On Monday afternoon, Werder Bremen will play the third friendly game of their winter training period in Belek against a side from the Russian Premier Liga. At the Arcadia-Sport facility at 2pm, the Green-Whites will take on Saturn Ramenskoje.
On Monday afternoon, Werder Bremen will play the third friendly game of their winter training period in Belek against a side from the Russian Premier Liga. At the Arcadia-Sport facility at 2pm, the Green-Whites will take on Saturn Ramenskoje.
On Monday afternoon, Werder Bremen will play the third friendly game of their winter training period in Belek against a side from the Russian Premier Liga. At the Arcadia-Sport facility at 2pm, the Green-Whites will take on Saturn Ramenskoje.
The club, which comes from a suburb of Russian capital Moscow, proved to be the surprise package of the last season (which ended on 11.11.2007). Saturn Ramenskoje finished the 2006 season in eleventh position but last time around they catapulted up to fifth spot. Unfortunately fifth is not enough for a European spot in Russia with only the top three gaining an international place. Maybe a top three spot could have been possible had Saturn not finished the season as champions of the draw. They only lost seven of their 30 games but won just eleven, sharing the points twelve times in total – more often than any other side in the league.
It’s exactly here that the Russians plan to improve as they prepare for the new season and preparations began just five days ago. Saturn ended their break on 07.01.2008 but have a long way to go until their opening league tie on 15.03.2008. In order to avoid the harsh Russian winter, teh club will spend the early part of their training on the road in training camps. The Werder players are anything but envious of their Russian colleagues , who have two gruelling stays in Belek ahead of them. The first stay began on 08.01.2008 and will last exactly 14 days, until 22.01.2008. There will then be a brief, five day return to the homeland before trainer Gadji Gadjiev’s men return to Belek for their second stay in Turkey. As if that were not enough, between the 15.02.2008 and 22.02.2008, the Russian’s will undertake a third camp in Israel.
The Russian side will not have their strongest side available to them for the test against Werder Bremen on Monday as, just like the Green-Whites, Saturn will be without a number of first choice players who have been whisked away to the African Cup of Nations. It means they will be without Ghana internationals Ilisau Shilla (defender) and Baffour Gyan (striker) as well as Cameroon defender Benoit Angbwa. Midfield man Makhach Gadzhiev will also be unavailable due to a knee injury and is currently residing in Munich where he is receiving treatment.
Despite their losses, the Russians will still be in a position to field a strong side on Monday including a number of well known names. Saturn have a striker in their ranks who knows all about scoring against Werder Bremen. The Bosnian Marko Topic, who played for both Energie Cottbus and VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, scored after just five minutes at the Weser Stadium for Energie on 22.02.2003. Not many Werder fans will be looking forward to seeing the Bosnian’s outstretched tongue, Topic’s famous goal celebration, again.
In the midfield, many of Saturn’s hopes rest on the shoulders of 33 year old veteran Dmitri Loskow. The Russian international came from Locomotive Moscow last year. There will be a familiar face for Werder’s Petri Pasanen who will face Finnish international colleague Alexej Eremenko, who has gathered international experience playing for FC Metz and US Lecce. Between the posts, the Russians are also strongly represented by Czech reserve keeper, 32 year old Antonín Kinský.
The complete, 27 man Saturn squad currently preparing in Belek consists of: Kinsky, Botvinev, Makarov, Petras, Durica, Evseev, Nakhushev, Polovinchuk, Gusin, Ilesku, Igonin, Karyaka, Chesnauskis, Eremenko, Loskov, Ivanov, Nemov, Gerk, Vorobiev, Kharitonov, Temnikov, Gadzhiev, Kirichenko, Lebedenko, Jakubko, Topic, Kovel.
