Relegation success against HSV
After the primal scream, Stuttgart’s frenzy begins
By Emmanuel Schneider, Stuttgart
6/2/2023 9:34 am
Stuttgart is celebrating, Hamburg is worried about the second leg: the relegation celebrations in Stuttgart begin less than a minute after kick-off. In a memorable evening, VfB answered its very own mentality question with a lightning goal and a lesson for Hamburger SV.
The word primal scream was invented for this moment. At 8:46 p.m. in Bad Cannstatt, less than 46 seconds after the kick-off in the relegation game against HSV, the tension that had built up on this feverishly hot early summer day in Stuttgart suddenly erupted. VfB defender Konstantinos Mavropanos heaves a header into the goal after a Borna Sosa corner kick – the lead for Stuttgart and the start of the Swabian night of joy, which ends in a 3-0 win in the first leg and pushes relegation worries a good deal aside.
This loud energy made the silence before even more remarkable. German football commemorated a deceased youth footballer from Berlin with a minute’s silence. At a youth tournament in Frankfurt, the youth player was hit on the head and neck on Pentecost Sunday and succumbed to his serious injuries on Wednesday. Deep silence fell over the sold-out Stuttgart stadium with 47,500 fans in memory of the young footballer. The game started shortly afterwards, followed by the Cannstatter primal scream. The two moments were reminiscent of the energy and emotions a football stadium can make palpable, in the ups and downs.
The guests from Hamburg looked clearly knocked out by the lightning goal after the corner. Many HSV fans probably didn’t even see the goal, blue-black smoke was still hanging over the away block in the first few seconds, which some supporters had previously ignited. HSV’s appearance was similarly clouded in the first few minutes.
But no mentality problem at VfB?
For the Hanseatic League, the relegation drama began just as the last two-league game had ended: with a brutal blow to the neck. Only the Heidenheim stoppage time double pack in a long-distance duel with a climax in the 99th minute had sent HSV into relegation and thus into this situation on Thursday evening. HSV and drama – it has something of “Groundhog Day”.
Spurred on by the opening goal and the backdrop, the home side showed HSV their limits in the first quarter of an hour. The announced offensive play with the Bundesliga team did not materialize at first. Stuttgart’s Chris Führich (9th) and Serhou Guirassy missed the best chances. The latter missed free-standing from the best position (23rd) and then three minutes later also a penalty kick, which he casually shot into the right corner. HSV keeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes saved and gave HSV the chance to get back into the game. Alone: He didn’t accept the invitation, even if the guests stabilized in the middle of the first half and created their first chance over Robert Glatzel.
That wasn’t just down to the guests: a lack of mentality was definitely not VfB’s problem that evening. Ex-professional and ex-coach Markus Babbel had recently accused the team of exactly that. The M-question, which is otherwise often discussed in Dortmund, had now also arrived in Stuttgart. In fact, there hasn’t been a clear answer to that in the past. Although VfB clinched extremely important wins away from home in games like against Bochum and Mainz and came from behind, in immensely important games like Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC they allowed themselves to be boiled off in a direct duel. The provisional answer for the relegation is: the mentality is there.
Serhou Guirassy experiences a special evening
Serhou Guirassy is one of the players without whom VfB wouldn’t even have a chance of staying up in the league. He became a first tragic and then successful figure of the evening. The day before, VfB had made the attacker’s official commitment official. So far he was only on loan from Stade Rennes, now the Stuttgart team has opted to buy it for a reported 9 million euros. The center forward extended regardless of the league – it was a sign to the fans and to the team in which he plays a central role. He scored eleven goals in 22 games this season, making him the most prolific man in VfB’s ranks. But not in this first half, in which he missed two hundred percent chances. He of all people, of all people, after the official engagement.
“I was very happy that he scored,” said VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß after the game. “I told him that too.” The coach praised the 27-year-old for coming back from the setbacks. “I think it’s amazing how he handled it. He scored a goal that was extremely important for us. That wasn’t to be taken for granted.” Was there a psychological trick by Hoeneß? The trainer only wants to have given Guirassy two or three words on the way back to the pitch. “What you say – but out of conviction: The next one is in! He didn’t look kinky.”
The callousness, or mentality, was promptly recalled by Guirassy after the change of sides. After another corner from Sosa, he headed the ball into the corner, this time untenable for Heuer Fernandes. With the 3:0 he set the end of the goal that evening.
Another Stuttgart relegation hero had previously met, again shortly after the kick-off. Another case for “He of all people”. Josha Vagnoman is a real Hamburg native, ran from 2010 to 2018 in the youth team, then in the professional team, only slowed down by various injuries. Last year he played with HSV in the relegation – and lost against Hertha BSC (the 1-0 was followed by a 0-2 bankruptcy). He knows the bitter feeling of losing a relegation all too well. This time he had reason to celebrate – but didn’t. After a well-played attack via Führich, Enzo Millot sent a sharp cross, the 22-year-old pushed in with his right hand and then raised his hands apologetically over his head. A gesture like Mario Götze once made after his first Bayern goal against BVB. Greetings to the ex-club.
VfB sports director with goosebumps
It then got even worse for HSV. In the 69th minute, Anssi Suhonen, who had just come on as a substitute, saw the red card after a tackle with an open sole. Outnumbered, the guests demanded little from VfB. And if so, then goalkeeper Florian Müller was there. The keeper replaced Fabian Bredlow in the starting XI. The regular keeper did not get fit in time after an inner ligament stretch in his knee. First he made a serious inaccuracy early in the game, which gave Glatzel a chance (35th), then he came into play better and mitigated some HSV deals. There was special praise from coach Hoeneß. “He played a really good game – out of cold pants, that’s not necessarily to be expected.”
And so VfB was usually closer to the fourth goal than Hamburg to the first. By then the sun, which had hung over the valley basin called Stuttgart all day, had already set. On the other hand, in the second half, only the beacons in the Cannstatt curve were glowing, which the team pushed further towards the fourth goal.
For VfB, the relegation is about a lot of money, 40 million euros in sales are threatened in the event of a third relegation within seven years after 2016 and 2019. But HSV also wants to do everything in its power to avoid the fifth narrow non-promotion in a row, greedy after the comeback to the Bundesliga. It’s a duel of ex-soccer giants who have staggered. Fourth (VfB) in the all-time Bundesliga table against sixth (HSV). The starting position for Hamburg is now precarious, they almost need a miracle.
The situation in Stuttgart is completely different: With the three-goal lead, the Swabians have worked out an excellent position for the second leg, which takes place in Hamburg on Monday evening. VfB sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth nevertheless warns: “It can be three or four long days,” he said with a view to the program until Monday. “Only one more game sounds like: vacation soon.” He sees the danger in the full stadium in the north. “HSV will not give up without a fight, they will go for the opening goal from the first minute, then it will be shaky for us.” He agrees with HSV coach Tim Walter, whom he knows well from the old days in Kiel. When asked what gave him hope for the second leg, the visibly served coach answered succinctly: “the Volkspark.”
When asked about their own fans, who started the spectacle with the primal scream at 8.46 p.m., VfB sporting director Wohlgemuth flashed a smile across his face. “I had goosebumps today,” he said. Only when entering? “The whole game.”