All the Tabloid Favorites

By: Abby | July 16th, 2009

That’s what Hertha has right now.

A 2-0 friendly win against Ferencvaros of Budapest (just a bit over the border from the Austrian training camp) was more notable for the trouble at it than the game itself. Goals from Cicero and Gojko Kacar were overshadowed by the events away from the pitch. 3 Hertha fans were injured by a group of Hungarian hooligans, who attacked and harassed Berlin fans throughout the game and chanted Nazi slogans. The Berliner Morgenpost has a good account of the events. Hooligans chanting Nazi slogans are bad enough, but it seems that security was also seriously lax in Budapest- the police outside the stadium didn’t bother coming in until long after the events had started, and the hooligans seem to have had full run of the stadium, including into the press box. A sobering reminder of the forces that still lurk in football. Our veteran Hungarian, Pal Dardai, who captained the game as Arne’s knee is bothering him again, was unsurprisingly particularly distressed.

But that’s not the only tabloid-favorite subject going on with Hertha. Young Swiss midfielder Fabian Lustenberger, of the pretty golden curls, now has a famous girlfriend. Monique is a contestant on a show called Sommermädchen, which from what I understand is a show where girls compete for a cover of FHM. I have no idea what actually goes on, being nowhere near Germany right now, but I’m pretty sure the entire point is about girls in bikinis. Oh, and there’s one from each of Germany’s federal states. Monique represents Brandenberg, and she’s been wearing Lusti’s Hertha jersy on the show. A bit of advertising, yes?

Unfortunately, Fabian himself has broken his foot. Again, some of you might remember. Except this time it’s the other one. And all this after a successful debut in Budapest as a central defender- a position we badly need cover in. It’ll probably be three months out for the young Swiss.

But, we march on. Our Balkan quotient is quite low after the leavings of Josip Simunic and Marko Pantelic. Fortunately, we’ve now got 21-year-old Nemanja Pejcinovic on trial. He’s a defender, a Serbian U-21 international with one cap for the senior squad, and if Bild is to be believed (take that as you will), the best friend of Gojko Kacar. Our midfielder’s been talking about how he misses Marko and Joe, so maybe getting him a friend will boost our chances of keeping him longer. BZ says the “new Simunic” would cost about €800,000.

Onward and upward, the season approaches quickly. Tomorrow there’s a friendly against Turkish Süper Lig side Bursaspor. The St. Pauli friendly is next Saturday. The week after that, the first round of the DFB-Pokal against Preußen Münster. And the week after that…well, it all begins, doesn’t it?