Back trouble! HSV without a key man for the season run-in? | OneFootball

Only on Monday did Nicolas Capaldo receive one of the best pieces of news of his career so far: the HSV star has been included in Argentina’s preliminary World Cup squad!

Head coach Lionel Scaloni called Capaldo up to the 55-man provisional squad, which will be cut down to a maximum of 26 players by June 1. To actually make the defending champions’ final roster, Capaldo will therefore have to beat out a large number of players.

The 27-year-old, who has so far made only nine U23 appearances for his country, has been nominated as a defender. In that position, he is competing for a spot with top stars such as Cristian Romero (Tottenham Hotspur), Nicolas Otamendi (SL Benfica), and Lisandro Martinez (Manchester United), among others.

Alternatively, Capaldo can also be used in central midfield. However, the competition there, in the form of Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool FC) and Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea FC), is no less high-profile. A call-up therefore seems unlikely.

Photo: Getty Images

HSV revenge without Capaldo?

A bitter blow: Capaldo could now miss the final chance to make a strong impression at club level once again. He missed HSV training on Wednesday due to injury. “Capi has some slight back pain. We have to see how it develops over the coming days,” assistant coach Loic Favé explained in a media round. Whether the vice-captain will feature against Bayer Leverkusen (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.) will therefore likely only be decided at short notice.

Nur die Raute – by HSV fans for HSV fans

Regardless of a possible Capaldo absence, HSV has no intention of taking the supposedly insignificant season finale against Leverkusen lightly. “We definitely want to show something again, just like we did recently against Freiburg. The final impressions are always important in order to come out of a season with a good feeling. The players and we as a team want a positive finish. Leverkusen are a good opponent with a lot of quality,” said Favé.

One aspect is particularly important to Polzin’s assistant: “We want to show that we can do better than we did in the home match.” In the rescheduled game at the beginning of March, HSV lost 1-0 while being fairly outclassed. That impression is now meant to be erased.

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