Hamburg turn on the style

By Olaf Ratje at the AOL-Arena

Hamburger SV 4-1 FK Pobeda
Hamburger SV hit four unanswered second-half goals as they recovered from a slow start to take control of their UEFA Intertoto Cup second-round tie against F.Y.R. Macedonian side FK Pobeda.

Pobeda strike
Aleksandar Popovski scored on the stroke of half-time to send the visiting side into the break with a surprise 1-0 lead, but the Bundesliga side turned on the style in the second half and ran out comfortable 4-1 winners.

Goal spree
Guy Demel equalised only four minutes after the restart before further goals from Alexander Laas, Charles Takyi and Piotr Trochowski secured a comfortable win with three goals inside four minutes midway through the second period.

Internationals absent
Hamburg went into the match without seven internationals as Daniel van Buyten, Emile Mpenza, Sergej Barbarez, Raphaël Wicky, Khalid Boulahrouz, Mehdi Mahdavikia and Rafael van der Vaart were all given the afternoon off. But the home side still impressed early on with Germany Under-19 international Mustafa Kucukovic and Bastian Reinhardt both coming close inside the first ten minutes.

Popovski strike
After that the match could not live up to its early promise, and HSV found it difficult to create any real chances. But Pobeda, who defeated Serbia and Montenegrin side FK Smederevo in the first round, only needed a single opening to take the lead, scoring just before half-time when Popovski rose to meet a corner from Marjan Nacev and headed past Hamburg goalkeeper Stefan Wächter.

Demel equaliser
Hamburg quickly recovered and were back on level terms only four minutes into the second half. Kucucovic broke into the area on the right side, squared the ball for Demel and the French defender, who signed from BV Borussia Dortmund last week, levelled the scores.

Late surge
Hamburg were by far the more dominant side and midway through the second half they cashed in on their chances. First Kucukovic won possession on the edge of the Pobeda area and released Laas who beat goalkeeper Darko Tofiloski. Four minutes later Laas turned provider, feeding Takyi who shot past Tofiloski with his left foot. Trochowski sealed victory with Hamburg’s fourth goal 60 seconds later.

Skopje return
The two teams meet again in the Gradski stadium in Skopje next Sunday with a place in the third round against Portuguese side UD Leiria at stake.