Torsten Frings is finally getting his comeuppance, 15 years and 24 hours to the day.
The former German international became head coach of SV Darmstadt in January, around the time American Terrence Boyd joined the team.
Darmstadt was promptly relegated to 2. Bundesliga.
On Thursday, 19-year-old Texan McKinze Gaines signed with the club. One can only assume he’s planning to help finish the job Boyd started.
Why might these young Yanks be plotting revenge on a new coach of high regard who spent a couple years in MLS before retiring?
It goes back to one moment exactly 15 years ago in South Korea on June 21, 2002.
In the World Cup quarterfinals, Frings denied U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter a goal with his left arm right on the goal line. The referee and assistant ref both missed it. If only VAR existed back then.
Germany ended up winning the match 1-0 and advancing to the final before losing to Brazil.
One wonders what the Americans could have done had the goal been allowed.
Perhaps they push on and score a second to win the match (they had all the momentum in the second half), or they take down Germany in penalties. South Korea would have been the semifinal opponent and the U.S. had already played them to a 1-1 draw in the group stage.
Instead of just thinking and doing nothing about it, Boyd and Gaines are obviously trying to exact their revenge.
Darmstadt made a meteoric rise to the Bundesliga a couple years ago. First promoted to the 3. Liga in 2011, Die Lilien (yes, they’re called the Lilies) jumped to 2. Bundesliga in 2014 and immediately earned promotion to the Bundesliga.
Now the Americans are ready to reverse that trend and send Darmstadt back down to punish Frings for his 2002 handball.
Thank you Terrence Boyd and McKinze Gaines. You are true American patriots.
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