No matter whether Cologne, HSV, Magdeburg or Düsseldorf: At the top of the 2nd league, shortly before the end of the season (almost) everyone gets the big flutter. This ensures that ten clubs can still climb and teams such as Hannover, Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe are again in the middle of an promotion race that is not one.
Imagine it is Bundesliga promotion – and nobody goes there. The “snail race” at the top of the 2nd league after a memorable weekend. Cologne and Hamburger SV were only the most blatant examples.
Because: There could have been no more template from the games from Friday and Saturday for both clubs to ensure a preliminary decision in the promotion struggle in the 2nd league. Both the league leader from the Rhineland (0: 1 in Hanover) and the HSV as second (1-2 at home against Karlsruhe) almost left the chance on Sunday.
Selke: “Everything was done”
With the consequence that three game days before the end – at least in theory – even the tenth of Nuremberg could still catch up with the second -placed “red pants”. “We have not managed to use this opportunity to use us. It was all done,” said HSV striker Davie Selke after his team without his team in a win.
“Head cinema” at HSV
The chance mentioned by Selke had insisted that Paderborn and Elversberg had separated 1-1 on Saturday – and Magdeburg (1: 1 in Berlin) and Düsseldorf (3: 3 against the FCN) had not got beyond draw. At the end of the weekend, however, it was clear that none of the top 6 teams could win. True to the motto: Everyone has chances, they all leave them.
Yes, nobody wants to climb? Of course not. But, HSV striker Robert Glatzel indirectly admitted with a view to his team in an interview with the NDR: The “head cinema” is already on the “red pants” due to the large number of missed ascents in recent years, “we cannot get around it”.
“The head is worth more than some talent. The more resilient you are, the more you have your thoughts under control, the better.”
-HSV sports director Stefan Kuntz
In the team’s game noticeably “the lightness” is missing, so in the final phase of the season, which is like a season in the season, “with other means such as duel, intensity, pure will”.
Sports board member Stefan Kuntz wants to support the players in the fact that “they change something small so that they can cope with the situation”. He says that the head in this phase of the season is “worth more than some talent. The more resilient you are in the head, the more you have your thoughts under control, the better. This is the be -all and end -all.”
Nevertheless, he wanted to tackle “as normal as possible” the week before the game against Darmstadt on Saturday (1 p.m., in the NDR LiveCenter): “This is a normal challenge that can stand in the way of every day in professional life.” It is important to him that “we are not victims, but those who have the booklet of action in hand.”
Kaiserslautern, Karlsruhe and Hanover again in the middle of it
Because in view of the three points ahead of the FCM, this is the case (with better goal difference). Especially since the pursuers from Magdeburg, Düsseldorf, Paderborn and Elversberg also get their nerves with the possible big throw.
And so the sneak in the promotion struggle – there can be no question of races – produces other winners. The Kaiserslautern, Hanover and Karlsruhe, which had previously almost been beaten, are back in the middle of the fight for relegation rank after their victories.
Because of clarity – more compactness!
Instead of clarity, more compactness in the table again. And a bit: everything to zero. Almost as in winter, when the experts of the Global Soccer Networks (GSN) analyzed with a view to the narrow league that this was shaped “by weak performance in all table areas”. In particular, “a dominant tip and a stable midfield” were missing.
With regard to the upper half of the table, the GSN analysts found in January that the “top teams in places 1 to 3 would show below average performance compared to many previous seasons”. These three teams were the 1st FC Köln, Karlsruher SC and the HSV before the start of the second half of the season. A statement that applies all the more three months and 14 game days later.
Who keeps the nerves?
HSV coach Merlin Polzin said after the sobering defeat against the KSC: “At the end of a season, the main thing is about clarity that we didn’t put them on the pitch today.” Just like in the games against Braunschweig and Schalke 04. And so there could be one or two “laughing third parties” instead of his team or the 1. FC Köln, which go straight into the Bundesliga.
The best prospects of anyone in the remaining three games best keep their nerves. A “Flow” with three wins in a row in the final sprint could be enough to climb in this shaky 2nd league.
This topic in the program:
04/27/2025 | 10:50 p.m.
