Football United

Hamburger SV have lost the services of Benjamin Lauth and Raphael Wicky for the coming month due to injury.
Lauth, 24, took a knock on his newly-healed fractured foot in training on Friday, and it has now emerged that complications have set in leading to a further period of necessary recuperation. Indeed, the €4.3 million summer signing from 1860 Munich may yet require surgery. Such an outcome would leave him recovering for at least a further month. Lauth, capped three times for Germany and seen as a natural partner for Kevin Kuranyi in Jürgen Klinsmann's side, had just returned to action as a substitute in the Bundesliga clash with Nürnberg. The player made an immediate impact, scoring a late winner in a 4-3 thriller at the AOL Arena, sending the HSV fans into raptures. The latest injury blow was greeted with dismay by Toppmöller: "That’s a total disaster. Lauth was at the centre of our planning. The lad has worked so hard for us and now this," said the coach.

Worse was to follow for Toppmöller, however, with Swiss midfield star Raphael Wicky injured in national team training on Tuesday. The player missed the 1-1 World Cup draw with the Republic of Ireland, and has returned today to Hamburg for rehabilitation. The injury has been diagnosed as a ruptured muscle fibre in the left calf, and wil keep him out for at least three weeks. HSV Sports Director Dietmar Beiersdorfer was upset at the news: "His absence hurts. Raphael has become an important player to us."

HSV host Hertha BSC Berlin in Saturday's Bundesliga programme.

Source: Goal.com