Dinamo Zagreb - Hamburger SV Preview

By: Chris | December 5th, 2007

Hamburg face reigning Croat champions Dinamo Zagreb this evening in UEFA Cup action at the Maksimir in Zagreb–a notoriously difficult place to visit. The match is also a homecoming for Ivica Olic, who scored 16 goals in 27 games for Dinamo in the 2002/2003 season.

Here’s a pretty good interview with the Croatian National about going home.

Dinamo were knocked from the Champions League by Werder Bremen (Boo! Hiss!) during the 3rd round of qualifying, but put up a pretty good fight, losing 2-1 at the Weserstadion and 3-2 at home. They have struggled though in the UEFA Cup Group stages, managing a goalless draw at home to Swiss side Basel, while losing away to Brann (2-1). A quick check of the domestic standings shows Dinamo firmly entrenched in first place on 49 points through 18 games. That puts them 15 points clear of the second place team Rijeka. Hamburg’s last UEFA Cup match was just six days ago–a 3-0 home beatdown of Group D patsie Rennes. They sit first in Group D on 6 points. Domestically, HSV come of a difficult loss away to Werder Bremen (match recaps here and here; brilliant analysis, thoughtful insight here LOL). They sit 3rd in the Bundesliga table on 30 points, 4 back of leaders Bayern Munich.

HSV Notes:

-Interesting take on Paolo Guerrero’s “Stomach Bug”. Is he in the doghouse? Or does he have the clap?

-New suitors lining up daily for our man van der Vaart. Sigh.

Some quick facts on the match:

-Dinamo and Hamburg have never met in UEFA club competition. They did meet in 1970 in something called the Inter-Cities Fair Cup (apparently a distant precursor to the UEFA Cup) and each side won out at home

-Dinamo have pretty unsuccessful against Bundesliga clubs in the UEFA Cup. They have played 9 matches, losing 7 and drawing 2.

-Dinamo need to win out against HSV and Rennes to make it through to the knockout stages. They currently sit 4th in Group D on 1 point.

-Hamburg need only a draw in their reminaing matches versus Dinamo and Brann to qualify. They are seriously motivated to win out, as the group winners draw a third place team in the UEFA Cup, while the second place teams get one of the 8 “relegated” (third place) sides from the Champions League.

-HSV have no injuries to report and look to enter the match fully healthy for the first time in a couple weeks.

-Dinamo center-back Gordon Schildenfeld is suspended for the match for the red card earned against Brann.

SWAG Prediction: Despite Saturday’s setback, HSV are playing really well right now. While Maksimir is a brutal place to play, Hamburg leave with a point - Dinamo 1-1 HSV