Hamburger SV and SV Wehen Wiesbaden celebrated promotion with their fans last weekend. Then came the big shock – and now there is the next attempt in the relegation.
The fans of Hamburger SV and SV Wehen Wiesbaden not only looked at what their own team was doing on the field last weekend, but also on their smartphones at the same time to be always informed about what the respective competition is doing. In the promotion races of the 2nd and 3rd leagues, both clubs had to win and at the same time hoped for mistakes by 1. FC Heidenheim and VfL Osnabrück.
They celebrated their own goals – and almost even more about the goals conceded by the other two clubs. Heidenheim and Osnabrück were behind after 90 minutes and for fans of HSV and SVWW it was clear: We’ve been promoted! This shows how much emotions affect a person. The same people who were staring anxiously at their smartphones seconds earlier suddenly forgot that Heidenheim and Osnabrück still had several minutes to go. It would have actually taken their final whistle to seal the rise.
Shattered dreams in less than 24 hours
On Saturday (May 27th, 2023) the contraction fans didn’t want to wait any longer, sprinted onto the field, celebrated with their heroes and grabbed souvenirs in the form of goal nets or similar. A little later the big case. Osnabrück equalized in the third minute of stoppage time and scored in the 96th minute to win – and got promoted themselves.
A cautionary tale for others? Actually, yes, if emotions didn’t come into play again. A day later, the HSV fans got into the same trouble – and they also completely forgot that something could still happen in Heidenheim. And it happened. Only 26 hours after the celebrations in Wiesbaden ended from one second to the next, the Hamburg celebrations were also destroyed in Sandhausen.
Walter can still be first ascension trainer become
As dramatic as this experience was for the two clubs, there is good news: they can still get promoted. HSV and Wehen still get the chance to make it into the Bundesliga or 2nd division in the relegation. The only question is: How great is the damage of this deep fall from bliss into the vale of tears?
“We knew before that we could go down this path. And now we have to“said Tim Walter, who now wants to become the first promotion coach in HSV history against his former club VfB Stuttgart since the Bundesliga was introduced in 1963. Sport director Jonas Boldt even addressed the fans in Sandhausen over the stadium microphone. “Unfortunately, that’s part of the sport. Bundles all forces. The thing isn’t over yet. If we put all this on the scales again next week, then we’ll do it with an extra round“, he said.
Boldt wants change
But there was one other thing on Boldt’s mind. He seems to be bothered by this kind of battle for last place in the Bundesliga. Especially since the second division is the clear underdog because of tradition, only three times has a promoted team emerged from the relegation in the Bundesliga. “In terms of statistics, the first division team obviously has a lot of advantages.”said Boldt. “It might also be an idea to rethink that and sound out the three places completely differently, because it can’t be in the sense that it’s always the first division team.”
The statistics, on the other hand, are encouraging
In labor, on the other hand, it may well be worth looking at the past. Because in the relegation for promotion to the second division, the picture is very different. In ten out of 14 cases, the third division team had the upper hand. One reason for this: In the “big” relegation there are usually big financial differences, the lower the class, the smaller the gap and correspondingly greater the chance for the team that can win something.
The only question is whether labor already has this view. Because they have already lost something, after all they have already celebrated entering the 2nd division. Something has already been snatched away from them, while opponents of relegation Arminia Bielefeld have at least not yet experienced this big disappointment. However, if labor succeeds in turning all emotions to zero, after the two players they can only win something and Bielefeld can only lose something.
“We need to clear our heads now and put full focus on that from Monday. We’re approaching the games with exactly this passion, then we’ll play them positively“said assistant coach Nils Döring, who replaced the suspended head coach Markus Kauczinski in the last game of the season.
Psychologist: Resilience and acceptance are required now
But is that even possible after these experiences? “Basically yes“says psychologist Thomas Graw, who has already worked as a mental coach at VfL Bochum and the Austrian national team, in the sports show interview. “But that requires great resilience. Each individual has to put up with it and then the whole team has the chance to get into a different mood. You have to see the relegation and not as a punishment.“
And Graw would also know how to teach that to the players. “My approach would be to tell them that tackling challenges and dealing with frustration is part of sport. You have to develop that kind of acceptance as an athlete and know that the next game has nothing whatsoever to do with what happened“Said the psychologist. Soon we will see where HSV and labor can do it well.