First team

HSV between SVE & VfL: pain and motivation

Immanuel Pherai is serving as an example for the Rothosen between the consecutive away matches in Elversberg and Osnabrück: block out the pain, keep going, get results.

Pain and happiness sometimes come very close together. And how happy Immanuel Pherai was on Saturday, when head coach Tim Walter put his trust in him and threw him into the game, but how much you could see in his face at the end of the game what he, his teammates, the coach, the staff and all HSV fans felt: pain. Because the defeat at SV Elversberg hurt. And in Pherai’s case it hurt doubly.

The Dutch midfielder had tirelessly raised the tempo of HSV’s play after his arrival as a substitute. He created the most chances in the whole game despite only playing one half and also put in the most crosses for the Rothosen – and all this despite going into the match with a broken toe. The midfield dynamo was therefore symbolic for the whole of HSV that afternoon.

Because exactly like Pherai fought off the pain in his toe, the whole team had tried to defy the adversity of this away game and overcome the pain of two disallowed goals as well as conceding from their own mistake, to come through this moment of pain in the second half and to make this match, which had so far been disastrous, take a turn for the better. But just like you could see on the faces of Pherai and others, that didn’t happen in the end.

Their own mistakes, bad luck, controversial decisions and some misfortune in the final stages created a mixture that didn’t allow HSV to continue their own unbeaten start to the season against the battling and skilful promoted side Elversberg. But exactly like Pherai, who returned to the training ground and played through the pain once more, the whole team wants to stand tall and keep going after their first defeat of 2023/24.

Because such a fracture – whether it be in Pherai’s toe or in the Rothosen’s unbeaten streak – often heals very quickly. And exactly like Pherai will want to again run out onto the pitch, turn up the heat, push himself and give everything against VfL Osnabrück on Friday evening, the whole team is highly motivated to circumvent the frustration of the Elversberg defeat with energy during the training week. So that on Friday evening happiness follows the pain again.