Die Adler put Hamburger SV to the test

By: Ollie | December 15th, 2008

Eintracht Frankfurt forced the most out of Hamburger SV but in the end fell 1-0 to the fourth-place club. Die Adler supporters can stand proud with the performance as they did not give a ball up without a challenge and show intense desire to bring home points. While the Martin Jol-led Hamburg side controlled much of the possession they were consistently disappointed with Die Adler intensity and defending prowess. It is not appropriate to single-out one player it such a strong defensive effort but clearly much credit is owing to Michael Fink, Markus Steinhöfer, Mehdi Mahdavikia and former Japanese capped Junichi Inamoto for a courageous performance that choked off most scoring chances before they could enter a more dangerous phase. With Friedhelm Funkel’s tactical plan obvious to assault on the counter, Hamburg grew wary and with a raised eyebrow was cautious going forward. Yet the goal line was finally broken just before the hour as Piotr Trochowski’s cross was headed-in by a diving Mladen Petrić. Nikos Liberopoulos had a late opportunity to bring the match even but it unfortunately the effort fell short and the match ended with a 1-0 deficit.

While disappointment is natural with a defeat, this should not be the case as Die Adler played brilliantly and in-consideration of the enormous injuries we can look forward to the second half of the season. Eintracht Frankfurt return from the break on the final day of January against Hertha BSC and are presently twelfth in the table, two points behind Hannover 96 and only three behind Köln.