A crucial game beckons in the 2. Bundesliga's race for promotion as second-place Hamburg takes on third-place Stuttgart on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. EST.
Dieter Hecking's Hamburg holds a one-point lead over New Jersey native Pellegrino Matarazzo's Stuttgart in the second and final automatic-promotion spot. Neither side has been in great form of late; stretching back to before the pandemic-enforced shutdown, Hamburg has just one win in six games while Stuttgart is on a winless run of four games.
All the facts and figures ahead of the visit of Hamburger SV (kick-off: Thursday 20:30 CEST).#VfBHSV #VfB https://t.co/sSWlXw8tRp
— VfB Stuttgart_int (@VfB_int) May 27, 2020
Stuttgart has been somewhat unlucky since the restart of the campaign, first being held to a draw thanks to a stoppage-time penalty for Regensburg before conceding two late goals in two minutes to fall to Holstein Kiel. Hecking's side missed an opportunity to gain ground on first-place Arminia Bielefeld last time out, drawing 0-0.
Both sides are two of Germany's historically bigger clubs who have fallen on hard times recently. Each three-time Bundesliga champions, Stuttgart has bounced back and forth between the top two divisions in recent years while Hamburg was relegated for the first time on the final day of the 2017-18 season. A disastrous campaign under three different managers saw a run of 99 consecutive years of top-flight play come to an end, going back to the end of World War I prior to the Bundesliga's foundation.
The teams have met twice already this year. On Matchday 11, Hamburg earned a resounding 6-2 victory at the sold-out Volksparkstadion while just three days later, Stuttgart returned and claimed revenge in a 2-1 victory in the DFB Pokal.
Matarazzo, who just signed a contract extension good for a further year after only arriving in December, will know his team has a good opportunity at hand to leapfrog Hamburg into second place. Hamburg has struggled away from home this year, without a win in 11 of its last 12 away games. Die Schwaben, meanwhile, have not been beaten in their last seven games at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
(The game is available to watch on FOX Soccer Match Pass.)
