Matchday Nine: Are we there yet?

By: Scott | October 17th, 2009

About two hours into the second half of today’s top-of-the-table clash between the Werkself and Hamburg, I found myself wondering what to have for dinner. My mind doesn’t often wander to such jejune considerations while the ball is moving, so I was a bit surprised. Not as surprised, though, as I was to realise that nearly every man on the pitch at that moment appeared to be wondering the same thing. The much-ballyhooed “biggest game to date” had wound down at a rate outpacing the normal rules of time. Granted, it’s probably good that I stuck the final minutes out, or I would have missed the brief period during which the Werkself seemed to remember they wanted to win this one.

hsv3_HA_Sport_Hambu_229966b We were promised the excitement of two creative teams, forward-moving and hungry for three points. And for a short while it looked like that might be delivered,though the wrong squad (from this blog’s perspective) started the pressure at HSH-Nordbank Arena. We soon managed to start closing down the HSV options, missed what would have been a game-changing opening goal, and settled in for an evening of defence. What few openings did arise ended in a tangle of legs and a whistle. In lieu of goals, tackles of dubious merit took centre stage. By the time everyone got to go home, Vidal (always Vidal,) Barnetta and Kießling had picked up yellow cards on our side; Guy Demel was the only- but not only deserving- to make the books for Hamburg.

hsv5_HA_Sport_Hambu_229968b The final 10 minutes very nearly made the match as a flurry of action erupted, triggered by Hamburg’s near-success on goal. Our best chances came with minutes of regular time left to be played. First Rolfes had an 81st-minute header pass just over the Hamburg crossbar. Moments later, Sami Hyypiä saw his attempt cleared by Frank Rost, and finally Kießling had an unsuccessful go before the action changed sides and Hamburg were treated to a two-minute- long minute of added time.

Defensively we were iron-clad today. Hyypiä was outstanding, repeatedly breaking the hearts of Hamburg supporters as they saw run after run burst against the unconquerable Finn like gnats on windshield.

There’s no way anyone could criticise what we did to disrupt HSV’s game. One would have expected, though, that we would have been the squad dominating attack while the chaps without their star strikers would have had to relegate themselves to defensive tactics. Jupp Heynckes says the match went much as he anticipated, and attributed the overall low energy to fatigue from last week’s Internationals.

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Aside from the three yellows we’ll carry over to Dortmund’s visit to BayArena next week, there are also new doubts about Renato Augusto as the calf injury he was recently nursed back from was aggravated again during today’s meet. His play today looked somewhat reserved to me, and he might have benefited from missing this particular tie altogether rather than run unnecessary risks. But it’s too late for that now.

Before moving on to the Victory Beard, it’s worth mentioning that I strongly dislike David Jarolim. He comes off as something as a petty hood. The sort who, in high school, would have spent his lunch breaks stuffing the smaller students into their lockers and his Friday nights drinking in the park, slashing tires and then retiring his bedroom to listen to bad Speed Metal while sniffing his fingers and thinking about which teachers he’d beat up if only he could get himself bitten by a radioactive spider. Ah, these little men and their big chests….

Matchday Nine. Still undefeated but no better positioned on the SVB/HSV roundabout than we were before we started. While neither side will turn their noses up at making off with a point, neither can be happy to have let the gap narrow to two points between first/second and third place. Nonetheless, let’s wipe today from the records and reveal another small piece of Glory. Surely next week will be a far more exciting affair.

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