Since joining Hertha Berlin in February 1999, Tony Sanneh has played in 32 league matches. Although quite settled in the German capital, he looks forward to a move for more playing time.
OLYMPIASTADION. Tony Sanneh’s Hertha Berlin plays in one of the world’s most famous stadiums: “It’s very old, and it’s under reconstruction [for the 2006 World Cup], but [it] has a big historical significance. It’s a stadium that Hitler built for the 1936 Olympics, and Jesse Owens ran there. [Owens’] name is still on the wall there, and you can see places where the swastikas are polished away, but you know that they were there. The stadium’s been there for a long time, and a lot of things have happened there.”
FANS. “This year we don’t have so many, but the first year I was here we averaged about 50,000. Now it’s less, mostly because of the construction. A third of the stadium is always being renovated, so it’s not as cool to watch it in other parts because there are literally cranes inside the stadium.
“This year we’re probably down to 37,000, average. … They’re probably like fans all over the world. They sing, we have a crazy section. They live for the moment, and they expect you to go to goal every time. So if you’re the type of player who stops and keeps the ball, you’ll get whistled for not going forward, no matter how far you are from the goal. They want to see people work hard and just go.”
BERLIN. “I’m pretty settled, pretty comfortable now. It’s a big city, and it has it’s differences. I think there are 12 million people, and it is very diverse and fairly liberal. It’s very multicultural – a lot of arts, a lot of music.
“Basically, I can do the same things that I could do [in the United States]. If I go watch a movie, it’s the same. Sometimes the music is a little delayed, but it’s pretty much the same; the discos are the same. I can go to the club and find the same demographics as I’d find in any major city in the U.S.
“Before the wall was taken down, the West was really Americanized, and now it has more of an Eastern influence. Right now in Germany I think they are fighting for their identity a little bit, so you see the pro-German side more.”
THE PEOPLE. “A lot of people want to meet me and ask questions about everything in the U.S. In general, people are pretty friendly to me. … A common question is, ‘Do you all shoot each other?’ [Laughs] They think there’s a lot of violence, that we’re all fat and eat fast food all the time – every perception is to the extreme.”
LANGUAGE. “I’m not that comfortable speaking [German], but I understand it. Whenever I have to, I can speak it and get about. With my [German] teammates, some prefer to speak English with me. My closest friends, we speak English. … That’s probably the big challenge with a lot of the people there – and maybe the reason I didn’t pick up the language as quickly as I could have – is that everybody wants to practice their English.”
THE BAR. Last year, Sanneh partnered with a local to open a new bar called Leibniz, after the street on which it is located.
“It’s a very small bar – just 30 to 40 people, unless there are people on the terrace in the summer. It’s mainly a cocktail bar. They make good cocktails, and they have a lot of them, but it’s a pretty relaxed place. It’s not a dump, but it’s not upscale. We get a real mixed clientele. Some older people come in to talk and smoke cigars; some young people come in and like the energy of the bartenders. Me and my friends go there a lot during the week just to get away from everything and play cards or something.”
BUNDESLIGA. “German football isn’t that aesthetically pleasing. There aren’t many teams that play good football; they have more the fighting mentality. It’s a little bit disheartening because I think it’s going too much that way without being willing to change. They’re going to go to where England was, where they are just kicking the ball and fighting for it. I think for their country to develop and stay on top of the world – where they were 10 years ago – they have to change with the world.”
HERTHA. “Our strength is that we have a lot of good players – a good 20-22 players that are really strong. We have 10-15 national team players from different countries, so we always have a good chance whenever we come to play. We’re in every game, and just through the players’ abilities, we can pull off a lot. The bottom half of the league isn’t that strong, so we win all those games, but we have been struggling. We haven’t gotten a point off a team above sixth place this year.”
MEDIA. “It’s really funny because there are seven or eight newspapers, but they’re all yellow press. They’re the equivalent of the National Enquirer. They make up a lot of stuff, and they look for controversy. They’re overly critical of players, and they always look to dramatize things. In the city, the most-read paper is one of these yellow presses, and it seems like sometimes they have an influence on things. That’s a little bit scary.”
JUERGEN ROBER. “He’s a small guy, a very loud and aggressive coach. He played for Calgary in the NASL, he played for Nottingham Forest, and he played in Germany, even a short stint with Bayern Munich. I think he was a real capable forward when he played. He’s high-energy, very emotional on the sidelines. He’s actually a very emotional coach. I think he coaches a lot with his heart.”
PLAYING TIME. “It’s been tough. It’s been up and down. I understand we have a deep team. I haven’t always played my ideal position, but I think it hurts me sometimes that I play different positions. I’ve started at right back, left back, center midfield – which was probably my best stint – right midfield, left midfield, and I played a couple games up front. So that hurts, because when you’re always just filling a hole, then when everyone’s healthy, you kind of get left out.
“It also hurts that I’m from America and I don’t have the respect that the others have. When I come back [to Hertha] from the national team, I have to start over. … When I come back after being hurt, I’m not starting from [roster spot] 11 or 12, I’m starting from 18 or 20.”
DEVELOPMENT. “I think in the last couple years before I left [MLS], I started maturing as a player. I think that development kept going, and I think I’m a smarter player. But physically, I don’t think I’m quite where I was, and I don’t think I have quite the killer instinct I had when I was leaving. At that time I was a little hungrier, a little more passionate, looking to take guys on and get to the goal more.
“With me, a lot of my game is physical, and because I haven’t played as much, I’ve had some more sluggish games recently. … I’ve already made the decision that in the future, I need to be somewhere I am playing consistently. The level is not a problem for me.”
FUTURE. Sanneh’s standing with the coaching staff may have been further hindered when he recently told the club he was looking at outside options.
“When you can play a guy who might be leaving or a guy who will be here for three years, you’ll definitely play the guy who will be here for three years,” Sanneh said.
With 10 games left in the season, reports broke that Sanneh would join FC Nuremburg, a Second Divsion team on the cusp of promotion, via free transfer after the season.
“I just need to do what’s best for me and I’ve told [Hertha] I need to play.”
by Soccer America associate editor Will Kuhns
Read more about this topic in the March 26, 2001 issue of Soccer America Magazine, including personal information, College and Career playing history and stats on Tony Sanneh and Hertha trivia.