The weather in Berlin over the weekend of Spieltag 2. has been superb. A pretty steady sunny 27°C and, perhaps most importantly, lovely warm evenings. We were expecting a good crowd at the Olympiastadion to lend support whilst Hertha face visiting Werder Bremen on Friday evening and the Hertha faithful didn't disappoint.
| The warm weather helped bring just over 56,000 out to the stadium to shout, clap and whistle for ninety minutes in support of their team Fans enjoyed the sunshine outside the ground as the piled off the trains to have a beer or two before going through the turnstiles and, once inside the Ostkurve were in fine voice as usual . . . | |
The sun goes down over the Marathontor as the crowd starts to come into the stadium
The game started off pretty well with Hertha controlling the lion's share of the possession and after six minutes the crowd erupted as Stocker drove the ball into the back of the net to put the Old Lady 1:0 up. As the net bulged my thoughts dashed back to the 6:1 opening game against Eintracht Frankfurt just a few years ago . . . "surely that can't happen again"?
My initial thoughts were correct, it couldn't happen again. A crazy scrappy equaliser came out of nowhere and for a while it was the men in green who had their tails up and looked like they may score again. Luckily they didn't but not without the woodwork coming to our rescue on a number of occasions. Hertha could have won this match but they could easily have lost it as well so perhaps a draw was a fair result in the end.
My initial thoughts were correct, it couldn't happen again. A crazy scrappy equaliser came out of nowhere and for a while it was the men in green who had their tails up and looked like they may score again. Luckily they didn't but not without the woodwork coming to our rescue on a number of occasions. Hertha could have won this match but they could easily have lost it as well so perhaps a draw was a fair result in the end.
A couple of players stood out for me in this game if for nothing else than their work rate. These were Valentin Stocker and Genki Haraguchi. Both worked like demons driving forwards but also tracking back to spare the Old Ladies blushes. The same cannot be said for Salomon Kalou who appeared to lack energy in much of the game where he often didn't chase the ball if it didn't fall straight to his feet. At least the long ball tactic appears to not be being used as often where Kalou is often separated from the ball far too easily by defenders who beat him in the air and on the turf.
I was hoping, just a week ago that Salomon had turned the corner but perhaps I was being overly optimistic. In the last few minutes Jay Brooks, after he was brought on off the bench appeared to be acting as a front man in the opposition box. Well if he can score for the USMNT then perhaps he can do a turn for Hertha as well! Time will tell.
I was hoping, just a week ago that Salomon had turned the corner but perhaps I was being overly optimistic. In the last few minutes Jay Brooks, after he was brought on off the bench appeared to be acting as a front man in the opposition box. Well if he can score for the USMNT then perhaps he can do a turn for Hertha as well! Time will tell.
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