Friendly

HSV beaten in friendly by VfL Osnabrück

The Rothosen fell to a 3-1 defeat in a friendly against the third-division side.

A day after their narrow 2-1 defeat away against RB Leipzig, Hamburger SV took part in a friendly against VfL Osnabrück. The side are currently in fourth place in the 3. Liga, and the match took place behind closed door at the training grounds of the Volksparkstadion on Sunday afternoon (19th October).

Head coach Merlin Polzin used the match, which was arranged at short notice, to provide game time to those players who haven’t featured much of late and to those that have been left out of the matchday squad. Centre-back Jordan Torunarigha was back in the starting line-up for the first time since dealing with an Achilles issue and was able to play the full 90 minutes. Midfielder Jonas Meffert also started and was unlucky to only rattle the crossbar with an effort after half an hour played. Shortly after, the visitors were able to take a 2-0 lead via two quick goals from David Kopacz (35’, 38’).

Polzin made a handful of changes at half-time, bringing on Timon Kramer and Benjamin Lamce from the club’s U21s, in addition to winger Alexander Rössing-Lelesiit. The Rothosen then conceded again in the 75th minute, as Bashkim Ajdini made it 3-0. Just two minutes later, youngster Glory Kiveta was able to get a goal back for the hosts. Rössing-Lelesiit then also hit the crossbar late on, with Polzin’s side unable to make their remaining chances count. As such, the match ended in a 3-1 defeat.

“The result obviously isn’t what we’d hoped for, but that wasn’t the priority today. It was about making sure that everyone was able to get some minutes and that we could continue to work on the areas that we still need to improve on,” said HSV striker Robert Glatzel.

While yesterday’s starting line-up took part in a recovery session on Sunday, the entire team will have Monday off together. On Tuesday, the Rothosen will pick up preparations for their upcoming home game against VfL Wolfsburg (25th October, 15:30 CEST).

MATCH STATISTICS

Hamburger SV: Peretz - Ramos, Posadas (46’ Kramer), Torunarigha - Jatta, Pherai (46’ Lamce), Meffert, Reimers (72’ Tuppeck) - Sahiti, Glatzel (72’ Kiveta), Balde (46’ Rössing-Lelesiit)

VfL Osnabrück: Sauter (46’ Remberg) - Pröger, Janotta (81’ Albrecht), Tesche, Wiemann, Schumacher (81’ Kröger) - Henning (81’ Wagner), Wiethaup - Badjie (63’ Ajdini), Kopacz (81' Lesueur) - Ihorst (63’ Goguadze)

Referee: Daniel Piotrowski

Goals: 0-1 Kopacz (35’), 0-2 Kopacz (38’), 0-3 Ajdini (75’), 1-3 Kiveta (77’)