Season
14.08.20
Friendly replaced by intense inter-squad match
The planned friendly against VfB Lübeck could not take place on Friday afternoon, meaning it was replaced by a match for all members of the squad.
Thinking on your feet is key in life, and that was certainly true on Thursday evening (13th August), as the Rothosen’s planned friendly against VfB Lübeck had to be cancelled, due to a member of the VfB playing staff testing positive for coronavirus. The match-up could thus not be carried out as planned, so Daniel Thioune and his coaching staff had to come up with a plan overnight, deciding to work on set-piece situations in the morning as part of a double shift at the Volkspark. The afternoon session saw two 11-a-side teams face off against each other, with both teams given various tasks to fulfil. Team Orange were able to adapt better to the playing conditions, running out 2-0 winners, as Khaled Narey scored the first and laid on the second for goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes who was acting as an outfield player.
The Hamburg coaching staff were able to take the cancelled friendly against Thioune’s ex-team (played 52 games for VfB between 2002 and 2004) in their stride, as the preparations continue to gather pace after nine days of intense training. Sonny Kittel wasn’t able to take part in Friday’s game, having pulled a muscle in his adductors earlier in the week in training and has to take things easy for the next couple of days. There was some good news for Thioune though, as Ewerton and Gideon Jung, both recovering after problems with their thighs, are on the road to recovery, working with rehabilitation coach Sebastian Capel this week, with the hope being that the two defensive experts will be able to fully take part in training at some point next week.