“In just my pants in front of the telly” – Polzin on HSV highs | OneFootball

Merlin Polzin is well known to have a close bond with HSV and has accordingly already been through a lot with the club.

He followed the club as a fan from an early age, worked as a youth coach while still young, and then returned in 2020 via VfL Osnabrück as assistant coach of the professional team before being promoted to head coach at the end of 2024. During his time in Lower Saxony, HSV was going through a difficult period. In the 2014/2015 season as well, the club was on the brink of relegation. Only on the final matchday did it manage to climb to the relegation playoff spot.

After the 1:1 draw in the first leg against Karlsruhe, HSV needed a win at the Wildpark to secure survival. In the 78th minute, however, HSV fell behind through a goal by Reinhold Yabo. “I can still remember it very clearly: alone in my 38-square-meter apartment in Osnabrück, completely drenched in sweat, standing in front of the TV in nothing but my underwear,” Polzin said in an interview with Bundesliga Magazin.

Photo: Getty Images

Last-minute drama in Sandhausen as the darkest hour

At the start of stoppage time, Marcelo Díaz stepped up to take a free kick from around 20 meters out. “Then it flew in, and the neighbors probably still haven’t forgotten how I celebrated,” the head coach continued. Nicolai Müller then scored the winner in extra time, and HSV celebrated a survival that had hardly seemed possible anymore. Three years later, however, the consequences of the club’s ongoing mismanagement and countless poor personnel decisions came in the form of relegation.

Polzin followed events from Osnabrück until he returned to Hamburg as Daniel Thioune’s assistant and kept his post even after Thioune was dismissed. He likely experienced his most bitter days during the run-in of the 2022/23 season. HSV, then coached by Tim Walter, was on the verge of returning to the Bundesliga. The fans were already celebrating exuberantly on the pitch in Sandhausen. Too soon: Heidenheim overtook them with two late goals and once again sent the Hanseatic side into the relegation playoff.

Nur die Raute – from HSV fans for HSV fans

“I had my whole family there, my girlfriend was there, my brother was there, we felt like we were already in each other’s arms, and then suddenly we were torn away from that big goal,” said Polzin. An emotionally drained HSV lost clearly to VfB Stuttgart in the relegation playoff (0:3/1:3) and had to spend two more years in the second tier. Only on the seventh attempt did the long-awaited promotion finally come.

What Polzin especially remembers from the promotion match

“When you see the emotions, what happened in the stadium, that was very, very extraordinary,” Polzin recalled, looking back on the spectacular 6:1 win over Ulm in every respect. For him personally, it was “more that moment on the sidelines” when “we leaned back as a coaching staff and said: ‘We’re really going to do it, we’re getting promoted.’ I can still hear that to this day.”

By comfortably securing survival, Polzin achieved another major goal. For the new season, he will likely be eager not to have to watch another relegation playoff involving HSV while completely drenched in sweat.

Photo: Getty Images

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.