Let’s get it on!

By: Chris | August 7th, 2009

After an interminably long offseason, the Bundesliga kicks off today with the spotlight match going to Wolfsburg v Stuttgart. Good thing HSV plays at Freiburg on Sunday–they need the extra training after this week’s debacles.

Monday past saw Die Rothosen being their Pokal chase with a match away versus 2. Bundesliga side Fortuna Dusseldorf. As Jan mentioned in his Pokal wrap-up, HSV were more Swiss than German in the first half–Swiss cheese, that is. The second half brought some stability and clear thinking to the defense, but Fortuna would not go quietly into that good night, scoring the tying goal in the final 3 seconds of the second extra period. The match went to PKs where Hamburg slotted 4 home, while Frank Rost stood on his head and saved 2 of the 3 shots he faced. Whew.

Yesterday, the return leg of the Europa League 3rd qualifying round took place at the ‘Bank against Danish side Randers FC. HSV dominated the first leg in Randers the week before, scoring early and scoring often and leaving with an insurmountable 4-nil victory. With advancement to the next round assured, Bruno took the opportunity to field a side of players who had not seen action so far this season, with Joris Mathijsen and David Jarolim the only regulars (and thereby cementing their roles as the irreplaceable guys on our roster–God help us if they get hurt) who started the match. And they played like a bunch of guys who hadn’t played so far this year. Here’s the lineup that took the pitch last night:

Hesl

Benjamin Mathijsen Rozehnal Jansen

Jarolim Tavares

Castelen Ben-Hatira

Torun Berg

The match ended with Hamburg on the short side of a 1-nil decision, but I think it gave Bruno the opportunity to see some of the bench players in a game situation without any negative consequences. For their efforts, they were drawn with French Cup holders Guingamp of Ligue 2. Guingamp is notable not only for being just the second club outside Ligue 1 to win the French Cup, but also as the club that gave current Chelsea stars Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda their starts in Continental football. Here’s Bruno’s take on Guingamp.

And now we get down to business. Sunday, Hamburg take on newly promoted SC Freiburg to start their Bundesliga campaign. Freiburg dominated the 2. Bundesliga last season, wrapping up the championship and assured promotion by Matchday 31 (pretty damn impressive. . .). Still, you have to believe that HSV are poised to get a favorable result and take the full 3 points. Following what can graciously be described as a tumultuous offseason, we appear to have the deepest and most talented group that I have seen in my almost 3 years as a supporter. Here’s the XI I think will be on the pitch on Sunday:

Rost

Demel Mathijsen Boateng Jansen

Jarolim Ze Roberto

Trochowski Pitropa

Guerrero Petric

Bottom line: HSV gets the season started on the right track. Make mine 0:2 for the HSV, and give me a cold Holsten to wash it down.

Readers, help me out here: I am pretty sure that beginning in 2010/11, the Bundesliga gets 4 spots in the CL. Am I correct? This is leading to my season prediction. This is the year we finally make it back to the Champions League. I think the top 3 teams in the league are Bayern, HSV and Stuttgart, and you can throw Schalke and Wolfsburg in for the last CL spot. I have long maintained that more than anything, I want to watch HSV on the biggest stage and see them back in the Champions League, just as I did one night in September 2006 (before I was a supporter of the club), when I watched them get drubbed by Arsenal while in the lounge of the Bexleyheath Marriott in Kent. If we win some silverware along the way, so be it–that’s the icing on the cake. I say we finish a very close second to Bayern’s first, with Stuttgart ultimately prevailing for third over Wolfsburg and Schalke. What are your predictions?