Friendly
23.01.20
Ruthless Lübeck hand HSV deserved friendly defeat
Regionalliga side VfB Lübeck ran away with Thursday night’s friendly in a dominant second-half display, emerging 5-2 winners.
As is always the case, pre-season had provided a whole host of different results, including a disappointing loss against Schalke (4-0), a stuttering draw against Seoul (1-1) as well as an impressive victory in Basel (2-0). The last friendly before the 2. Liga kicks off again on Thursday against 1. FC Nürnberg at the Volksparkstadion was against high-flying Regionalliga side VfB Lübeck in their own back garden. 5,638 spectators were packed into the Stadion an der Lohmühle, and the majority could scarcely believe their eyes when the home side took the lead inside the first five minutes. Bakery Jatta did well to track back and win the ball, yet his attempted clearance hit a Lübeck attacker and fell straight to the feet of former HSV man Arslan ten yards out, whose effort was just about strong enough to make its way past Daniel Heuer Fernandes in the Hamburg net.
The early lead naturally gave the Green and Whites self-confidence and they pressed the Rothosen back during the opening exchanges, with makeshift right-back Christoph Moritz doing well to quell a number of promising attacks. The Rothosen improved as time wore on and deservedly levelled halfway through the half, with the ball breaking kindly in the box for Louis Schaub, who drew the ‘keeper and squared to Lukas Hinterseer, who made no mistake from ten yards out. Dieter Hecking most likely expected his troops to kick on after the equaliser but few notable chances came after the Austrian’s strike, and Lübeck were certainly good value for the 1-1 half-time scoreline.
The coaching staff sent out a completely new eleven after the restart, who started promisingly, with a number of set-piece opportunities proving dangerous to Räder in the Lübeck goal. However, the Rothosen’s own set-piece deficiencies came back to haunt them just before the hour mark, as a VfB corner was flicked on at the front post and bounced twice on the crossbar before being put in at the back post by Weissmann to restore the Regionalliga side’s advantage. Just three minutes later and the Green and Whites had doubled their lead, captain Grupe climbing highest at another corner to power a header past the helpless Mickel.
The Rothosen were seeing most of the ball but found themselves up against a ruthlessly efficient Lübeck team, who used the few chances they had to further distance themselves from the visitors. HSV youngster Anssi Suhonen was desperately unlucky to see his left-footed effort from all of 30 yards clatter against the post, and, when the ball was cleared, fellow youngster Jonas David misjudged the flight of the ball, allowing Parduhn to steal in and hit an effort that, whilst saved by Mickel, had enough momentum to creep over the line. Bobby Wood was able to get a goal back eight minutes from time after Xavier Amaechi won the ball high up the pitch and squared for the American, yet barely a minute later the Lübeck three-goal lead was restored as a VfB triallist curled in from the edge of the area. Dieter Hecking was unsurprisingly unimpressed with the performance: “The preparation had been good up until now, but you simply can't deliver a performance like we did this evening. We don't need to make it sound better than it was, we made far too many mistakes.” HSV have a week to put things right before Nuremberg visit the Volksparkstadion next Thursday (30th January).
HSV first half: Heuer Fernandes - Moritz, Letschert, van Drongelen, Leibold - Jung - Schaub, Hunt - Narey, Hinterseer, Jatta
HSV second half: Mickel - Beyer, David, Ewerton, Amaechi - Fein - Kinsombi, Dudziak - Suhonen, Wood, Kittel
Goals: 1-0 Arslan (5‘), 1-1 Hinterseer (25‘), 2-1 Weissmann (57‘), 3-1 Grupe (60‘), 4-1 Parduhn (77‘), 4-2 Wood (82‘), 5-2 Erkilinc (84‘)
Attendance: 5,638