The first leg of the Bundesliga/2Bundesliga promotion-relegation playoffs is today. Hertha are at home. The kicker "Vorschau" predicts that neither Yank will take part, and I agree, but the result of these playoffs may have an impact on their futures. Game is at 2:30 Eastern. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/gamecast/_/id/341646?cc=5901 http://www.firstrowsports.eu/watch/123573/1/watch-hertha-bsc-berlin-vs-fortuna-dusseldorf.html
Düsseldorf come back from a 0-1 at the half, and win 2-1 away at the Olympiastadion. Hertha looked like zombies after Fortuna's turnaround; I'd say it's more or less over for Berlin.
Once again, no yanks. The 2nd leg is tied at 2 now in the 90', if Hertha score a goal in stoppage time they saty up, if not, Fortuna goes up. Plenty of stoppage time with 7 minutes.
Forgot to mention Hertha picked up a red card in the 54' while scoring their second in the 85'. The Fortuna fans just stormed the pitch with 1' left in stoppage time, this is crazy
Nobody knows what's going on right now, Hertha aren't coming back onto the field, perhaps they will be asking for a replay??
Rehhagel sending his men back out to finish...sorry for all the posts for a match with no yanks but this is the craziest match ever
After 28+ minutes of stoppage time, Hertha will be in the 2.Bundesliga next year. I'm sure Fortuna will be handed down consequences of some kind.
Hertha shouldn't have been forced to continue. They should have abandoned the match and replayed it in an empty stadium. That was some atrocious behavior from the Fortuna Dusseldorf fans. EDIT: Of course the Berlin fans weren't much better. They set an advertising board on fire.
Just watched a YouTube video of the whole fiasco. Absolutely ridiculous. What were the Dussledorf fans thinking? I'm sure plenty of alcohol for many of those supporters contributed but they could have, and quite frankly should have had the match abandoned. If I were Hertha, I would be irrate and demanding a replay.
Well the DFB is already reviewing the incident. Mass pitch invasions are generally grounds for match termination. I was shocked that the referee let the players back on the field. That was extremely irresponsible of him. Regardless, Fortuna could be looking at serious repercussions, even if the match isn't replayed.
The media outcry is ridiculous - this was as smooth as those things go. And those things happen - I actually took part in one of those too early pitch invasions as well, once. After a few minutes everyone went back, the referee did let play a few alibi seconds, and everyone was back on the field. The ref handled it as well as one can in such a situation. Hertha should know a bad pitch invasion looks - didn't Hertha fans chase players arround the field in 2010? http://www.rp-online.de/sport/fussball/bundesliga/bei-hertha-bsc-herrscht-die-nackte-angst-1.1711033
The originally 7 minutes of stoppage time were because of Hertha fans threw a ton of flares onto the pitch. Both sides are going to get fined massively.
Hertha have appealed the match. Fortuna have already canceled their promotion celebration. I don't think it was just the pitch invasion. It was the 20 minute pitch invasion, Fortuna fans destroying the pitch, and police having absoluty no control over the fans.
Not quite, Hertha has appealed the appeal. They have another court date on Wednesday. The courts said that had Hertha players sustained injuries during the pitch invasion, then the appeal would have been upheld. The Berlin lawyers argued that the players couldn't concentrate on the game after the invasion. Of course this is difficult to prove. There are also continuing inquiries into the actions of several Hertha players against the referee.
And they lost again. And got the captain suspended for a year. The Fortuna players are going on holiday now.