SOCCER-GERMANY/UNEVEN DRAW No fear in small German town as amateur soccer team prepares to take on giants Bayern Munich in German Cup

Record ID: 144632

  • Title: SOCCER-GERMANY/UNEVEN DRAW No fear in small German town as amateur soccer team prepares to take on giants Bayern Munich in German Cup
  • Date: 7th August 2015
  • Summary: NOETTINGEN, GERMANY (AUGUST 6, 2015) (REUTERS) ROAD LEADING TO NOETTINGEN SIGN FOR NOETTINGEN WINDOW OF SHOP WITH BAYERN MUNICH AND FC NOETTINGEN FLAGS EXTERIOR OF WERNER GARAGE FC NOETTINGEN FAN JUERGEN WERNER WALKING THROUGH WORKSHOP (SOUNDBITE) (German) FC NOETTINGEN FAN, JUERGEN WERNER, SAYING: "Of course it is unbelievable when you get a draw like that. It is the bigg
  • Embargoed: 22nd August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA19YBM4UACB6IZLAAG270BWV7N
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: It is the German version of David and Goliath - as a small amateur soccer team gears up to take on giants Bayern Munich in the first round of the German Cup.
    But people in the small town of Noettingen in the southern Germany of Baden-Wuerttemberg are seeing the somewhat uneven clash as more of a reason to celebrate and get behind their local club, FC Noettingen.
    Shop windows in the town - which has a population of just over 2,000 - have been decked out with flags of the two teams ahead of Sunday's (August 9) game, with local Noettingen fans say the draw against Bayern is a dream come true for the fifth division club.
    "Of course it is unbelievable when you get a draw like that. It is the biggest thing you could ever experience. As a soccer player, I can sympathise with the boys who will be up against Bayern and will probably give everything they've got," said Juergen Werner, owner of a car garage in the town and loyal fan of FC Noettingen.
    Last year the team was drawn against Bundesliga club Schalke 04 in the first round of the cup, and lost 0-2.
    But the experience didn't put them off trying again, and this year they've been set an even bigger challenge against last season's Bundesliga champions.
    For coach Michael Wittwer, winning isn't the main goal. Instead he wants his players to just go out and put everything they have into the match.
    "It is important for me that on they day they show what they can do and if they manage to bring that onto the field and it is not enough, then so be it because the opposition is overpowering. But it would be worse if we didn't push ourselves to our limit and we fall apart. We don't want that. We want to see a sporting competition against Bayern and go into the game with all that we have so that we can say we did everything we could and perhaps only lost narrowly," Wittwer, who used to play professionally for Karlsruhe SC, told Reuters TV on Thursday (August 6).
    However, Sunday's match won't be taking place on the home pitch. FC Noettingen's stadium is too small to host the German Cup crowds, and instead Noettingen fans will head for Karlsruhe, some 20 kilometres away, where there could be a crowd of up to 30,000 filling the city's Wildpark Stadium.
    Wittwer says he hopes his squad is not put off by such an unusually large audience.
    "We normally play in front of 500, 600, 700 people and then suddenly we will have a big wall (of people) in front of us. I hope that they (the players) are able to block them out and play their best, bring onto the field what makes them strong and then after 90 or 120 minutes or after penalties we can say, ok that was great, really great. Bayern can come here often," he said.
    Asked about what his prediction for the gane - Wittwer said he expects it to be a tightly fought match.
    "My prediction ? 6-5 in penalties", he said with a smile.
    As for the players themselves, they say that they are more excited than scared about the challenge of playing against such legends as Bayern Munich.
    "I think that fear is not a subject here in the team. We are really looking forward to it and we hope that we will be able to annoy them as much as possible. We don't know what will happen and we will just wait and see. We will try to bring forward our best performance but we are not scared," said team captain Timo Brenner.
    Adding to the party atmosphere for the club and town, is a home made music video by the team, with the title "Wie ein Feuer" or "Like a Fire", which shows different people around the town and their roles in the club.
    The video has already had more than 25,000 clicks on YouTube.
    FC Noettingen and FC Bayern Munich will battle it out in Karlsruhe on Sunday, with kick off at 1600 local (1400GMT).
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