Football United

A penalty kick on 50 minutes by Sergej Barbarez followed by a spectacular strike by second half substitute Benny Lauth on 76 minutes, did the business for HSV, as they progressed to the semi-finals of the Intertoto Cup by way of a 2-0 home win over the Portuguese side Uniao Leiria, in front of 22,000 in the AOL Arena in Hamburg.

As you were Dolly
Following his side’s 1-0 win in the first leg tie in Portugal, HSV coach Thomas Doll saw no reason to change a winning team, and opted for the same line-up which did the business last time out. That meant that there were three new faces in the team: Atouba, Demel and van der Vaart all made their home debuts for HSV, with mixed fortunes…

Three out, three in
Doll’s Portuguese counterpart Teixeira Gomes made three changes to the side which lost 0-1 to HSV last week. Laranjeiro, Kata and Cadu were replaced by Paulo Cesar, Eder and Mario Carlos in his starting line-up. The sums were simple ahead of the second leg tie. HSV only needed a draw to go through, while only a win would do for Leiria.

Yellow fever
The game turned out to be a bruising affair, as had been the case in the first leg. The match referee Briakos produced no less than 8 yellow cards over the 90 minutes. Guy Demel, who had a disappointing debut and was replaced by Wicky at the start of the second half, was booked and will miss the first leg of the semi-final against Sigma Olomouc, who knocked Borussia Dortmund out by drawing 0-0 in their second leg clash.

Early scare
On 7 minutes, HSV can count themselves lucky not to have gone behind, as a collective snooze at the back by the home side allowed the Leiria striker Maciel a free header. He rushed his effort and headed wide as it looked easier to score. The visiting side was more aggressive and didn’t give HSV time to settle for the first 15 minutes or so. There were early half-chances for van der Vaart (6.) and a shot from the edge of the box by Mpenza. Both efforts missed the target.

Leiria always dangerous…
The visitors maintained the pressure on the home side and Maciel just failed to convert a pinpoint pass by Alhandra. Moments later the little Brazilian missed a good chance from 15 metres out. HSV could consider themselves fortunate to go into the half time break still in the game.

Sergej from the spot
HSV came out fort he second half in a determined mood and they were rewarded for their aggression on 48 minutes as Alhandra clearly brought down the-advancing Mpenza inside the box. The resulting spot kick was put away by Barbarez as the Bosnian-born striker sent Costinha in the Leiria goal the wrong way. To their credit, the Portuguese side didn’t give up. In fact, they could have equalised just a minute after the home side had gone in front, as Joao Paulo rose above the HSV defence only to watch his header go agonisingly wide.

Changes do the trick
The introduction of Wicky (for Demel) and Jarolim (for van der Vaart and Benny Lauth (for the disappointing Trochowski) swung the game in HSV’s favour. The experienced duo brought a measure of stability to their side’s play, and Lauth scored what turned out to be the deciding goal on 76 minutes, as he duped the Leiria keeper who thought he was going to cross, but instead shot from 25 metres out on the left, leaving the keeper groping at air. The game was all over bar the shouting at that point. On the balance of an improved second half performance, HSV just about deserved to go through…



HSV: Wächter - Klingbeil, Boulahrouz, van Buyten, Atouba - Trochowski, Demel, Beinlich - van der Vaart - Mpenza, Barbarez

Uniao Leiria: Costinha - Paulo Cesar, Joao Paulo, Renato, Alhandra - Paulo Gomes, Eder, Fabio Felicio, Nene - Maciel, Mario Carlos

Goals:1:0 Barbarez (50., pen), 2:0 Lauth (76.,)

Source: hsv.de