There was some bad news Saturday morning for Werder Bremen head coach Thomas Schaaf as Mesut Özil missed training with back pain. “He had the problems already yesterday...
There was some bad news Saturday morning for Werder Bremen head coach Thomas Schaaf as Mesut Özil missed training with back pain. “He had the problems already yesterday...
There was some bad news Saturday morning for Werder Bremen head coach Thomas Schaaf as Mesut Özil missed training with back pain. "He had the problems already yesterday. And they did not get any better. So he told us right away that he could not go and we checked him out. And we found out that he has a disc problem in the vertebral area," said Schaaf before the team’s departure for Hoffenheim. The German international Özil will definitely not be on hand at Hoffenheim. "We cannot say right now how long he will miss," said the Bremen coach.
But there also was a piece of good news for Bremen which will not have an impact on the game on Sunday. Sebastian Boenisch returned to team training for the first time after three months following his ankle injury in the game against Schalke. "It was a good feeling to be back with the team. But it also was very challenging. I was already tired after the warm-ups. And the game was like hell for me," said the tired Boenisch, who will give everything he has make up his physical deficits. "It will certainly come back quickly when I am there every day. Who knows, maybe I will be back in the roster on Thursday," said Boenisch. Thomas Schaaf will allow his defender as much time as he needs. "We have to wait and see how he handles the first training. He didn’t have any problems today. Maybe it will stay that way," said Schaaf.
The teammates once again were on the road for a match in the afternoon after not arriving from the Valencia game until Friday. "Continually keeping the motivation up is not easy. But we have enough experience with it. We have been playing with this rhythm for years now," said Clemens Fritz before the departure. Fritz also has put behind him his first game against the Spaniards and will be available against Hoffenheim. "Last year I was not there in Hoffenheim and it ended 0-0. Maybe this time we will score our first goal with me," added Fritz.
The following 18 players were nominated for the game against Hoffenheim: Wiese, Vander, Pasanen, Naldo, Mertesacker, Fritz, Abdennour, Proedl, Frings, Borowski, Bargfrede, Marin, Hunt, Almeida, Rosenberg, Jensen, Pizarro, Husejinovic.