Brotherly Goals

Arminia Bielefeld were duly conquered on Sunday, with the Brazilian brothers of Raffael and Ronny scoring (Raffael twice) to keep us firmly at the top of the table. It’s only Bielefeld, one might say, and one might agree, but three points are three points and it would be far worse to throw those “easy” ones away. Indeed, now there is some clear daylight between us and the rest of the table, thanks to our win and Augsburg’s loss.

Hertha did what they needed to, going ahead through Ronny early, after about 18 minutes. The younger of the de Araújos has been coming into his own lately, which I’ve been really enjoying. I’ll admit to some skepticism when we signed him, thinking that it was just enough that he kept Raffael happy. But he’s worked hard, got himself into shape, and seems to be enjoying himself in Berlin. He and Raffael are also a good combination statistically- of the six games the brothers have played together, there have been 5 wins and 1 draw.

Raffael scored himself not long before halftime, and so Hertha went into the dressing room 2-0 up. The second half started with some complacency on the Hertha side, but a nice pass from Rob Friend and a clever non-move from Valeri Domochivskyi let Raffael in to score his second of the game. At 3-0, the win was never in doubt, even if Bielefeld manager to get one back in the 85th after everyone had stopped paying attention.

2,000 Hertha fans traveled to the imaginary city of Bielefeld for the game, which has to be worth a mention, so I’m mentioning it.

This weekend, of course, is the game we’ve all been waiting for. The Berlin derby, take 2. At our own Olympiastadion. It’s sold out, of course- 74,244, which is not at all bad for a 2nd division clash. And one of those 74,244 tickets belongs to me! I’ll be at the game on Saturday, and am very excited about it. The team is in good form, strong since the break, but derbies are special. We’ll see what happens. I can’t wait.

Category: match reports