Academy
12.08.19
Spectacular weekend for HSV academy as season shifts into gear
An amazing finish in Wolfsburg, an eight-goal rout and a derby victory; HSV’s youth teams certainly opened the season with a bang. Whilst the under-21s carried on their impressive unbeaten start with a last-gasp equaliser in Wolfsburg, the under-19s and under-17s got their seasons underway with wins over Chemnitz and St. Pauli respectively.
VfL Wolfsburg 3 – 3 HSV u21 (HT 2-0); Matchday 4, Regionalliga Nord
That’s what you call a top-of-the-table clash! Hannes Drews’ under-21 side retained their unbeaten start to the Regionalliga campaign in the last minute of an enthralling match in Wolfsburg. A quick one-two punch from John Yeboah and Ismail Azzaoui in the 20th and 23rd minute saw the Wolves take the lead at the AOK-Stadion, but Hamburg gained a greater foothold in the game as the half wore on, testing Klinger in the Wolfsburg goal with a number of long-range shots.
After the restart the positive intent from the visitors was rewarded, as a powerful run from Josha Vagnoman down the left-hand side saw opposite number Tim Siersleben bypassed, as well as ‘keeper Klinger beaten at his near post. The hosts wasted no time in restoring their two-goal cushion in the 65th minute, as Yannik Möker finished off a flowing counter-attacking move. The fighting spirit instilled by new manager Drews was on show, as his charges only seemed more motivated to draw level and retain their unbeaten record. With thirteen minutes left to play, Tobias Fagerström had seemingly misjudged a cross from the right-hand side, only to correct himself at the last minute and connect sweetly with a spectacular bicycle kick, which was past Klinger before he had a chance to react. As the game headed into injury time it seemed as if all was lost, with Drews sending new signing Joshua Wehking up for the final corner of the game to try to salvage a point. And the former Bochum man was able to do just that, channelling all of his striking instincts to power a header past his opposite number and spark wild celebrations from players and supporters alike. “All in all, we played very well in what was a high-quality Regionalliga match. The overhead kick by Tobias Fagerström to make it 3-2 was sensational and then the equaliser in the last minute of injury time from Joshua Wehking was obviously just unbelievable. Simply amazing,” was manager Hannes Drews’ summary after the final whistle. “Right at the death the boys got their reward for the fight they showed throughout the match.”
U21: Wehking - Haut, Storb, Giese - Pinckert, Geißen, David, Vagnoman - Fagerström, Mohssen (84‘ Kabuya), Heil (53‘ Bukusu)
Goals: 1-0 Yeboah (20‘), 2-0 Azzaoui (23‘), 2-1 Vagnoman (63‘), 3-1 Möker (65‘), 3-2 Fagerström (77‘), 3-3 Wehking (90‘+5)
HSV u19 8 – 2 Chemnitzer FC u19 (HT 3-2); Matchday 1, U19 Bundesliga Nord/Nordost
Hamburg’s under-19s produced a dominant second half performance to get their season off to the best possible start in the Bundesliga Nord/Nordost. Jonah Fabisch opened the scoring in what would be a breathless and frenetic opening half, with Stanley Keller answering for the guests from Saxony in the 27th minute. A crazy three-minute period followed, as Tom Muhlack and Faride Alidou restored and then extended the hosts’ lead in the 32nd and 33rd minute, only for Philipp Seifert to reduce the deficit again a mere 30 seconds later. “I think you could see that it was our first competitive game of the season, as everything didn’t come off quite as we would have hoped. But for us it’s positive to see how the boys reacted to the equaliser at 1-1. We have to work on removing those individual errors, as we gave Chemnitz the chance to get themselves back into the game,” manager Daniel Petrowsky explained after the final whistle.
With the visitors tiring and seemingly losing motivation the home side exploited the gaps that were increasingly opening up in front of them, with Peter Beke, Lenny Borges, Valentin Zalli and Ware Pakia all getting themselves off the mark for the new campaign. In comparison to the first period, Petrowsky was happy with the performance after the interval: “In the second half we made less mistakes and Chemnitz became less and less threatening as the scoreline became increasingly one-sided.”
U19: Didzilatis – Borges, Sousa, Ibraimo, Muhlack, Ghubasaryan (69’ Mirchev), Pakia, Fabisch, Beke, Suhonen (69’ Kilo), Alidou (65’ Zalli)
Goals: 1-0 Fabisch (4‘), 1-1 Keller (27‘), 2-1 Muhlack (32‘), 3-1 Alidou (33‘), 3-2 Seifert (34‘), 4-2 Beke (54‘), 5-2 Borges (64‘), 6-2 Zalli (68‘), 7-2 Beke (74‘), 8-2 Pakia (80‘)
HSV u17 3 – 1 FC St. Pauli u17 (HT 2-1); Matchday 1, u17 Bundesliga Nord/Nordost
As soon as the fixtures were announced it was clear that the HSV under-17 team would need to start the season strongly, to avoid embarrassment at the hands of local rivals St. Pauli on the first matchday of the new season. And avoid embarrassment they did, emerging 3-1 winners at the Wolfgang-Meyer-Stadion with a measured performance to open the new campaign with three points on the board. Niklas Jessen had equalised for the visitors after Arlind Rexhepi’s early opener, with Dennis Duah scoring in the 34th minute to see the home side into half-time with a goal in hand. Rexhepi doubled his personal tally for the afternoon a minute after the restart to all but wrap up the game as a contest. “Of course we’re very happy about winning the derby. But we also have to say that we needed 45 minutes to find our feet in the new season. Particularly in the first half St. Pauli had the more clear-cut chances, our lead at the interval was probably a touch fortunate,” was manager Pit Reimers’ assessment of the first half of competitive football of the new season.
Reimers was more satisfied with his side’s dominant showing in the second period, with only poor finishing preventing a more resounding defeat for the visitors. “What we have to take away from the game is the realisation that we have the ability to go through the gears during a game. That’s certainly a good place to start from,” was Reimers’ hope for the coming weeks and months.
U17: Mensah – Moor, Sherbourne (57‘ Koeberer), Andresen, Sohn (78‘ Sohn), Krahn (80’ Krahn), Rexhepi (80‘ Tahirsylaj), Duah, Mehdipour (57’ Diedhiou), Bozickovic, Kassimou
Goals: 1-0 Rexhepi (9’), 1-1 Jessen (25’), 2-1 Duah (34’), 3-1 Rexhepi (46’)