Sunday’s match was designated by Sinikaarti as the ten year celebration of the group, and as I predicted, the team gave us the best possible present to mark the occasion. Victory was never in doubt against VesVi, and the five goals in the second half led to a very comfortable 6-0 (1-0) victory. It was in fact the highest margin for us this season, and especially in the second half everything seemed fun and easy for the boys in blue.

In the stands we were as loud as we have ever been. The successful deployment of the anniversary choreo seemed to give everybody an enormous high, and we dumped all that energy onto the field in a constant barrage of noise. Apart from a few semi-dangerous counter attacks, the first half was all ours. The goals seemed to elude us, but when we decided to sing our version of Horto Magiko, the flood gates were almost immediately opened. Juha Kumara’s shot bounced off the post back to Adnan Omerovic, who put the ball in with ease. I don’t know if we have ever sung this song in the first half before, apart from when it was first introduced on an away trip in Espoo years ago. Pretty cool that the team scored almost immediately when we did so.

The second half started with a match-ending goal by Jacin Dakkaki, and before the hour-mark the score was 5-0. The final 6-0 goal was scored by Retu Harju ten minutes from full time, his first this season. He is the 17th player to score for us in competitive matches this season. Pretty remarkable.

In fact, yesterday’s match was testament to our depth. Adnan Omerovic has not played many matches this season, but now that he was given full 90 minutes, he scored two goals and had numerous chances to complete his hat-trick, including a powerful shot on the

post just seconds before the final whistle. Other players who filled-in for absent regulars included Mohammed El-Harrak, Retu Harju, and Mika Suonsyrjä. All of these players were part of the team last season too, and it was great to see them combine for four goals total.

We are now seven points ahead of ViiPV on the table, and both teams have three matches remaining. This means that we need only one more win to secure promotion, and we will have three chances to do that. To make things even more interesting, our next match is away against ViiPV on Friday this week. Even a draw will be enough for us in that match.

So all in all things are quite awesome for Tampere United supporters right now. We just pulled off the most impressive choreo in Sinikaarti’s history, and on Friday we’ll get to travel en masse to Viiala and support our boys onto promotion. We plan to take the train to the match, leaving from Tampere at 3:37 pm and arriving in Viiala at 3:55 pm. The match kicks off at 6 pm sharp, and after the match we’ll take the 9:01 pm train back to Tampere. The walk from the railway station to the stadium is less than a kilometer, so there’s no excuse for missing this trip.

TamU-K – VesVi 6-0 (1-0)
31 min 1-0 Adnan Omerovic
46 min 2-0 Jacin Dakkaki
53 min 3-0 Mohammed El Harrak
55 min 4-0 Timo Kauppinen, rp
58 min 5-0 Adnan Omerovic
80 min 6-0 Retu Harju

Discipline:
72 min Mika Suonsyrjä, TamU-K (caution)