The day and month are nearly the same. The DFB Cup round is the same. And the opponent and stadium of course are as well. Only the calendar is one year later. "A case of 'Groundhog's Day'," said Per Mertesacker after...
The day and month are nearly the same. The DFB Cup round is the same. And the opponent and stadium of course are as well. Only the calendar is one year later. "A case of 'Groundhog's Day'," said Per Mertesacker after...
The day and month are nearly the same. The DFB Cup round is the same. And the opponent and stadium of course are as well. Only the calendar is one year later. "A case of 'Groundhog's Day'," said Per Mertesacker after the draw referring to the Hollywood film. Whichever way you look at it, this year's DFB Cup Round of 16 match between Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen (Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 7 p.m.) begs a look into the recent past.
Mertesacker recalls: "We were really strong back then especially in the first half and had three or four good chances which we didn't use. Getting eliminating like that was very bitter." The German international does not want to relive that again on Wednesday. "We have a score to be settled with Dortmund and definitely want to win this time around. But to do that we will have to play just like we did last time - only use our opportunities more consequently," said Mertesacker.
Since that January 2008 night, plenty of water has passed through the Weser and Ruhr rivers. Dortmund's goal scorers in the 2-1 are both gone - with Giovanni Federico back at Karlsruhe and Diego Klimowicz in Bochum's attack. And head coach Thomas Doll saw his time in Dortmund end after his team lost against Bayern Munich in the German Cup final.
From Bremen's point of view, Wednesday night's match is about redemption and learning from the mistakes of 29 January 2008. They only have to implement the things they worked on during the winter break. And it would be a shame if the round of the final eight teams is once again missing the name Werder in it.
