HSV - Vfb Stuttgart Preview

By: Chris | April 4th, 2008

The big match this weekend in the Bundesliga. Hamburg come in trying to regain their form, which they apparently left on the pitch in their last UEFA Cup match versus Leverkusen, while Stuttgart comes in a pretty big roll–to the tune of 4 wins in their last 5 matches at home. Vfb also come in looking for a little payback, having dropped the first leg to HSV in October 4-1. The mood around HSV is that this is the start of the Champions League qualifying for them–they win, they’re in. If that’s the case I have but one thing to say: THEN START PLAYING LIKE IT!

The biggest news of this week is who is not playing. For Stuttgart, it’s Mister All-Universe Mario Gomez, recently named the Bundesliga’s Player of the Month for March.

Who’s in, who’s out at HSV:

*David Jarolim received a four-game ban and a €10.000 fine for yanking Markus Schuler’s junk and is out this week. He will also miss matches versus Hertha, Schalke, and Hansa Rostock. Nice work, Ace. Way to be a team guy.

*Joris Mathijsen is missing the second game of a two-game ban.

*Party-boy Paolo Guerrero missed training this week with the ~~80-proof~~ flu. He should be ready to go for the Stuttgart match.

*Juan Pablo Sorin is back to training and *could* be available in an emergency Saturday. Huub doesn’t think he’ll be available the rest of the season because of his fitness level. I say bring him back.

*Da Man is back (Vincent Kompany) after a one-match suspension.

*Ivica Olic is out with a thigh injury. An MRI this week revealed that the injury is a tear and not merely a strain. Get well soon. Mohammed Zidan likely starts in his place. I know that makes some of our HSV readers happy.

*Raphael van Der Vaart may miss this week’s match. He’s off looking for his form. He’s been a little, ahem, off his game recently, and speculates here that three straight days of training can only help him get back on track (and as an aside, the cliche’ is “get on track”, not “get untracked.” It is a mistake that many American football (gridiron) announcers make that drives me insane). I personally think the lack of games is what is pushing the level of play down. They used to have no time to think about the next match, they just went and played. Now, they have a week between games.

SWAG (and for those of you unfamiliar with that acronym, it stands for Stupid Wild Ass Guess) prediction: I have absolutely no idea. The realist in me thinks this is where we start dropping points and we go down 1-0. The optimist in me says we couldn’t be playing Stuttgart at a better time (sans Mario Gomez) and we earn a point with yet another draw 1-1. The guy who’s had too much Holsten at 10 in the morning (JK!) says that we’ve circled the wagons this week and we are going in and kicking ass, 2-1 thanks to Zidan and VDV. Take your pick. I’m an optimist (what football fan isn’t?) ~~and not an alcoholic~~, so let’s go with the draw.