Football United

There was plenty at stake as Bayern Munich visited the AOL Arena in round 7 of the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon. Bayern was top of the table, four points clear of second placed HSV.The Bavarian giants were on a 15 game unbeaten run, their Hamburg counterparts were 14 games unbeaten. Add to that, that HSV hasn't beaten Bayern at home for nine years, so motivation was the least of coach Thomas Doll's problems.

Mediocre start
The hotly-anticipated clash began in a subdued mode, with Bayern opting to wait and see what the home side would do. They stood firm at the back making life difficult for the home side to make an impression during the early stages of the match. HSV had plenty of possession, but failed to find a gap in the Bayern defence. As Bayern had the ball, the dropped the tempo of the game and didn't try to go forward at speed.



Rafa on the ball!
It was a little surprising then, that the home side took the lead on 10 minutes, thanks to the 4th goal of the season by the Dutch master Rafael van der Vaart. A long diagonal ball was deflected by Karimi into the path of the-advancing van der Vaart, who left Oliver Kahn in the Bayern goal no chance with a fine low shot to Kahn's right from 14 metres out.

Superb HSV defence
The reigning double winners failed to find any kind of rhythm and the home defence which was being run by van Buyten and Boulahrouz, supported by the superb Atouba and Demel, had mega-dangerous dutch striker Roy Makaay under control all game. HSV displayed determination in their tackling and matched the Bavarian visitors in every department.Bayern began to get more possession, but rarely threatened the HSV goal during the first half. HSV deservedly went into the break a goal to the good.



Magath rings the changes
The former HSV hero Felix Magath who is nowadays Bayern's coach, brought on more fire power at the start of the second half with Schweinsteiger and Guerrero. The Munich side improved slightly, moving the ball around midfield well. As was the case in the first half, Thomas Doll's side showed no fear and little respect as they doggedly defended their slender lead, while waiting for chances to counter attack. During one such move, the former Bayern midfielder Piotr Trochowski, (who had a superb game against his former club), almost beat Kahn at his near post with a fierce shot from the edge of the Bayern area. but sadly for the youngster his effort was well saved by the veteran Germany keper.

Troche magic!
Magath brought on Mehmet Scholl in an efort to get some service to Makaay up front. Scholl replaced Lizarazu. Two minutes later, the visiting coach was left asking himself why he had bothered, because the home side doubled their lead on 62 minutes, as Sergej Barbarez played a superb low pass into the feet of Trochowski, who left Lucio for dead, before blasting in an unstoppable shot which saw Kahn powerless, and sent the home fans into raptures of joy.



No answer to brilliant HSV
Mighty Bayern Munich was made to look somewhat ordinary, as they became void of ideas in midfield, and not even their fit-again midfield super star Michael Ballack was able to make much of an impression on his return to the Bayern side.HSV looked a class act as they proved that the addition of Atouba and Demel ( who returned after injury), has given the side much needed stability at the back.

Well done HSV!
Bayern rarely threatened during the latter stages of the match and HSV was well worth the 2-0 win.The capacity crowd inside the AOL Arena has rarely gone home happier. HSV has now closed the gap on Bayern to just a solitary point. It would seem that the worries of football Germany that Bayern would once again race away with the Bundesliga title, wer unfounded, at least today...



Hamburger SV: Wächter - Demel (71.Reinhardt), Boulahrouz, van Buyten, Atouba - Beinlich, Jarolim, Trochowski, van der Vaart (82.Ziegler) - Barbarez, Lauth (68.Mpenza)

Bayern München: Kahn - Sagnol, Lucio, Ismael, Lizarazu (61.Scholl) - Salihamidzic (46.Schweinsteiger), Demichelis, Ze Roberto, Ballack, Karimi (46.Guerrero) - Makaay

Goal: 1:0 van der Vaart (10.), 2:0 Trochowski (62.)

BUNDESLIGA

Pos. Team Pld Pts
1. Bayern Munchen 7 18
2. Hamburg 7 17
3. Bremen 7 16
4. Hertha 7 14
5. Schalke 7 13

Source: hsv.de