HSV gets its first win against Cologne: waiting for the savior

HSV had done a lot to raise the mood during the week: On Tuesday, it moved its men's soccer team training to the Volksparkstadion, where defender Mario Vušković was allowed to take part for the first time after an almost four-year doping ban. Around 6,000 fans celebrated the Croatian like a savior. On Friday, one day before the home game against 1. FC Köln, the contract of coach Merlin Polzin and his team was extended until 2029.

This is a remarkable signal because at that point Hamburg were bottom of the table with no points and had conceded twelve goals in the first three Bundesliga games of the season, but hadn't scored a single one themselves. There were times when people at Volkspark would have become nervous in such a situation and would have at least hesitated to make such a decision for the future.

But now there is great calm in the club, which was once a kind of synonym for “hire and fire”. And the trust in the 35-year-old coach is huge, because he not only achieved the longed-for promotion back to the first Bundesliga in the seventh attempt, but also ultimately confidently kept the league with a largely newly formed team. And he identifies beyond measure with the club he loves, HSV.

HSV also acted with great calm on the transfer market. The first match day had already been completed when key players joined on the last day of the transfer period: Norwegian David Møller Wolfe and Moroccan Zakaria el Ouadhi, who have been in the starting line-up ever since. Sports director Claus Costa achieved his masterpiece with someone who had already joined on loan at the last minute last year: he sent the offensive difference player Fabio Viera back to his parent club Arsenal London after the season to demonstrate that he was not prepared to pay the fixed transfer fee of 20 million euros. Only to get it on “deadline day” for less than half the price.

Shows of respect rained down from the industry and it seemed a foregone conclusion that HSV would attack further up the table this season. But then there were three defeats at the start. You can lose in Dortmund and Leipzig - but 5-0 at home against Mainz 05? Was it because the team wasn't yet well-established? Was there too much reliance on the new signings to perform from day one because that had finally worked out the previous year?

Conceding five goals twice suggests that the central defense, Hamburg's traditional problem area, is also a concern. And that's exactly what hasn't been strengthened, on the contrary: in the previous season, it was 18-year-old Luka Vušković, who, essentially replacing his big brother Mario, rose to become head of defense within a few days and held the place together from then on. But he was also only on loan from Tottenham Hotspur and was a permanent commitment far beyond HSV's capabilities. Without him, HSV is much more vulnerable defensively.

Even against initially superior Cologne, the Hamburg central defenders needed luck a few times before one of them, Nicolás Capaldo, headed HSV into the lead shortly before half-time. It was only when part-time striker Yussuf Poulsen made it 2-0 shortly after the restart that HSV increasingly freed itself from pressure from Cologne and earned the victory, even if Cologne was once again in danger after Ragnar Ache's goal in stoppage time.

At HSV they will now be longing for Mario Vušković to return to the squad. There must be a huge temptation to reinstate the highly gifted central defender soon after his ban expires in mid-November. And coach Polzin said after the first training sessions that he saw him in good condition. Nobody can yet say with certainty whether Vušković will find his way back to his old strength after four years without team training or competition experience. Maybe HSV will bring the necessary calm on this issue too.