Ten minutes before the break, Wilfriede Kanga showed slight signs of resignation. The ball came far and wide from his own half, it landed on the head of the Hertha BSC striker beyond the center line, but there was no teammate far and wide that Kanga could have played to. The ball was gone. Kanga’s shoulders sagged.
Not only in this situation was it a frustrating afternoon for the Berlin Bundesliga team. Hertha didn’t lack the zeal, but ultimately the quality, to seriously threaten runners-up Borussia Dortmund. The fact that it was only 0:1 (0:1) in the end was still quite flattering for the Berliners. Overall, however, things are getting uncomfortable: after five competitive games, Hertha are still waiting for their first win of the season.
Coach Schwarz had made three changes compared to the defeat in Mönchengladbach. Jean-Paul Boetius (for Ivan Sunjic) started for the first time, captain Marvin Plattenhardt returned to oust Maximilian Mittelstädt and, as expected, Marton Dardai replaced the suspended Filip Uremovic in central defence.
There would not have been any other variation, because Black had no other central defenders available. Still, that could change soon. It is reported from Argentina that Hertha has agreed with Agustin Rogel. The Uruguayan, whose contract runs until the end of the year, is due to play for Estudiantes for the last time this Sunday and will receive a contract in Berlin until 2026.
Rogel couldn’t help against Dortmund yet. There was no shortage of work. Hertha’s defense had a lot to do. It took Dortmund a quarter of an hour to really get into the game, but after that they gave the Berliners some trouble. The visitors clearly dominated after their goalkeeper Georg Kobel saved BVB from falling behind after three minutes. He just fished a deflected shot from Jonjoe Kenny out of the corner.
As a result, however, Hertha hardly took place offensively. At the break, Dortmund had two-thirds of the ball and a significant increase in chances. Marco Reus hit the crossbar with a deflected shot after 15 minutes, Salih Özcan, new signing from Cologne, put the ball on the post shortly afterwards on his first appearance for BVB, and Anthony Modeste, also from Cologne, failed at the goalkeeper’s brilliant reaction Oliver Christensen.
Hertha was almost constantly under pressure in this phase of the game. The team didn’t manage to get a little relief. The game in midfield was too flawed for that. Above all, Suat Serdar attracted attention primarily through avoidable bad passes; Chidera Ejuke, who showed two or three good dribbles at the beginning of the game, eventually overdid it with his solo numbers.
In view of the balance of power on the field, it was almost logical for the guests to take the break. Before their 1-0 win, Dortmund copied the recipe for success that brought 1. FC Köln to the European Cup last season. Özcan crossed from the right and in the middle Modest beat Marc Kempf in a header duel. The Frenchman celebrated his first goal of the season with a sprint to his coach Edin Terzic.
Schwarz reacted early after the break, bringing in Stevan Jovetic for Boetius, who was usually too busy. But Hertha’s appearance was too flawed to cause real problems for BVB. In the decisive moments, with the last or penultimate pass, there was a lack of the necessary precision – and compared to the Dortmunders probably also of quality.
Hertha struggled. There was little to complain about the team’s effort, but Dortmund remained more dangerous, who had a great chance to make it 2-0 after just under an hour through Karim Adeyemi. The national player failed from close range at Christensen. He was substituted shortly afterwards.
It wasn’t the only possibility for a possible preliminary decision that BVB missed. And so Hertha could at least hope for a point until the end. Jovetic had failed at Dortmund goalkeeper Kobel. And ten minutes before the end, Marco Richter made the Hertha fans scream among the 62,342 spectators in the Olympic Stadium. On his first assignment after his testicular cancer and immediately after being substituted on, he hit the bar with a powerful shot. Hertha was close. But nothing more.
