Dave Farrell, Rick Derrella, and Matt Cameron tour Germany on a seven day trip. The three of them will visit the Hamburg Youth Academy, have lunch with a variety of coaches, and have the opportunity to view some Hamburg club training sessions.
Rick discusses in detail:
Today we toured the HSV Academy in Norderstadt; the suburbs of Hamburg; very nice complex the HSV annual budget
for the Academy is $4 million euros or $5 million US.
We had lunch with the U13 coach, Sebastion and he was very helpful.
Tonight we will the guest of HSV at the UEFA Cup match vs NEC, Netherlands.
Tomorrow morning we will watch the HSV First team train next to the stadium and then drive 2 hours to Rostcok on the Baltic Sea as guests of heath Pearce (US National team) the left back for Rostock; he has gotten us ticket and VIP passes
Day 3:
This morning (Friday) we viewed the First team training at HSV Hamburg and it was at a very high
level; watching Pro players from Peru, Croatia, Venezuela, Cameroon (just to mention a few) and
Germany made for a potent mix high technical proficiency & solid training methods. Ricardo Muniz
(HSV #3 Asst) from the Netherlands ran the players thru multiple functional training exercises the
day after a night match. The players were only those who did not play more than 10 minutes in the
match.
In the evening, we drove to Hansa Rostock of the former GDR and thanks to the hospitality of Heath
Pearce (US National team & Hansa Rostock); we experienced the VIP level at the Rostock stadium;
Unfortunately, Heath did not play and Rostock did not win (0-0) at home versus R/W Ahlen. Rosotck
is sitting next to last with under 10 games to play; so the relegation battle is on. The ride (185
km each way) was memorable with no speed limits posted in long sections of autobahn.
Tomorrow (Saturday) we will watch the HSV Academy U13 & U15 teams play league matches and then the
HSV first team train in preparation for their Sunday Bundesliga match versus Wolfsburg.
Day 4:
Watched 2 HSV Hamburg Academy matches this morning followed by the HSV First team training this
afternoon. The U13 Academy match was marred by a very serious collision and the match was
abandoned. The HSV U14 vs Wolfsburg saw a talented HSV team win out 2-0.
The first team training was directed by Martin Jol and his staff and offered an up close look at
high level pro training the day before a match. HSV will need to win on Sunday vs Wolfsburg to
stay top of the table.
Day 5: Final Day in Hamburg
Attended the HSV U16 Regional League Match vs Vorats Wacker, 1-1 with 2 crucial goalkeeper errors.
HSV First team vs Wolfsburg Bundesliga match was a difficult night for HSV; A win would have put
them at the top of the table, but the game started against them with a dubious penalty kick
awarded Wolfsburg’s way in the 10th minute; then in the 18th minute against the run of play
Wolfsburg capitalized again. HSV also lost their right back to injury on that goal. The second
half saw HSV fight back with a Guerro goal but immediately conceded a third goal to seal their
fate. The match did not go according to their training efforts which we observed during the 2 days
prior. Wolfsburg played a perfect away match where they defended in blocks of 8 & 10 and keep it
so compact that at many times during the match the distance from their striker to center back was
only 20-25 yards. This meant a very high defensive back line for Wolfsburg and it made HSV play
over the top more often than they wanted as out running the Wolfsburg defense was not working.
Magath coached Wolfsburg to victory and close to the top with the 3 points. Magath is a former HSV
player.
In addition, the game was sold out and the SW Weiesenbad first team (2nd Bundesliga)sat in front
of us watching the match. They will play HSV on Wednesday in the DFB Cup quarterfinals. My guess
is the their coach wanted them to feel the atmosphere that they experience on Wednesday.
