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European Football
Preview - 15 Sep 2007
Hamburg to keep it tight.
Huub Stevens' Hamburg travel to Frankfurt looking to build on the
excellent point they gained against Bayern Munich two weeks ago.
Halting the Bayern Juggernaut was an achievement in itself, but it
was the performance which will have pleased Stevens the most.
Hamburg dominated for long periods, despite missing arguably their
two best players - Vincent Kompany and Rafael Van Der Vaart.
Like Thomas Doll before him, Stevens' best results have come in
seemingly difficult away fixtures. This is in no small part
due to a rock-solid defence marshalled by the outstanding Kompany.
The recent defeat at Bochum was Hamburg's first on the road since
slipping to a last gasp loss in Berlin back in February. A
defeat which owed a lot to the rather dubious sending-off of Kompany,
with the scores tied at 1-1.
The good news for Hamburg backers is that the aforementioned duo are
fit and available to take on Eintracht Frankfurt today. A
special mention should also go to summer signing Mohammed Zidan.
The Egyptian striker hit the equaliser against Bayern, to get off
the mark for the season. No player in Germany had a better
goals to games ratio last season. A confidence player, Zidan
will be buzzing to get back amongst the goals.
Eintracht have had a decent start to the season themselves, and sit
level with Hamburg on seven points. However, they haven't been
scoring freely. One-goal victories against notoriously poor
travellers Hertha, and rock-bottom Hansa Rostock are nothing to get
excited about. The form of midfield duo Streit and Meyer has
been the bright spot, but they can't be relied upon to provide all
the goals. Greek striker Amanitidis is struggling for form and
fitness, while the Japanese Takahara is still to make his mark after
a moderately successful Asian Cup.
Goals could be in short supply here. However, having already
masterminded victories at Bayern, Bremen and Schalke in his short
reign, Huub Stevens is fancied to put get his men back on track
after the unfortunate defeat at Bochum. A comfortable 1-0 win
at Hannover in week one is a pretty good yardstick here.
Frankfurt are at a similar level to Hannover, and will need to up
their game significantly in order to penetrate a stingy Hamburg back line,
protected by the tenacious David Jarolim and Nigel De Jong.
Saturday 14:30 Eintracht Frankfurt v Hamburg. .
Recommendation: Hamburg
2pts to win to nil at 7/2. Paddy Power.
Ilunga
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