The fight for promotion in the 2nd league is characterized by slip-ups by the top teams. Fortuna Düsseldorf wants to start a series against HSV and take advantage of this situation.
Last weekend was exemplary. For weeks, the candidates for promotion to the 2nd league have been making mistakes. Autumn champions Holstein Kiel only got one point from the first four games of 2024, league leaders FC St. Pauli recently lost at 1. FC Magdeburg and FC Schalke 04 – both teams from the bottom third at the time of the games. And even after the dismissal of coach Tim Walter under Steffen Baumgart, Hamburger SV is not making any progress and was recently defeated by bottom club VfL Osnabrück (1:2).
And yet these three teams occupy the coveted places – because the competition doesn’t take advantage of their chances either. And so no team from the top 7 in the table managed to win on the last matchday. Despite a 2-0 lead over Hannover 96, Fortuna Düsseldorf, like their opponents, missed out on getting closer to the promotion ranks. Greuther Fürth lost to Karlsruher SC (0:4) and SC Paderborn did not get more than a 0-0 draw against Magdeburg.
| teams | Points | Goal difference |
|---|---|---|
FC St Pauli | 48 | +19 |
Holstein Kiel | 43 | +12 |
Hamburger SV | 41 | +12 |
Hannover 96 | 38 | +12 |
Greuther Fürth | 38 | +3 |
SC Paderborn | 38 | -2 |
Fortuna Dusseldorf | 37 | +16 |
Thioune wants to “start a series” against Hamburg
The snail race for promotion is in full swing in the 2nd league, and it’s just waiting for a team to exploit the weaknesses of its competitors with a series. That’s exactly what Düsseldorf has planned and chose Friday’s top game against Hamburg as an opportunity to start one. “The deficit doesn’t tempt me to give up and manage the season with ten games left – but rather to go a little more all-in and want to start a series“said Fortuna coach Daniel Thioune.
With a win, his team could move within one point of third place in the relegation zone. His conclusion is therefore: “HSV comes at the right time.“But not just to start a series, but also to finally send an exclamation point in a direct promotion duel. Fortuna only got three points in nine games against the six teams placed above them this season.”In order to be able to play in the concert of the big players, we still need this small step to beat the big guys” said Thioune.
Baumgart convinced by HSV team
His counterpart Baumgart, however, wants to continue Düsseldorf’s misery. But he also has enough to do with his new club. His debut against SV Elversberg (1-0) was successful, but very bumpy, and the defeat against Osnabrück was extremely sobering. There were quite a few who thought that HSV, whose budget of around 25 million euros is the highest in the league, would prevail under Baumgart.
Coach Steffen Baumgart from Hamburger SV
“I think there is a lot of quality in the team. She has proven this more than once. We then have to bring them onto the pitch in a results-oriented manner” said the 52-year-old, who shares with Thioune that he has to do without many important players. This is also a reason why some teams are not as successful as they planned.
St. Pauli is apparently freeing itself from the Hürzeler issue
St. Pauli was spared such bad luck with injuries and is therefore much closer to the goal than the competition, with a lead of ten points in fourth place. There are also indications that a firestorm of the past few weeks will be extinguished: according to consistent media reports, coach Fabian Hürzeler is about to extend his expiring contract.
Accordingly, the Kiezkickers could go into their game against Hertha BSC on Sunday (March 10, 2024). The Berliners themselves also always hoped that they would be able to intervene in the promotion race themselves because the teams from the top third in the table fail so often – but the Bundesliga relegated team itself has not managed a series so far.
St. Pauli coach Fabian Hürzeler
Lots of pitfalls on the next matchday
Let’s look at the other teams from the snail race in the 2nd league – all of which have tasks ahead of them with a great risk of slipping. Hannover plays against the newly promoted team SV Wehen Wiesbaden, which is extremely unpleasant to play against, Paderborn against the strong Schalke team (won the last three games at home), Kiel against the in-form Karlsruher SC (seven points from the last three games), which can still get into the game with a win promotion fight can intervene. And Fürth will face Elversberg, which is in sixth place in the away table.
Making predictions in this structure is almost impossible. The league is too balanced for that, the performances of the teams are too changeable and the outcomes of the games depend too much on the form of the day. “The others help decide where you end up at the end of the season. The results showed that no one gets so fast that they lose sight of them“, said Thioune. Someone has to take advantage of that.