Saturday, November 6th, 2021
DFB nomination for Alidou
At HSV there is new hope again
He is the hope of the once great HSV to finally sniff the Bundesliga air again. For three weeks, Faride Alidou has been flying high with the fallen dinosaur. Will he burn his wings too or will he fly?
Four games. Not more. Faride Alidou got them to be considered the great bearer of hope. Faride Alidou? Never heard? It’s worth the look. It is aimed at where chaos has reigned for years, the clock has been ticking in the second division for several years, so to the Bundesliga veteran Hamburger SV, who was stranded in the second division. Starting eleven debut on the eleventh day of the game. At the victory in Paderborn. Equal with goal participation and “kicker” grade two. Not wrong.
The professional start is not very promising. First chance in the draw against Fortuna Düsseldorf. Substituted in a game against an outnumbered opponent and 1-0 in the back. But: a tie. And the 20-year-old, who caused a sensation in the Regionalliga Nord last season, looks inhibited and can’t get on with his runs. It’s a different league.
Coach Tim Walter still likes what he sees: “He has shown that he is a good one-on-one player. That he has the pace, is technically clean. He just exudes fun.” And that’s why he is allowed to play against the top team from Pader in the second division – and he pays back his trust. After five minutes he started the 1-0 win by Moritz Heyer with a goal on the post and played freely with youthful recklessness and tempo dribbles. Until the forces are no longer sufficient. At half time two. Before that, he gives away a chance for his first professional hit. Detached. But Hamburg wins thanks to Joker Thomas Doyle, after three draws in a row. Alidou is on everyone’s lips. HSV sports director Jonas Boldt calls his debut “good”, not “great”, because the goal is missing. And anyway: Talents and Hamburg. Not just a problem since Ikarus Jann-Fiete Arp. Walter also knows that the flight to the sun can end with burns: “We have to see that the boy is not lifted into the sky like that.”
That with the praise, with the hype, is done by others anyway: Those who need a savior. Those who continue to follow Hamburger SV and who have identified Alidou as a potential public favorite. In the absence of a present, there must be promises of the future. And that promise is Alidou. They celebrate him in Paderborn, where they chant his name, and they celebrate him on social media, where they vote him player of the game. The wave will also carry him in the next game. In the cup against Nuremberg, a victory on penalties, he is substituted on and provides for dismissal, for new momentum, for the way out of extra time.
Alidou has arrived. Against Kiel last week. One goal is still missing, but his name is making the rounds. No longer with third division clubs, to whom he is said to have been offered as a loan player before the season, but in the notebooks of DFB coaches and perhaps even other clubs. Who knows. His contract expires next summer. Boldt hopes that this word image will not be carried over to the lawn: “It is important that it not only run out on the pitch, but accelerate and then we will be able to talk about other things at times.” In any case, the scouts will take a closer look and there is now an opportunity to do so in the dress of the national team. U20 coach Christian Wörns has invited him. It’s against France and Portugal. The future has only just begun.