Hamburger
SV vs SV Werder Bremen Reports
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SV SV
WERDER BREMEN Referee:
Lutz Wagner (Hofheim) BOOKINGS Yellow Cards: Rafael van der Vaart (56’), Jerome Boateng (79’, both Hamburg); Frank Baumann (35’), Daniel Jensen (38’), Tim Wiese (42’), Markus Rosenberg (45’), Tim Borowski (79’), Naldo (87’, all Bremen) Yellow-Red Cards: Frank Baumann (57’, Bremen) Red Cards: Jurica Vranjes (90’, Bremen) ATTENDANCE 57.000 (sold out) MATCH STATS
MATCH REPORT The German Bundesliga season 2007/08 is nearing its end and giants FC Bayern Munich have already secured their 21st German league title a week ago. But the battle for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup spots are still on and northern outfits Hamburger SV and SV Werder Bremen are two candidates to clinch the continental qualification. Both sides met at the ‘HSH Nordbank Arena’ for the north derby as it is called in Germany in Round 32 of the 2007/08 Bundesliga season. Hamburg coach Huub Stevens fielded the same first eleven as he did against FC Hansa Rostock, with the exeption of Vincent Kompany, who replaced the injured Colin Benjamin. Werder coach Thomas Schaaf started with Frank Baumann for the suspended German international Torsten Frings, while Diego, Markus Rosenberg and Hugo Almeida returned to the starting line-up. A full-capacity crowd at the Arena witnessed a hard-fought match with lots of action and emotions were running high. Referee Lutz Wagner had a bad match, while losing control of the match on several occasions. Hamburg dominated the first half, although failing to create scoring oppotunities and allowed Bremen some chances in the first fifteen minutes. Hamburg started off with a chance in the 7th minute, when Bremen’s Pasanen brought down Guy Demel outside the box. Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart took the resulting freekick. The cross found an unmarked Guy Demel in the centre, but his header went just over the bar. Four minutes later Hamburg had another opportunity, when a van der Vaart corner reached Jose Paolo Guerrero. Under-pressure Guerrero got a slight touch, but couldn’t redirect the ball on target. Moments later Hamburg failed to utilize a second corner and Nigel de Jong’s header went off target! The home team were more confident and well-organised in the early minutes, while Bremen had their difficulties to find their match rythm. The men in green-and-white seemed to be nervous and feeling the pressure by their fans to finish off the season in the second spot. HSV's Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart controlled the midfield and initiated several good moves. Guerrero and Jarolim missed golden opportunties, while finding an on-alert Werder goalkeeper Tim Wiese. Bremen were lucky not lose their keeper Wiese in the 42nd minute. Wiese caught Hamburg striker Ivica Olic in the neck outside the box with a kung-fu-like kick. Referee Wagner awarded the keeper just a yellow card, instead of giving him his marching orders! A judgement, which none of the fans, officials and journalists could agree to... Only minutes later Markus Rosenberg could have been the second Bremen player to virtually receive a red card after a bad challenge on Hamburg defender Jerome Boateng. The second half kicked-off with Hamburg again missing a golden chance to take the lead in the 48th minute, when Ivica Olic failed to finish off a counter-attack in style. On the other side Werder Bremen took advantage of the disasterous finishing of their archrivals and took the lead in the 49th minute. A long kick-off by goalkeeper Wiese reached Rosenberg in the Hamburg box. The Swede used his body to shield the ball and laid it back for teammate Hugo Almeida, waiting outside the box. The Portuguese international fired a right-footed shot into the top right hand corner, leaving no chance to Hamburg keeper Frank Rost. Hamburg were totaly stunned by the goal and lost their gameplay. A yellow-red card to Bremen captain Frank Baumann put the home side back on track. Hamburg started off a powerplay and kept Bremen in their own half. Chances by van der Vaart, Olic, Sorin and Atouba couldn’t be converted by the home side. The highly emotional match ended with a red card for Bremen’s Jurica Vranjes, after a “foul” on Thimothee Atouba. POST-MATCH COMMENTS Thomas
Schaaf (Coach SV Werder Bremen) Huub
Stevens (Coach Hamburger SV) Tim
Borowski (Midfielder SV Werder Bremen) Patrick
Owomoyela (Midfielder SV Werder Bremen) Klaus
Allofs (General Manager SV Werder Bremen) Want to see pictures? - <Pictures> |