Hamburg failed in their bid to move to 4th in the table after a 1-0 loss at home against Stuttgart. With the three points, Stuttgart jump out of the relegation zone and into 12th place.
Hamburg vs. Stuttgart: Final score 0-1, Stuttgart pick up second win of the season
A first half goal by Vedad Ibisevic sees wasteful Stuttgart past Hamburg.
Stuttgart came out of the blocks quickly knowing that they were now in the relegation zone after the morning’s result. Martin Harnik broke out into a one on one with Rene Adler after just two minutes, but he put his shot right into the chest of the goalkeeper for an easy save. It’s not hard to imagine that last season’s Harnik scores that goal easily, and that is one of the reasons for Stuttgart’s struggles this season.
The visitors had the next best chance of the match in the 15th minute. The ball was played in to the feet of Vedad Ibisevic by Christian Gentner. With only Adler and a short distance separating him from the back of the net, Ibisevic missed the entire goal. It can only be described as an awful shot.
A goal was destined to come with all of the attacking from Stuttgart, and it came in the 30th minute. Gentner played Harnik down the right side. The Austrian played a low, driven cross into the area. Ibisevic was able to get goalside on Michael Mancienne and beat the Hamburg defender to the ball before putting a shot past Adler to make it 1-0.
With halftime only minutes away, Hamburg thought they found their equalizer, but it was called back for offside. Milan Badelj nearly shattered the crossbar from 30 yards out. The rebound fell to Artjoms Rudnevs who headed it into the goal, but the Latvian was correctly ruled offside.
After absorbing a healthy bit of possession from Hamburg to start the second half, Stuttgart nearly added another goal in the 65th minute. Gentner picked up possession in midfield and led a counterattack. He slipped the ball wide to Raphael Holzhauser. The 19 year old spun Mancienne around with some simple footwork in the box, and his shot just missed tucking inside the far post.
Hamburg almost grabbed the equalizer in the 80th minute, but a quick double save by Sven Ulreich kept them off the score sheet. Rudnevs got a foot on a long ball over the top only to be denied by Ulreich. The rebound fell to Heung-Min Son, but Ulreich was there again to keep the clean sheet.
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