No first hand analysis from yours truly this week–the match was not on TV in the US and both of the feeds I was watching crapped out before Petric’s first goal. . .

More bad news from the training room: Alex Silva has ”ruptured” ligament in his ankle (a bad sprain, in layman’s terms) and has been shut-down for the remainder of 2008.  This is one of those times where the long winter break is beneficial to us. BUT, this leaves the defense woefully short of bodies, with Bastian Reinhardt and Thimothee Atouba also out. Colin Benjamin should see time in Alex Silva’s spot . . . he’s the only defender that’s fit.

I don’t know about y’all, but Alex Silva is really growing on me. I was ecstatic when we traded for Petric, pleasantly surprised when we bought Marcell Jansen (though his reputation at Bayern for being injured often was well earned), intrigued when we bought Thiago Neves (but now am having second thoughts), and relieved when we bought Alex Silva for the hijacked Luciano Monzon. Of the 4, Petric has been everything we could have wanted and more, scoring 7 goals in 10 starts for HSV so far. Alex Silva, after a brief learning period, has adjusted to the Bundesliga magnificently, and is being held out by BMJ as a model to Thiago Neves (who so far has to be considered a flop). Despite being on crutches for a while, Alex Silva has a bounce to his step–his former club, São Paolo, are Brazilian champions.

So we head into the final league match of 2008 against Eintracht Frankfurt at the ‘Bank, and at this point, I think we need to say that things are going pretty well, despite all the injuries HSV have suffered. I think that the results from the first few weeks of the season got our hopes up a little too high, and now the side know that nobody’s going to hand them the title. By the start of the 2nd half of the season, we can count on the return of Alex Silva, Reinhardt, and most importantly, Dutch international Nigel de Jong. We all saw how this side performs when all the players are fit; staying healthy is a bit of a cliché in sport, but for HSV it is paramount to any chance they have at the CL. And for me, that’s the real prize. If we won the title, I’m not sure what I’d do with myself, but making the Champions League (even through qualifying) is a reasonable expectation for this year’s team. It was a reasonable expectation of last year’s team, too, but VDV’s pending transfer, the manager search and a petulant Vincent Kompany pretty much derailed that team. Huub Stevens had lost the dressing room by the time the players returned from the winter break and Beiersdorfer and Hoffman didn’t do us any favors by stubornly prolonging the search (although in retrospect, it was fortunate that they picked BMJ and not Fred Rutten).

Preview of the Frankfurt match to follow shortly.

The club addressed the loss of goal-scoring production from Rafael van der Vaart by trading for Mladen Petric of Dortmund on 17 August.

They filled the hole in central defense created by Kompany’s departure with Alex Silva of São Paolo.

They attempted to add depth to the defense by going after left back Luciano Monzon of Boca Juniors, and when their target was hijacked by another side, they quickly and decisively switched their focus to another young talent, Marcell Jansen of Bayern.

And finally, they are adding a true number 10, a creative midfielder to fill VDV’s rather sizeable shoes. Hamburg supporters, I give you Thiago Neves of Brazilian side Fluminense. Neves is considered somewhat of a late bloomer by Brazilian standards but does hold the rare distinction of having scored a *hat trick* in a major cup final (the 2008 Copa Libertadores), but his supreme efforts were unable to lift Flum past all-time underdog LDU Quito of Ecuador (one commenter posted that LDU winning the Copa was like a team from Belgium winning the Champions League, it was that big an upset).  Neves also bagged a brace at the Olympics in Brazil’s 3-0 victory over hosts China. He is known for his endurance, his pace and his accurate long passing. What’s not to love? 

This is it folks. HSV have ponied up the dough and are serious about mounting a challenge for the CL next season. Even if we don’t get rid of Atouba (and as much as I don’t like the guy, keeping him makes some sense for the purpose of depth in the back), this is a strong side. To quote Bundesliga Meister Jan:

Hamburg:

-van der Vaart

-Kompany

-Zidan

-Atouba(?)

+Petric

+Alex Silva

+Marcell Jansen

+Thiago Neves

+Jonathon Pitroipa

= Stronger HSV? 

Ja, Jan, I do agree.

Here’s the story from the Bayern’s web site (in English). This presumably kills the deal for Luciano Monzon (or more likely, Betis hijacked Monzon and HSV needed a backup plan), and he is headed to Real Betis, as I reported earlier today.

Here’s a bio of the lad from the English Wikipedia. He will be presented in Hamburg tomorrow (Thursday), 28 August. The transfer fee has so far been undisclosed and Jansen will reportedly sign a new deal with Hamburg through 2013.

OTHER QUICKIES:

•Anis Ben-Hatira has been loaned to Nürnberg. The same story says that Hannover are now after Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (who is recovering from major knee surgery and has yet to play this season) for a loan spell, but Choupo-Moting and HSV have told Hannover to get lost.

•Simon Braasch of Mopo speculates that prized prospect Macaulay Christantus and Miroslav Stepanek could be loaned out before the transfer window closes Sunday. I don’t know about Stepanek, but I *really* doubt whether HSV will let Christantus go somewhere that they can’t monitor his health and progress, not to mention that the kid has only been in Germany since November 2007 and it’s the first time he’s been away from home. Oh, and there have yet to be any offers for Thimothee Atouba. SIGH.

Reports last week had the Argentine international due into Hamburg following Argentina’s gold medal match versus Nigeria at the Olympic Games. Well, the games have come and gone and Monzon is not in Hamburg. Reports in the last day (or so)–with a big shout out to loyal readers Ahsiq and Juliet for the scoops–indicate that Real Betis are desperately attempting to make a last minute bid for Monzon, while Hamburg and Boca still have not put pen-to-paper.  Boca have an offer of €5.2m from HSV, and Betis surely will have to offer much more than that.

On yesterday’s news that Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley was the final transfer target comes news that HSV have made Portsmouth a €10.0m offer for Niko Krancjar. Again, huge thanks to Juliet for pointing out that Krancjar is now injured and out for 3-6 months with torn ligaments in his ankle. Add to that the Pompey have already lost Sulley Muntari and Pedro Mendes this summer and this rumor already smells like last week’s fish. I’m still prayin’ that Bradley is the one they will sign. . .

•Negotiations with Alex Silva, his agent(s) and Sao Paolo are progressing quite slowly. But Silva is quite eager to break the “jinx” that has befallen the other Brazilians to suit up for Die Rothosen.

•There is still another candidate for the midfield “opening”-Hannover’s Hungarian midfielder Szabolcs Huszti. According to Bild.de, Huszti’s agents are working very dilligently to get him out of Hannover before the transfer window closes on Sunday. Huszti bagged 10 goals in 32 appearances for Hannover in the Bundesliga last season.

*Real Bettis are in the market for a new striker and like what they see in Mohammed Zidan.

*Despite having one foot out the door, Raphael van Der Vaart is still doing the right thing in the Hamburg community.

*The players feel, that despite the result versus Stuttgart, they played a good match and have regained their form. It was nice to see some of the pressure to score taken off VDV. Guerrero is always a threat but it was Nigel de Jong who really stepped up and got it going.

*HSV are giving trials to 2 young Brazilian defenders. Are contracts forthcoming in the off-season? Not sure. HSV do have some pretty good depth at the back presently, though I would like to see Kompany move to the midfield.  

*Midfielder Piotr Trochowski is set to make his 100th Bundesliga appearanceSaturday against Duisburg. And he’s only 24. Troche left Bayern in January 2005 and has become a regular in the HSV ever since.

*The sentiment on most HSV message boards I’ve come across is that most club supporters want anybodybut Louis van Gaal for the new manager. Gus Hiddink’s name was mentioned more oft than not as a guy the supporters wanted.

*HSV have agreed to participate in the Emirates Cup in August. The pre-season friendly tournament will feature Real Madrid, Jueventus, HSV and Arsenal, and is to be played at, you guessed it, Emirates Stadium in North London.