Match report

0-0: No goals in Frankfurt

The Saturday evening game between Eintracht Frankfurt and HSV ended goalless. The visitors fought hard but lacked ideas and luck in front of goal. The draw stopped Frankfurt’s poor run of five straight defeats, while for the visitors it was a crucial away point in their battle against the dreaded drop. Filip Kjostic was denied what appeared to be a clear penalty on the hour mark. The massive contingent of travelling HSV fans outsung the home fans all game at the sold out Commerzbank Arena.

HSV took a crucial away point on Saturday evening (18.03) drawing their Bundesliga matchday 25 game at Eintracht Frankfurt 0-0 , in front of a capacity crowd of 51,500 inside the Commerzbank Arena. The Rothosen began the game brightly, taking the game to the nervous looking home side. Constant rain did not exactly add to the quality of what was a dull game, riddled with the sound of the referee’s whistle seemingly every few seconds and Frankfurt players demanding that cards be shown for the slightest of fouls. The second half was the same and it wasn’t pretty. On 60 minutes Hamburg’s Kostic was denied a blatant penalty after he was felled inside the home box by Abraham. Match referee Cortus decided on a goal kick instead of a penalty. In the end both sides had to settle for a point.

Bobby Wood worked hard as usual but was this time ineffective in front of goal against a solid home defence.

Few highlights...

HSV coach Markus Gisdol fielded the same starting eleven which won the crucial home game 2-1 against Gladbach last time out. Fit again Müller made the squad after recovering from a bout of flu and was on the bench at first. During the opening quarter of an hour or so the Rothosen loked the better side but failed to convert two promising counter attacks involving Wood and Kostic. The first shot of the game came as Hamburg’s Holtby dragged a shot wide of the near post as it looked better to get the ball to the opposite post. The greasy conditions made life tough for both teams and highlights was a rare sight to say the least. After losing their last five games, Frankfurt – sixth in the table before kick off concentrated of defensive matters and nopt prepared to take any risks. The main part of the opening 45 minutes were spent cancelling each other out in midfield. The quality of passing from both sides was below par to say the least. Hrgota got a wayward shot away after half an hour but it was not enough to increare the heart rate of anyone present – including HSV board chairman Heribert Bruchhagen who returned to Frankfurt where he was in charge for 13 years. As the referee put everyone out of their misery with the half time whistle the game was goalless.

Maybe the turning point of the game: Kostic was felled in the Frankfurt box by Abraham but the whistle remained silent.

Chances at both ends

The quality of the game did not improve after the break, mainly due to the soggy conditions underfoot. The rain continued to lash down and gather in large puddles on the pitch making it hard to play the ball along the ground. Both teams tried their luck with long high balls which upped the excitement somewhat. HSV created next to no chances and had their keeper Rene Adler to thank for a few key saves to keep the teams on level terms. After an hour the main talking point of the game happened as Kostic advanced into the home box where he was blatantly brought down by Frankfurt’s Abraham. Much to the dismay of Gisdol and his bench as well as the thousands of travelling faithful the penalty was denied. How important could that decision turn out to be at the end of the season?. Lasogga was brought on as a late substitute and narrowly missed connecting with a ball into the box from the right which would have made him the Hamburg hero of the hour. As it was the game ended 0-0 and the Rothosen can now focus on matchday 26 as they take on Cologne (1.FC Köln) on Saturday April 1st at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg after the break for international games.

Match details:

Eintracht Frankfurt: Hradecky - Abraham, M. Hector, Russ (81. Tawatha) - Chandler, Oczipka - Mascarell, Gacinovic - Fabian, Rebic (90. Blum) – Hrgota (Meier 84.)

HSV: Adler - Diekmeier, K. Papadopoulos, Jung, Ostrzolek - Ekdal, G. Sakai - Hunt (71. Müller), Holtby (60. Gregoritsch), Kostic - Wood (90+ Lasogga)

Goals: -

Att: 51.500 (sold out)

Referee: Benjamin Cortus (Röthenbach a. d. Pegnitz)

Booked: Jung (67.) / Mascarell (83.)