Hamburger SV defeats Werder Bremen: cool Hamburg boys

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Photo: Revierfoto / imago images / Revierfoto

Suddenly umbrellas were opened, but there was no sign of a downpour.

Referee Sascha Stegemann wanted to go into the half-time break and had to pass the Bremen fan curve.

And there it rained plastic cups thrown in the direction of the playing field, the umbrellas were supposed to protect Stegemann.

A few minutes earlier, the referee had denied a fantastic Werder goal after a free kick by Marvin Ducksch (42nd minute), and for a while only the referee seemed to know why.

Instead of the 1: 1 it remained with the leadership of the HSV.

And shortly afterwards, the Hamburg team increased to 2-0.

Then there was a break in the second division duel and suddenly there was silence.

The stadium announcer had announced via the microphones that the hit had not counted.

Werder's Mitchell Weiser was standing in the Hamburg Wall during the execution and, as the attacking player, he should have kept a distance of one meter.

"This rule has been in place since 2019," said Arnd Zeigler.

There has been no duel between the once great northern clubs Werder Bremen and HSV since 2018.

Well, when they met again in the second division, it looked like it was mainly a duel between Werder and the referee.

When two argue ...

There is a saying that when two people quarrel, the third is happy.

That evening, HSV was the laughing third party, the beneficiary.

After two minutes, Robert Glatzer took the lead, Moritz Heyer made it 2-0 just before half-time and in the midst of Werder trouble.

When the game was over, the players stayed for a few minutes in front of their 1000 fans from Hamburg, who had set the mood in the upper tier.

There were chants for goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes, who was only Sven Ulreich's representative in the preseason and who had thwarted a number of great chances for Bremen in the second half.

Then the whole team was celebrated again.

"It was a great experience for us," said coach Tim Walter.

"We'll train on Sunday," he said: "We haven't performed so well that we can take time off."

There are sentences that fit the new self-image of HSV.

The club bosses no longer ostensibly talk about promotion.

You now want to build a team.

HSV actually had enough time for that.

He is already in his fourth season in the second division, Walter is the sixth coach since relegation in 2018.

The squad was massively downsized

For three years in a row, the club had dominated the first half of the season, only to collapse again and miss promotion.

Games were repeatedly lost on the home stretch, often at the last minute.

The experienced forces of the preseason, Ulreich or Simon Terodde, did not bring the HSV enough stability.

Ideas came and went, coaches changed, even Horst Hrubesch was reactivated again for a short time in the preseason.

But nothing seemed to help, nothing seemed to get better.

All that remained was the image of a chaotic club.

Now, in the fourth year, sports director Jonas Boldt has put together a team that could really be given the label “team structure”.

The club has reduced the youngest squad in the second division and significantly reduced it, only 25 professionals are under contract, in 2018/2019 there were 39. There are no more Hunts, no Holtbys or Ulreichs.

Everything is a bit smaller.

This step is probably also due to the corona pandemic, which has resulted in lower income.

The TV monies are also getting lower for HSV.

Several HSV players have played an important role in middle-class clubs in their past, the goal scorers of the evening, Glatzel (formerly Heidenheim) and Heyer (formerly Osnabrück), are representative.

Many of them now come from their own offspring, Jonas David, 21, is one of them who made it into the starting line-up.

He was born in Hamburg and is now a fixture in the professional team, a Hamburg boy.

Walter let him appear in all seven games of the season, he has entrusted the center of the defense to him.

David gave the commands against Werder there.

The fact that Werder's attackers were able to break through again and again that evening does not actually speak for the defender.

But he stayed cool, he's also one of the youngest in the squad and will grow with experience.

Bremen was such a learning experience.

Games like against Aue will be important

Werder is one of the strongest teams in the second division, after victories against Ingolstadt and Rostock the club found itself on the upswing, in the northern derby they had the stadium on their side.

But HSV has taken this hurdle.

Hamburg have also already won against the second Bundesliga relegated Schalke 04.

These successes give HSV hope for a better end in the fourth year of the second division.

He is currently fourth in the table with twelve points.

But if the past has taught one thing, it is that HSV is always good at destroying the hope of its supporters, often enough against supposedly weaker opponents. Such an opponent is waiting in two weeks - Erzgebirge Aue, currently bottom of the table. In these duels, HSV can show that it really is a

new

HSV

this time

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