Goalgetter Mustapha Cassiem hid his head in his shirt. Fighting back the tears that were probably coming anyway. A little further on, captain Cédric de Gier grabbed his blond hair in bewilderment. He walked through the small Viennese room feeling frustrated. Where spectators practically stood on the back line to follow the spectacle. An indoor party, in which Harverstehuder eventually ran the polonaise. During the celebrations there was even a moment of panic about the fallen goalkeeper Anton Brinkmann, but fortunately he recovered after a few tense minutes – and medical care.
These were the last fragments of HDM in the wonderful Viennese weekend. Because they were so close. Close to something unique. Something that no Dutch club had yet achieved. Never has a men’s team come so close to the European Indoor Cup top prize. A missed shoot-out by Yorben Fontaine ultimately proved fatal for HDM. He was the only one of the six players (three on both sides) who did not score. It was the end of a match that had gone crazy.
From 1-4 to 6-4
The great Harvestehuder – last season’s German champions – found themselves trailing 4-1 after seventeen minutes. However, HDM lost that margin again after halftime, when the Hamburgers overcame it and increased to 6-4. This was largely due to top scorer Michael Körper, who scored five times in the final.
Thanks to Sander Groenheijde and Ruben Versteeg, HDM managed a draw in the final phase and thus a shoot-out series, which was won by the Germans. As a result, HDM will go down as a losing finalist in this tournament, just like in 2012. Then they lost 7-3 to Club an der Alster, also from Hamburg. The grapes are now even more sour for Kieran Dartee’s team, who were so surprisingly eliminated by Voordaan in the semi-final match at the last National Championship.
