After two two-year stops at Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur, Rafael van der Vaart returned back to HSV Hamburg. Being a crowd pleaser at Hamburg before (2005-2008), the arrival of the prodigal son was one that came with a lot of drum-rolls and high expectations.
The 29-year-old was happy to renew his relations with his former club and saw sufficient to boost the fading Hamburger SV. ‘This team really breaths pleasure for the game’, he commented positively. ‘I see many players with potential’. (Source: ESPN)
HSV could use some reinforcement. The Hamburg squad lost their first two matches and didn’t even manage to score for the last 391 minutes in the Bundesliga. A new record (473 minutes without a goal in 2000) was at hand if they failed to score.
Because of financial problems, HSV had to sell their best players and substitute them with young, inexperienced ones. There was no room for new players, except for Van der Vaart. A wealthy sponsor personally granted the transfer of the midfield player.
Captain Heiko Westermann is confident now that the Dutch player Pleasure is back. ‘We have a strong team, in which Rafa can elevate young players to a higher level’. HSV-president Carl-Edgar Jarchow poked up the fire even more with his comment: ‘Rafael can provide a mentality change’. When Van der Vaart came to the rescue of this side, the atmosphere seemed to improve. He scored in his official debut against Schwarzenbek in a friendly match. He was important in the 12-0 win over the tiny fourth league club, where he was the formal leader as well, wearing the captain’s band.
Van der Vaart was never reluctant to get back to his first love, HSV. He is closer to his wife, Sylvie, who is a big television star in Germany and runs her business from Hamburg. ‘The club is in my heart. As a player and a human being I had the best time at HSV and had a special feeling for the club’.
The Dutch international player said before his first competition match he couldn’t wait to get started: ‘I am all fired up, to excel at HSV’, the attacking midfielder said. ‘I really look forward to it. I know I can help the club, but I can do it on my own. I am not their messiah.’
Manager Thorsten Fink didn’t share in all the euphoria: ‘we are not FC Van der Vaart’. Last weekend pressure and hopes were high. Although two goals were scored (in which Van der Vaart took part) against Eintracht Frankfurt, it wasn’t enough for a win, especially when a Petr Jirácek was sent off. With a 3-2 loss, the former winners of the European Cup and Euro Cup winners Cup headed back to Hamburg, wondering if this match would come to sum up their season. After a struggling last season, panic has struck at the top of the club, who since 1963, has always played at the highest level in Germany.
With Markus Babbel’s Hoffenheim, HSV is dead last after three matches and have yet to get a single point. Although there is definitely brilliance in the game of Rafa, he also has his drawbacks. Hopefully the other young players can add speed and stamina to the game of the player with 100 caps, who was not invited for the last International match of his country. Is this extended love-in between Van der Vaart and HSV marriage material or will it result in a painful divorce?
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