http://hertha.theoffside.com News from Hertha Berlin German football team Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:32:41 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We won. We won. The first time since August- against Brøndby, way back when. All those weeks of things getting worse and worse, of less and less confidence, of more and more crap. And while this result only matters a little (we're still rock bottom in the league), it's such a nice ... http://hertha.theoffside.com/match-reports/we-won.html Oh, I wish it was last season. For many reasons, of course, but also because we'd have a reasonable chance of actually getting out of the group stages if we were anywhere near decent. Sporting may be the favorites, but they're only seventh in the Portuguese league, twelve points behind ... http://hertha.theoffside.com/match-preview/going-dutch.html You know what would have been nice? A terrible, clogging draw, the kind of uninspired awfulness that gives the football haters of America all the proof they need that this is a horrible sport. One with no good chances, fouls, and nothing interesting to talk about. Ahhh. Instead, the vague hope of ... http://hertha.theoffside.com/team-news/false-glimmers.html Finally, a bit of a turnaround. It took a change of coach, undignified sniping in the press, and until October to do it, but we've got another point in the Bundesliga. Defending champions Wolfsburg, home of some particularly potent attackers, were held to a 0-0 draw. And with it, maybe, ... http://hertha.theoffside.com/match-reports/come-on-home.html It doesn't get easier. 13,334 showed up to the cavernous Olympiastadion on Thursday to see Hertha lose 1-0 to Heerenveen, a team ranked third from bottom in the Dutch league. Like us, they'd been struggling after a successful previous season (coming in 5th and winning the Dutch cup), and sacked their ... http://hertha.theoffside.com/team-news/dark-before-the-dark.html I have a couple friends here who are fellow Bundesliga fans. When we meet up, we chat about what's going on in the league, the stories and gossip of our respective teams. It's usually pretty fun. These days, they've been asking me "what's up with Hertha?" And every time I reply ... http://hertha.theoffside.com/team-news/were-hertha-and-youre-not.html That's the message that new manager Friedhelm Funkel has for Hertha fans. It's the pragmatic sort of message that Funkel's reputation suggested he would say. Of course, what else can he say? A team in turmoil, rock-bottom, with a confusing situation in the backroom and nearly an entire squad of injuries ... http://hertha.theoffside.com/match-preview/lets-try-and-not-suck-so-bad.html So by now, everyone and their football blog-reading mother has seen what happened in Berlin this weekend. In case you've been blacked out, it's all here. Hertha Berlin, against Hamburg, a team we'd had a surprising hold on (particularly in Berlin), scored four goals, but only one in their net. ... http://hertha.theoffside.com/team-news/the-laughing-stock.html It's official: Friedhelm Funkel is the new coach of Hertha BSC Berlin. He spent the past five years as manager of Eintracht Frankfurt, before leaving at the end of last season. At Frankfurt, he got them up, kept them up, and even brought them to Europe via a cup final, so ... http://hertha.theoffside.com/team-news/the-successor.html Claims and counter-claims litter the papers. The facts: Lucien Favre is gone, after being one of the most feted coaches in Germany. Upon leaving, the also-fired Harald Gämperle, Favre's long-term aide, said that the players were the reason for his sacking, as they'd "never worked under such a good coach." ... http://hertha.theoffside.com/team-news/someone-heard-a-rumor-that-someone-has-to-pay.html