Thomas Kösling actually said the decisive sentence a few weeks ago.
He and his team, Frankfurt Galaxy, had just won the European League of Football (ELF) against the Hamburg Sea Devils.
In fact 35: 9, the opponent had virtually no chance.
When asked what the reason for the success of his team was, Kösling, the Frankfurt football coach, answered the FAZ: "It is a huge advantage for us that our defense has been playing together for a long time, has already played together at Universe."
Jan Ehrhardt
Sports editor.
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It was a remarkable answer.
Because she was remarkably honest - and remarkably accurate.
The Frankfurt defense was the backbone of the team throughout the season, and in quite a few games it was decisive for the victory.
She is number one in the league in almost all statistics.
The Defensive action, highly praised by Kösling, play a decisive role.
Opponents will then again be the Hamburg Sea Devils, who once had no chance, Frankfurt is the big favorite.
But one after the other.
First of all, the Galaxy coach's response was remarkably honest because it was at the same time something of an admission: this defense is well rehearsed, the players are familiar, they understand each other.
Why?
Because most of them already know each other from last season.
Since they were still playing under the name Frankfurt Universe in the German Football League (GFL).
Universe became Galaxy
Then, however, TV entertainer and football expert Patrick Esume and financier Zeljko Karajica founded a new league with an international flair and professionalism, the ELF, whereupon Kösling, among others, almost all actors of the "old" universe from an involvement in the " new “Galaxy convinced. Not everyone in the football city of Frankfurt and beyond liked that, which is why this fact was not willingly discussed in public by everyone at the Galaxy.
After all, Kösling did not always hold back with this fact, after all, this procedure was by no means prohibited. And meanwhile his success proves him right. Many competitors within the ELF put their teams together completely from scratch for the inaugural season, a decisive disadvantage in a sport that is heavily dependent on the smooth interaction of many different parts of the team. Things were different in Frankfurt, and the result is now an extremely successful first season, which may come to a crowning conclusion with the first ELF title awarded on Sunday.
"When you know you have a strong defense, that gives the whole team self-confidence, that gives the whole team security," said Kösling this week, and with that he also addressed an important point.
Not only did the Galaxy defenses shine last season, the offensive was also one of the best in the league.
She could often appear with more risk and greater variability than many of her opponents, thanks to the great support of her teammates on the defensive.
Over the entire season, Frankfurt allowed the least amount of space to be gained by other teams in the league and, more importantly, the fewest points.
From Frankfurt to the NFL?
But not only that: In the first season of the ELF, three players from the Galaxy played themselves in the foreground so much that they were invited to an international training session by the National Football League (NFL), the best football league in the world. There Jan-Hendrick Hoffmeyer, Yannic Kiehl and Wael Nasri, three German offensive linemen, i.e. protectors of the quarterback, will try in October in front of NFL officials to recommend themselves for a place in the so-called International Player Pathway Program and thus the chance of a place in the squad to get on an NFL team ..
Why does the Frankfurt coach nevertheless rate the chances of victory in the upcoming European final as "equally high" for both teams?
Because Hamburg is the only team that was able to defeat Frankfurt at all this season, just under 17:15 on the first matchday.
And because “endgames have their own laws,” says Kösling.
It was one of the very rare moments when he used a commonplace.