Football United

Two first half goals by the HSV skipper Daniel van Buyten saw HSV move into round 4 of the UEFA Cup on Thursday evening, by way of a 2-0 victory over the Swiss first division side FC Thun in front of more than 40,000 in the AOL Arena. The only blot on HSV’s copy book, was the dismissal of midfielder David Jarolim late in the second half. HSV now plays the Romanian side Rapid Bucharest, who beat Bundesliga side Hertha 3-0 on aggregate in round 3.

Never change a winning team
After the 2-1 away win against Frankfurt in the Bundesliga at the weekend, HSV coach Thomas Doll saw no reason to change a winning team and fielded exactly the same side against the Swiss visitors Thun. Dutch master Rafael van der Vaart was on the bench at first after recovering from a broken bone in his foot. The visiting coach Hans Peischl made only one change to his side which beat HSV 1-0 in the first leg clash in Bern: In midfield, Vieira replaced Orman.



Thun needed time to recover from the early shock, but bravely tried to push players forward to attack HSV in their own half. The home side sat on their laurels for a while, and struggled during their build up play. That allowed Thun back into the game, but they couldn’t threaten the HSV goal.

Double whammy!
Nothing much happened for a while, and then HSV went further ahead on 33 minutes completely out of the blue. A Trochowski corner from the right was met by the head of van Buyten, who rose majestically above the Thun defence to superbly head the ball into the far corner, leaving the Thun keeper without a prayer. HSV began to dominate the game and although they were not fluent going forward, but the defence easily kept the visitors in check. HSV took a fully deserved two goal lead into the break with them.



Clever football
The home side began the second half in a concentrated mood. They didn’t make the mistake of sitting back on their two goal lead, but continued to play steadily forward. At long last, HSV’s combination game began to gel, especially over the right hand side where Mehdi Mahdavikia had a fine game.

van der Vaart at last!
On 53 minutes, Thun brought on the former HSV striker Eren Sen. Eleven minutes later, Thomas Doll brought on his Dutch international midfielder van der Vaart, who took to the field to thunderous applause as he replaced Trochwski who had played well. For the Dutch master, it was his first game since breaking a bone in his foot in November 2005.



The Bundesliga side controlled the game and their opponent, as Thun struggled to make an impression. HSV’s keeper Wächter hardly had a shot to save until the 74th minute, as Wicky put him under pressure with an awful back pass. Luckily for the home side, their 27 year old keeper was alert and cleared well before an onrushing Thun striker.

Sergej misses sitter
The final quarter of an hour was entertaining, as Thun threw everything forward in an effort to grab the solitary goal which would have seem them progress to the fourth round. HSV had the chance to counter attack, and Barbarez was guilty of missing a sitter on 77 minutes, as a superb cross from the left by Atouba was somehow missed by the Bosnian stood unmarked 3 metres out at the near post.

Jarolim sent off
There was more drama in the 82nd minute as HSV’s Czech-born midfielder David Jarolim was sent off for a second bookable offence.



Rapid Bucharest up next
HSV kept their cool and deservedly won 2-0. In the fourth round they face a tricky two leg clash against the Romanian first division side Rapid Bucharest, who put Bundesliga side Hertha out of the UEFA Cup on the same night as HSV went through against Thun. Earlier in the competiton, Rapid eliminated the Dutch giants Feyenoord Rotterdam, so Thomas Doll will warn his players.

Hamburger SV: Wächter - Mahdavikia, van Buyten, Boulahrouz, Atouba - Wicky, de Jong (86. Demel), Jarolim, Trochowski (64. van der Vaart) - Barbarez, Takahara (71. Lauth)

FC Thun: Jakupovic - Hodzic, Milicevic, Deumi Tchami, Duruz - Friedli, Leandro (53. Sen), Ferreira (84. Bernardi) - Aegerter - O.P. Faye, Adriano (77. Adriano)

Goals: 1-0 van Buyten (2.), 2-0 van Buyten (33.)



Source: Hsv.de