AMSTERDAM – John Brooks and suddenly warming Hertha Berlin moved six points clear of the Bundesliga relegation mire with a 1-0 victory at Hamburg on Friday night.
The US defender notched seven clearances and a game-high four tackles as the capital crew stretched their road shutout streak to 196 minutes. With 20 minutes remaining, Brooks did get away with having his pocket picked in the Hertha end when central partner Sebastian Langencamp came over to block a Pierre-Michel Lasogga shot. On the ball, Brooks completed 29 of 36 passes, including five successful long balls from deep in his end to the attacking half.
The win pushed Hertha's unbeaten run to four games, their longest since December of 2013.
Over the border in the Eredivisie, Rubio Rubin hopped off the bench to score a late consolation goal in FC Utrecht's 4-3 home loss to NAC Breda.
Having entered play in the 64th minute, the Oregon native punched home a touchline cutback from the doorstep with two minutes remaining to close the scoring. It was Rubin's third goal of his rookie season, and his first since mid-December. The defeat snapped 12th-place Utrecht's three-game win streak at Galgenwaard.
