Hamburger vs Eintracht Frankfurt preview - Hamburg hoping to avoid record

Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 by PA

Hamburg are just 24 minutes away from a Bundesliga record they will be hoping to avoid this Sunday.

Should the northern Germany side fail to find the back of the net in the first 24 minutes of their clash with Eintracht Frankfurt, they will set a new league record of time from the start of the season without finding the back of the net.

In 1979, Bochum also failed to score in their first five matches, but it then took them only 24 more minutes to end that drought in their sixth game.

If the goal only comes in the 90th minute, without having conceded beforehand, coach Josef Zinnbauer would have no qualms about setting that record, though.

"Far more important than when we score our first goal is that we win," he said. "We've just got to focus more with that final ball into the box.

"The plan was to focus first on the defence, then work on our transitions in midfield and now we come to the attacking movements.

"The team's fought hard and now it's time to get our reward. On Sunday, we want to score the goal that we've all been waiting for."

Marcell Jansen faces a late fitness test after returning to training on Thursday and he could be an option on Sunday.

Hamburg's failings in front of goal are of no concern to Frankfurt coach Thomas Schaaf, who prefers to focus on his own side's problems, namely their failure to win since the opening game of the season.

Since then, they have drawn three games 2-2 and lost 1-0 to Augsburg.

"We've got to concentrate on ourselves," Schaaf said at a press conference. "They have changed coach already and they earned a lot of praise for their performance against Bayern.

"We're up against a committed side who will certainly want to improve their league position."

Schaaf is without regular number one Kevin Trapp with 24-year-old Felix Wiedwald set to start, even though the Eagles signed the experienced Timo Hildebrand as extra cover during the week.

"Felix has already gained plenty of experience and he has quality," said Schaaf. "I've not got any worries about him."