So Many Things Are Happening

By: Abby | September 1st, 2008

That it’s almost hard to keep up. You wait for news, and then, it appears…

First off- Hertha beat NK Interblock Ljubljana 1-0 in Berlin, to secure what was already mostly decided. We’re in the UEFA Cup proper now! The downside: Armine Chermiti may be out for three months after coming off early with a ligament injury. This is really bad news for us- the young striker had barely started settling in, and was in line to start in the game against Bayern. We here wish him a speedy recovery so he can start showing us all he can do.

The win meant that we got drawn into the UEFA Cup proper. I’m still not sure how the UEFA Cup setup works, because they keep changing it, but what I do know is that we got drawn against St. Patrick’s Athletic of Ireland. Far from the worst draw available to us. They got here by taking down Olimps of Latvia and Elfsborg of Sweden. The Irish club seem pretty psyched about the TV money they’ll be getting from us at least, and one Irish paper saw fit to describe Hertha as German giants. Which kind of made me giggle a bit.

Certainly, this is a team we can get through, and we’re to be considered the favorites. But that’s not always worked to our favor in the past, so we’re going to have to be on our toes. Elfsborg are no slouch side. So I’m cautiously optimistic, but let’s not book our tickets to Istanbul just yet.

So armed with a bit of form and a place in Europe we went off yesterday in a buoyant mood to Munich to take on the big boys. The mighty Bavarians were struggling, Hertha have been playing better than they have in ages, we might get something out of this, right?

Well, no. Last time we went down to play Bayern Munich it was a 4-1 defeat, tempered by the knowledge that the result wasn’t nearly as important as not getting any cards. This time it was a 4-1 defeat without any of that. It was, frankly, a bit of a shambles. As it often is when I get to watch a game on TV. The first goal was scored in the 12th minute, where Luca Toni made the defense look ridiculous. Surprisingly, the first half ended only 1-0.

Things fell apart in the second half- Philipp Lahm scored a goal in the ninth minute of the second half. Then Steve von Bergen gave away two penalties- not a particularly good day for the Swiss defender. Marko Pantelic got a consolation goal back at the end, and that was it.

What can be said, really? Other than that there’s still a massive gulf in class from where we are and where Lulu wants us to be. Even when Bayern are struggling, they’re still Bayern. We have a lot of work to do. Brushing off this result and moving on would definitely be a start.

And now, transfer deadline day!

First off- Solomon Okoronkwo is off to Saturn Moscow. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Okoronkwo- he scored the third goal in the 3-1 win over Stuttgart that I went to last year. But he hasn’t held down a regular spot in the lineup and fought with the team on coming back from the Olympics, where he won a silver medal with the Nigerian team. Good luck to him in Russia. Classing up Hertha!

The big news is that we’ve taken Andriy Voronin on loan from Liverpool. With Chermiti’s injury and Okoronkwo’s leaving a new striker was definitely necessary, but I certainly didn’t see that coming. He wasn’t much at Liverpool but he’s been good in the Bundesliga in the past. Hopefully we’ll see that Voronin.

No news so far on anyone else- Conca looks to have stalled, as Hamburg have signed one-time Hertha target Thiago Neves from his club Fluminense, and rumor is that Flu didn’t want to let them both go.

But there’s still a few hours left- we’ll see what happens…