First team

Mixed bag of results for Rothosen on international duty

The first games of the international break have already been played and Nico Oliveira, among other HSV players, has been in action for their national side. Here’s an overview of how our players are getting along.

The training pitches at the Volksparkstadion were a little emptier than normal this week, as several HSV players are away with their national teams and have been involved in the first few games of the international break – with contrasting fortunes. Laszlo Benes, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Saturday, played for Slovakia on Friday afternoon as they lost 1-0 in a Euros qualifier against the Portugal national team. Benes came on in the second half but unfortunately couldn’t find a way to reduce the deficit. Things went better for Dennis Hadzikadunic - he played for Bosnia and Herzegovina as they won 2-1 in a hard-fought encounter against Liechtenstein.

Ransford Königsdörffer and Stephan Ambrosius were unused substitutes in Ghana’s 2-1 win against Central African Republic, while Andras Nemeth was in the starting XI for Hungary U21s 2-0 victory. Valon Zumberi also played 90 minutes for Kosovo U21s as they were defeated 3-0 by Belgium U21s. Nico Oliveira was able to get some playing time as a second-half substitute for Germany U20s in their 1-1 draw with Italy. There aren’t any HSV players involved in national team games on Saturday and Sunday. The next games are on Monday and represent an opportunity for the less fortunate Rothosen to get some better results.