“Hotte” and the dream of a miracle: Oh, was that really HSV?

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

“Hotte” and the dream of a miracle
Oh, was that really HSV?

It is the last chance not to let the dream of returning to the 1st Bundesliga burst again – and Hamburger SV is making impressive use of it. In the first game under Horst Hrubesch, the team plays, well, like a newcomer.

Week after week, the footballers of Hamburger SV had played their way deeper and deeper into the Deppen-Depression in the 2nd Bundesliga. Week after week it became more likely that the proud club would miss the longed-for return to the elite club of German football at the third attempt. In order to avert the next drama, so as not to expose themselves to mockery and ridicule, the Hamburg bosses resorted to the desperate means of dismissing the coach last week: After a desperate second half of the season with an insecure team and without any hope of improvement, hopeful Daniel Thioune had to leave. The third coach in three years was worn out.

The solution for the transition: Horst Hrubesch. The player friend. And how great this idea is, the HSV showed on Monday evening. Despite a few less lack of concentration, the team thundered away over 1. FC Nürnberg. It was the first three after five games without a win. And it was one who was played out with the absolute conviction of a climber in the end. Well, despite the 5: 2 (3: 1) success on this 32nd matchday, the situation is like this: Without a mistake by the competitors, the “little miracle” of the Elbe will no longer work. And that would be “just” reaching the relegation for the time being.

“We can no longer hope for Kiel,” said Hrubesch on Monday evening and thus committed to the two direct climbers. In addition to Kiel, this is also VfL Bochum, which has been stable at the top for weeks. But he has declared the relegation place that Greuther Fürth occupies as a goal. “We’ll put everything into the last two games. It won’t be easy. But we have the possibilities, so we should use them,” he promised and said: “If God is with us, we might go into relegation. ” The HSV has three points less, but the supposedly easier remaining program. On Sunday it goes to penultimate VfL Osnabrück, a week later then at home against 16th Eintracht Braunschweig. Fürth still has to play against the last strong Paderborn and Düsseldorf.

“Hotte” surprises with Meißner

Well, the situation for Hamburg was clear anyway: only with three wins from the three games directed by “Hotte”, as they like to call their club legend, will they have the chance of the almost impossible. To take the pressure off the players, Hrubesch had held many one-on-one conversations in the past few days. And he had made some changes to the lineup. The biggest surprise: He offered a double lead, alongside Simon Terodde Robin Meißner was in the starting line-up for the first time. And he played just as bravely as the rest of the team. Even if it was a bit tough until the lead in the 30th minute. Meißner had shot, the Nuremberg Asger Sörensen unluckily deflected the ball.

The goal was the moment when HSV freed itself from the overwhelming burden of the past few weeks. The game became more and more light-footed, faster and faster. Even a mistake by keeper Sven Ulreich, who in the meantime favored the 1: 2 by Erik Shuranov (41.), did not shake the collective. Before the break, Terodde made it 3-1. There were moments that strengthened confidence in yourself. Because he was also a striker in the end not in the form in which he is known. “The team just didn’t feel that trust in them anymore. When you see them in training, you know the quality of this team and, above all, the many young players.”

Sonny Kittel was someone who used this encounter to get himself into great shape for the final. You hadn’t seen his joy in playing for so long. There was a goal as a treat for the strong performance. Even Ulreich, who had previously failed, was able to do a little something for the scratched ego later. With a great parade, he steered an attempt by Tom Krauss the bar (73rd).