He sent crosses into the box, fought for balls in the training game and sprinted all over the pitch without a problem. Captain Torsten Frings was back on the pitch. Werder's No. 22 had missed Wednesday's training with a knock on his calf and could only complete an individual training. But the 34-year-old returned to the Green-Whites' team training on Thursday. Head coach Thomas Schaaf confirmed that there are no more problems with Frings at the mid-day press conference before Saturday evening's game at Cologne.
"The banged up players are still out," said Schaaf about Tim Borowski (ankle problems) and Daniel Jensen (knee problems), who have not received the green light to go. Domink Schmidt is out with a muscle fibre tear and confirmed early in the week that he would be back "earliest for the Bayern game".
About 3,000 Werder fans in Cologne
Manager Klaus Allofs also commented at the mid-day press conference about the current situation about Naldo after his operation in Brazil. "It's planned that he returns to Germany in early February," said Allofs, who could not give an exact time when the Brazilian defender could return to the pitch. "Anything that occurs before next season would be a positive surprise."
About 3,000 Werder fans will accompany the Werder players to Cologne on Saturday. Ticket gates at the RheinEnergie Stadium will still be open for guest fans on game day so that Werder fans still have the chance to buy tickets at the last minute for the Bremen fan block.