Sport1 has an interview and story about Mathis and Hannover. Interview: http://csua.org/u/66b Story: http://csua.org/u/66c Here's a dirty turn on the translation: Hannover 96 made several moves over the winter break ... but so far only US-Boy Mathis has impressed. The goals in four games are proof that the Simak-replacement has lived himself in well with Hannover 96. Mathis is one of the heros of World Cup 2002. Through his strong appearances he even caught the eye of Bayern. Despite the busted transfer, Mathis still dreams of playing with the club on the Isar river. "It would be great to play for Bayern someday," Mathis told Sport1. ... Sport1: Your coach thinks you have the potential to fill in the hole left by Simak? Mathis: That's a great compliment to me, to be compared to such a player. I want to help this team to win bames, so we can stay in the Bundesliga. Maybe we'll even make it to the Uefa Cup or the Champions League some day. Sport1: .You had a strong World Cup, and after that Bayern Munich wanted to sign you. But now you play for Hannover and battle releagation. Isn't that a bit dissapointing? Mathis: Not at all. The interest in me just came at the wrong time. At that point Bayern needed a striker, and unluckily I wasn't able to be sold. I had to wait for the end of my contract to get a transfer. Hannover needed a replacment for Jan Simak -- and that's when it fit. But it wasn't dissapointing. The most important thing was to play in the Bundesliga. In teh end you have to look at what Munich has at forward: Pizarro, Makaay, Santa Cruz. ... Sport1: Hannover signed five new players over the break. Other than you, all the others are being pretty heavily critisized. Why? Mathis: It doens't necessarily have anything to do with the new players. Much more that the players can fit together. Every player is different, and everybody does different things on the field. It's just going to take time unitl every body knows everybody else and we have a chance to gel. I thin we've got some strong players, it's just a matter of communication. Sport1: What is your impression of the problems currently bessetting Hannover? Mathis: In the first three games everbody expected we would lose. We won the first, then lost in Munich and then should have won against Leverkusen. But we only took one point and since we lost against Rostock everybody thinks there's a problem. We just have to get out and hit back adn get three points against Berlin. Interview by Markus Schmidt
And from the longer piece, here's some tidbits. Most of it is about the state of the team and the coach's relationship with the president, and so on. But it ledes with Mathis: Crisis in Hannover -- Mathis gives hope Hannover - Hannover really only has one reson to smile: Clint Mathis. The Americna is one of five new players arriving for the second half, and he has impressed everybody. ... The US-Boy has scored three goals in four games, and in Wednesday's practice he had two tallies in a 3-0 win for the starters. No question that Mathis has arrived in the Bundesliga and is already feeling at home with Hannover. ... It's nothing new that Hannover sounds the emergency bells fairly quickly. There's still four points between the team and the relegation zone. But team president Martin Kind has already called for crisis talks. (Coach) Rangnick: "We had that five times last year." "The responsibility is clear: It lies with the director of sports," Kind told the Hannoverischen Allgemeinen Zeitung. He means sporting director Ricardo Moar and coach Ralf Rangnick. Rangnick has become accustomed to being questioned in times of crisis. .... Martin Kind on Thursday gave a clear vote of confidence to his trainer. "No matter how we do against Berlin, Mr. Rangnick will also be on the bench next week against Moenchengladback," said the chairman of the board. he added: "There is no coaching controversy here. Now we need to improve our moral and or spirit." Demotion would be a finanicial disaster: The background of Kind's concerns are easy to detect. The club has invested millionsin teh new AWD Arena, and it would be disaster if the team was relegated to the second division. On Wednesday the team gave the press a vitrual tour of the new facility, which they expect to have completed by the end of 2004. The give the impression directly that they are building fo rthe first divison, so they need to play in the first divison. .... Markus Schmidt
You know, if Hannover were relegated, and Mathis continued to impress, he might end up a step up in quality from where he is now. I know this is getting a step ahead, but still worth pondering.
If they somehow get relegated, Mathis will be (likely) one of the few saleable assets (meaning: decent amount of money) on the club....would be an interesting dilemma for them (keep him, take the hit, and maybe get immediately promoted again) or sell him to close (likely financial gap).. I'm still surprised Hannover didn't sign someone like Gibbs for $100k....he certainly looks (at least) as good as they got to me..
Herta is pretty much must win....Hannover, so far this year, when they play fully committed, does well... It would be surprising, all things considered, to see a Hannover loss in this game. Would be a real low point of season, no doubt.
Hertha is painful to watch. They have a bunch of talent, but something is dreadfully wrong on this team. by default, they're my team to follow these days, can't say i'm happy about it. every now and then, they're really good, though. there has to be a reason they were uefa cup qualifiers last year. but man, is it hard to see. Mathis should have a field day against what has been a lazy, uninspired back line.
Well, propably every player in germany would say that it would be great to play for bayern if asked... because bayern is the only that play guarandeet on European level and plays good there... Every player would be proud to play for Real Madrid too, wouldn't they? so let's just hope Hannover won't get relegated and Mathis does fine, who knows, maybe we'll do better than bayern in near futuer? ;-)
There's just something missing, and maybe it is a matter of the team gelling, as Clint says. I hope that's not just happy talk for public relations, and that there is actually substance to do the gelling. Getting the jump on BL really demanded that the defense close shop and preserve the 3 points. Of course, the drama of soccer is in the other team storming back -- and even the best falter. Look at Bayern vs, ManU a few years back. As they say, the ball is round. I would just like to see it roll for Hannover from now on.
Agreed. For Clint's sake, I'd rather see him help move Hannover up the table. After some frustrating Metro seasons, I don't want to see Clint playing on a team that drops into the relegation zone after he joins them. Let's see him have a couple great years with Hannover in BL, and then he can move to a bigger club.
Why all this talk of relegation? Is Hanover anywhere near the relegation zone? I thought they were mid-table the last time I checked (right after the winter break).
the only thing mathis has to do is score goals and perform well, the rest will all work out by itself for Him
I think they're only 4 points out of the relegation zone. They've got 24 points and the teams in relegation spots have 20, 19 and 16. The top team has 49 points.
You'r right on that ;-) well, the berlin game is important, no doubt about it! let's hope the best for Die Roten!
The next three games - Berlin, Gladbach and K'slautern - is a stretch where Hannover needs to take some points. After that is a tough five-game stretch with 4 out of 5 teams fighting for CL/UEFA slots.
Two of his goals were fantastic strikes but let's face it, all of his goals so far were from defensive gifts. He has to show he can break down defenses when they are organized to impress coaches.
Mathis's goals may have been gifts as stated above but he is also not getting good service - actually the best passer on hannover seems to be Mathis himself. Despite the goals being in part to defensive errors he still pulled off two of the most spectacular strikes of the past couple of weeks.
Because he played out his contract. He left as a "free agent," to put it into American sporting terms.