Well, this past weekend marked the end of yet another season for the European soccer leagues. I've been out of the loop for most of what has occurred during the 2007-2008 season. I tried to follow my favorite teams as best I could while I was in Iraq.
Now, two of the teams I follow and support are Olympique Marseille and Hamburg (AKA HSV, AKA Hamburger SV, AKA Hamburgrer Sport Verein). If you thought that I would join the bandwagon and blindly support teams like Manchester United or Chelsea or Real Madrid or Barcelona or AC Milan or Juventus or Bayern Munich, you are most horribly wrong.
I won't really go into detail right now as to why I support the teams that I do. After all, I don't want to be here all day. I could go on and on and on. More than likely, you'll probably get bored with what I have to write if you aren't already a fan of either team.
Over the weekend, Marseille came from behind to beat Strasbourg (or Strassburg, if you prefer) 4-3 in what must have been a thrilling match. This means that Marseille now qualify to play in the early rounds of the UEFA Champions League in August due to finishing in the Top 3 of Ligue 1. That's a great result. As a die-hard OM fan, I would prefer to have seen OM win the league for the first time since 1993 (yes, I know all about the OM-VA Affair) when OM had that AWESOME team of Deschamps, Boli, Voeller, Boksic, Barthez, Pele, DiMeco, Eydelie, Sauzee, and the rest. Marseille are still a ways from having such an awesome squad; however, the current squad is pretty darn good. OM probably just need a couple of players here and there before they can compete with Lyon and Bordeaux. Right now, the rumors are that some of the key players for OM will probably being playing for other teams in Europe. The two main targets for other teams are forward Djibril Cisse and midfielder Samir Nasri. From what I have read, their likely destinations will probably be for English teams (yawn). It is really outrageous to read that Samir Nasri will probably end up at Arsenal. If he does, then I'll proably have to do something to the Arsenal jersey I bought in Iraq. I'm tired of seeing Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger basically raid French teams year in and year out for new players. It has to stop. OM are a great club and should be at or very close to the pinnacle of the best teams of Europe. You can't get that way when you sell your best players to English, Spanish, or Italian teams every year.
Here are highlights of the match from French TV.
Hamburg, or HSV or Hamburger SV, are another team that should be at or near the pinnacle as well. This year Hamburg finished fourth in the Bundesliga. This is a great result which qualifies them to play in next year's UEFA Cup. However, it was just a couple of weeks ago that Hamburg were in second place. On this past Saturday, Hamburg took apart Karlsruhe 7-0 in front of a raucous, enthusiastic crowd in Hamburg. It was amazing to watch the highlights as forward Paulo Guerro had a hatrick, forward Ivica Olic scored two goals, and the team captain, Rafael van der Vaart, scored on goal on a penalty kick and had several assists, creating most of the other goals.
The main question I had as I watched the highlights from German TV on YouTube was whether or not this was indeed Rafael van der Vaart's last game for HSV. There has been A LOT of speculation about this. As a fan of both the team and the player, I hope he stays. He's the heart and soul of the team. Without van der Vaart's presence on the field, HSV are a good team but not potential title winners. However, van der Vaart provides the team with everything: inspiring leadership on the field, incisive and often brilliant passing, creating goals for others, and scoring goals himself (which often tend to be on the spectacular side). With van der Vaart on the field, HSV are instant Bundesliga title contenders. If he does leave, he'll be very difficult to replace. How do you replace the unreplaceable? I wouldn't want to be Martin Jol, Hamburg's new coach. That's for sure.
The main problem, as I see it, is that Hamburg aren't the great team that they should be. Yes, I know they won the Bundesliga 8 times and won the European Cup back in 1983, defeating Juventus in the final. However, HSV haven't really won squat since winning the DFB Pokal (the German Cup) in 1987. If you want to challenge Bayern Munich every year and win the Bundesliga and be a force in Europe, you have to go out and get players of the quality of Rafael van der Vaart. Yes, it costs money. A lot of money.
If Rafael van der Vaart does leave for a team in Spain, he will be sorely missed. HSV will probably lose their best pure player since they had British soccer legend Kevin Keegan on their team back in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Plus, who is going to replace Sylvie van der Vaart, the hottest wife of a player in the Bundesliga? She'll be sorely missed as well.
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