Early Capaldo substitution: Polzin eases fears | OneFootball

Nicolás Capaldo plays a key role for HSV, but was forced off early in the friendly against Everton.

Just five and a half minutes had been played when the Argentine went down following a foul by Hayden Hackney and immediately signaled that he could not continue. “He had already felt before kickoff that his thigh was tightening up a bit. We didn’t want to take any risks, so we took him off,” coach Merlin Polzin reported after the match (via Mopo).

Shafiq Nandja stepped into the breach, once again made a good impression, and strengthened his case to continue playing a role in the first team in the future. If Capaldo is unavailable for the time being, the homegrown HSV talent, who already made two brief appearances last season, could even move into the starting lineup for the next friendly against Lille. But there is hope that the leader will return quickly. “In the best-case scenario, nothing has happened,” said Polzin.

Photo: IMAGO

Capaldo already missed ten competitive matches last season

The team will head to Herzogenaurach tomorrow, Monday, for its third training camp already. HSV also stayed there during last summer’s preseason at the local Adidas Home Ground. On the superbly maintained pitches, Polzin and his assistants want to put the finishing touches on preparations, which also requires a healthy Capaldo, whose interpretation of the right-sided center-back role can have a huge impact on the team’s attacking play.

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Last season, the 27-year-old, who was confirmed in his role as vice-captain, already missed ten competitive matches, nine of them due to injury. He was particularly sorely missed in the spring. After returning from an abdominal muscle injury, he gave HSV renewed stability together with Luka Vuskovic in the closing stretch of the season, which ultimately ensured completely untroubled survival.

Photo: IMAGO

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