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Finally the time had come again! After two years of interruption due to covid, the Harting Azubi Cup took place on the grounds of FC Preußen-Espelkamp on June 10, 2022. Eight regional companies took part in the sporting competition, which was held for the first time in 5+1 on the small pitch and not in the hall, under the best soccer conditions. The trainees Dennis Alijew, Dario Gerlach, Tim Hoffrichter, Mehmet-Akif Kapar, Mike Müller, David Münchow, Lars Streib, David Kurowski and Lukas Christiansen as well as Lukas Klußmann from the HR department as coach competed for Kesseböhmer.
During the first match of the day, the trainees from Gauselmann were a real favorite for our team. However, the initial phase belonged to the men in green and white, who pressed their opponents deep into their own half with a confident combination game. However, a promising free kick from the left edge of the penalty area and the resulting corner did not bring the desired lead. As the game progressed, the strong Gausel men and women managed to take control of the game. Consequently, it did not take long for Gauselmann to convert this advantage into the opening goal. A little later, Gauselmann also took a two-goal lead through a justified penalty kick. Subsequently, Kesseböhmer was unable to build on its strong opening phase. In the end, it was 5:0 for Gauselmann.
In the second match of the day against IMA Schelling, a win was a must in order to have a realistic chance of reaching the semifinals. Once again, we had a good start into the match and this time the effort was rewarded. David Münchow disturbed the opponent energetically in the build-up to the game and thus forced a ball in a promising position. He then failed in a one-on-one with the opponent's goalkeeper, but was able to put the rebound into the box from an acute angle to make it 1-0. In the following period, our guys played out numerous good opportunities, but lost again and again to the brilliant IMA keeper. After a great attack, initiated on the right side of Tim Hoffrichter, our team gained a 2-0. The goal gave noticeable security and also showed the opponent, who now needed at least two goals to have further chances to the semifinals, effect. The Green-Whites used the resulting spaces to do something for the goal difference - in the end there was a 7:0 success.
The last match was against the hosts from Harting, who had lost to Gauselmann in the parallel match by 0-2, for second place in the group and thus for a place in the semifinals. From the beginning, a racy but at all times fair game developed in which initially no team could develop an advantage. Then, Harting used a misunderstanding in our back line to score the opening goal. Since a draw would have been enough to advance due to the better goal difference, Kesseböhmer's team tried everything once again to equalize and attempted several times to score dangerously from the second line. After goalkeeper Lars Streib had kept the team in the game with his saves in several dangerous counterattack situations, Harting finally used one of these opportunities to score the decisive second goal. Shortly before the end, it could have been exciting again, but after a quickly executed free kick from a good position David Münchow only hit the outer net. In the end, it remained 2:0 for Harting, which also meant the elimination of our trainees in the group stage.
Nevertheless, the performance in a very strong group, which we finished in third place, was impressive. Our team was only clearly defeated by the eventual tournament winner Gauselmann, who beat the Kolbus trainees in a nine-meter shootout in the final. The Kesseböhmer trainees were also delighted to receive the award for the fairest team in the tournament.
We congratulate the trainees from Gauselmann on their well-deserved tournament victory and would like to thank all participating companies and especially the Harting company for the great organization of the event. A big thank you also goes to our trainees for their outstanding commitment on and off the field as well as to coach Lukas Klußmann and co-trainer Nils Sieksmeyer for looking after the team - next year we'll be attacking again!
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