Perhaps FV Illertissen would never have won last weekend’s soccer game if it hadn’t lost another one months ago because of an own goal. Good things rarely come from hits into one’s own net, as the author of these lines knows from his own experience: for one season he consistently gave his goalkeeper one in every second or third game. Only the opponents were grateful.
In Illertissen, too, the joy was initially rather restrained about the own goal that the regional league team had to accept against Fortuna Düsseldorf in August. Kevin Frisorger scored the fatal goal in the third minute. The game ended 1:3, meaning the FVI were out of the first round of the DFB Cup. But things only started in distant Manchester. A group of United fans had been watching the match day in a pub and decided before kick-off to visit the team and city that would score the first goal. Maybe Leipzig, Frankfurt, Berlin? No: Illertissen!
The agreement was honored on Saturday. The result was a cheering spectacle that the Vöhlinstadion had rarely experienced before: 18 English people who had traveled there sang and clapped so that not only the… Augsburger Allgemeine in Manchester at Old Trafford. Other eyewitnesses and earwitnesses also reported afterwards that the remaining 400 stadium visitors were at best as extras. An FVI employee reported to BR that the English had used “a special tactic”: half of the group warmed up in the clubhouse, while the other half got excited in the stands.
The effort was successful, Illertissen won 3-1 against the second team from 1. FC Nürnberg. The short visit from Manchester also had a beneficial effect on the local economy. According to media reports, FVI devotional items sold extremely well – and the English were also said to have consumed a lot of beer before they flew home. Rarely would one have been more enthusiastic about an own goal afterwards: Anyone who sticks with the Swabians should say a big thank you to Kevin Frisorger.