Um. Well. Um.

By: Abby | September 8th, 2009

It’s an international break, and from a Hertha perspective, it’s pretty damn boring. Some of the team is gone, and those that aren’t don’t have much to do. They had a friendly against 9th-division side Altenberge, where they scored 10 goals (Artur Wichniarek knocked up a hat-trick, 19-year-old Tim Scheffler did as well, new signing Cesar got a brace, and Rasmus Bengtsson and Christoph Janker were on the scoresheet as well). But really, nothing much has been happening.

So among the press it’s time for random speculation, fluffy interviews, and the occasional attack from an ex-player. Raise your hand if you’re surprised that new Ajax striker Marko Pantelic, now that he’s got a club and is away from the Bundesliga, has some choice words for the manager of his former club? Yeah, me either. In case you’re so inclined to see what he has to say, the quotes are here. It’s basically what you’d expect- he claims that Lulu had nothing to do with last season’s success, and that everyone in Berlin knows and loves Marko Pantelic. Good luck with him, Ajax.

Anyway. In current player news, Rasmus Bengtsson’s girlfriend has arrived in Berlin. (I told you it was a slow news weekend.) The Swede has been getting to full fitness, as the Swedish season is different than the Bundesliga, but we’re likely to be seeing more of him soon. He gives that same newspaper a nice little interview, saying the required nice things about Berlin and saying he could have earned more other places, but Hertha is a good place to develop.

New striker Adrian Ramos’ girlfriend says he is a fighter. Well, she wouldn’t say otherwise, would she? The striker is with the Colombian national team right now, and is unlikely to be back bei Hertha until Friday. We’ll see if he’s ready to play against Mainz at the weekend.

And in case you weren’t yet convinced that nothing is happening, here’s some baby pictures of Florian Kringe. He looks blond.

Tomorrow is more internationals. Kapitän Arne Friedrich is supposed to be set for a central-defense role in the qualifier against Azerbaijan. Maximilian Nicu got his first start for Romania against France over the weekend and is hoping to continue on that. Valeri Domovchiyski came on in the 83rd minute for Bulgaria and scored against Montenegro, but Italy might be a stronger opponent. Jaroslav Drobny, despite how awesome he is, only sits on the bench for the Czech Republic, but at least he’s on the bench now. Steve von Bergen played all of Switzerland’s 2-0 win over Greece, and faces Latvia next. Pal Dardai’s Hungary faces an in-trouble Portugal after losing to Sweden. Also, we’ve got a few kids out in the junior internationals with Lennart Hartmann, Shervin Radjabali-Fardi and Sebastian Neumann all playing for the U19s as they won against Belgium.

Good luck to all the Herthaners out with their countries, and please come back in one piece.