The final for promotion to the Bundesliga has finally turned into a crime thriller. Hamburger SV’s well-deserved 1-0 win against FC St. Pauli gives HSV hope for a fair game and St. Pauli is trembling.
Robert Glatzel’s goal in the 85th minute brings his team four points ahead of third-place Düsseldorf with two rounds to go. FC, on the other hand, feels the breath of their pursuer and is only four points ahead of Fortuna.
Especially in the second half, St. Pauli disappointed HSV, who were strong this time, and now have to ask themselves why the change of coach from Tim Walter to Steffen Baumgart came so late. The HSV fans were indifferent to details and hoisted a huge poster: “The city belongs to us.”
The game started slowly. St. Pauli let the ball run, but achieved little with it – while HSV protected in the defensive midfield with Lukasz Poreba and Jonas Meffert and had the best player of the first half in Immanuel Pherai.
Robert Glatzel (second from right) scores the goal for Hamburger SV.dpa
First Glatzel and Ransford Königsdörffer were close to making it 1-0 (20th minute), then the goal fell four minutes later after Pherai’s fine pass to Glatzel. But referee Matthias Jöllenbeck saw a foul by Glatzel on Manolis Saliakas, but the contact came from Saliakis. A wrong decision and therefore bad luck for HSV, as was the case in the 36th minute when Nikola Vasilj misjudged St. Pauli’s goal and the ball reached Königsdörffer – his shot hit the outside post.
56,100 people came to the Volkspark and created a thrilling atmosphere at this city derby on Friday evening. HSV was not allowed to sell 900 tickets because of the fan separation, which hardly reduced the volume – especially when shrill whistles rang out in the 64th minute because Königsdörffer’s goal was not recognized because Poreba had previously blocked Vasilj illegally.
Now poison was in play, imported by Jöllenbeck’s unsovereign leadership. Königsdörffer’s shot, Pherai’s ball hit the crossbar: HSV now convinced and made it 1-0 in the 85th minute – Glatzel’s 19th goal of the season gives HSV the opportunity to avoid a seventh year in the second division via relegation. Ludovit Reis’ missed penalty in injury time no longer hurt them. St. Pauli has to do more to advance against VfL Osnabrück on Sunday.
Fortuna Düsseldorf is continuing to put pressure on the promotion race and has taken the next step towards Bundesliga relegation. After the 3-1 (2-0) on Friday evening against 1. FC Nürnberg, the third-place team in the second division has now been undefeated for twelve games and has reduced the gap to league leaders FC St. Pauli to four points before the last two games of the season. Vincent Vermeij with two goals (34th minute/45th+1) and substitute Isak Johannesson (72nd) scored coach Daniel Thioune’s team to a well-deserved victory.
Only two points separate the Düsseldorf team from Holstein Kiel in second place, but the North Germans will only face relegation candidates SV Wehen on this matchday on Sunday (1.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the 2nd Bundesliga and on Sky, as well as in the conference on RTL). Wiesbaden. Should Kiel slip up, Fortuna could overtake them with a win in a direct duel on the next match day.
Only substitute Ivan Marquez (55th) scored for the guests after a corner. Coach Christian Fiel’s team has been waiting for a win in the 2nd league for two months now and is 13th in the table. still not saved two game days before the end of the season. It was the fifth defeat in a row for the clearly inferior Franconians.
