Bittersweet

By: Chris | August 25th, 2008

The last time KSC (Karlsruhe) came to town, HSV ended the 2007/08 season. It was a bittersweet victory, as it was the last time that our beloved Huub Stevens was on the touchline and it was the last time that Rafael van der Vaart would dress for Hamburg. It was bittersweet because Hamburg had secured a place in the UEFA Cup, but were a MORTAL LOCK for the Champions League as recently as the end of March. And it was bittersweet in that, after we endured a season littered with nine 1-1 draws, and went the entire month of April without hitting the back of the net, that Hamburg would explode for 7 goals on the last day of the campaign. SIGH.

This time around, KSC were clearly more focused and motivated (you think losing your final match of the season 7-nil would motivate you?) and came out blazing. Sebastian Freis caused all kinds of problems early on and forced a big save from Frank Rost at the seven minute mark. Hamburg finally got their game on after 20 minutes or so and went ahead on Tim Sebastian’s own goal at 33′.

The second half saw KSC continue to press and they leveled on a goal by that pesky Sebastian Freis 66 minutes in. BMJ was going to take 3 points in his home debut and sent on newly acquired Mladen Petric for Jonathan Pitroipa (who is REALLY growing on me–I really dig this kid) at 72 minutes. All Petric did was head a ball to the feet of Joris Mathijsen in the 90th minute and all Mathijsen did was find the back of the net.

A great (translated) interview here with Mathijsen about the goal. Let’s make something very clear: Mathijsen is not a scorer. His last goal came last season in a 4-1 victory over Stuttgart (and coincidentally, was the 2500th goal scored in the history of the Bundesliga). Scoring the game winner in the 90th minute led to a dog pile by the other 10 on the field for HSV, and a nice text from VDV. “Rafael loves the HSV still,” according to Joris, and van der Vaart was busting his best friend’s chops later that night on the telephone. The change of philosophies between Huub and BMJ was most apparent at that critical moment: With Huub, even late in the match, Mathijsen would have been farther back, away from the play, guarding against a counter attack; with BMJ, everyone goes forward for the attack.

If you’ve seen the match, you will have noted that the ultra-reliable Frank Rost was gawd AWFUL, and it’s these once-a-season lapses that keep him from the German national team I am guessing. Thoughts? I frankly (no pun intended) feel he was due at least a back up spot on the German roster.

The bottom line: Hamburg stole 2 points at home from KSC, but as the American cliché goes, good teams find a way to win.

One interesting roster note was the appearance of Macaulay Christantus with the first team reserves for the match–his debut with the first team by my recollection. With Sidney Sam’s loan, Christantus may be in line for playing time with the first team at home matches.

News:

•There really is a replacement lined up for Kompany this time. It’s Sao Paolo central defender Alex Silva. OK, when is Atouba hitting the bricks so we can finally get Monzon aboard?