May 19, 2022
The promotion/relegation play-offs were first introduced to the German Bundesliga in 2008/09 and this season’s meeting is arguably the one to feature the two sides with the highest profiles so far. This was perhaps hardly surprising though, seeing that this season’s Bundesliga 2 contained such famous names as Werder Bermen, Schalke 04, Hamburger SV, FC Nurnburg, St Pauli, Karlsruher SC, Hannover 96, Fortuna Dusseldorf, Hansa Rostock, Dynamo Dresden as well as sides with recent Bundesliga 1 experience such as SC Padeborn and FC Ingolstadt. It was an incredibly tough league !
Unusually, given the competitive nature of Bundesliga 2, the two sides relegated from the Bundesliga in 2020/21, Werder Bremen and Schalke 04, both won automatic promotion to regain their elite status, but only after a closely fought competition full of twists and turns. Indeed, when these diaries featured Schalke’s victory over Nurnburg just before the winter break, Schalke were in 3rd place and Werder Bremen languished in 9th. The leader at the time were St Pauli, who eventually finished 5th, whilst second placed Darmstadt were to end in 4th place, pipped to the play-off place on goal difference by Hamburger SV ( HSV ), who had been in 8th position.
In the 13 times that these play-offs have been played, only on two occasions have the lower league side achieved promotion. The most recent was in 2018/19 when Union Berlin triumphed over VFB Stuttgart on away goals, whilst the only other occasion was when Hertha succumbed to Fortuna Dusseldorf 3-4 on aggregate in 2011/12.
Further cause for optimism for HSV was they had previously won play-offs in 2013/14 and 2014/15 to maintain their Bundesliga status. Unlike in other countries, in Germany, the higher league side plays the first leg at home, hence Hertha were hosting HSV in the first leg in the Olympic Stadium tonight. This season though was the first in which away goals didn’t count double in the play-off, and with both sides recently having reputations for choking under pressure, they both couldn’t achieve this over the two legs !
Hertha’s place in the play-off was subject to some typical last day dramatics. Going into the final round of the season, they held a three-point advantage over VFB Stuttgart, albeit with a worse goal difference, needing just a point from their final game to secure safety. Although on paper they faced a tougher fixture, having to go to second placed Borussia Dortmund, they looked safe with 30 minutes of football still to be played, as they led Borussia 1-0 whilst VFB were being held 1-1 by FC Koln. However, with Erling Haaland playing his last match for Borussia before his transfer to Manchester City, he scored an inevitable equaliser, albeit from the penalty spot, which inspired Dortmund to go on and win the match 2-1.
As the clock ticked into the red, Hertha were still in the safety zone, but a 92nd goal from a corner for VFB took them above Hertha and to secure their place in the Bundesliga for another season.
At this point I should declare an interest, as my father had several work assignments to Berlin in the 1970s, which as a youngster meant I spent a considerable amount of time in the city, This included watching Hertha lose a Liga-Pokal match in August 1972 in front of a crowd of 4,000 at Berlin non-league side Wacker 04 in Tegel. On one particularly memorable Saturday in January 1977, I watched Hertha lose 2-4 at home to MSV Duisburg at the Olympic Stadium as part of a crowd of 13,000, and later in the evening saw Pink Floyd on their Animals tour at the Deutschlandhalle.
I also had regular business trips to Berlin in the late 2010’s, where one of my colleagues is a fervent Hertha supporter.
On the other hand, I had many business trips to Hamburg in the late 2000’s but anyone in the office who expressed an interest in football, were fans of St Pauli !
Hertha’s form throughout the season had not been great, but after losing their first three matches they recovered to be mid-table mediocrity during the middle of the season. However, long serving coach Pal Dardai was sacked at the end of November with the club in 14th place.
Interim coach Tayfun Korfut was sacked in March, with the short-term appointment of veteran Felix Magath, formerly coach of Stuttgart, Bayern, Schalke and Fulham amongst others, made with the sole intention of securing Bundesliga status for another year. Although 7 points from three matches looked to have steered Hertha to the promised land, a disastrous 1-2 home defeat in the penultimate round in front of a crowd of 71,548 sent them into the last day lottery.
Familiar names in the Hertha squad include captain and Belgian international centre-back Deryck Boyata ( 29 caps ), formerly of Manchester City and Celtic, Ghanian journeyman midfielder Kevin Prince Boateng ( 15 caps ) who includes Tottenham, Portsmouth, AC Milan, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke amongst his previous clubs, and Montenegrin striker Stevan Jovetic ( 63 caps ), who numbers Manchester City, Fiorentina, Inter Milan, Sevilla and Monaco on his CV, and is the top scorer with 6 goals.
Slovak right-back Petar Pekarik ( 109 caps ) previously played for VFL Wolfsburg and Algerian striker Ishak Belfodi, ex-Standard Liege, Parma, Inter, Lyon and Werder Bremen has 5 goals.
HSV were winners of the European Cup in 1982/83, beating Juventus 1-0, and European Cup-Winners Cup winners in 1976-77, and famously were the club Kevin Keegan joined after leaving Liverpool. However, despite their glorious past they were relegated from the Bundesliga in 2017/18 after finishing in 17th place and 5 points adrift of automatic safety. Since relegation to Bundesliga 2 they finished 4th in three consecutive seasons to earn a reputation for bottling promotion, until finally securing a play-off berth this season.
In a youthful HSV squad, ex-Cardiff City striker Robert Glatzel has scored 22 goals this season, 10 of which were headers, centre-back Mario Vuskovic is on loan from Hajduk Split, defender Miro Mulheim is on loan from Swiss side St Gallen and Dutch midfielder Ludovit Reis formerly played for Groningen and Barcelona B.
The match was shown in the UK on Sky Sports, and Bet365.com were also live streaming. Bet365 had Hertha as 13/10 to win on the night, with MSV at 2/1 and the draw at 12/5. The temperature at the 20.30 local time kick-off were forecast to be sunny and 25 degrees. Tickets for the match were priced between 13 to 50 Euros and a sell-out crowd of just over 75,000 expected, with around 15,000 fans from Hamburg.
Hertha made three changes from their starting line-up against Dortmund, with Argentinian midfielder Santiago Ascacibar ( 3 caps ) suspended, Polish keeper Marcel Lotka out injured with a broken nose and concussion, and ex-Ajax midfielder Jurgen Ekkelenkap missing altogether from the match-day squad. In their place came Dane Oliver Christensen ( 1 cap ) in goal, and Niklas Stark and Luca Wollschlager into midfield. HSV’s one change surprisingly saw Maximilian Rohr replace Josha Vagnoman having only made three appearances all season.
Hertha no longer play in their distinctive traditional blue and white strips, and although the predominately white shirt does have faint light blue stripes, from a distance it looks white. They still have blue shorts though. HSC were in a change kit of all red.
The Hertha fans were bouncing at kick-off but HSV tried to take the sting out of the atmosphere with some patient possession football. In contrast, when Hertha got the ball, they were quite prepared to play long balls out of defence and attempt to press the HSV back four.
After a quite opening, the first incident occurred in the 14th minute when Belfodil was played in close to the by-line, but he ran into Schonlau and the referee waved play-on. Hertha then started to apply some pressure, with a corner, a free-kick and two long throws being launched into the HSV area, all of which were well defended.
Hamburg won their first corner in the 21st minute, and after this had been partially cleared Meffert sent a swerving long-range shot well wide. The midfield battle started to get intense, and Hertha’s Stark and Tousart both saw yellow after late tackles.
The games first major incident occurred in the 32 minute when Glatzel had a shot partially blocked by Pekarik and Christensen then made a save with his legs. The referee allowed play to continue but VAR intervened to review a potential hand-ball by the Slovak full-back. However, VAR then also looked at a potential handball and then a shirt-pull in the build up to the move, and eventually a free-kick was awarded to Hertha, although it wasn’t clear for which offence this was for…….
HSV continued to have a good spell though and Glatzel headed into the side netting from a tight angle after a cute chip by Rohr.
Hertha finished the half strongly, and after a free-kick into the danger zone had hit Stark and gone off harmlessly for a goal-kick, they thought they had taken the lead a minute before the interval. Mittelstadt did well on the left to deliver a good cross, which Belfodil headed into the far corner from close to the penalty spot. The linesman’s flag was immediately raised for offside and the goal was disallowed. VAR then intervened again, and from the only TV replay it looked marginal and probably onside. However, without any further TV review the goal remained disallowed.
For everyone in England who complains about the poor use of VAR in the Premiership and why can’t it be used like they do in the rest of Europe, it was perhaps reassuring to see that the two incidents in this game were as badly managed as any in England. The TV coverage subsequently showed a picture that showed Belfodil was probably two inches offside, so it was probably the correct decision in the end.
Hertha were clearly angered by the decision, and Tousart, ex Lyon and a member of the French 2021 Olympic team, burst through a week challenge on the edge of the area, but sent his shot straight at the Hamburg keeper to keep the score 0-0 at the break.
HSV opened the second half on the front foot, immediately winning a corner and then a free-kick on the edge of the area, but it all came to nothing.
Hertha had introduced Montenegrin Jovetic at half-time and he missed a golden chance to give the home side the lead in the 55th minute. After a poor headed clearance by Muheim, the ball fell to him 10 yards out, but he screwed his shot wide of the post when he should have at least got it on target.
The miss proved costly as a minute later Muheim played a pass down the left-hand channel to Reis whose first time cross sailed over Christensen to creep inside the far post for a fluke goal. There was little likelihood it was intentional but Hamburg led 0-1.
Belfodil responded for Hertha with a mazy run that beat two defenders, one of them left on the seat of his pants, but Fernandez made a good parry at his near post. A minute later there was almost an own goal as Vuskovic’s mis-timed sliding interception from Plattenhardt’s crossed needed an alert save from the HSV keeper.
However, as Hertha’s play became increasingly frantic, Hamburg remained calm, and the better chances fell to them. Kittel delivered a dangerous cross from the left than required a good header from Kampf to prevent Glatzel from scoring. Kittel then produced an incisive pass but an excellent tackle denied Jatta, and with 5 minutes remaining Reis sent a long-range effort on target but the Hertha keeper made a decent diving save.
Hertha’s final attack occurred three minutes before time, and although Mittelstadt sent a fine cross from the left wing into the 6 yard box, the referee awarded a soft foul in favour of the keeper after he had dropped the ball under pressure from Maolida.
The final act of the game was HSV substitute Gyamerah shooting from just inside the Hertha area, but Christensen made the save.
Overall, a 1-0 victory to Hamburg was probably a fair result on the night. However, to use the much used cliché, it is only half-time, and should Hertha grab an equaliser in the second leg on Monday, then there could easily be plenty of opportunity for HSV to live down to their “choker” reputation !
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJKuYTFw868
Hertha BSC Berlin : Christensen – Pekarik, Boyata, Kempf, Plattenhardt – Wollschlager ( Jovetic ), Tousart, Serdar ( Richter ), Stark ( Gechter ), Mittelstadt – Belfodil ( Maolida )
Hamburger SV : Fernandez – Heyer, Vuskovic, Schonlau, Muheim – Rohr ( Vagnoman ), Meffert, Reis – Jatta ( Kaufmann ), Glatzel, Kittel ( Gyamerah )
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