Waiting for the BIG-Game
Borussia's performance in Hamburg looked more like a training session than a regular league match. Everyone's expecting the historical match in the Cup competition rather than the league matches. So the 0-1 defeat was a logical consequence of this attitude.
Despite the affirmations of Dortmund coach Doll, the club didn't take the game against the third of the League that serious. Kehl, Frei and Kringe were taken out of the squad, so that they can participate on Tuesday against the second league club Jena.
First half
At the beginnning it was an open game where both teams tried to score. BVB-Keeper Marc Ziegler was in the main focus of this first half. In minute 3 he had to clear for the first time when a free kick from van der Vaart was fired on the target. Three minutes later Ziegler had to clear a shot from Trochowski. On the other side it was Federico who missed the gate for the opener. When Buckley was fouled by Boateng, it was Petric who couldn't score by free kick. In the 17th minute David Jarolim's shot hit the post. Soon after this Ziegler had to clear in extreme against VdV who appeared in a man-against-man situation in front of him.
There were no more spectacular actions for a certain period of time until Jarolim hit the right post while BVB defense was only escorting the HSV strikers. In minute 38th it was again Ziegler who kept Dortmund in the game when he could clear another free kick by Van der Vaart in a magnificent way just over the bar. Beside Ziegler it was Tinga who showed a good performance. The Brazilian midfielder was present in all the four corners of the pitch, fighting for every ball.
Second Half
There was a complete change in the game after half time. Borussia, lucky to hold a tie, was now the active team. Nelson Valdez should have scored in minute 53 by shot or Tinga by header after a nice wing pass from Dede. Five minutes later Tinga was on the move and served Petric who had the choice of passing to two of his teammates. But the Croatian nationalplayer decided to do it alone and sent a 25 meter missile in goalie Frank Rost's direction, but unfortunately it missed the gate. Seconds later it was again a header by Tinga who missed the goal, when he throwed himself into a Federico ball. Everyone believed in a Dortmund lead when the unexpected happened: There was an unforced error in the middlefield when Jerome Boateng could pass Federico, Olic gave into the box where Guerrero wasn't disturbed by a defender. His shot passed Ziegler, 1-0 HSV.
Doll brought in the youngsters Nöthe and Senesie for Valdez and Federico. There was still a lot of hope, because Hamburg was loosing their breath after their Uefa-Cup match against Leverkusen 3 days ago.
But Dortmund hadn't the power to come back. Hambourg hold their lead with cleverness while Dortmund didn't find back into the game. The last interesting scene in this match was a foul on Dede by Brecko, who was lucky to see only a yellow card for his ugly tackle. Hamburg succeeded to hold the result for the last minutes.
Summary
While Hamburg was the better team in the first half, Borussia played a strong game at the start of the second half. They could have reached a lot more if they had been more consequent in using their goal opportunities. This is another disappointing result in the league, so that there will probably be no happy end at the end of the season, if..
Well if they win the most important game in club history since the last 4 or 5 years on Tuesday against Jena in the semi final of the Cup competition. There's a lot of pressure on the team, which can reverse the outgoing of a whole season in one game. With a success of Bayern Munich in the other semi final, Dortmund would be qualified for next year's Uefa Cup by Wednesday evening already. International football would be back in Dortmund, a lot of money, better players would come etc.
But if they fail
Statistics
Hamburger SV: Rost - J. Boateng, B. Reinhardt, Mathijsen, Atouba [56. Olic] - Jarolim [61. Kompany], de Jong - Demel, Trochowski [80. Brecko] - van der Vaart - Guerrero, coach: Huub Stevens
Borussia Dortmund: Marc Ziegler (2) - Rukavina (4), Amedick (4), Wörns (3), Dede (3) - Hummels (3) - Valdez (4) [70. Nöthe], Federico (5) [70. Senesie], Tinga (2), Buckley (3) - Petric (4), coach: Thomas Doll
1-0 Guerrero (63., right-footed, assist: Olic)
Yellow cards: Jarolim, Brecko / Valdez
Referee: Knut Kircher
Attendance: 57.000 (HSH-Nordbank-Arena, sold out)
Steve, 17.03.2008
