Goalkeeper Rene Adler has suffered an injury setback in training and is unlikely to play any part in Hamburg's weekend home clash with Werder Bremen.
Adler -- who returned to the Germany setup last year after a difficult spell in which he was dropped by both his country and his then club Bayer Leverkusen -- joined Hamburg last summer.
But after a season of struggle, Hamburg's problems have continued this time around and former coach Mirko Slomka dropped 29-year-old Adler only two games into the campaign.
Slomka's successor, Joe Zinnbauer, opted to stick with veteran Czech Jaroslav Drobny in goal, and Adler then suffered a knee injury.
The keeper returned to team training last week, but his hopes of at least winning back a place on the bench suffered a setback when he developed new problems in his knee, Hamburger Abendblatt reported.
Hamburg are 17th in the Bundesliga and would overtake Bremen, a point and a place above their rivals, by picking up a third win of the season on Sunday.