First against second: Today, HSV welcomes FC Hansa Rostock to a surprising top game in the second division. The Baltic Sea townspeople have good memories of the recent northern duel in the Volkspark.
Leader Hamburger SV is about to play the next top game in the 2nd division – after the games against Schalke 04, Karlsruhe, Hertha BSC and Hannover 96, the match against FCH (1.30 p.m., in the NDR live ticker) falls into the “unexpected” category.
While coach Tim Walter’s team was expected to be up in the table despite the difficult opening program, second place for Alois Schwartz’s team is one of the most surprising stories of the early part of the season.
HSV and Hansa in strong form ahead of the north duel
From Hansa’s point of view, the great snapshot does not come all that suddenly when you look closely: Because the team has only lost one of the last ten league games across the seasons – a late and somewhat unfortunate 1:2 defeat against Hannover.
Otherwise, Schwartz has brought the cog fully on course since taking office in March. Something for which Walter also praises his counterpart: “Rostock has a lot of potential and has seemed very stable so far. Alois Schwartz is doing a good job there, his handwriting is always recognizable. That’s why it will be a tough task for us.”
The coach sees the strengths of his team collectively. The mentality and character of his team are “very good”. FCH has shown this in all season games so far – especially in the crazy comeback win against Elversberg and the cup thriller at regional league club FSV Frankfurt. Opponents HSV have repeatedly demonstrated resilience and strength of character this season, most recently in a 1-0 win at Hannover 96 with a man down.
Both teams with many yellow cards
As different as the goals before the season may have been (and still are) – promotion at Hamburg, staying up at Rostock – the teams have more in common in the previous league games than one would initially assume.
With five (HSV) and four (Hansa) goals conceded, both teams are about the same. The Walter team has stabilized defensively with two clean sheets against Berlin and Hanover and brought more balance to their performances, and also closed a gap in the squad with the signing of Lukasz Poreba as a Jonas Meffert backup in midfield.
The Hamburg coach will definitely have to make some changes in defense on Sunday: Stephan Ambrosius or captain Sebastian Schonlau after recovering from a calf injury could replace the suspended Guilherme Ramos in central defence. Walter recently saw his team as “much more stable”, the team had “raised the game to a new level in the past few weeks”.
The guests have been acting out of defensive stability for months. However, both teams also make gains from time to time: With 13 (Hansa) and twelve (HSV) yellow cards, both teams are in the upper third of the league rankings.
Jonas David from HSV to Hansa
The defense is currently the interface between the two clubs, namely Jonas David. The central defender moved from Hamburg to Rostock during the week. He is on loan to the Baltic Sea coast until the end of the season and could play the first game for his new club in his old home of all places.
David could then immediately fall into the role of guarding HSV top attacker Robert Glatzel, about whom Schwartz warned: “You often don’t see him during a game, but then he’s there and scores. That’s a great strength.” The Hamburg striker, currently the top scorer in the league with four goals and three assists, also wants to play on Sunday.
Nobody shoots as often as Robert Glatzel
According to the Bundesliga data provider AWS, Glatzel is the player in the 2nd division with the most shots on goal with 22. In general, the Hamburgers shoot more at the opponent’s goal than any other team: 82 times in four games, making an average of almost 20 shots . For comparison, Hansa sits at 53, or about 13 shots per encounter. The result was eleven Hamburg goals (league top) and seven Rostock goals (shared second place).
Otherwise, both northern clubs are relatively close to each other in terms of the number of sprints (830:817 in favor of HSV) or intensive runs (2,472:2,350 per Hamburg). However, the two teams differ in their choice of offensive means: While the Walter team has a significantly better rate of passing and positional play (83:74 percent), the Rostockers have hit far more crosses (55:39). A buyer could be the new center forward Junior Brumado, whose commitment was announced on Friday.
Last year Schumacher shot Hansa to victory
FCH coach Schwartz, who sees the hosts as top candidates for promotion (“HSV is the top favorite and, in my opinion, will manage to get where it belongs this season: in the 1st league.”) has a lot of respect for the northern competitor, but calculates something: “HSV is very stable, especially in home games. But if we put in a top performance and are effective in front of goal, we can take something with us.”
It would be a feeling that the Rostockers know very well: On the second matchday of last season, FC Hansa won in the Volkspark with a goal from Kevin Schumacher in added time.
Possible lineups:
Hamburger SV: Heuer Fernandes – van der Brempt, Schonlau, Hadzikadunic, Muheim – Meffert – Reis, Benes – Jatta, Glatzel, Dompé
Hansa Rostock: Kolke – van der Werff, Roßbach, Rossipal – Neidhart, Dressel, Bachmann, Schumacher – Ingelsson – Pröger, Perea
This topic in the program:
sports club | 09/03/2023 | 10:50 p.m
