On our way to Dortmund

By Walter Broeckx

After Saturday’s great win over Liverpool most of us will still feel a bit high I guess. Well I do anyway.

But even more excitement is creeping in. Since yesterday I am the lucky owner of my match ticket for our Champions League match at Dortmund. And once you get that ticket in your hand…the match has started in a way. Feeling even more excited right now.

As Dortmund is only a two hours drive by car from where I live it is a rather short trip compared to when I come to the Emirates. But we plan to make it a special day as our travelling group of 4 will not just be going to the Signal Iduna park. No in order to give Untold the best coverage of them all we are going to have a look at the Youth League game that takes place on the same day between the U19 from Dortmund and Arsenal.

So we leave a bit earlier than we should to make sure that we will be there to give our young Guns a bit of support. And the entrance for this youth game is free so I couldn’t resist to take this golden chance to see our future playing in the flesh. Speaking about flesh, I hope they have some Bratwurst where the youth game is played.  I might be hungry when we arrive there.

So for us it is a great chance to see players like Bellerin, Jebb and the rest. And I have read that Crowley will maybe make his debut on this stage. No Akpom as he is suspended and that is a bit sad as I looked forward to see him play also. But whoever plays I hope they give us a good game. The squad for this youth game is Iliev, Bellerin, Hayden, O’connor, Moore, Kamara, Olsson, Iwobi, Jebb, Maitland-Niles, Hinds. Crowley, Vickers, Zelalem.

So yes, you can feel jealous about me being able to see the likes of future Arsenal stars like Bellerin (a personal favourite of mine), Crowley and Zelalem live.

And if we win this game then our U19 will be qualified for the next round. So maybe we could have a first party around six already.

And then we will make the short trip to the Signal Iduna stadium to join the other gooners in trying to outshout the Yellow wall. The famous Sud-stand of Borussia Dortmund.

But before the game I also hope to meet Ian who is one of our contributors on Untold. I sure hope we can find each other somewhere. We’ve got each others phone number so I hope it will work out. It is always great to see other people involved with Untold in the flesh. Speaking about flesh. I am rather sure that there will be Bratwurst around the stadium. I probably will like another one by then.  [Walter – you are supposed to be constantly in training for your work as a ref this season – all this eating is not good for you, – Tony.]

Just hope that I will here my phone when it rings as when there is a lot of noise I tend to miss it. But I will try to reach you anyway Ian.

Going back to Dortmund brings back nice memories. Two years ago I was there in the aftermath of that terrible defeat we suffered a few weeks before. We had just lost Cesc. And Nasri. And the feeling was of being totally down. But we took the lead that day and defended it well, till the last seconds of the game when they scored a cracking goal. A 1-1 result was a fair result that day. Well we felt happy with it and the Dortmund fans I spoke with after the game after getting myself another…Bratwurst were also rather pleased with the point.

It all was very nice and friendly over there that day. I hope we can have the same experience this year. The only difference I want this time is to take all 3 points back to London. Or at least one point. That wouldn’t be too bad either.

The away part of the ground will be full this time. And that wasn’t the case last time due to the bad results just before I think. This time tickets were sold like….oh well delicious, hot and juicy  Bratwurst outside the Dortmund stadium I think.  [Look, much more of this and I am going to start editing your work Walter.  I know editors don’t edit each other, but there are limits – Tony]

So here I am counting the hours till we get there.  Tickets are ready. GPS is ready. Car is filled with fuel.

Just waiting for my friends. My first live game of this season awaits me. My God, I feel excited.

Bring it on and let us hope that our Gunners silence the Yellow Wall so you can all hear us Gooners out there out sing them.

Of course in the days afterwards you can expect Untold to bring you coverage of not only the big game but we will be bringing you something about the youth game also.

Today’s anniversaries appear here

The books…

• Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
• Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
• The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches

Today on the history site

Stewart Robson, decent footballer outrageous commentator

The Arsenal History Blog from the AISA Arsenal History Society

• The Anniversary Files:  January to June
  
• The Anniversary Files: July to September   
• The Anniversary Files: October to December