Werder Bremen will host AS.St-Etienne on Thursday night in the first leg of the UEFA Cup Round of 16 at Weser Stadion. After bouncing mighty AC Milan in the Round of 32...
Werder Bremen will host AS.St-Etienne on Thursday night in the first leg of the UEFA Cup Round of 16 at Weser Stadion. After bouncing mighty AC Milan in the Round of 32...
Werder Bremen will host AS.St-Etienne on Thursday night in the first leg of the UEFA Cup Round of 16 at Weser Stadion. After bouncing mighty AC Milan in the Round of 32, the Green-Whites next face off with the 17th placed team from the French Ligue 1. "There is no reason to underestimate this team," warned head coach Thomas Schaaf. "They are not very high in the standings right now. But all you have to do is look at the results from the first round and especially the two games against Olympiacos Piraeus," added the coach.
Torsten Frings agreed with his coach's comments after the final training. "Whoever beats Piraeus that clearly to get to the next round cannot be taken lightly. St.-Etienne eliminated a team that we lost to last season," said the 32-year-old midfielder. Werder's next opponent may be a big unknown for many spectators - a team void of stars such as Beckham, Ronaldinho and Kaka. But Bremen better be well prepared for this game.
"Of course we watched a couple of St.-Etienne's games and regularly follow the French championship. So we have a lot of information. And for the last couple games we have had an extra person from us there to observe," said Schaaf. The coach spoke of the French team's weakness of allowing goals on dead ball situations. Schaaf did not want to make a prediction at the press conference. But he did say Werder "want to get a result which will help us give a good showing in the return leg and advance to the next round."
The head coach hopes to reach this goal with the following 18 players: Wiese, Vander – Boenisch, Pasanen, Naldo, Baumann, Fritz, Rosenberg, Diego, Hunt, Prödl, Tziolis, Jensen, Frings, Almeida, Pizarro, Niemeyer, Mertesacker
