Crap weather, worse organization, a game to forget

This has been the third game of our Borussia in London that I have been able to watch from the stands of London's stadiums. Twice it was a game against Arsenal, the other the Championsleague final. We lost all three of them. Note to myself: never go to a game in London again.

And truly it was a day to forget, by all means. But let's go to the beginning first.

I have witnessed brighter days in London. Even though we are writing the end of November, London hardly ever let me down. On Wednesday it was different. The weather prognosed what the whole football evening was about to be like. We, the Dortmund fans, met at Finsbury Park around 5 p.m. local time (of course many already got there hours earlier), gathering for the march to the stadium that should begin thirty minutes later. Escorted by friendly police officers we started walking, irritating quite a few car drivers as well as amusing other people up in their windows. Everything was fine. The march went on quickly, the mood was alright. When we got to the stadium we were collected on a ramp that was going up to the stadium. On the level right in front of the entrances a wall of police officers on horses was built, leaving us fans pushed on that ramp between two walls. Unfortunately noone was able to see what was going on, nor did we get any information on why we were stopped for around 45 minutes. The atmosphere soon started to change. Annoying Arsenal fans were provocing from upstairs, leading to a few stupid actions down in the Dortmund area, where angry fans started throwing things onto the Arsenal fans. What a perfect organization. Then, around 30 minutes later, the first 200 people were allowed in, leading to a sudden rush from the back and people pushing, thinking that we would be going forward. Instead the horse-wall (which we only got to see later) was built again. I am a woman, but I am neither very sensitive, nor small or tiny or anything. But I started to worry and had difficulties to breathe since everyone was pushing and there was no chance of moving anywhere. Some German policemen tried to spread some information, but there was no chance of understanding anything from where we were standing.
It took us almost 1,5 hours to get in after arriving at the stadium. Not knowing what is going on and being in the middle of too many people with no room is a terrible feeling. I guess there was no danger at any point of the time, since enough people were watching from upstairs, however, if you do not know that, it is not much fun. When we were finally allowed to move, I ran straight to a police man shouting at him for their lousy organization, their risky and dangerous way of treating normal fans and their failure of risk avoidance. This policeman was as nice as one can be, even apologizing for me feeling trapped in. One has to give them that much credit that they truly stay calm when others freak out.
Moving on to the entrance, we found out why we were being held away from the entrances. Apparently the stadium wasn't open when we arrived shortly before 6 o ' clock. Furthermore they had built gates to "smoothen" the situation in front of the entrances of the stadium, only letting around 200 people enter at a time (at least within the first 45 minutes). Little did they know that their way of avoiding pressure right at the stadium gates caused even more pressure within the waiting crowd.

Around a quarter past seven I finally entered the stadium. What followed was a more than annoying game.

Jürgen Klopp changed the formation on various positions, giving Schmelzer the chance to start and Durm taking a break. Furthermore Immobile and Großkreutz jumped into the offense whilst Kagawa took a seat on the bench as well. Bender also replaced Kehl. I will keep myself short on the next bit- too frustrating.

It took Arsenal pretty much the exact same time as Chelsea to score a goal, leaving us fans, who had just started to get warm on the stands, shattered. Even worse: the goal was- of course- offside. Sanogo didn't care.

I wish I could now tell you something about our team fighting with all their heart in order to turn this thing around and secure the spot on top of the group table on this day, but that would be a lie. I don't know what is going on with our beloved Ballspielverein at the moment. But the team lacked spirit, effort, passion, ideas and fatally enough: everything all at once. There was no creativity up front, there was too much room for Arsenal in the center of pitch, and our defense seemed lost with all the pressure that was thrown onto them. We didn't stand a chance. In order to underline exactly that, Sanchez used another of our invitations to score after almost 60 minutes making it rather clear that we wouldn't take any points home tonight. The only goal left now was to avoid to lose the direct comparison against Arsenal. With both games ending 2:0 for the home team, it would be a tie and the goal difference would be taken into account if Arsenal and Dortmund both reached the same amount of points by the end of the group stage. And luckily they did not score a third goal.

Whatever is happening in Dortmund at the moment, it is simply not enough. Of course we had the least of luck during the whole season: Too many injuries, decisions of referees against us, some trouble concerning the future of some of our players and a short break for our world cup players. It is all adding up. Nevertheless it is too little what we show at the moment. It is our luck that we had already qualified for the round of 16, otherwise that game on Wednesday would have been more devestating than it actually already has been. (Editors note: The team propably was not going all out, because we were already qualified, this might have been stuck in the back of their head since the focus is and should propably be solely on the Bundesliga in our current situation; Chris). We are ranking number 15 in the Bundesliga at the moment, with a game against Frankfurt ahead. I am not exaggerating, if I am saying that three points are more than urgent at this current state.

Come on Ballspielverein: It is a difficult situation at this moment. But it could be worse. In Arsenal people stayed quiet the whole game, even leaving it 10 minutes early, despite an important victory. This won't happen with us. We will be there. Through the better and the worse. Always by your side. Singing and cheering and supporting.

Ida, 28.11.2014

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