My First Match

I had to wait a few weeks for my international clearance through the USSF and the DFB, but it finally came through this week. I got my first whole match with SV Drochtersen/Assel last Friday and we won 1-0. I had a solid performance, but I think it will be a game or two before I find my rhythm. There is still a long road ahead of me and still much work to be done, but I am excited because this was another step towards realizing my goals (also, it has not been an easy process of getting my foot in the door). I plan to finish out the rest of the season, 7 games, and then hopefully trial at a higher level during the break.

Drochtersen plays in the Oberliga Niedersachsen Ost (5th division) and is fighting for promotion into the Regionalliga (4th division). We would need to win the league and then have a playoff with the top team from the Niedersachsen West for this to happen. Drochtersen has held the top of the tabelle for most of the year, but with a rash of injuries (7 starters out for the season) we have dropped to the third position. The league is comparable to D-2 college soccer, but there are more talented players sprinkled in this league (keep in mind some players can live off their Oberliga salaries). On a side note, I would place the MLS (US top division) between the German 2nd and 3rd divisions (depending on the team).

I have to admit, though, it's a tough comparison to make. American soccer players have the edge athletically, but German fußball players are more advanced tactically. Germans, and most of the rest of the world for that matter, grow up watching the game and having it as a part of their culture. Because of this, European players tend to have a deeper understanding of the game. America has a larger pool of players to select from and, naturally, the stronger athletes tend to fare better on the field (in the US). However, the best athletes in America are usually drawn to American football, basketball, and baseball (a discussion for another time) in high school and beyond. Whereas the best athletes in Germany and Europe (and the rest of the word) play football. Either way, the trend is slowly changing and soccer in the States is improving.

Archived Quote - Playing

-George Bernard Shaw

Tageblatt

Here's an article from a local German newspaper:

Here is a translation from Google:

A US-Boy for D / A (Drochtersen/Assel)
Kyle Kaveny plays on Friday evening in Kehdingen (a part of Drochtersen) for the first time in Germany

The trophy in his hands is made of chocolate and can not melt easily (the lady interviewing me didn't have a soccer ball on hand, so she bought the next best thing from a nearby pastry shop). Constant value arises Kyle Kaveny before his career. The 25-year-old American wants to be a professional soccer player in Germany. As Friday falls in Kehdingen the start. Then Kaveny accrues for the first time for a German club - for the SV Oberliga Drochtersen/Assel. Kick-off is 8 PM in Drochtersen against Rot-Weiss Cuxhaven.

Kyle Kaveny has spent the winter in Germany. He was in Dusseldorf, Munich, Erfurt and Hamburg. Hamburg is a great city, so liberal and exciting, just like San Francisco, he says in English. The Californian has already learned a little German, though in America, he studied Russian (this is not true) and Spanish (true). His dream would be a contract with a Bundes league. But first he is happy to be able to play at Drochtersen/Assel. "As a defender," Kaveny says suddenly in perfect German. "Right, left, and move out" were the words he first learned. "Before I could count one, two, three," says former student and laughs.

At the University of California, Santa Barbara, UCSB short, he studied mechanical engineering and sports sciences. Since November is Kaveny in Germany. End of May, he will fly back to his homeland - and he hopes that he can come back and he gets the new season with a team somewhere in Germany a professional contract. He wants to kick, necessarily - because even if Kaveny appears at first sight, somewhat of a smart surfer boy from California, where he has never surfed. "For me there was always football," he says. For SV Drochtersen/Assel Kaveny came in a roundabout way, through a friend of D/A-player Raphael Staffeldt.

A shelter has found Kaveny first with his now injured countryman and D/A-player Marcus Storey in Heimfeld. One of the unlucky fortune of the other: That the SV Drochtersen/Assel the defensive players for the last eight games of the season will still run, is on the losing streak of the staff in 3rd place. Nine players are missing coach Jagemann, seven of them from the starting lineup. New additions Fabian Völkner (knee injury) for which their season has ended, Markus Zimmermann (bruise) and Daniel Gröne (foot injury). Against the virtually relegated almost last in the table Cuxhaven, Kaveny will play well in central defense in a back four that has never before done this together (3 of the 4 starting defenders are new).

Hamburger

Today I sat down with the manager of Drochtersen to discuss the conditions for signing me for the remainder of the season. Nothing is official yet, so I have been putting off the celebrations until after I play in my first match. The biggest delay will be for my International Transfer Clearance which must be completed by the DFB (German Football Federation) and the USSF (US Soccer Federation). When I am cleared by the powers at be, I hope to do work on the field and help this club get promoted to the next division.


Hamburg is an international melting pot of art and culture like a New York and yet it has the liberal sociability of a San Francisco. We checked out the Sternschanze the other day and had some tee and ice cream in front of this beat up building. Supposedly, the structure was city-owned and home to struggling artists -- welcomed or not, I did not know.

St. Pauli is a club in Hamburg playing in the 2nd Bundesliga and fighting to get into the 1st. I was fortunate enough to check out a match and this club has the raddest culture I have ever seen. A carnival bordering the stadium adds to the feel of an oddball, carny atmosphere; their emblem of a skull and crossbones explains their nickname as the "pirates of the league"; and their colors of brown, red and white gives the feel of dirty and diehard with a pinch of class. To be a fan of the club is to be part of the "kult" culture. Everyone, from children to doctors to punk rockers, supports the club. If I had the chance, I would love to play for this side.

Archived Quote - The Right Track

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

- William Rogers