by When Hamburger SV and St Pauli last met, at the Volksparkstadion in April, their roles were reversed. HSV were favorites for promotion and their opponents were breathing down their necks. St. Poli were dubbed “HSV-Jäger” (“HSV-hunters”) by the German press, after turning their form around so impressively that they went from relegation candidates to six points behind their third-placed derby contenders A win would close the gap to three and could see a hot-headed and exhausted HSV sidelined.
In the end, however, the hunter became the hunted. St. Pauli full-back Manolis Saliakas opened the scoring before running with his hands tucked behind his ears, but HSV managed to score three goals either side of half-time and, although the visitors forward slowly, it ended 4-3. . When Jonas David, now on loan at Hansa Rostock, thundered home the equalizer from 25 yards, HSV coach Tim Walter could not contain his relief, leaping onto the pitch along with most of his coaching staff and substitutes . At full time, shrouded in a thick fog from the flares and smoke bombs in the stands, he and his team jumped to the rat of the ultras drums and soaked in the sorrow of the additions of more than 50,000 blue fans . .
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When the teams meet at the Millerntor-Stadion on Friday evening, St. Pauli will be the ones pushing to avoid the snapping jaws on their heels. It wasn’t meant to be this way, at least not as far as HSV is concerned. On the final day of last season, after HSV won 1-0 at SV Sandhausen and moved into second place, the final automatic promotion spot, it looked like the relegated giants would return to finally to the Bundesliga, where they played without a break. 55 years before their side’s relegation in 2018. HSV fans celebrated on the pitch, as did Walter before holding his hands in a desperate attempt to stave off fate, and the Sandhausen stadium announcer even congratulated them on their success . What they didn’t know was that Heidenheim, trailing 2-1 to Jahn Regensburg going into injury time, would score twice to leapfrog HSV and condemn them to a promotion play-off, where VfB Stuttgart swept them aside.
If St Pauli fans were left stone-faced after the derby win, HSV’s tragicomic end to the season at least gave them something to smile about. In fact, they haven’t stopped smiling since: the league’s top team after last season’s winter break, St. Poly have carried that momentum into this campaign as they sit unbeaten at the top of the table. HSV are three points behind in second. The chase is on.
St Pauli manager Fabian Hürzeler has earned a reputation as one of Germany’s most prolific tacticians. At 30, the former Bayern Munich youth player is by far the youngest coach in the division, drawing inevitable comparisons with Julian Nagelsmann. He cited Nagelsmann as an influence, spending his formative years in Bavaria and following similar paths in the dugout. Hürzeler focused on training after injuries and other setbacks during his playing career and Saint Pauli promoted him from the assistant position when Timo Schultz was sacked last December.
St Pauli were nicknamed “Freibeuter der Liga” (“Buccaneers of the League”) as they cemented their counterculture status in the 1980s and 90s, adopted the Jolly Roger as an unofficial badge, and lived up to the hype again about Hürzeler. He puts a lot of emphasis on possession but they also rely on their wings and wing-backs to overload the forward areas. Dapo Afolayan, signed from Bolton in January, hit the ground running in the 2. Bundesliga and has not looked back, his lightning runs out wide and infield supported by Saliakas behind him. Up front, former Werder Bremen forward Johannes Eggestein provides an aerial threat, thundering in crosses from Afolayan and Elias Saad on either side.
The biggest improvement since last season has been in the defence. Although St. Pauli often switches during a game, Hürzeler tends to start with a 3-4-3 with Karol Mets, Eric Smith and Hauke Wahl at the back. The Mets, signed on loan in January and permanently through the summer, bring steel, Wahl, another summer addition, is the short-ball outlet, and Smith, a defensive infielder by trade, mixes a role long quarterback running with surging runs into the. midfield, defending on the front foot and the others anchoring the line. St. Paul’s has the tightest defense in the league and has conceded just 11 goals. Completing the equation are Marcel Hartel, the set-piece specialist in midfield with a rich scoring streak, and Jackson Irvine, the box-to-box raider who fans love to train on the bus, his social . activism and, like the club, being connected to the other world of music.
HSV are also focused on possession, although they have not been consistent enough to put pressure on their opponents. Their efforts to build from the back are characterized by the way Daniel Heuer Fernandes, the goalkeeper, turns off his line, providing his defenders with an extra ball, albeit with little risk. With Bakery Jatta, their most influential wide player, suspended, they will rely even more on former Cardiff forward Robert Glatzel, who tops the 2. Bundesliga scoring chart with 10. Glatzel was directly involved in by half of HSV’s goals. , having also raised three assists due to his tendency to play down depth and orchestration. “[The derby] it’s a game like any other,” he said this week. “It has its own rules.”
There is no doubt that sparks will fly – literally – in the stands. St Pauli and HSV are often said to be a world apart, but their fans have more in common than they might admit: Hamburg have a winning streak in the bottom tier and supporters of the two often rub shoulders a fine club on the platforms.
St Pauli fans are known for their left-wing politics, but there are no simple political binaries between the clubs: HSV fans come from all walks of life and from all corners of the city. Perhaps the difference best understood is that between mainstream and mainstream: HSV, six-time German champions and former European Cup winners for whom commercialism is a fact of life, compared to second division St Pauli who are not they have ever won. trophy and which, with its historical links to the anarchist, punk and squatter movements, provokes a fierce debate on the commercial impact at every turn even as the club becomes a global brand.
However, there is a deep rift between the clubs’ ultras, which often comes to light in large pre-match street marches and jeering banners at matches. That will create a fiery atmosphere inside the Millerntor, where St. Pauli has not lost a derby for more than four years. Underdogs by nature, they are now in a position of ignorance looking down on their rivals. “There are no favorites in this game,” said Hürzeler, when asked about St Pauli’s lead. “The truth is on the field.”
