the best season in club history in 2035/36 as they finished in a record high of 2nd in Bundesliga and won their first major trophy as Ruprecht Prusseit led them to the Europa Conference League. Now they had to step up to the challenges of competing in the Champions League for the first time. Union came into the new season with £155m in the bank and a bumper £82m transfer kitty. Furthermore, Prusseit's board was so happy with his efforts that they handed him another new contract on £35k a week until 2040. They also announced plans to increase the stadium capacity by 5,000 seats to 27,515. Despite the finances available to him, Prusseit didn't see a need to go out and spend it all. However, he did move to lock down players like striker Michael Storskov, midfielders Satoru Iida and Abdelkarim Belkacem, full-backs Ali Anani and Mathias Nillson Morsing and centre-back Mathias Ammermann, who then went out on loan, to new contracts. He then strengthened his defence with left-back/centre-back Papel for a club record £13.5m from Fluminense and right-back Nicolás Quiroga for £2.5m from River Plate. They were joined by exciting midfielder Adolfo Ferreira for £9m from Club América. Prusseit's plans were dealt a blow as Arsenal, Bayern and Juventus met the £40m release fee of winger Omar Nzeyimana and the treacherous so-and-so obviously chose Bayern. But getting £40m for a player 12 months after paying £625k is impressive. Prusseit recalled wonderkid Leandro from his loan spell in Mexico that's definitely aided his progression. But it's fair to say that Prusseit had developed a deep hatred for Bayern after they nicked his best two players and their ridiculous unbeaten run last season. Prusseit was now locked into the 4-2-4 approach he'd implemented successfully last season. Miroslav Milosevic was deployed as a false nine behind main man Storskov with Iida and Belkacem in the holding roles. Fifth Season In Bundesliga Union had well and truly established themselves in Bundesliga but they were still only fancied to finish 10th with title odds of 33/1. Bayern, who haven't lost since December, are now Evens followed by Leipzig (7/1) and Dortmund (17/2). Season five in Bundesliga began with a Berliner Derby as Union entertained Hertha. They got a great start as Iida scored inside three minutes and doubled his tally just before the break, which doubled his Union goal tally in his previous 117 league appearances! Centre-back Mikulas Mraz made it 3-0 after the break before Hertha got two undeserved goals back. Another local rival followed with a visit from promoted Hansa Rostock and Union thumped them 4-0 with goals by centre-back Jean-Paul Vogt, strikers Milosevic and Claudio Sepúlveda and winger Grga Picak. A first away day saw a tricky game in Leverkusen but another solid defensive effort earned a fortunate 0-0 before a 2-0 win at Nürnberg and 1-1 at Gladbach. Prusseit's decision to commit to two up top was working nicely, as proven by Storskov and Milosevic both bagging braces in a 4-1 thumping of Frankfurt. That result moved them top as Hertha did them a favour by drawing 0-0 at Bayern and they stayed there as Leandro's first goal back at the club nicked a 2-1 win at home to Freiburg. Winger Bruno Rodríguez defended his FIFA Best U21 Men's Player in October and celebrated with a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win at St. Pauli. And he scored again as a Picak double inspired a 4-2 win over promoted Schalke. Then a Storskov double downed 10-man Wolfsburg 2-0 to take Union 20 Bundesliga games unbeaten. And, after 10 games, that had Union five points clear as Bayern lost for the first time in 26 games at Gladbach. Union Berlin's Champions League Debut Union Berlin's first-ever taste of the Champions League saw them go into the main league phase. They got a decent set of fixtures including games against Anderlecht, Viktoria Plzen and Feyenoord but tough trips to Arsenal and PSG and a home game against Chelsea. And it's fair to say no-one fancied Union, with odds of 600/1 to win it! Prusseit and Union's first Champions League game was at home to Anderlecht. They started well and eventually got their reward as Leandro's first two assists for the club created goals for Rodríguez and Storskov. A tougher first away day followed but Union upset the odds as the exciting Sepúlveda's second-half hat trick inspired a 4-1 win at Valencia. Feyenoord at home was up next and Union did well to hold them to a 0-0 before their toughest game yet, as they lost 3-0 at Arsenal. A more winnable away game took them to Czech Republic and Rodríguez created two goals in two minutes for Storskov and Leandro before a late Picak strike sealed a 3-0 win. Prusseit had to rotate at home to Galatasaray and his team delivered as a Lucas brace and another Sepúlveda strike earned a vital 3-1 victory. That left Union just outside the top eight heading and realistically safe in the top 24 heading into their final two games. Tricky Run Of League Games Union came into the final few games of 2036 as surprise leaders and still undefeated in Bundesliga. Quickfire goals from two of their South American contingent, centre-back Cláudio Borborema and Sepúlveda, earned a 2-1 win at struggling Köln and extended their lead at the top to seven points as Bayern drew with Freiburg. But now the fixtures got tricky. First up was fellow OstDeutscher side Leipzig and they played out a dire 0-0. An easier game followed at bottom side Werder Bremen and they eased to a 4-0 win through Iida, Rodríguez, Sepúlveda and Ferreira's first senior goal. That set them up for a huge game with a visit from 2nd-place Bayern, who Union hadn't beaten in 20 meetings over 10 years. Union had the better of the first half only for Bayern to take a completely undeserved lead in stoppage time. Prusseit continued to push, threw subs on and they eventually got their reward as Sepúlveda got the equaliser seven minutes from time. Another tough game followed at 3rd-place Stuttgart. Prusseit dropped goal-shy Storskov and was rewarded as the increasingly impressive Sepúlveda ran riot with a hat-trick alongside Milosevic scoring and getting two assists in a 6-1 hammering that demonstrated how good this Union team had become. The duo of Sepúlveda and Milosevic scored again to defeat Hamburg 3-0 before a huge final game of the year. Union went to 7th-place Dortmund still unbeaten but their 26-game streak ended with a narrow 2-1 loss. That left them two points clear of Bayern at the halfway point of the season. Rodríguez is the best player in the league with a 7.53 average rating while he and Picak have eight assists only bettered by the nine of Stuttgart's Henrique Pereira. Union's promising starlets were shining bright. But the most exciting may be Sepúlveda, who won the European Golden Boy after scoring 20 in 31 through 2036, including 12 in 19 this season. While Rodríguez, who won the award the previous year, has an incredible 7.53 average rating of 7.53 in 23 games. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted August 11, 2023 Share Posted August 11, 2023 Just have to better every Bayern result from Now till the end of the season…… easy 🤣 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 14, 2023 Author Share Posted August 14, 2023 On 11/08/2023 at 12:10, SixPointer said: Just have to better every Bayern result from Now till the end of the season…… easy 🤣 Hahaha yeaaa, super easy!! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 14, 2023 Author Share Posted August 14, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 31 | Bundesliga Title Battle The rise of Union Berlin had seen the club top of the league heading into 2037, raising hopes that they could become the first-ever team from East Germany to win Bundesliga. They'd also performed well above expectations in their first six Champions League fixtures. The new year began with unhappy winger Lucas moving back to Brazil with Sao Paulo for £7.2m. But another Brazilian arrived in his place as full-back Rogério Poulos joined for a new club record £15.5m from Flamengo. Attacking depth was boosted with striker Fredrik Fossdal for £3.5m from Bødo-Glimt and much-needed German talent in winger Markus Ambrosius for £5.5m from Karlsruhe. Strong Start To 2037 The new year began with Union making the trip to city rivals Hertha and they never really got going in a dull 0-0 draw. Later that day, Bayern obviously won at Wolfsburg to move level on points with them. Another tricky game followed at home to Leverkusen but a brace from striker Miroslav Milosevic got them back to winning ways. Prusseit's former senior club Hansa Rostock was eventually defeated 3-1 with late goals by substitutes Claudio Sepúlveda and Leandro. An easier run of games continued as they thumped Nürnberg 4-2 before Sepúlveda scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 win at Freiburg and a brace in a 3-2 win at home to Gladbach. Milosevic got in on the act as he scored both in a 2-1 win at Frankfurt and a 2-0 win at struggling Schalke. Then a rare set-piece goal saw Jean-Paul Vogt score the only goal at home to St. Pauli. While a miracle happened and Bayern dropped points after Christmas as they drew at home to Leverkusen and at Hertha. And an eight-game winning streak had moved Union into an exciting position heading into the final eight games. Champions League Progression? Union had performed well in their first-ever Champions League campaign but had two really tricky fixtures remaining. First, they made the trip to Paris to face reigning champions PSG, who had a 33-year-old Jude Bellingham in midfield. They got well and truly dominated and found themselves 4-0 down after an hour but a Milosevic strike then a Michael Storskov gave them a little hope before conceding a late fifth. Next was the final game at home to a ridiculously strong Chelsea team that topped the league and had a player worth £316m! But an impressive effort by goalkeeper Lee Kwang-Sun kept Chelsea out and Milosevic nicked an unlikely win with a 79th-minute penalty. That secured a pretty respectable 13th place that took Union into the playoff stage. In the playoff round, they drew AC Milan, who'd signed former Union winger Jakub Silny after 18 months at Barcelona. Union edged the first leg in Italy but couldn't finish their chances and were punished by a goal by old man Charles De Ketelaere. They were much the better team back in Germany but were wasteful yet again in a poor first half. Prusseit increased the intensity and they got level as Leandro collected the ball out wide, cut inside and smashed it past the keeper. But it finished 1-0 to go to extra time. Prusseit pushed his team up the pitch and increased the pressing on an old Milan team and it eventually made their dominance count as Leandro again popped up with a tidy finish. Milan offered nothing and Union deservedly progressed 2-1 on aggregate. Bizarrely, the home leg was played at Hertha's Olympiastadion and nearly trebled Union's record attendance and gate receipts as 62,816 people showed up. Yet the board don't see the need for a new stadium? However, Union's race was probably now run as they drew nine-time winners Liverpool in the last 16. It was pretty much over after a 3-1 home defeat as Liverpool's ridiculous striker scored a hat-trick and Union "broke their home attendance" again with 70,860 showing up. So Prusseit went defensive, rotated the team and they somehow only lost 1-0 at Anfield. But an exciting first Champions League adventure came to an end. Tough Bundesliga Run-In Heading into the final eight games of the season, Union found themselves top of Bundesliga with a four-point advantage over Bayern. However, for the second season in a row, their run-in was pretty brutal with six games against teams in the top eight. Game 1 - Köln (12th, home): One of the easier games in the run-in saw Union dominate by 14 shots to five. But Milosevic popped up with the only goal two minutes before half-time. Later that day, Bayern lost 2-0 at Freiburg so Union moved seven points clear! Game 2 - Wolfsburg (4th, away): However, Union lost both centre-backs Mikulas Mraz and Vogt, their replacement Papel and right-back Mathias Nilsson Morsing to training injuries in the following week. So Abdelkarim Belkacem dropped into defence for the first time at Wolfsburg and they fell to a pretty terrible 3-0 defeat. Bayern won 3-0 the next day to close the gap back to four points. Game 3 - Leipzig (3rd, away): It didn't get much easier with a trip to fellow OstDeutscher side Leipzig. But they first had to navigate an international break in which Prusseit was expecting more injuries and, really helpfully, Adolfo Ferreira bizarrely stayed on international duty past the weekend. Bayern played first and beat St. Pauli to pile the pressure on and it showed as Union's battered squad lost 3-2, which dragged Leipzig up into the title battle. Game 4 - Werder Bremen (18th, home): A week later, a must-win game saw a visit from Werder, who only had seven points. Mraz returned and they looked much more solid, racing into an early 2-0 lead thanks to a seven-minute Milosevic double. Centre-back Cláudio Borborema added a third and Union eased to a 3-1 win. Bayern edged a 1-0 win at Schalke to stay one point back. Game 5 - Bayern München (2nd, away): Bayern had only lost one game at home in six seasons, so that seemed unlikely based on Union's recent away days. Their quality showed as they battered Union in the first half but couldn't find a way through. They finally struck in the 87th minute to a goal that looked offside but, against all the odds, Union countered to equalise through a rare goal from the out-of-form Storskov. However, scummy Bayern - who apparently were immune to tiredness after their Champions League game - struck again in the 92nd minute to go top. And Prusseit was furious because that was probably the title gone again. Game 6 - Stuttgart (7th, home): Union got back on track thanks to two more out-of-form players. Bruno Rodríguez scored a double either side of opposite winger Grga Picak's first goal in six months. Bayern won 2-0 at Köln the day before. Game 7 - Hamburg (8th, away): Union ensured the title fight would at least go to the final day as Rodríguez and Picak scored again in a dominant 3-1 win at Hamburg. The next day, Bayern hosted 3rd-place Leipzig and hammered them 4-2 (despite another Champions League semi-final in midweek) to stay two points clear. Game 8 - Dortmund (4th, home): Union's brutal run-in concluded at home to Dortmund while Bayern had an easy three points at relegated Werder. Union started terribly, conceding a goal that looked miles offside and Bayern scored in first-half injury time. So Prusseit made five changes just after the break, which worked as Fossdal scored his first goal then Storskov and Belkacem missed sitters. And they couldn't find another goal so drew 1-1, while Bayern won 3-0 anyway to wrap up yet another title. So Union finished 2nd for a second season, winning £95m in the meantime. But Prusseit was a little frustrated about their end-of-season form, taking 10 points from their last eight games while Bayern won all of their last seven, and a host of his players going through a poor conclusion to the campaign. Reflecting On Another Solid Season Union impressed for long periods this season but ultimately their inability to beat the other teams at the top of Bundesliga and, ultimately, Bayern's irritating ruthlessness, remains their downfall. However, Prusseit had to remind himself of the massive potential at the club despite the disappointment of missing out on the title again. Milosevic topped the goalscoring charts with 21 in 47 followed by Sepúlveda with 20 in 41, but both tailed off hugely at the end of the season. While Storskov was poor this season, only scoring 11 in 38. Picak led the way with 16 assists, which won him fans' player of the season, followed by Rodríguez's 14, but the latter only got two after Christmas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted August 14, 2023 Share Posted August 14, 2023 Great season again! Bayern are ridiculous man!! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 16, 2023 Author Share Posted August 16, 2023 On 14/08/2023 at 23:28, SixPointer said: Great season again! Bayern are ridiculous man!! Yepppp, the relentless machine! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 16, 2023 Author Share Posted August 16, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 32 | 15-Year Reflection Fifteen years into life as a Football Manager, Ruprecht Prusseit had worked his way up from the sixth tier of German football to challenging at the top in the big time of the Bundesliga. So the summer of 2037 feels like a good time to reflect on the manager's progress and how other OstDeutscher sides are faring. Prusseit's Managerial Progress Over the last 15 years, Prusseit has racked up solid experience taking charge of 628 matches with five clubs: SV Dessau 05, 1. FC Lok Stendal, Hansa Rostock II, Energie Cottbus and Union Berlin. In those games, he has a 55% win percentage, with 337 wins, 162 defeats and 113 draws. While his teams have scored 1,144 goals and conceded 735. During that time, Prusseit has gained five promotions, won four league titles, won three cup competitions and suffered one relegation. He spent no money until he joined Union, where he's already spent £254m and made £314m in sales in six years. Now 53 years old, Prusseit has earned £6.75m over the last 15 years, which isn't too shabby for a football-loving kid from Dresden. OstDeutscher Sides' Progress Prusseit was keen to take a deep dive on where all the playable teams that began as options in his OstDeutscher adventure had fared over the last 15 years. So, sorted by their ranking at the start of the save, here's how all the East German teams have progressed. Wismut Gera: Wismut Gera began in the sixth-tier German Thuringia League and won promotion to the German Division North-East. And they've been there ever since coming close to promotion with three second places, but they've dropped firmly back into mid-table. 1. FC Lok Stendal: Prusseit's second club Stendal began the save in the sixth-tier German Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anhalt. He managed them up in the fifth-tier German Division North-East and, after spending a few seasons down in tier six, they returned to tier five in 2034 and remain there. Magdeburg II: Also began in tier six German Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anhalt and are currently in the fifth-tier North-East division with Stendal. SV Dessau 05: Prusseit started his career with Dessau and led them into tier five in his first season then suffered relegation after two seasons in tier five. Things have not gone well since. Dessau were relegated into non-league in 2028 and returned in 2030 but dropped back into non-league in 2034 and haven't returned since. Bizarrely, they still have two of Prusseit's first crop of players in winger Aluong Yaak and centre-back Karamoko Sylla, who've both played over 450 games for the club. VFC Plauen: An early rival of Prusseit's in his Dessau and Stendal days, Plauen began in the fifth-tier German Division North-East South. They gained promotion to Regionalliga Nordost in season four and stayed there for four years before dropping down into tier five for four years. But they gained promotion in 2036 and remain in tier four. Hansa Rostock II: Prusseit's third club began in the fifth-tier Oberliga Nordost. In 2028, Prusseit led them to win the fourth-tier Regionalliga, which they won again in 2033 but the B-team have since dropped back down into the fourth tier. Rostocker FC: Rostocker also began in the fifth-tier Oberliga Nordost, where they stayed for two seasons before being relegated to tier six. They stayed there for two years before dropping into non-league, where they remain now. 1. FC Frankfurt: Frankfurt were relegated from the fifth-tier Oberliga Nordost and stayed there for 14 years. But they suffered relegation from German Brandenburg-League last season, so are now a non-league club. SV Babelsburg 03: Began in the fourth-tier Regionalliga Nordost and stayed there for six years before relagation to Oberliga. They gained promotion in the second season and remained in Regionalliga for seven seasons but were relegated back to tier five last season. Berliner FC Dynamo: Started in the fourth-tier Regionalliga Nordost and remained there until 2035 when they were relegated to Oberliga, where they've finished 7th for the last two seasons. Carl Zeiss Jena: Jena also began in Regionalliga Nordost but have fared better than Babelsburg and Berliner. They won Regionalliga Nordost in the first two seasons and gained promotion in the playoff second time around. They spent five years in the bottom half of 3. Liga before being relegated to Regionalliga and remained there until winning the league to return to 3. Liga last season. Chemie Leipzig: Stayed in Regionalliga Nordost for 11 seasons before relegation to the fifth tier in 2033, where they remain now but are favourites to win the league. Chemnitzer: Chemnitzer are one of the biggest success stories in the region. They began in Regionalliga Nordost and stayed there until 2032 when they won the league to climb into 3. Liga. They were relegated in their first season then spent three seasons back in tier four. But they won Regionalliga again in 2036, then finished 6th in 3. Liga which, as a result of B teams, was enough to reach 2. Bundesliga this season! Energie Cottbus: But the big success story is Cottbus. Prusseit's fourth club began down in tier four Regionalliga Nordost then got back-to-back promotions in 2026 and 2027. They swiftly dropped back down the leagues and Prusseit joined them back in tier four then led them to back-to-back promotions again in 2030 and 2031. They stayed in the second tier for two seasons, dropped back to 3. Liga but gained promotion in 2035. They finished 5th in 2. Bundesliga in 2036 before two mid-table finished. Lokomotive Leipzig: Lok Leipzig stayed in Regionalliga Nordost until 2034, when they won the league to reach 3. Liga. And they've recorded three mid-table finishes in tier three. Rot-Weiß Erfurt: Began in Regionalliga Nordost but were relegated in season two. They spent one season down in tier five and remain in Regionalliga Nordost now, frustratingly finishing second in the last three seasons. Dynamo Dresden: Dresden began in 3. Liga and were promoted to 2. Bundesliga in 2025. But they suffered back-to-back relegations and were one of Prusseit's big rivals in tier four at Cottbus. They got back into tier three in 2031 and have twice been promoted back to 2. Bundesliga, from which they were relegated last season. And they're huge favourites for 3. Liga. FC Erzgebirge Aue: Stayed in 3. Liga for six seasons before relegation in 2028 and they remain in Regionalliga Nordost. Hallescher FC: Hallescher were relegated from 3. Liga in the first season and remain in Regionalliga Nordost, where they've become a lower mid-table club. FSV Zwickau: Zwickau started the save well by finishing 3rd in 3. Liga and gaining promotion in the first season. They stayed in 2. Bundesliga for three seasons then spent five seasons back in 3. Liga. But they were relegated in 2031 and remain a mid-table side in tier four Regionalliga Nordost. 1. FC Magdeburg: Magdeburg were relegated from 2. Bundesliga in the first season then spent several years yo-yo-ing between tiers two and three. But they gained promotion in 2027 and have remained in the second tier since, establishing themselves as a mid-table side. Hansa Rostock: Rostock are the only OstDeutscher team that didn't start in the top tier to have played in Bundesliga during this save. They spent the first seven seasons in 2. Bundesliga and gained promotion three times, only to be relegated in their first season in Bundesliga every single time. They finished 16th in Bundesliga last season but aren't fancied for promotion this season. RasenBallsport Leipzig: Leipzig remain one of the better teams in Germany, now considered the second-favourites for Bundesliga behind Bayern. They've finished 2nd eight times during this save, most recently in 2035. 1. FC Union Berlin: Prusseit's current club flirted with relegation from Bundesliga for many years before finally dropping into tier two in 2031. But their fortunes changed when they brought Prusseit in from Cottbus, winning 2. Bundesliga in 2032 then finishing 7th twice and 2nd twice in Bundesliga, plus winning the Europa Conference League in 2036. So most East German sides have struggled through this save, but the likes of Rostock, Dresden, Cottbus and Chemnitzer, as well as Leipzig and Union, offer some semblance of hope for the region. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 18, 2023 Author Share Posted August 18, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 33 | Record-Breaking Form Ruprecht Prusseit needed a little time away from football after seeing his Union Berlin miss out to perennial Bundesliga champions Bayern München on the final day for a second season in a row. But he came back to work refreshed and eager to take Bayern down. He came into the summer of 2037 with the club's bank balance standing at £232m. That was boosted by selling underperforming players like midfielder Gerhard Seibert to Monaco for £11.25m, centre-back Mikalus Mraz to Nice for £6.75m and full-back Mathias Nilsson Morsing to Valencia for £12m. However, they also lost promising centre-back Jean-Paul Vogt to Man City for a club record £45m. More exciting talents arrived in their place starting with smashing the club's transfer record to sign right-back Zé Serrao for £38.5m from Braga. Prusseit also toughened up the midfield with massive 6ft 6in ball-winner Samuel Pereira and brought in a promising goalkeeper in 17-year-old Danny Johnston for £2.5m from Freiburg. Prusseit's thinking time early in the summer also saw him decide to ditch the dull two holding midfield formation he'd used for the last couple of seasons. He now had exciting attacking full-backs and attackers that could play wide or centrally, so he initially decided to go with a narrow 4-3-1-2 with a Trequartista in behind two strikers but also considered a 4-3-3 approach. Into Bundesliga Season 6 Union Berlin are finally fancied for a top-half finish with a prediction of 8th and odds of 33/1. Bayern are obviously favourites at 4/5 having won 24 of the last 25 titles, followed by Leipzig (11/2), Dortmund (8/1), Freiburg (16/1) and Leverkusen (18/1). Union began at home to promoted Mainz and the new formation looked pretty good as they dominated by 17 shots to six. But it took them a while to get the goal they deserved with Miroslav Milosevic's penalty followed by Serrao creating a tap-in for Bruno Rodríguez. That earned the new right-back player of the match on his debut but he obviously then suffered a hernia in training. Another home game followed and they kick on a level as striker Claudio Sepúlveda put the Gladbach defence to the sword with all four goals in a 4-0 victory. But their first away day of the season took them to Prusseit's hated champions Bayern. An edgy game saw Bayern have the better chances but get a player sent off early in the second half. Milosevic's 20-yard strike looked to have claimed a first win over Bayern only for the champions to again score a late goal to nick a point. Prusseit decided to start Sepúlveda in the league games and Michael Storskov in Europe. And Sepúlveda justified that decision with three consecutive braces to edge a 3-1 win at Stuttgart, a more dominant victory at home to Leverkusen and a 3-0 win at St Pauli. Next up was derby day as Hertha came to town and Sepúlveda settled for one goal before Milosevic sealed a 2-0 victory. And Union kept the good times going as Storskov came off the bench to score a last-minute winner at Nürnberg and Leandro repeated the feat at home to Freiburg. Then even a rotated side eased to a 2-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld thanks to another Sepúlveda brace. And that saw Union win a new club record 11 consecutive games in all competitions. Champions League League Phase Union got a kinder set of fixtures for their second season in the Champions League, with the opening day and final day trips to Porto and Liverpool posing the toughest tests. However, Union made light work of their first game, going to Porto and scoring with every shot on target to win 5-0 led by a Storskov brace and Markus Ambrosius' first goal for the club. Next up they hammered Poznan with 21 shots to three but relied on Storskov's goal just before half-time for a narrow win. But they were more clinical at Rennes as they scored five for the second away game on the bounce, this time with Storskov scoring all five in a 5-2 victory. Union were taking the Champions League by storm as early Grga Picak and Leandro goals set up a 3-0 win over Feyenoord, which took them top of the league above Real Madrid and Barcelona! Another home game followed against 33rd-place Brest, who've finished 2nd to PSG three times in a row, but Prusseit had to rotate and they did well to draw 0-0. But a much better performance in Austria saw them dominate Wolfsberger by 26 shots to zero and won 3-0 led by a Storskov brace. That sees Union sitting 2nd, three points clear of 9th place with two games remaining. Storskov is the tournament's top scorer with 10 goals and has the highest average rating of 8.22. Surprise Top Of The Table Clashes Ten games into Bundesliga, Union had only dropped points once in a superb start to the campaign. Elsewhere, Bayern actually dropped points as they lost at home for the first time in three seasons and the second time in eight seasons in a 2-0 defeat to St Pauli, drew with Stuttgart and Hertha then lost 3-2 at Freiburg. That teed up a couple of slightly surprising top-three clashes as Union went to Wolfsburg then hosted Leipzig. The top two played out an exiting game with 32 shots, 19 of which went in Wolfsburg's favour. But few of those threatened the goal and an own goal settled the game as a Wolfsburg defender turned home Sepúlveda's harmless cross. Leipzig had the better of the next game, with 13 shots in the first half without finding a way through. But Union were pretty toothless despite creating more in the second half and the two sides settled for a 0-0. And Prusseit had to be happy with two clean sheets. However, Union's long 16-game unbeaten run ended with a 1-0 defeat at Köln, who climbed to 2nd in the league. And later that day, Bayern lost again 3-1 at Hoffenheim! The run of highly unentertaining games continued as Sepúlveda ensured Union bounced back with a 1-0 win at home to Hamburg - making it two goals scored and one conceded in four games! The striker was at it again as Union entertained Dortmund. He latched onto a long hoof clear by Lee Kwang-Sun and headed the ball over the keeper from 25 yards for the opener! He added a second 10 minutes before half-time then wrapped up a perfect hat-trick just after the hour mark to seal a huge 3-1 victory. Union wrapped up 2037 with a 2-1 win at Frankfurt thanks to a rare Satoru Iida strike and Storskov's late winner. While 2nd and 3rd place Bayern and Köln drew 1-1. That saw Union open a huge 10-point lead heading into a month-long break. Sepúlveda is the top scorer in the league with 18 goals along with a league-high six player of the match awards and second-best 7.51 average rating. While Lee has a league-high 11 clean sheets, only conceding in six matches! Union's Youngsters Rewarded Union maintained their grip on the FIFA Best U21 Men's Player as Milosevic won the award with a clean sweep of the top three as last year's winner Rodríguez in 2nd and Sepúlveda in 3rd. Then a surprise decision saw backup Slovenian midfielder Anton Çerne win European Golden Boy. Could Union maintain their lead at the top of Bundesliga and become the first-ever East German champions in 2038? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 21, 2023 Author Share Posted August 21, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 34 | Sweet Sepúlveda Ruprecht Prusseit had led Union Berlin into a strong position, leading Bundesliga by 10 points heading into 2038. But he was keen to avoid another end-of-season slump that had handed titles back to Bayern Munich in the last two seasons. The new year began with a massive club record sale. Striker Michael Storskov was now Union's Champions League starter having been usurped by top scorer Claudio Sepúlveda, was 26 and had 18 months on his contract. So when Newcastle came in with a £65m offer he bit their hands off. And Prusseit replaced him with 17-year-old Paraskevas Goulas for £3m from Frankfurt. Maintaining A Strong Start Union began 2038 with a trip to bottom side Mainz and duly thumped them 5-1 led by a four-goal haul by top scorer Claudio Sepúlveda. Next was a huge game as leaders Union took on 2nd-place Bayern, who they'd still only beaten once in 31 meetings in this save and Prusseit had never beaten in 12 games. Bayern bossed the early stages but midfielder Samuel Pereira chose the perfect time to score his first Union goal, drilling home from 20 yards. Bayern equalised straight after the break but Prusseit's side held them off to earn a 1-1 and retain their 10-point lead. That big draw was backed up by edging a 2-1 at Gladbach then beating Stuttgart 3-2 led by a Sepúlveda hat-trick. The Chilean scored the only goal at home to St Pauli then two goals in a 2-2 at Leverkusen. That saw him move past 30 goals for the season and break Ahmed Ramadam's Union record of 28 league goals in a season. And on the same day, Dortmund beat Bayern 2-1. Claudio continued to live up to the moniker "Sweet Sepúlveda" as his brace earned a 2-0 win at 17th-place Hoffenheim then scored the only goal at home to 14th-place Nürnberg. But he was seemingly the only Union player who could score, which showed as he got injured and they drew 0-0 at Freiburg while all the other top-five sides also drew. Champions League Progression Union came into the final two games of the league phase with a three-point gap to 9th place. With Liverpool away to come, a home game against Villarreal was vital. And they delivered as a Miroslav Milosevic double sealed a 2-1 win. They also did fairly well at Liverpool, only losing 2-1. And that was enough to book their place in the top eight by one point - and five places above Bayern. That sent them straight through to the last 16, where they got one of the better draws against Villarreal. However, a few injuries struck before the away leg and they got thumped 5-2 and a 2-1 home loss saw them exit with a bit of a whimper in the round of 16. A Bayern-Less Title Battle? Union came into the final eight games of the season with an eight-point lead over Leipzig and a 13-point gap back to Dortmund, Bayern and Wolfsburg. Surely this time the title was heading to East Germany one way or another? But Union again had a tricky run of games coming. Game 1 - Köln (6th, home): Sepúlveda was still missing and they weren't looking good as Köln took the lead after half an hour. But his replacement Fredrik Fossdal headed home his first goal of the season to equal then Milosevic finished from a tight angle to nick a 2-1 win. And all the other top five sides also won. Game 2 - Hertha (6th, away): Hertha were the form team in Bundesliga heading into the Berliner Derby but had Nicolas Makhloufi sent off for a two-footed challenge after just six minutes. Winger Leandro immediately gave Union the advantage only for Hertha to equalise after half an hour. But Union took control after the break with Satoru Iida and Sepúlveda strikes before Leandro added a late fourth. Leipzig also won to keep the gap at eight points. Game 3 - Wolfsburg (5th, home): The tough run continued with another in-form side as Wolfsburg came to town. Sepúlveda scored again after half an hour but Wolfsburg dominated the second half and got a deserved equaliser just before the hour. Leipzig scored a 93rd-minute winner at Hamburg to close the gap. Game 4 - Leipzig (2nd, away): That teed up a huge potential title decider as leaders Union travelled to 2nd-place Leipzig with a six-point lead. But that became three points as Union put in a terrible performance and lost 1-0 to a goal by 35-year-old Ilaix Moriba. And they lost Sepúlveda to injury again. Game 5 - Arminia Bielefeld (15th, home): They faced another first half of frustration against a poor Bielefeld team. But Prusseit laid into the team at half-time and immediately got his reward as Bruno Rodríguez scored his first goal in five months. Leandro added a second before Rodríguez doubled his tally to seal a 3-0 victory. Later that day, Leipzig drew 0-0 at home to Dortmund, so Union grew the game back to five points with three games remaining. Game 6 - Hamburg (14th, away): Leipzig hammered Mainz 4-0 the day before Union went to Hamburg. But Union responded with Sepúlveda and Milosevic goals either side of half-time before Hamburg got a late consolation. Game 7 - Dortmund (4th, away): The toughest game of the run-in took Union to Dortmund and, yet again in a big game, they didn't come close to showing up. Dortmund got a dodgy penalty then scored their first three shots on target, dominated the second half and won 4-0. While Union offered very little despite their lofty xG. However, later that day, Leipzig went to Bayern and were equally bad, losing 3-1 with former Union player Omar Nzeyimana scoring twice, which trebled his tally for the season. So in the most unconvincing circumstances, Union Berlin were Champions of Germany!! And Union Berlin were the first-ever East German club to win Bundesliga!! Union celebrated their success in front of their jubilant fans at Stadion An Der Alten Försterei the day after Prusseit's 54th birthday. And they did so in style as Sepúlveda scored once and laid on the other two for his attacking partners Milosevic and Rodríguez in a 3-1 win over Frankfurt. That saw Union win the title by five points from Leipzig, who leapfrogged Bayern to make it an OstDeutscher one-two on the final day! Impressively, Union only conceded 24 goals all season, while 64 goals was a little on the low side compared to the 76 and 75 they managed in the previous two seasons. And the title success bagged them a cool £110m. The key man behind this success was Sepúlveda, who was the second-top scorer in Bundesliga with 34 goals in 32 games - only bettered by Hertha's Jeremy Dierickx scoring an outrageous 37 in 29! Also crucial was Lee Kwang-Sun keeping 16 clean sheets. They also had five players - Lee, Cláudio Borborema, Rogério Poulos, Rodríguez and Milosevic - in the Bundesliga Team of the Year, Prusseit won his third Manager of the Year in five years and Pereira won Rookie of the Year. East Germany's First Bundesliga Winners This was an unprecedented season in German football history as Ruprecht Prusseit became the first manager to lead an East German club to the Bundesliga title. He was a little concerned about their inability to compete with big teams away from home, but that couldn't detract from an excellent achievement with an exciting Union team. The star man this season was obviously Sepúlveda, who broke the club's league goals in a season record and finished with 38 in 40 and a 7.52 average rating in all competitions. Also impressive were his attacking colleagues Milosevic, who scored 12 and got 12 assists in 39 games, and Rodríguez, who got a club-high 15 assists plus a slightly disappointing four goals. Stalwart midfielder Grga Picak got 10 assists and four goals with a 7.28 average rating and there were solid performances by fellow midfielders Iida and 6ft 6in Pereira, who only scored one goal despite targeting set pieces at him. While goalkeeper Lee and full-back Rogério Poulos also impressed. But Prusseit was concerned about the performances of the rest of his defensive players. To add to the great season, Prusseit also got his first good youth intake in years. The pick of the bunch was winger Fágner, along with another winger Giuseppe Menozzi, striker Matteo Righini and full-back Besnik Dragusha, none of which were German... Could Union build on East Germany's first-ever Bundesliga success? And could they go further in the Champions League? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted August 22, 2023 Share Posted August 22, 2023 Yasssss what a season!! Finally toppling Bayern! East German giants and what a club to do it with 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 22, 2023 Author Share Posted August 22, 2023 4 hours ago, SixPointer said: Yasssss what a season!! Finally toppling Bayern! East German giants and what a club to do it with Woop! It's been quite the journey, but maybe a little quicker than I expected? But once you get into Bundesliga it's pretty easy given the finances available.. There's more to come though! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted August 23, 2023 Share Posted August 23, 2023 19 hours ago, robilaz said: Woop! It's been quite the journey, but maybe a little quicker than I expected? But once you get into Bundesliga it's pretty easy given the finances available.. There's more to come though! I think you’re down playing it. Many have tried to topple Bayern and failed. Without restricting themselves to East German clubs and starting in the depths of German football. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 25, 2023 Author Share Posted August 25, 2023 On 23/08/2023 at 08:16, SixPointer said: I think you’re down playing it. Many have tried to topple Bayern and failed. Without restricting themselves to East German clubs and starting in the depths of German football. Yeah that's true. Bayern tend to be pretty dominant! It's been a really fun save for sure 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 25, 2023 Author Share Posted August 25, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 35 | Bundesliga Title Defence Union Berlin became the first team from East Germany ever to win Bundesliga as Ruprecht Prusseit and his exciting young squad lifted the famous trophy in May 2038. That completed Prusseit's 16-year journey from a Sunday League nobody to a German title winner and one of the best managers in the world. The Union players, staff and directors spent many a night frequenting the packed-out Berlin beer halls celebrating with their jubilant fans. One such night got a little too rowdy as Prusseit filled a tour bus with Pilsners and champagne and very drunkenly led the celebrations with a megaphone in hand screaming "Sweet Sepúlveda" to the tune of Sweet Caroline. If he was honest, he couldn't remember anything about the evening, but he did have many an embarrassing reminder courtesy of round-the-clock TV coverage of his antics. After giving himself and his players a few days away to recuperate, Prusseit reset his mind for the challenge of defending Union's maiden league title. In fact, he had already secured the services of an exciting wonderkid before the title was won. Union's success and three record sales in three years had seen the club's bank balance bloom to over £360m. While Prusseit now had a £122m transfer kitty and an unused wage budget of £1.4m out of the £2.2m available to work with coming into the summer. Three additions arrived as the transfer window opened. The pick of them was Leandro Van Dessel, who joined for £26.5m from Anderlecht and looked like a superstar already at the age of 18 but didn't have a natural position that fitted into Prusseit's current formation. He was joined by left-back Fabien Camus for £28.5m from Marítimo and left-back Takayoshi Wada for £1.1m from Funabashi Bandits. A few days later, centre-back Nick Madzar arrived from Dinamo Zagreb for £10.75m. Given Van Dessel's preferred position, Prusseit decided to switch up his formation again. He moved to a 4-2-3-1 with Satoru Iida in a holding role and Van Dessel playing as a shadow striker in behind Claudio Sepúlveda. More Silverware On The Line The new formation looked very good in its first outing against Frankfurt in the DFL-Supercup. Union dominated the first half with 16 shots to one and eventually made one count as Grga Picak drilled home from 25 yards. Miroslav Milosevic converted a penalty before Sepúlveda, who improved further after playing at the World Cup in the summer, got his customary goal. Union Berlin won their first DFL-Supercup and their third major trophy overall. Union's First-Ever Title Defence Begins Union were now fancied as fourth favourites to win Bundesliga with odds of 14/1. Bayern remain favourites at 4/6 followed by Leipzig at 9/1 and Dortmund at 13/1. While new boy Van Dessel is the only Union player in the media dream 11. Union's defence began well in Leverkusen's first-ever match at the Ulf Kirsten Stadium. Milosevic and centre-back Abdelkadir Belkacem scored inside the first 15 minutes and they held on for a 2-1 win. And another good performance followed in their first home game as Iida and Sepúlveda goals earned a 2-0 win over Freiburg. A big early test saw Union face a trip to Bayern, who Prusseit still hadn't beaten in 13 attempts, in late August. The two teams shared 43 shots in an entertaining game but Union scored one of theirs through Bruno Rodríguez after nine minutes then held firm for a huge first win over Bayern. Union took confidence from that, hammering Gladbach 4-0 led by a Sepúlveda brace then the striker's 95th-minute strike earned a 1-0 win at Frankfurt. The defence proved extremely solid as striker Fredrik Fossdal scored the only goal off the bench at home to slow-starting Dortmund and a 2-0 win at Nürnberg with goals by Rodríguez and Milosevic. But they finally let one in as a Sepúlveda double downed 4th-place Hamburg 2-1. An eight-game winning start ended as they nicked a 1-1 draw at city rivals Hertha. They conceded twice at home to Köln but scored five led by Rodríguez and Sepúlveda braces before a Sepúlveda hat-trick inspired a 4-1 win at Wolfsburg. That teed up a clash of the top two as Union entertained fellow OstDeutscher side RB Leipzig in late November. Union started the better only for Leipzig to score their first shot on target. They continued to play well as both teams had their fair share of chances and eventually got their reward in bizarre fashion as a Rodríguez cross looped up in the air for Fossdal to head home. And they settled for a 1-1 draw. Union wrapped up the calendar year with a bunch of games against teams in the bottom half. They returned to winning ways by defeating Jahn Regensburg 2-1 before a Sepúlveda hat-trick downed Werder Bremen 3-0. But an exhausted team lost 2-1 at Fortuna Düsseldorf three days after a Champions League tie. They wrapped up the year by hitting seventh heaven, thumping St Pauli 7-1 led by another Sepúlveda hat-trick and a Rodríguez brace, then putting four past Stuttgart away. That took Union into the winter break having only dropped points three times and enjoying a six-point lead over Bayern and a seven-point lead over Leipzig. Sepúlveda is dominating Bundesliga, with 19 goals putting him seven clear of Freiburg striker Nelson Weiper. While Rodríguez leads the way with a 7.69 average rating followed by new boy Van Dessel's 7.55. Brutal Champions League Fixtures The ridiculous nature of the new Champions League format was portrayed by Union's outrageous fixtures, starting with games against Arsenal, Liverpool and Madrid and, predictably, they played Newcastle after selling Michael Storskov to them. Unsurprisingly, Union lost 2-0 at Arsenal, 1-0 to Liverpool, who cruelly scored a 91st-minute winner, and got thumped 3-0 at home to Madrid. But they finally got on the board as Fossdal's injury-time winner nicked a 2-1 victory at Porto and backed it up by hammering Salzburg 5-0 away. And Storskov obviously scored as Milosevic earned a deserved point at Newcastle. That left Union in 19th place going into the final two games. Union's first title defence was going very well, enjoying a decent lead over Bayern and Leipzig. However, they've been heavily reliant on Sepúlveda, who's scored 24 goals in 25 games in all competitions. Although the promising Van Dessel has hit the ground running with six goals, seven assists and a 7.53 average rating in 23 games. And that saw him win European Golden Boy, making it four years in a row that a Union player has won the award. Could Union maintain their strong start to the campaign and defend their Bundesliga title? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted August 28, 2023 Author Share Posted August 28, 2023 OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 36 | 50 Goals Sepúlveda An inspired summer signing and a superstar striker had fired Union Berlin back to the top of Bundesliga as they began their first-ever title defence in style. Manager Ruprecht Prusseit's biggest challenge now was to keep hold of his in-demand players. 2039 began with two pieces of slightly disappointing news. Firstly, winger Leandro, who failed to live up to Prusseit's expectation of being the new Endrick and had zero assists in 18 games this season, was sold to Stuttgart for £33.5m. Then stalwart midfielder Grga Picak refused to sign a new deal and agreed a move to Barcelona at the end of his contract, where he'll earn an outrageous £195k a week. The squad was a little light so Prusseit had a deadline day splurge on a few future stars in wonderkid attacker José Marco for £13.75m from Athletico Paranense, winger Pedro Murúa for £4m from River Plate and midfielders Oskar Czerwinski for £3m from Legia, who took him back on loan until the end of the season, and Cristian Hernández for £5m from Boca Juniors. Difficult Bundesliga Resumption Bundesliga resumed with three players at the Asian Cup for two tricky home games. First up, the season's star men so far Claudio Sepúlveda and Leandro Van Dessel scored in a 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen. They then had a huge game at home to 2nd-place Bayern, which turned out to be a classic. Union came out flying and raced into a 2-0 lead through Picak and Van Dessel. But Bayern snuck back into the game and scored just before the break then inevitably equalised just after it. And they completed a turnaround 11 minutes later. But Prusseit made several subs, pushed his team forward and got his reward as midfielder Anton Cerne won a penalty that Fredrick Fossdal converted six minutes from time to crown a thrilling 3-3 draw. The tricky fixtures continued at 4th-place Freiburg, where they escaped with a 0-0, then 6th-place Gladbach, where Sepúlveda rescued a 1-1. They again had the striker to thank for a brace in a 2-0 win at home to 9th-place Eintracht Frankfurt. The tough games didn't stop there as a trip to Dortmund, who were somehow lingering in 11th, saw another 0-0. Then they welcomed 5th-place Nürnberg and suffered a surprise 2-0 home loss but, on the same day, both Leipzig and Bayern also dropped points. Champions League Progression Union resumed the Champions League league phase with a 4-1 annihilation of Olympiakos, who scored their only shot to Union's 36 thanks to the ref awarding a nonsense penalty. They then welcomed Inter on the final day and a more conservative approach helped them nick a 2-0 win courtesy of a Miroslav Milosevic penalty and a header by centre-back Abdelkarim Belkacem. That secured 14th place and progression to the playoff round. Union drew Celtic in the playoffs and got a shock in Scotland as the home side took the lead after 21 minutes. But Prusseit lay into his side at half-time and they responded to win 3-1 with Marco scoring off the bench on his debut. Marco scored again on his full debut as Union won the home leg 2-0 to progress 5-1. An interesting last-16 draw paired Union with fellow OstDeutscher side RB Leipzig. Union were at home first and made a great start as Van Dessel scored inside five minutes. But Leipzig had the better of the game and got a deserved equaliser after the break. The two sides played out a classic at Leipzig, as Van Dessel scored late on to make it 2-2 and force extra-time. But Leipzig, who'd apparently rested players for their previous league game, edged it 4-3. Leipzig went on to defeat Barcelona 4-2 on aggregate then lost 4-3 to Man UFC in the semis. And Man UFC lost to PSG on penalties in the Final. Title Battle Heats Up Union came into the final eight games of the season on a bit of a sticky run of form with two wins in seven league games since the start of 2039. However, they still had a four-point lead over both Leipzig and Bayern. Union began at Hamburg and looked destined for yet another 1-1 draw before Marco popped up with his first league goal for a 94th-minute winner. Prusseit reached his 700th game in management at 15th-place Werder Bremen and his side celebrated in style as a Sepúlveda brace and a Bruno Rodríguez strike earned a 3-0 victory. Elsewhere, Leipzig lost 1-0 at home to Freiburg and Bayern lost 2-1 at Wolfsburg, who scored in the 92nd minute, so Union opened up a seven-point gap. Sepúlveda edged them ever closer as his hat-trick led a 5-1 thrashing of struggling Köln and a Milosevic penalty nicked a 1-0 win at home to Wolfsburg. And that teed up a huge potential title decider at Leipzig, who Union have only beaten twice in Prusseit's 15 meetings and also their last 30 meetings in total. And that trend continued as Union put in their worst performance of the season and gifted Leipzig the only goal of the game to reduce the gap to four points. Bayern had slipped six points behind Leipzig, which meant it was again a two-horse race between the two OstDeutscher sides going into the final five games of the season. But Union certainly had the more favourable fixtures. Union kicked off gameweek 30 by welcoming bottom side Jahn Regensburg, who didn't help their cause by having a player pick up his second yellow card just before the break. Milosevic immediately made them pay before Sepúlveda ran riot with four goals after half-time to seal a 5-0 thumping. And the next day, Leipzig lost 2-1 at Leverkusen. Sepúlveda was now level with Michael Storskov's club record of 41 goals in a season. While Union's first chance to retain their title came in a huge Berliner Derby at home to Hertha. They started well then conceded to Hertha's only attack of the half. Prusseit lost his head and sent water bottles flying around the dressing room, which got the desired result as Milosevic equalised and Sepúlveda swiftly added a second to break the goalscoring record. Their high press worked as Picak seized on a weak pass to create a second for Sepúlveda, who went on to wrap up yet another hat-trick and seal a 4-1 victory. Leipzig thumped Werder Bremen 4-1 then lost 1-0 at Bayern, which meant Union became champions without kicking a ball. Union Berlin retained their Bundesliga crown! Union celebrated their success by hammering Fortuna Düsseldorf 5-0 led by a Van Dessel brace. Sepúlveda did the same in a 3-0 win at St Pauli then went one better to move to 50 goals for the season in a 3-1 win over Stuttgart. That saw Union finish with exactly the same record as the previous season, winning 25, drawing six and losing three. Leipzig fell apart with their European commitments, which saw them drop below Bayern into 3rd. Union scored a league-high 82, which was 17 more than last season, and conceded just 22, which was two fewer than last season. Sepúlveda scored more than double any other player in Bundesliga, topping the charts with 41 goals in 34 games. But Van Dessel got the most assists with 13 and was the best player in the league with a 7.58 average rating, ahead of Rodríguez (7.57) and Sepúlveda (7.53). Union and Prusseit's First DFB-Pokal Final Union had struggled in DFB-Pokal through Prusseit's reign and, in fact, this entire save, never making it past the Eighth Final. But this season they defeated Neustrelitz, Eintracht Braunschweig and Düsseldorf 4-0, 2-0 and 1-0. They thumped Wolfsburg 4-0 in the quarter-final then a Marco penalty nicked a 1-0 win over Stuttgart, which took place just two days after their league win over Hertha. So they moved into the Final without conceding a goal! In the least surprising news ever, their opponent was Bayern, who defeated another OstDeutscher side Magdeburg 3-1 in the semis. Prusseit had a fully fit squad to choose from so lined up: Lee; Serrao, Belkacem, Borborema, Poulos; Pereira; Picak; Milosevic, Van Dessel, Rodríguez; Sepúlveda The match began pretty slowly with Bayern having a half chance before Union missed a few opportunities. But they eventually landed the first punch as Rodríguez flicked the ball into the path of Van Dessel, who brilliantly volleyed a screamer into the top of the net three minutes before half-time. A very quiet second half saw Sepúlveda hit the post and Bayern offer virtually nothing. And Union cruised to a relatively comfortable 1-0 victory. Union Berlin won their first-ever DFB-Pokal and wrapped up a domestic treble! Celebrating Union's Greatest Season Union backed up their first national title by swiftly adding their second Bundesliga and their first-ever German Cup victory. Prusseit was delighted with his team's progress and was very excited the club's future. Sepúlveda smashed the club's goalscoring record, finishing the season with 50 goals in 50 games but, interestingly, didn't record a single assist! That was followed by the 15 goals of Milosevic, who topped the club's assist charts with 19. While Rodríguez also impressed with 13 goals and 16 assists. But Van Dessel was arguably the club's best performer in his first season, scoring 14 and getting 14 assists with a 7.59 average rating. As a result, Van Dessel became the first Union player to win the German Football of the Year award, with Milosevic in 3rd, then the German Players' Player of the Year, ahead of Rodríguez and Sepúlveda. While Sepúlveda won the European Golden Shoe, finishing well clear of 2nd-place Endrick at Barcelona. Union's overachievement saw the board hand Prusseit a new contract with a £10k wage increase, taking him to £45k per week until 2043. While this season's success lifted Prusseit to number eight in the German Hall of Fame. Could Prusseit keep the good times rolling and win a 3rd successive Bundesliga? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted September 1, 2023 Author Share Posted September 1, 2023 (edited) OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 37 | Union's Mean Defence The supporters of Union Berlin enjoyed the best summer of their lives as they celebrated their team winning their second Bundesliga title and their first DFB-Pokal. Indeed, they were so elated that they instilled manager Ruprecht Prusseit as a bonafide Union legend. The summer of 2039 saw two of the manager's rivals depart as Bayern sacked Marcelo Gallardo for finishing 2nd and losing the DFB-Pokal Final and Dortmund sacked Mauricio Pochettino for a poor 9th-place finish. Bayern oddly hired Vincenzo Italiano from Frankfurt and Dortmund poached Mikel Arteta off Napoli, who replaced him with Prusseit's under 19s boss Brandon Petersen. Back at Union, they bid a fond farewell to 30-year-old Grga Picak, who departed after 257 league games for the club and joined Barcelona on a free transfer. They also saw plenty of interest in their star players, including Newcastle offering £169m for winger Bruno Rodríguez then a ridiculous £79m for Europe's most prolific striker Claudio Sepúlveda and Man UFC offering just £30m for goalkeeper Lee Kwang-Sun. However, there was no pressure to sell considering the club came into the new season with an outrageous bank balance of £413m and a massive transfer budget of £156m. So Prusseit made Rodríguez the highest-paid player in history on £200k per week until 2044. One player who did move on was midfielder Adolfo Ferreira, who'd done next to nothing in three seasons so Prusseit was more than happy to take Arsenal's £33.5m. That left the squad looking pretty light and Prusseit was struggling to find decent replacements. But they did eventually make a few moves, bringing in five new players on deadline day. The pick of them was winger Anton Stahre, who joined for £8.5m from Anderlecht, along with fellow winger Bernardo Simoes for £3m from Marítimo and Turkish midfielder Hüsamettin Ayan. But they weren't exactly seismic signings. With the squad bolstered, Prusseit continued with the 4-2-3-1 formation that worked successfully last season. Striker José Marco is retraining as a midfielder but that's the only change on the starting 11 of last season. Union's 2nd Title Defence Union were now fancied as 2nd favourites for Bundesliga behind Bayern, who beat them 2-1 in the Supercup. Bayern are huge favourites at 5/4, Union and Leipzig are 6/1 and Dortmund are 10/1. But Rodríguez and new club captain Leandro Van Dessel are considered the best and third-best players in the league. Union's title defence began at home to Dortmund and a Sepúlveda brace led Prusseit to a 2-0 win over new boy Arteta. First half Van Dessel and Sepúlveda strikes earned a 2-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld despite Rodríguez getting himself sent off after the break. And the Chilean striker's goal saw him become the record league goalscorer in Union history, surpassing Jordan Siebatcheu's 98 in just 116 games. The striker continued his flying start to the campaign with a hat trick inspiring a 3-0 win at home to Leipzig. He also made two in a 3-0 win over Hamburg, which was two more than he managed in the entirety of last season! A winning start ended with a 0-0 at Leverkusen but, after three games without scoring, Sepúlveda put that right with a hat-trick in a 5-0 hammering of Wolfsburg. That formed part of a very solid start to the campaign, even despite Miroslav Milosevic missing two months with broken ribs suffered on international duty. That forced Sepúlveda out to the right wing with Fredrik Fossdal taking his place up top, and the Norwegian took his chance by scoring back-to-back braces in dominant wins over Nürnberg and Hoffenheim. Sepúlveda returned up top for a Berliner Derby at home to Hertha and scored twice in a 5-1 hammering. Then a rotated side won 3-0 at home to 6th-place Freiburg led by a Fossdal hat trick. But the unbeaten start ended after 13 games with a slightly unlucky 2-1 loss to Bayern, who did nothing except being gifted two goals just before half-time by Lee. Union responded in style, putting five past Werder Bremen with a Sepúlveda brace and goals by Marco, Van Dessel and centre-back Abdelkarim Belkacem. They somehow only won 1-0 despite having 23 shots to two at nine-man Gladbach and finished the decade with a dominant 3-0 win over Stuttgart with Sepúlveda, Van Dessel and Marco all scoring again. Later that day, Bayern lost 2-0 at Leverkusen. That left Union eight points clear of Bayern, having lost once, scored 46 and conceded just seven in 17 matches. Sepúlveda leads the way with 17 goals and the best average rating of 7.79, while Lee has 13 clean sheets! More Tough Champions League Fixtures This season's Champions League fixtures looked even tougher than last season with trips to Juventus and Chelsea and hosting Man UFC, Real Madrid and Napoli. They were a little unlucky to lose 2-1 at Juve but Van Dessel did score their only shot on target. They got dominated by UFC but defended superbly and nicked two goals on the counter through Van Dessel and Sepúlveda. A 2-0 win followed in Poland before a 0-0 at Shakhtar and a 4-2 defeat at home to Madrid. But they earned a strong 0-0 at Chelsea to sit 15th with two games remaining. Could Union's mean defence continue to perform and lead them to a 3rd straight title? And could they progress with 2 home games to come in the Champions League? Edited September 4, 2023 by robilaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robilaz Posted September 4, 2023 Author Share Posted September 4, 2023 (edited) OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 38 | 60 Goals Sepúlveda A mean defence had seen Union Berlin only concede seven goals and keep 13 clean sheets in the first half of their second Bundesliga title defence. And they again enjoyed a decent gap over Bayern München, who spend nearly four times more on wages than their smaller rival. In fact, despite dishing out several big-money new contracts, Union still only have the eighth biggest wage spend in Bundesliga. While Union spend £59.2m per year, Bayern are spending an outrageous £192m, followed by Leipzig's £120m, Dortmund's £77.6m and Leverkusen's £72.9m. So Union were competing very well given their comparative lack of spending. Kicking Off The 2040s Looking ahead, two of Union's final four games were against Bayern and Leipzig. So Prusseit was keen to hit the ground running and pile on more points against struggling sides in the next few weeks. His side began the 2040s in style by hammering Arminia Bielefeld 5-0 then easing past a poor Dortmund side 2-0 away through winger Bruno Rodríguez and Claudio Sepúlveda's 20th league goal of the campaign. And Dortmund swiftly sacked Arteta after just six months. A Sepúlveda hat trick and a towering header by 6ft 6in Samuel Pereira downed Werder Bremen 4-1 away before dominating Fortuna Düsseldorf 4-0. Prusseit's 400th match in charge of Union, which meant he'd now spent more than half his career at the club, saw a trip to another bottom-half side Hamburg. But his side didn't look up for it as they laboured to a 2-2 rescued by a Sepúlveda double. Later that day, city rivals Hertha did them a favour by holding Bayern to a 2-2. A tough test followed as they welcomed 3rd place Bayer Leverkusen. Two goals in six minutes by Miroslav Milosevic and Sepúlveda had Union looking good at half-time. But Leverkusen scored twice in four minutes after the break, including a dubious penalty, to undeservedly level. However, young midfielder Oskar Czerwinski came off the bench to bag an 80th-minute winner. Union dropped points at Wolfsburg before a Sepúlveda double, which took him to 30 league goals for the season, led a 3-1 win at Nürnberg. That came on the same day as Bayern lost 2-1 at home to Leipzig, which had Union looking nailed on for a third title. And they maintained a 13-point lead as another Sepúlveda double led another 3-1 victory at Hoffenheim. Just a second defeat of the season followed, 1-0 at Stuttgart, but the perfect pick-me-up saw them annihilate City rivals Hertha 6-0 away with Leandro Van Dessel and Sepúlveda hat tricks, the latter of which took the Chilean past his own club record of 50 goals in a season. Champions League Progression Union resumed the Champions League league phase at home to Prusseit's former under 19s manager Brandon Peterson, who brought his Napoli side to Berlin. And the master had the last laugh as a Sepúlveda hat trick and Czerwinski's first goal for the club led a thumping 4-1 win. And they wrapped up with an easy 4-0 win at home to Feyenoord. That saw Union finish 11th and progress to the knockout playoff round, along with Freiburg and Bayern while Leipzig qualified automatically. They drew Midtjylland in the playoff and took control with a 3-0 away win and a fully rotated side won 3-2 at home. That took them into the round of 16, where they'd lost in the last three seasons. And, for the second successive season, they drew fellow OstDeutscher side RB Leipzig, who were fresh from beating Bayern in the league. Union dominated the home leg and got their reward as Van Dessel created goals for Rodríguez and Sepúlveda to seal a 2-0 win take to Leipzig. Prusseit took a more balanced approach and Sepúlveda settled any nerves after 15 minutes. Leipzig got one back but the Chilean scored again before a penalty by 37-year-old Ilaix Moriba. But Fossdal's late tap-in sealed a 3-2 win to book Union's first-ever Champions League quarter-final. In the quarters they got probably the worst draw possible as they took on Bayern. The home leg was up first again and Union dominated against a tired Bayern side, with Rodríguez scoring early then second-half strikes from Milosevic and subs José Marco and Markus Ambrosius wrapped up a big 4-1 win. And a relatively entertaining second leg saw a 0-0 draw progress Union into the semi-finals! Separating Union and a historic final was Juventus while Freiburg, who beat Leverkusen 5-3 in the quarters, took on Real Madrid in the other semi. This time a trip to Turin was first and proved to be an entertaining affair with the two sides sharing 38 shots. Juve went ahead through Miretti only for Milosevic to equalise a minute later before goals two minutes either side of half-time had the hosts 3-1 up. But Milosevic scored again two minutes after Juve's third and Sepúlved sealed a great comeback for a 3-3 draw. A week later, the biggest game in Stadion an der Alten Försterei and arguably East German football history saw Juve make the trip to Berlin. The stadium was bizarrely empty bar one open stand, but Union went straight on the attack as Rodríguez ran down the left and crossed for Sepúlveda to power a header home after 29 seconds! He was at it again just before the half hour as he took down a trademark Van Dessel through-ball then smashed it past the keeper. The tie was virtually over just before the hour as some awful defending gifted Van Dessel a third, but they weren't done there as another superb Van Dessel defence splitter sent Sepúlveda through for his hat-trick on the hour mark. And a brilliant performance sent them to a first-ever Final with a 7-3 aggregate thumping. Chasing Down Title 3 Union came into the final six games with a 10-point lead over Bayern, which was a little tighter than it sounded considering they still had to play both Bayern and Leipzig. They began the run-in with a Milosevic penalty and Sepúlveda earning a solid 2-0 win over Frankfurt while Bayern drew at Bielefeld. A trip to Freiburg was sandwiched by the Bayern European ties so Prusseit fully rotated and Ambrosius earned an impressive 1-1. Fresh from knocking Bayern out of Europe, Union immediately hosted them in a potential title decider. Union got a flyer as Van Dessel turned home Milosevic's low cross and Rodríguez headed home a second inside 16 minutes. A Lee Kwang-Sun howler gifted Bayern a goal back but Van Dessel's superb through-ball sent Sepúlveda through to restore the two-goal lead after 26 minutes. And it was all over before half-time as Van Dessel again laid on the Chilean's second in injury time. Bayern got a late consolation but Union won 4-2 to seal another title against Bayern. Union Berlin won 3 consecutive Bundesligas!! Lazaró had one eye on the Juventus semis and a fully changed 11 only lost 1-0 at Leipzig. But a Rodríguez double and Sepúlveda's 39th league goal earned a 3-0 win at home to Gladbach. That took the Chilean just two goals behind Lewandowski's Bundesliga record 41 goals heading into the final day at home to Schalke. As a result, he was the only first-choice player to start and unbelievably delivered with a hat-trick to thump Schalke 4-1! So he finished the Bundesliga campaign with an outrageous 42 goals in 32 games. That saw Union win Bundesliga by 11 points from Leipzig, who bumped Bayern into second and that led Bayern to sack yet another manager. Union surpassed the previous two seasons' points total of 81, this time racking up 83, scored more goals with 93, and matched last season's 22 goals conceded. Sepúlveda obviously led the way with a new record 42 goals plus a 7.92 average rating and 11 player of the match awards. Milosevic topped the assists chart with 16 followed by Van Dessel's 10, while Van Dessel pipped Milosevic to second in the average ratings with 7.62 to 7.60. And Lee led the clean sheets with 18. East Germany's Maiden Champions League Final Union's opponent in their and East Germany's first-ever Champions League Final was, unsurprisingly, 15-times winners Real Madrid, who beat Freiburg 6-0 on aggregate. But Berlin didn't have too far to travel as the game took place at Bayern's Fußball Arena München. In their two previous meetings with Madrid, now managed by Aliou Cissé, Union had lost 3-0 and 4-2. Despite that, fans and pundits gave them a 34% chance of winning compared to favourites Madrid at 38%. Prusseit had no significant injury concerns, so he lined up: Lee; Serrao, Belkacem, Borborema, Poulos; Iida, José Marco; Milosevic, Van Dessel, Rodríguez; Sepúlveda Subs: Ambrosius, Reitz, Pereira, Luduena, Júnior, Fossdal, Anani, Madzar, Ayan, Johnston Real went close early on, smashing a free-kick narrowly over the bar after 90 seconds, and Abdelkarim Belkacem headed just over a minute later. Union then had Rogério Poulos to thank for a superb goalline clearance as Real began to take control, but Union nearly nicked the lead through a defensive howler but the Madrid keeper just clawed an errant backpass off the line. And they went in at 0-0 after an entertaining first half. The second half was much quieter until Real thought they'd scored on 71 minutes only for VAR to rule it out for offside. A few minutes later a stunning Rodríguez pass gave Sepúlveda his first chance but a defender did well to get back and block the shot. And the game drifted to a 0-0. Union had the first chance in extra time as Van Dessel, who was having a rare quiet game, saw a shot well saved. But Real took their only chance of the extra period as Camavinga smashed a superb 30-yarder in off the bottom of the bar. And Union couldn't respond, so Real won their 16th European Cup. Reflecting On A Superb Season Prusseit was delighted with his team's efforts in dominating Bundesliga and coming so close to becoming champions of Europe. There's no doubting who the star man was as Sepúlveda hit a magnificent 62 goals in 51 appearances in all competitions, which was only two goals fewer than the club's next five top scorers, and a 7.79 average rating. Back in a distant second was Van Dessel with 18 goals and 18 assists, as well as Milosevic with a club-high 21 assists and 10 goals and Rodríguez with 12 goals and 16 assists. Fredrik Fossdal and José Marco also got 12 goals apiece with the latter also getting 13 assists from central midfield. OstDeutscher Sieg Update Hansa Rostock came so close to a Bundesliga return, only missing out on promotion to an extra-time defeat to Fortuna Düsseldorf in the playoff. So they remain in Bundesliga 2 with Magdeburg, Dynamo Dresden and Energie Cottbus, who were joined by playoff winners Rot-Weiß Erfurt, while Lok Leipzig are the East's sole representatives in 3. Liga. Could Prusseit lead Union to a 4th successive title in 20141? And could they go one step further and win the Champions League? Edited September 4, 2023 by robilaz 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted September 5, 2023 Share Posted September 5, 2023 Just catching up! 3 titles in a row!!!!!! Berlin is buzzing! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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