Derby victory over Hertha BSC allows Union Berlin to grow

AFrom their cars, the Hertha BSC footballers could read early in the morning after the painful defeat what their fans thought of the cup defeat against city rivals Union Berlin. “Shame” was written in large, blue block letters on a white cloth that fans had hung on the fence opposite the entrance to the Olympic site. The day before there were still encouraging lines, but events had long since caught up with them. The 2:3 against the upstart from the other end of the city will have an impact in West Berlin for quite a while.

Not only because Hertha failed for another year trying to reach the final of the DFB Cup at home, but also because the defeat was a lot clearer than the result would suggest. “We absolutely deserved to lose,” said Hertha’s coach Tayfun Korkut, who also understood those who voiced their dissatisfaction after the final whistle that evening. Some of the Hertha fans among the 3,000 admitted spectators loudly announced that they were “fed up” by singing: “We lost a derby. So it’s only understandable that emotions run high,” said Korkut. While the blue side indulged in abuse, the reds celebrated as exuberantly as they did eleven years ago when they won the first derby at the same place. At that time still in the second division.

The style of a favorite

Union has long since emancipated itself from these regions, and the club from Köpenick has become an ambitious contender for trophies and top places in its third year in the Bundesliga. Urs Fischer’s team dominated from the start in the style of a favourite, and after just ten seconds Max Kruse had his first opportunity.

Korkut struggled with the start of his team. “We didn’t get into the game at all for the first thirty minutes,” he said. In this phase, the 1-0 came through Andreas Voglsammer, who artistically placed a cross from Kruse in the goal. The naturalness with which Union played their own game was impressive. Hertha’s defense was repeatedly attacked with long balls, and the addressee almost always found his target. Particularly noteworthy was Dominique Heintz, who also initiated the 2-0, an own goal by Niklas Stark.

Heintz only came from Freiburg a few weeks ago, where he had hardly played in the past six months. At Union, after just three appearances, he let the defense chief Marvin Friedrich, who had migrated to Gladbach, be forgotten. Heintz is an example of the successful transfer policy of 1. FC Union. It doesn’t matter who is currently on the pitch, everyone finds themselves in their intended role. Like Heintz, Robin Knoche was once in the position of a discarded substitute, on Wednesday he scored the decisive 3:1. Hertha only scored with an own goal from Rani Khedira and Suat Serdar, who scored deep in injury time.

While Union is a team in being, Hertha continue to look for their own game, although Korkut often relies on the same forces. A lot was wrong, especially on the defensive end. An alarming development, especially in view of the upcoming opponent. Hertha is expecting FC Bayern on Sunday. After just one point at the start of the second half of the season and the end of the cup, anything but a build-up opponent.

The cup as a distraction from the dreary everyday life in the league is passé for Hertha, at Union the competition tempts you to dream. In the quarter-finals, the Berliners are currently the best-placed team among the eight remaining teams. After the early elimination of the series winners from Munich and Dortmund, the group of favorites is being regrouped. Union is definitely one of them. “We want to seize the opportunity. There are still two games left until the final, before we can be here again. There are still some interesting teams, but I don’t think we need to hide,” said Kruse.

In addition to Union, Leipzig and Freiburg are considered contenders. Bochum and the remaining four second division teams go into the quarter-finals as underdogs. Only Fischer is strange with the new role. “If it were that easy. I think one or the other team has something against it,” he said, when asked about the first possible title with Union. But the successful evening with the always calm trainer had done something. “If you play in the cup, you want to go to the final. Otherwise you don’t have to take part in this competition,” said Fischer. There were rarely such offensively formulated goals at Union Berlin.