One point!
One of the many nasty things being said about Hertha BSC right now is that the players look like they have clown noses. On the chest. Because the logo of the new shirt sponsor on the jersey is a dot, as red as a bajazzo’s nose. Trainer Pal Dardai warned of “Schadenfreudism” these days with a wonderful neologism. That’s so easy to say! The red dot is the only one that the winless Hertha has been able to get this season. And then it happened that the goal to make it 0-1 on Friday against Wehen Wiesbaden came across as harlequinesque: long-range shot in added time, left inner post, right inner post, goal – and keeper Oliver Christensen saw the birds chirping. He flew against the post while trying to save. Javier Caceres
Goal in the 103rd minute: Juan Jose Perea from FC Hansa Rostock celebrates after scoring the winning goal in Elversberg.
(Photo: Harry Langer/dpa)
student and father
The Abitur exams are over, the graduates have returned from their final trips, but on Saturday there was a hint of the exam phase in the stadium. Responsible for this was FC Hansa Rostock, who reminded of many a student in his 2-1 win over the newly promoted team from Elversberg: the task was colossally underestimated, the seriousness of the situation was recognized late, effort was made at the last second – and then saved to the finish. Attacker Juan José Perea, 23, only scored for Rostock in the tenth and 13th minute of added time. “It’s a dream for me!” said the debutant, who had been signed on loan from Stuttgart less than 48 hours earlier. However, he is only of limited use as a role model for future school-leavers: Perea became a father three days earlier. Thomas Hurner
Still dangerous: Lars Stindl (left), 34, from Karlsruhe fights for the ball with Levin Öztunali from Hamburg.
(Photo: Uli Deck/dpa)
A little Champions League
Lars Stindl left Karlsruher SC in 2010 to pursue his career on a bigger stage. The plan worked, he made it into the Champions League and became a German international – and the Baden crowd was happy for him because the playmaker presented himself as the ideal ambassador for his youth club. Now, at the age of 34, Stindl has returned to KSC to end his career on a smaller stage. But he is not tired of old age, as Sunday’s second division home game against Hamburger SV showed: The visiting team was ahead, in the fifth minute of added time Stindl received the ball in the opponent’s penalty area. One look, one pass – and it was already 2:2. So there is still a bit of the Champions League in the returnee. Thomas Hurner
Goal empty, ball on the post: Hanover’s Louis Schaub misses the Nuremberg goal with a slapstick insert.
(Photo: Wolfgang Zink/Imago)
to the bar
It’s still early in the season, but if anyone wants to create a collection of fabrics for the year in review, then Hanover’s Louis Schaub is a good idea. His performance against 1. FC Nürnberg could easily be ranked among the prettiest missed goals in history. It would be somewhere between Jakub Blaszczykowski’s “Cuba Crisis” against Freiburg (2010) and Frank Mill’s post artwork against Bayern (1986). Schaub’s slapstick came in the second half after a slip-in pass from colleague Nicolo Tresoldi, when the offensive man elegantly rounded the opposing keeper. Goal empty, cry of happiness in your throat – but then the angle got tight and his Kullerball dribbled onto the bar, as they say in Austria. Schaub is German-Austrian, insofar: neatly threaded. Jonas Beckenkamp