Strasse to Glory weekly recap: Now You’re Gonna Believe Us

We went into this week excited to see what we could do as I hoped to end the whole season this week. My manager rating was low, as was team confidence, but I was determined to clinch promotion.

But before that, I found this tweet from former Bayern Munich transfer target and current RB Leipzig defender Nordi Mukiele:

I am sure this will have no affect on us at all for the rest of our simulation.

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February

Kaiserslautern 4-0 Magdeburg

15’ Redondo (1-0)

32’ Huth (2-0)

50’ Ritter (3-0)

59’ Huth (P) (4-0)

A nice, simple easy win for us. The first time we were ever awarded a penalty kick and it was a fully deserved one.

Kaiserslautern 2-1 Ingolstadt

43’ Beister (0-1)

69’ Kostadinov (1-1)

83’ Skarlatidis (2-1)

Not the best start for the team, but a good win nonetheless.

Viktoria Köln 1-1 Kaiserslautern

8’ Wunderlich (1-0)

59’ Skarlatidis (1-1)

For some reason this Viktoria Köln team has been our kryptonite this season. I don’t know why.

Kaiserslautern 2-1 Saarbrücken

22’ Fejzullahu (0-1)

35’ Ritter (1-1)

70’ Paik Seung-ho (2-1)

A good derby win here to go 2 for 2 against the boys from the Saarland.

Meppen 0-1 Kaiserslautern

30’ Ritter

I probably should have scored more here.

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March (warning, I get super angry in this one)

It was at this point where I realized it was much more fun playing through all the games as opposed to simulating them. So, from now on, that’s exactly what I did for all the episodes after this one.

Kaiserslautern 2-2 Dynamo Dresden

16’ Huth (1-0)

34’ Will (1-1)

42’ Huth (2-1)

64’ Stark (P) (2-2)

The goal that tied this was not a penalty. No referee in the world would call that a penalty. Yet, for some reason, as we will see later, this game gives the lightest penalties.

Kaiserslautern 3-4 Hansa Rostock

5’ Farrona Pulido (0-1)

16’ Huth ** (1-1)

20’ Skarlatidis (2-1)

32’ Litka (2-2)

58’ Löhmannsröben (2-3)

71’ Litka (2-4)

84’ Redondo (3-4)

I played this game angry after the last result, and it showed. The defense lapsed yet again and despite being up in the 20’ we conceded three more goals to lose the game. A low point for sure. Huth’s goal in the 16’ tied the record for most goals in a 3. Liga season.

Urdingen 2-6 Kaiserslautern

8’ Huth *** (0-1)

14’ Ritter (0-2)

53’ Pusch (1-2)

63’ Pourie (2-2)

69’ Frank (2-3)

73’ Paik Seung-ho (2-4)

83’ Frank (2-5)

90’ Sessa (2-6)

A true revenge game for having dropped all those points. Huth’s goal in the 8’ breaks the record for most goals scored in the 3. Liga. Former loanee Marvin Pourie tied the game, but then we stepped hard on the gas.

Zwickau 0-2 Kaiserslautern

33’ Ritter (0-1)

55’ Frank (0-2)

It’s good to pick up more points. Good to see the kid Jonas Frank score.

Kaiserslautern 3-0 Hallescher

2’ Huth (1-0)

59’ Ritter (2-0)

63’ Huth (3-0)

Huth keeps piling on the goals with Ritter, making them the deadliest duo in the league by far.

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April (I get angry here too)

Despite dropping points in those early games, we enter the month of April atop the 3. Liga table. It’s gonna be interesting if we can keep the momentum up and if we keep winning maybe we can...

1860 München 5-4 Kaiserslautern

16’ Agbowo (1-0)

20’ Lex (2-0)

22’ Huth (2-1)

45’ Mölders (P) (3-1)

48’ Huth (3-2)

55’ Huth (3-3)

58’ Mölders (4-3)

77’ Lex (5-3)

87’ Sessa (5-4)

There were so many things wrong this game. The defense was so bad, example being that one goal from Mölders in the 58’ that happened because the computer decided our right back should stop moving. Our passing was awful. Just a terrible performance overall.

Kaiserslautern 3-0 Verl

41’ Huth (1-0)

55’ Redondo (2-0)

90+2’ Huth (3-0)

Nice clean sheet redemption match here.

Waldhof Mannheim 2-7 Kaiserslautern

11’ Ritter (0-1)

28’ Huth (0-2)

32’ Ritter (0-3)

41’ Nedelev (0-4)

50’ Huth (0-5)

63’ Boyamba (1-5)

79’ Martinović (P) (2-5)

83’ Huth (2-6)

90’ Paik Seung-ho (2-7)

Once again this week, one of the worst penalty calls I have ever seen. Richards steps in front of an attacker, deflects the ball, and doesn’t bring him to the ground. Ref calls a penalty. Thankfully, we were up by a lot at the time.

Kaiserslautern 3-3 Lubeck

15’ Huth (1-0)

27’ Ritter (2-0)

29’ Steinwender (P) (2-1)

38’ Ramaj (2-2)

54’ Steinwender (P) (2-3)

63’ Paik Seung-ho (3-3)

For the third time this week, we were hit by a bullshit penalty call in the 54’. Richards lunged for the ball, missed by a bit, on the line at the top of the box and the referee called a penalty. Add to that a horrible offside call on an onside Elias Huth in the 85’ and we missed our chance at clinching promotion.

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May

Unterhaching 1-1 Kaiserslautern

18’ Huth (0-1)

90’ Fuchs (1-1)

A late dagger from Unterhaching doesn’t necessarily mean we’re sunk. We secure automatic promotion and are only two points behind Hansa Rostock for the title.

Türkgücü München 1-8 Kaiserslautern

4’ Huth (0-1)

11’ Huth (0-2)

27’ Boere (1-2)

45’ Huth (1-3)

51’ Ritter (1-4)

60’ Huth (1-5)

62’ Sickinger (1-6)

72’ Huth (1-7)

86’ Huth (1-8)

We’re not in control of our own destiny. We need a win here and then hope that Hansa drops points to 17th place Hallescher. We more than make up for it on our end with Huth bagging 6 goals in our most lopsided win this year.

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All our eyes turned to Hansa. We needed either a loss or a draw from them.

They drew 1-1. After being as low as 19th in the table, Kaiserslautern not only won automatic promotion, they took the title as 3. Liga champions.

We won exactly €1.6 million in prize money. It’s not nothing!

At the end of the day, we finish with a 20-9-9 record and win the league with 69 points (nice). Our goal differential was the best in the league by a mile at +42, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. While our 96 goals for was incredible and 1st in the league by a lot, our goals allowed was awful. With 52 goals against, we had the 7th worst goals allowed rating in the league. We’re going to address this in the transfer market immediately.

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End of Season Awards

Player of the Tournament: Elias Huth (FCK)

Golden Boot: Elias Huth (FCK)

Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Morten Behrens (MAG)

Team of the Tournament: 4-4-2

Spahić (FCK)

Schad (FCK) Richards (FCK) Salger (1860) Kurzweg (ING)

Deville (SAR) Sickinger (K’lautern) Ritter (FCK) Farrona Pulido (HAN)

Beck (MAG) Huth (FCK)

Am I the only one who thinks it’s weird that Behrens won keeper of the tournament, but he isn’t listed on the Team of the Tournament list?

Final Statistical Tables

Scoring

1. Huth: 46 G - 38 gp
2. Ritter: 20 G - 34 gp

Other scorers: 6 - Skarlatidis; 5 - Paik Seung-ho; 4 - Redondo; 3 - Nedelev, Frank, Sessa; 1 - Kleinsorge, Kostadinov, Sickinger

Here’s a fun fact: Compared to real life, Elias Huth would be T-16 for the best league goal scoring mark in European football history. He’s tied with Cristiano Ronaldo (2011-12), Lionel Messi (2012-13), and Latvian striker Aleksandrs Čekulajevs (2011 Estonian League). For reference, Gerd Müller only scored 36 goals in his record breaking 1972-73 season, technically meaning that Huth scored the most goals in one season in German league history.

Assists

T-1) Ritter 17 a - 34 gp

T-1) Huth 17 a - 38 gp

3) Paik Seung-ho 12 a - 29 gp

T-5) Todor Nedelev 7 a - 24 gp

T-10) Kenny Prince Redondo 6-a 23 gp

T-10) Simon Skarlatidis 6a - 21 gp

T-10) Carlo Sickinger 6a - 38 gp

T-21) Nicolas Sessa 5a - 20 gp

Other assists: 3 - Hloušek; 2 - Kleinsorge, Kostadinov, Mitrovic; 1 - Schad, Hercher

Clean Sheets

T-6) Avdo Spahić 10 cs - 38 gp

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So what will things look like in next season’s 2. Liga?

It seems we will be joined in the 2. Bundesliga by Arminia Bielefeld and VfB Stuttgart, who were relegated from the top flight. Replacing them are Zweite Liga winners Hamburg SV and runners up Fortuna Düsseldorf. In the relegation playoff, 1. FC Köln lost to 1. FC Nürnberg and will join us in the 2nd division. I can also happily report that Bayern München won the top flight yet again, beating out Borussia Dortmund in 2nd place. The remaining European spots from 3-6 are as follows: RB Leipzig, Schalke (lol), Mönchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt.

Lastly, our team - along with Hansa Rostock - will be replacing Eintracht Braunschweig and Holstein Kiel the 2nd division.

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This week, we will be streaming on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 2:00pm. We will not be playing on Wednesday due to Bayern’s game against Bayer Leverkusen.

So stay tuned, and we will see you then!