Hamburg - Bielefeld Preview

By: Chris | March 28th, 2008

HSV meet Arminia Bielefeld Saturday at the HSH. Huzzah! Hamburg come into the match 2nd in the Bundesliga on 46 points, but only 2 points up on Leverkusen, Bremen and Schalke (in 3rd through 5th places, respectively), and thus need the whole 3 points from this match against the bottom feeders. Hamburg have 3 wins and 2 draws in their last 5 home matches, while Bielefeld have 2 draws and 3 defeats in their last 5 roadies. HSV have not lost at home this season, and Bielefeld have not won on the road in 2008. So, despite being shorthanded (see below), anything less than 3 points from this match will be an utter, crushing disappointment. And if HSV find themselves in the UEFA Cup again next season, they will be able to look at this match as the one where they lost out (actually, if they don’t make the CL next season, it will likely be as a result of drawing with Nurnberg 3 weeks ago, but hey, that’s just me).

Probable lineup:

Rost

Boateng - Reinhardt - Demel - Atouba

Jarolim - Benjamin

Trochowski - Van Der Vaart - Olic

Guerrero

SWAG Prediction: HSV 2 - Bielefeld 1, followed by lots of Holsten (or Astra)! SKOL!

Notes:

*Bastien Reinhardt says that when Raphael van Der Vaart isn’t on his game offensively, he still needs to play defense.

*Everyone returned from international duty unscathed. Vincent Kompany suffered a bruised ankle in Belgium’s match with Morrocco, but he’s out for Saturday’s match anyway (see below).

*Midfielder Anis Ben-Haitra wants more PT (that’s playing time). Original story here; translated here. Seems the 17 minutes he’s garnered this season aren’t enough to suit his dad and agent. His contract runs through 2012. Chances are he’ll be free to go this summer.

*Defender Juan Pablo Sorin is hurt, again. Seems he strained or pulled a muscle while training. At this point, he’s only riding the exercise bike. You may recall that Sorin has missed the entire season so far with a very severe infection in his surgically repaired knee.

*Bild decries that it was HSV legend Felix Magath and Wolfsburg who dashed what little title hopes HSV had with the draw Saturday. Oh, the betrayal! Well, duh. Seriously, some guy’s getting paid to write crap like that? My writing’s crap and I don’t get paid a dime. Hey, wait a minute. . .

*Rapha better keep his nose clean the rest of the way. He’s got four yellows already this season, along with Joris Mathijsen (out ’til 12 April with a red from the Wolfsburg match). Nigel de Jong and Vincent Kompany are out for the Bielefeld match. De Jong because he earned his fifth yellow against Wolfsburg, and Kompany for a double yellow in the same match. Think there’ll be some bad blood between these two sides next fall? Nah, me neither.

*Late note on HSV’s website this afternoon stating the 2010 UEFA Cup final will be played at the HSH Nordbank Arena (Hamburg’s home ground). Here’s hoping we’ll be in the Champions League and not the UEFA Cup in 2010.

And that, folks, wraps up the bu-ziziest week ever at The Hamburg Offside–7 posts in seven days! Fo’ shizzle. See you Monday!