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The star is the team, is a common finding, when team performance leads to the goal - as is currently the case with Hamburger SV, which has been making a compact, even homogeneous state for weeks.

The fact that morale is intact was also evident when, after a small downward slide, three top teams scored seven points against three top teams.

As a result, HSV is third in the second division table before the important away game on Easter Sunday at Hannover 96 (1.30 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on welt.de) after Fürth's victory on Saturday and is much more self-confident than in previous years when the ascent goal was finally missed.

For the season's final spurt, there is great hope that the return to the upper house will be successful this time - and that is also due to the fact that head coach Daniel Thioune now has almost the entire squad after significant failures, which were well compensated in the games.

Only central defender Toni Leistner is still injured.

When selecting the 20 men for the squad, he can now make a suitable choice - and that is obviously not that easy.

At least that's what Thioune said, also considering the recent strong performances it was a "difficult decision" who to appoint.

But he also added: "Better heavy than light."

A big difference to the earlier bankruptcy years is that the mood is good, basically for the entire season.

This is certainly a great achievement by Thioune.

The 46-year-old, who has been employed in the Volkspark since last summer, does his job calmly, meticulously and very self-confidently.

In this way, he also keeps restlessness away from the team, whether it comes from the usual discrepancies in the executive committee or an always latently restless media environment.

She thanks him with discipline, team spirit and ultimately good performance.

There have been two performance dips in the course of this season with the industry leader in the Bundesliga substructure, but both times HSV put them away with nerve stability.

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This also included a phase when HSV screwed up the home game against 96 with a 0-1 defeat in the first leg.

Time to take revenge?

"We want the three points, but Hannover have the right to win against us at home," warned HSV goalgetter Simon Terodde of being too self-confident.

But he also emphasized: "It's really fun, we are a real unit." Thioune leaked that the attacker can be expected in Hanover for around an hour after Terodde survived a corona infection.

“Simon is seeded with us, but that only applies to the squad at the moment.

We mustn't overload him after the illness, ”said the trainer.

Terodde was in quarantine for two weeks.

Except for slight cold symptoms, the course was mild, he reports.

Bobby Wood replaced him solidly in the storm center last.

The American will move to his home country for Real Salt Lake on a free transfer after the season, as announced on Friday.

"It's not that easy for the trainer"

In the sovereign 2-0 win before the international break two weeks ago against 1. FC Heidenheim, captain Tim Leibold, actually full-back, played in midfield and scored both goals.

"It's not that easy for the coach," said Terodde, who has scored 20 goals this season so far, understandingly.

His team is difficult to grip, often does not play correctly and is above all “strong at the front”, but also “a real bench” at the back.

Above all, the two defenders Josha Vagnoman and Stephan Ambrosius impressed with their strong performances.

The 22-year-old U21 international, who had to stop training on Thursday due to a blockage in the lumbar spine area and then had himself examined, was back on the lawn on Good Friday.

"The blockade has been resolved," said Thioune.

Then come the stumbling blocks of the previous year

When asked whether HSV would approach the upcoming tasks more confidently or humbly, the coach replied diplomatically: “We have to go to our limits.

Then it is also difficult to beat us. ”After Hanover, on the way to promotion back to league one, supposedly weaker opponents such as Darmstadt 98 and SV Sandhausen follow.

However, it was precisely these teams against whom important points were missed in the previous two years.

So the team has been warned.

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First of all, the focus is on Hannover 96, after all, the so-called small northern derby is played here, although this is not as explosive as games against Werder Bremen.

But there is still a lot involved.

"If the Hanoverians now want to intervene in the raffle for the top places, they have to start on Sunday," said Thioune.

He therefore expects the "Reds" to throw everything into the balance, but added that HSV wanted to "take their flow from the last few games despite the interruption".

Hannover have two games less

Hannover were ninth in the table before the matchday, but still have two catch-up games to play. Former HSV coach Frank Pagelsdorf sees Hamburg clearly at an advantage. "It fits now," said the 63-year-old, with whom HSV 2000 competed in the Champions League. And he also names the reason for the now better situation. "If you can see that the whole team is pulling, you have to relate it logically to the coach", praises the 63-year-old, who once started his professional career as a player at 96, praises the current coach Thioune.