Clas of the Werder Stars: World Cup 2010 Qualifiers

First Team
Tuesday, 27.11.2007 / 08:19

Werder Bremen’s international representatives were glued to the television on Sunday evening as the draw for the qualifying groups for the 2010 World Cup was made.

Werder Bremen’s international representatives were glued to the television on Sunday evening as the draw for the qualifying groups for the 2010 World Cup was made. By the end of the event in Durban, South Africa, there were a number of very interesting ties laying in wait for some of Thomas Schaaf’s men. In group four, Germany will be facing Russia, Wales, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein and Finland including Green-White defender Petri Pasanen. The Croatian internationals Jurica Vranjes and Ivan Klasnic have a tough challenge ahead of them in qualifying. Again Croatia have landed England, whom they expelled from participation in Euro 2008 with a 3:2 win at Wembley last Wednesday evening. There will be a three-way battle among Werder stars in Group 1 with Markus Rosenberg, Hugo Almeida and the duo of Daniel Jensen and Leon Andreasen all set to face each other for Sweden, Portugal and Denmark respectively. In Group 7, Austria, with Martin Harnik and Serbia, includinf Dusko Tosic, will go head to head for a place at the World Cup finals in South Africa in 2010.

 

The reactions of the players to the draw were a mixture of anticipation and caution with the challenges ahead in mind:

 

Per Mertesacker: “I heard the result of the draw whilst watching the Bundsliga highlights on Sunday. It’s a very interesting group and I’m really looking forward to the clash with Petri Pasanen. The Finns have a good, young squad together. Russia will be a tough nut to crack. They wish to return to the days of former glory and have a lot of plans for the future. We have gotten to know the Welsh who are also quite young and will surely improve in the coming years. There is no question though, we are favourites and will need to prove ourselves against these teams.”

 

Jurica Vranjes: “It’s wonderful that we will play England again. I’m convinced that we can win this group too. The English will only have the chance to qualify for the World Cup as second placed side through the relegation games. The Ukraine is a strong side too and they could make our lives difficult. I think two of those three will make it.”

 

Leon Andreasen: “Having failed to qualify for Euro 2008, we are now focused on the World Cup qualifiers. It will be a three horse race along with Sweden and Portugal. Those two could cause us some problems. The important thing is of course to pick up the points against the supposedly smaller sides like Hungary, Malta and Albania.”

 

Petri Pasanen: “It will be difficult for Finland. We will need plenty of luck but if we can pick up points in the first five or six games I’m sure we will get a foothold on the situation. We gathered a lot of self confidence in the Euro qualifiers even though we failed to qualify. We came very close in spite of having competition from strong teams like Portugal, Serbia, Poland and Belgium.

 

The games against Germany are, of course, very special for me since I’ve been playing here for four years now. It doesn’t matter to Germany who else is in the group – they are favourites anyway but I think we drew our last two games with Germany.

 

The big games for everyone in Finland will be the clashes with Russia. Both countries have a long history with one another and the games will have a real derby character. Even here though, Russia will be favourites.”

 

In the European continent there will 13 places up for grabs with the group winners qualifying automatically whilst the best eight runners up will play-off for the four remaining places.

 

The Groups in full:

 

Group One: Portugal (Hugo Almeida), Sweden (Markus Rosenberg), Denmark,(Daniel Jensen and Leon Andreasen) Hungary, Albania, Malta.

Group Two: Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg.

Group Three: Czech Republic, Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino.

Group Four: Germany (Torsten Fritz, Per Mertesacker, Clemens Fritz and Tim Borowski), Russia, Finland (Petri Pasanen), Wales, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein.

Group Five: Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia.

Group Six: Croatia (Jurica Vranjes and Ivan Klasnic), England, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra.

Group Seven: France, Romania, Serbia (Dusko Tosic), Lithuania, Austria (Martin Harnik), Faroe Islands.

Group Eight: Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro.

Group Nine: Netherlands, Scotland, Norway, Macedonia, Iceland.

 

John Muldoon

Weitere News

Your web browser ist outdated.
The web browser you are using is no longer supported.
Please download one of these free and up to date browsers.
Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge
Chrome Firefox Edge
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
MS Edge
Why should I use an up to date web browser?
Security
Newer web browsers provide better protection against malware, data theft and other threats to your privacy and security. Up to date browsers continuously close security holes that allow attackers to enter your computer.
New Technologies
The technologies used on modern websites are better supported by newer web browsers. This both increases functionality and improves the website layout. By benefiting from new functions and extensions you will be able to surf the web faster and easier.