At periodically recurring intervals, Hertha BSC players have to rediscover their living room. This is less because her living room, the lawn in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, would have been completely redesigned. It is more due to the circumstances that have changed.
In May 2020, for example, Hertha’s then coach Bruno Labbadia moved a training session to the Olympic Stadium. The season in the Bundesliga was interrupted for several weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic and it could only be resumed relatively quickly because the game was closed to the public from then on. And it was precisely this unusual atmosphere that Labbadia wanted to simulate with a training session in the deserted Olympic Stadium.
Fortunately, the ghost games are now history. Around 45,000 spectators are expected on Saturday (3.30 p.m. / Sky) when Hertha BSC Europa League winner Eintracht Frankfurt receives.
The fact that Labbadia’s successor Sandro Schwarz also had his team train in the Olympic Stadium on Thursday did not help them get used to the empty ranks; in the first place, it served to get used to the future workplace.
Not only Schwarz is new in Berlin, but also a large part of the team. And after all the impressions from the preparation and the first two competitive games, it would not be a surprise if there were six new signings in the starting eleven against Eintracht this summer – including five who have never played in the Olympic Stadium, not even for Hertha’s opponents. Only Jean-Paul Boetius has played with Mainz in the Olympic Stadium.
The midfielder, although only signed during the week, has a good chance of displacing Kevin-Prince Boateng, who was almost inconspicuous against Union a week ago, from the starting XI. But the chances are even better for the two offensive players Chidera Ejuke and Wilfried Kanga, who will probably start instead of Myziane Maolida and Davie Selke.
Both have already made their first appearances for Hertha. Ejuke, a Nigerian and on loan from CSKA Moscow on a free transfer, came on as a substitute in the cup in Braunschweig and in the derby at 1. FC Union.
Kanga, French with Ivorian roots, made his Bundesliga debut in the Alte Försterei when Schwarz sent three fresh offensive players onto the field after the 0:3. As a result – with Ejuke, Kanga and Stevan Jovetic – there was at least a rudimentary offensive game to see at Hertha.
“I’m very happy with him,” said Schwarz about Ejuke, who played on the left wing and has already shown in his brief appearances what skills he has. The 24-year-old is fast, technically good and difficult to slow down, especially when dribbling.
This is also shown by his duel values: In Braunschweig, Ejuke won 75 percent of his direct duels, with Union even 80 percent. Strong stats for an attacking player.
Although Ejuke has been under contract with Hertha for a few weeks, Kanga currently seems to be one step further. That’s because he did all the pre-season training at his previous club, Young Boys Bern, while Ejuke still has some catching up to do.
“Chidi gets more power with every training session,” says trainer Schwarz about Ejuke. And the internal competition is not exactly overwhelming with Maolida, who was also absent from the unit in the Olympic Stadium on Thursday due to slight muscular problems. Sooner or later the Nigerian, on loan until the end of the season, should have his place in the starting XI.
That applies at least as much to Wilfried Kanga, for whom Hertha paid around 4.5 million euros to Bern. “Willy is already full of juice,” says Schwarz. At the derby in the Alte Försterei, Kanga fired Hertha’s first shot on goal from the game with his first touch of the ball. An hour had already passed. “I’m a player who fights to the end, doesn’t let go, doesn’t give up,” he says.
The Frenchman, also 24, not only has the right mind but also the right body to be in the penalty area. With 90 kilograms, spread over 1.89 meters, Kanga’s stature is reminiscent of Jhon Cordoba, who left Hertha a year ago.
Since then, the Berliners have been missing a guy like Cordoba in attack. Until Kanga came. “He’s very good at handling the ball, has speed and robustness,” says coach Schwarz of the former France U-21 international.
In Bern last season, Kanga not only scored fifteen goals in 33 league games, but also prepared five. Fredi Bobic, Hertha’s sporting director, found the newcomer from Switzerland “totally motivated from day one”. Kanga got along very well. “But of course a striker also needs a little feeling for a team,” says Bobic, who used to be a striker himself.
The other players don’t know you yet, don’t know how you move, where you want the balls to go, what your running paths are like. “That’s completely normal,” says Hertha’s sports director. And yet, it is only a matter of time before Kanga “can show that completely with the troops on the pitch”.
