Win out or miss knockouts, Julius-Maximilians impresses with victory

Julius-Maximilians University of Wurzburg’s David Bröer 921) celebrates the team’s first goal with Ferdinand Hansel (14) as the German student-athletes rolled to a 6:0 victory of Taiyuan University of Technology

JINJIANG, Peoples Republic of China – Uncertainty is an emotion a footballer feels stepping onto the pitch when both necessity and opportunity converge to rest squarely at one’s feet.

Yet that’s the situation facing both teams – Julius-Maximilians University of Wurzburg from Germany and Taiyuan University of Technology of China – when they entered the field under the high wattage floodlights of the 20,000 seat Jinjiang Sports Center Stadium.

The players felt pangs of anxiety in the moment, too, as both team’s place in the KELME 2019 FISU University World Cup – Football quarterfinals relied on picking up a victory during they day two group stage tournament nightcap after both teams lost on opening day.

“We did feel a bit of pressure, but we said if we play our game then we will win,” said Ferdinand Hansel of Wurzburg. “And that’s what we did.”

After heading to halftime leading 2-0, the Wurzburg student-athletes pressed the initiative with their ball-control style of football further en route to a 6-0 win with the final whistle.

But it’s the first score both the team’s coach and offensive-minded playmaker David Bröer credited for the victory.

Bröer who got the scoring baggage started in the 18th minute that they both credited for their victory. When Taiyuan goalkeeper Zhisong Wang blocked but couldn’t corral a high-velocity and well-placed shot from midfield, Bröer was in position to pounce and put the ball into the back of the net.

“It was almost essential that we make a goal in the first ten-to-twenty minutes of the game,” Bröer said to broadcasters after the game. “When we can score early on, we become better and better as the game goes on.”

“We then play with more precision,” Bröer added.

Hansel scored the second, then seemingly played a contributing part in all four second-half goals from  Yannick Reinhart, Lukas Illig, and late-game substitutes Pascal Jeni and Simon Wengeler.

 Late-game substitutes Pascal Jeni helped salt away the victory for Julius-Maximilians University of Wurzburg against the engineering student-athletes from Taiyuan University during day two group stage play

Wurzburg’s third substitute, Yannick Reinhart, also added an assist. “It was really nice to come in,” a beaming Reinhart said.

“We scored most of our goals off crosses; we executed these pretty much to perfection today,” Reinhart said, before adding: “It’s just an amazing atmosphere to play here. I don’t think any of us ever played in games like this. This is just a great experience for student-athletes like us.”

Looking to generate some offense after being shut out through the first three halves of the tournament, Taiyuan University substituted Xianyang Chen for Hongwu Liu into their striker position. The line-up change didn’t alter the scoring opportunities for the student-athletes coming from coal mining country.

Taiyuan University of Technology now has two days to regroup before taking on their group stage leaders University of Malaga, the engineering majors from central China’s heartland still have lots to play for. Even those teams not advancing for the quarterfinals will play their knockout rounds for the 17-32 final places.

While its lights out for Taiyuan’s bid to advance into the University World Cup quarterfinals, Wurzburg’s 6-0 victory keeps them alive – for another must win to advance beyond the group stage.

On Monday, the Germans student-athletes from one of their country’s oldest educational institutions having been established in 1402, turn their sights now to the University of Wollongong. With the Aussies having topped Taiyuan University 2-0 on opening day before losing 2:1 to the University of Malaga 2-1 earlier in the afternoon, the team from Spain is assured the top group stage ranking. The second of the two quarterfinal spots is up for grabs.

“We faced this same situation at the European championship,” Hansel said. “We lost our first game there, too, but we went on a pretty good winning run from there. We know this situation and we’re looking forward to the next game.

“We do know that it’ll be a very tough game. But I think if we play like today we’ll be okay because today we were very, very good. When we’re very concentrated and controlling the ball, this is the key to how we play. When we have control, that’s where we find our chances.”

For the boys from Wurzburg, it’s not quite light out yet. But it’s getting there.

What Victory at the University World Cup – Football Looks Like

 Men’s Tournament, Day 2 Results