How does a tournament day start? Just like any other: breakfast – more swallowed than enjoyed – grab your bag, step into your shoes, and head off to the venue. At this point, we could walk the route in our sleep. Still, the mood was good – full of energy, because the first match of the day was coming up. Focus on, tunnel vision engaged, everything aligned for the match against TIGERs Mannheim.

ER-Force vs TIGERs

And the match? Surprisingly solid. Sure, we lost 0:5 – but that score doesn’t tell the full story. We played way better than in our first game against them. Managed some real attacks on their goal, had much more presence in their half. Overall, it felt structured, stable, clean. A huge improvement – and it showed.

Then about two hours until the next match. A proper team meeting: what worked, what didn’t, who’s doing what. Then we got to work. The venue was as hectic as ever – people fixing, coding, testing. The match before ours – ZJUNlict vs RoboCin – ran long, so we didn’t get on the field until right before kickoff.

The game against RoboDragons was tough but intense. We took an early 1:0 lead – quick moment of hope. Then the equalizer: 1:1 due to an own goal. A chip bounced off our own centerback and deflected straight toward the goal. It happens. The match went into overtime – and eventually to a penalty shootout. Sadly, we lost.

Naturally, the mood after that was subdued. No one really knew what went wrong. We had barely changed anything since the last match. One possible explanation: maybe the vision system was adjusted for another team’s robots at some point and never switched back. Whether that was the reason? Hard to say. But that’s part of the game – learning to deal with stuff like that.

The rest of the evening was more relaxed. We watched some matches, chatted with other teams, repaired a few things here and there. And then, of course: the open TC/OC meeting – another late night in the hall until 10 PM.

ER-Force vs RoboDragons

Some ended the day with a walk on the beach, others crashed straight into bed – completely wiped.